Back from the dead!

Hi kids!

Long time – no see. I'm sorry. It is my fault seeing as you are unable to post blogs here I suppose. To put it mildly the headquarters has been swamped in rehearsing for the shows last month, school, work and – brace yourselves – doing a little writing and celebrating the release of the album. Speaking of the release. It was rather well received! No surprise to me of course, ahrreem! Literally, there has been zero bad reviews, which is a first for me. I remember when we released the last I Am Bones album we received a hilarious 1/6 star review from Jyske Vestkysten, and I have looked very hard on the internet to find it and post it online, but to no avail. If anybody out there knows where to find it, let me know. Alright, so how did it go with Tectonics in Denmark?

Soundvenue gave it a 5/6 review
Undertoner gave it 5½/6
Stiften gave it 5/6
Vice Magazine liked it
Gaffa, Politiken, BT and Berlingske gave it 4/6
The blogosphere: some dubbed it awesome, and someone delivered a knock-out 6/6
… and so on and so forth. Pretty friggin awesome. When the album is released across Europe later on, I'm not afraid it'll be met with rotten tomatoes :)

Then I did interviews with gaffa, politiken, some blogs and everybody seems happy, but no more than I, because I've taken a shine to a certain someone and on Monday I'm going to see The Walkmen in Copenhagen! People. I cannot stress this enough. The Lisbon-album is the best work of musical art you are likely to ever hear. It takes some getting used to, I know, but it is seriously awesome, as I've stated before.

Yo, let's just talk about the shows we played! It was an exhilarating experience to play the malpractice-songs live. Difficult, yes. But thanks to my beloved band mates and their high level of awesomeness, it all fucking worked out. Yes, there were some blemishes, yes, I sang like a donkey now and then, and yes, it was all very confusing. And yes, Marybell-Marie sang like a million bucks. And yes, our tour-mates in Among Relatives were BOTH kind and rocking, too! Anywhoo, we made it back home, and now we are ready to take on the friggin world. Next step towards world domination is in February where we'll be touring alongside the skull-fucking-ly awesome Marybell Katastrophy – and perhaps Anchorless at a couple of shows (if everything turns out the way I hope).

Now I want to write again! I don't want it to be three years between albums ever again.

God bless, and here are some goddam pictures. I think Q and Simon Christensen took them all :)

Tectonics - Lyrics

Hey! My guitar-hero friend Sebastian gave me the idea to upload the lyrics for the album, while it's streaming here.

So... Here you go... sorry for any errors or layout-issues... this is an early file from when we were doing the album artwork :)

agitator

i saw a whole other future
and i cannot just block it from my view
and when you're doing the things you hate the most
to get off
i get off

just throw the noose around my warn out neck
i get off

i've built the pressure
released the pressure
abandoned circles
now a target's forming
it's moving me forward
in linear motion
in linear motion and opposition

this is the end of the old
this is the end of it all
it's a revolution of the soul
as we are howling at the moon, it wheels me in


boss stallion

it's not a rebel yell
it's not a battle cry
it's not a call to arms
it wants to make no sound
it takes a quiet life
it occupies nothing
it is the silent kill
it wants to make no sound

all it takes is just
a slightly altered view
a shift in attitude
then we can make that change
accept the modern death
your human sacrifice
the exploitation days
are coming to an end

drink it up
go break the body down
make it sick
and beat it to the ground
drink it up
don't turn an offer down
make it sick
yeah, kick it while its down

it is a simple plan
it has a simple goal:
to bring this system down
by wasting it's resource

let us all become an expense, let us all be seen as ”problems”

take pride in the collapse
and celebrate the fall

drink it up
go break the body down
make it sick
and beat it to the ground
drink it up
don't turn an offer down
make it sick
yeah, kick it while its down

be a foreign body in (put yourself to use)
the ailing system, bring it down (put yourself to use)
and we are shrapnel, travelling the veins (put yourself to use)

drink it up
go break the body down
make it sick
and beat it to the ground
drink it up
don't turn an offer down
make it sick
yeah, kick it while its down

screw, lay waste
and break each other down
make it grand
and watch it as it falls
screw, lay waste
and break each other down
make it grand
and watch it as it falls


spasm

i see you stretch and arch your back
i am not supposed to, i shouldn't be peeking
i see your pulse, i watch you exhale
i am not supposed to, i shouldn't be peeking
i watch your every move
i know you
i know what's underneath your cover
what's under your dress

i'm convulsing in a seizure
i'm abused by the distance
pressed against a brick wall
burning from the fever, yeah yeah...

i'm getting closer
i'm getting closer
i'm getting closer

the trembling hands, the fucking tension
the thought of you all postured and prone
the thought of having won you over
dissolved and panting, options exhausted
the very essence of the carnal
i know you
i know what's underneath your cover

i'm getting closer but i'm not gonna get it


pop music

is this what i'm up against?
is this what i'm up against?
someone shut their eyes
someone shut their eyes
they suck and suck
and they will suck it dry

it is coming low low low low
it creeps under the doors
it is coming low low low low
it creeps under the doors
makes everything that shines
everything that shines
tells you that it's motherfucking gold

you suck and swallow it
you fucking beg for it
i see your hands are tied
i see you're on your knees
”oh it's tv”


million dollar boy

boy becomes a man and lets it go
you haven't got forever
to make it make sense
let it go, you've proved your point
just let it go, we've seen it

boy becomes a man and gives a shit
your cynicism's turned you
turned you into stone
it's recognized, you've proved your point
now pack it in and move on

million dollar boy
you've got it all
and still you haven't figured
anything out
take my advice and let it go
and you might win it all back

million dollar boy, you'll come around
i see it in your eyes, you're fighting it i know
i see it man, i tip my hat
we know it dies with us


we, the drowned

of course we're tired
we can't keep up
surely, we are aging
or maybe we've just had enough

and here you come
a generation of idiots
you can have it all, it's yours
no, we're not gonna fight

but, please don't ask of me to join
please just leave me the fuck alone
please stop knocking on my doors
i'm not coming out to play

it's like a wave coming over me
we'll all be dead and gone
things change and they're changing so rapidly
if only it was towards something better
yeah, but the kids are in control

so, please don't ask of me to join
please just leave me the fuck alone
please stop knocking on my doors
i'm not coming out to play


specimen

milking the old
you keep
milking the new
you keep

sucking the juice
out of
everything
and then spit it back in the faces of the ones you're ripping off

means to express
reduced
to strategies
you just

suck all the juice
out of
everything
and then spit it back in the faces of the ones you're ripping off

watering down everything
blowing the horns for nothing at all
everyone is partying hard
celebrating nothing at all
it is a hell on earth and it's gonna win
i know, by dumbing down, by being smooth and deafening

oh baby, drive your fangs into it
oh baby, drain it of its essence
yeah, fuel yourself, feed on it
and vomit as a work of art

watering down everything
blowing the horns for nothing at all
everyone is partying hard
celebrating nothing at all
it is a hell on earth and it's gonna win
i know, by dumbing down, by being smooth and deafening


it's all about love

warm nights
by the sea
i think my friends
are falling in love

we walk by the sea
and i love them both
for falling in love -
and for how their contact
is awkward and on fire

how he wants her
how she makes sure that he sees her
hair come undone,
how she lets go

warm nights on the beach
we're forgetting time
i'm forgetting myself

a vortex of friends and benevolence
is bringing me home -
the way they look at each other -
they're on fire

how he wants her
how she makes sure that he sees her
hair come undone,
how she lets go

all our shit and all our cool is fading
breaking up and crumbling to pieces
it's all about love


oh the irony

baby i'm thirsty
and honey you know
that you are the ocean
that you are the ocean

drown, want to drown, fill my lungs with

you are the ocean
salty and deep
you are the ocean
and baby i'm bursting

drown, i want to drown, fill my lungs with you
to drown. i want to drown

tension mounts under my skin, oh, the irony
every cell's begging for it... fucking irony

baby i'm thirsty
and honey you know
that you are the ocean
that you are the ocean

a drop of sweat trickles down your naked
sunburned skin



fault lines

i am born to spend, to take, be ahead
win a
race i
don't care for, ah

i am born to use, to buy, to discard
win a
race i
don't care for, ah

to be a tool in the hand of a force
i can't see, i can't hear, i can't taste it
without a trace and with a crushing punch
it just brings me right down to my knees

eating away, taking bites of the core
leaving only the functional basics
without a trace and with a crushing punch
it just brings me right down to my knees

there has got to be more



the human condition

i broke my nails on
clawing my way
into pictures
of a fading you
and two dimensions will not do -
a tangible longing for a tangible you

oh, it keeps on circling
oh, it keeps on circling
that two dimensions will not do,
a tangible longing for a tangible you

this is a fever on the real
something, something's taken over me
i'm in a spiralling delirium, oh
it just carries on, nothing new, taking in that this was it...

Hey, isn't it time for an update in the blogosphere? So, let me give you the run down of events since last: I've been to Wales for a family trip to see the Ryder Cup golf tournament! Living the high life of lobster feastin' and champagne sippin'. Good times! Furthermore, I've been getting back into university-groove, arr, I'm not quite there yet, my motivation is at rehearsals and money-yielding work, but it'll work out. Speaking of rehearsals, let's cut the personal chit-chat and talk about music stuff:

Rehearsals are actually coming along quite well! Some of the songs are REALLY rocking, however some of the tracks still need some polishing, especially in the vocal department, and a little in the aesthetics department, oh and a little in the proficiency department. The quieter songs are really difficult, but I insist we play them as that is what this malpratice-thing is all about. Trying out stuff you're not quite comfortable with.

Speaking of... Last night I played a show with my pal snöleoparden. I played some drone-y guitar parts. It was truely an exciting experience as I'm very curious about how he allows himself to become so enveloped in the entire experience of playing that he almost disappears. The means towards that end is to stick to rhythm and tonality beyond the point of annoyance, transcending the very music itself by repetition and harmony and subtle alternations of patterns. It was awesome, as is snöleoparden and we are planning to do it again some time.

Yeah, and we shot a video the other night as well, but more on that later.

I'll leave you with a promise of further details on the live-situation and a track I've fallen in love with the last couple of days: Marybell Katastrophy's Heavy Industry: http://www.myspace.com/marybellkatastrophy

Good lord. So I am at again. I thought I had had enough of music, but tonight I've come up with a snippet of beautiful music for the first time in months. My friend Emil made a great analogy when he was mastering the album: When women give birth, their brains release a sedative to take the pain in order for the body to want get re-pregnated. See, if the body'd remember the bullshit it has been to go through giving birth, there wouldn't be born any more children. And so the connection to album-makin' is obvious: I have already forgotten how much it sucks! Today I even received an email from Kenneth regarding the fee he's to receive for his work on the album, and he was all like, hey, let's do it again, soon! The irrational necessities of the human soul.

We've started rehearsing 4reals. It's actually going alright. We can almost play every song on the new album and even one or two from the old days. And we have got something extra up our sleeves: Our good friend, Marie of Marybell Katastrophy fame, is coming out to play with us for the three shows in october! Holy fuck! She'll be singing alongside myself! That is so cool. Her voice is a diamond in the rough, and it'll compliment my weak points, vocally. See, I'm used to screaming my head off, and I thoroughly enjoy a good yelling, however, the new songs are more melodic than brutal, and seeing as I have literally zero experience in singing-singing, Maries assistance will come in handy. And she's just totally good fun to be around. So, we're happy she wants to play along!

Hey assholes, buy the two singles here. I mean it. We totally need the cash, and we don't want the new label to think that we ain't never gon' bring home the bacon, do we? So buy a track, buy a couple for your friends too. It's not like you need the money for something else?!



Best,

Johannes

HURRAH!

Kids, I’ll tell you about what’s going on. The thing is, I’ve been busy. Yes, the album is now done, and it is time to reminisce and reflect on the last days in the mixing-suite that is the ash-tray, our rehearsal space. Mid-august we finished the final recordings and started the mixing phase around that time. As I’ve said before Kenneth worked his ass off and towards the end of things, we spent 20 hours per day mixing. And all of a sudden I found myself zombie-walking to ET Mastering at Feedback in Aarhus with a knapsack of cigarettes and bread. It was a truly strange sensation to walk across town during the morning rush-hour, not having slept, knowing that we were going to finalize three years of work. Not the best state to be in, I know, but luckily our mastering guy Emil was sharp and ready to go. He cleaned the mixes up a bit and started mastering his butt off. It took three days in total... I think that is longest master-session in world history. Thanks to Emil for patience! The method was the so-called stem-mastering, where you take each group of instruments and lock into single files, like, all the guitars in one file, all the vocals in another and so on and so forth. This allows for last minute level corrections but more importantly it is easier to work on different areas of the sound-scape rather than to just have one file to work on, which often just squashes songs. What the hell do I know? Honestly, and hands down… It is nuclear science and physics what sound-guys do. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand what they do… I’m just in awe. I’d really like to learn one day. I’ve learnt a lot sitting besides both Kenneth and Emil so… Now my demos won’t be as shitty anymore, hehe.

Right, let’s talk facts.The album is called ‘Tectonics’. The front cover looks like this:

And it will be released October 25th on sensational Crunchy Frog Records.
The second single is out now: Listen to it here.

And here’s the final tracklist:
1. Agitator
2. Boss Stallion
3. Spasm
4. Pop Music
5. Million Dollar Boy
6. We, the Drowned
7. Specimen
8. It’s All About Love
9. Oh, the Irony
10. Fault Lines
11. The Human Condition

Personal favorites are The Human Condition, Boss Stallion, Spasm, Fault Lines… oh, hell. The entire damn thing! I’m so effing proud of this album. It’s the best music I have ever done, and it even sounds good! Holy shit! I can’t wait for people to hear it, but please, if or when you hear it, give it some time, and listen to it on proper equipment. We haven’t spent ages fine tuning this crap for you to listen to it on your god damn computer-speakers, while being on the phone, aight?! Alright, then. A little concentration is all I ask. Final remarks! The album cover will include a lyric sheet. Info on release-parties coming up. Rehearsals are going… well… alright, but I’m sure it’ll be awesome. Going to Copenhagen tomorrow for a couple of interviews and some recreational time with Q and Clauern and my friend Filip. No plans for a vinyl release of the album as of yet. Aaaaaaaand, I think this is it for now!

The new Walkmen-album is awesome.

From the eye of the mix-storm the headquarters generously and selflessly – yes, as your Christ-and-saviour - donates a minute or two to update the throbbing, curious public on the Østjylland-turmoils. Ahem.

First of all. Tonight's poor-man's supper caused a spillage of cod-liver oil onto hands and wooden desk. This has rendered the headquaters somewhat disillusioned. I guess you could call it a straw that broke the camel's back, seeing as mixing is as equally horrific a part of the process of recording an album as singing is. I don't know jack shit about mixing, so it's all up to Kenneth. Ha! He's under a lot of pressure because of the deadlines and his power-life. Tonight he's playing a show with all-star band De Eneste To, for instance. The other day he told me that he had to leave the computer after having worked on a particularly difficult passage to remember to breathe. He literally doesn't breathe properly when he's stressed out. It's so fucked up. Sometimes when I think he's sighing because of a problem regarding the mix, he reminds me that it's just because he occasionally must take deep breaths in order stay alive. Physical ailings aside, it's turning out ok, I suppose. I'm not going to give you the regular industry-'holy shit, it's just so awesome and everything is dandy'-routine, as everything is not. It fucking sucks and I want it to be over and done with. I've spent 10% of my entire life doing this album... Seriously. No shit... Pity me. Pity everyone! Pity! Tuesday – God willing – it'll all be totally fucking over!

By the way. I have settled for the title Tectonics! It's very fitting! Release is still set for either October 11th or 18th. My awesome friend Mogens is working out the artwork as we speak. I'll upload it when it's done :)

Here's a random track order.

• 1 Agitator
• 2 Pop Music
• 3 Oh, the Irony
• 4 The Human Condition
• 5 Vendetta
• 6 It's All About Love
• 7 Specimen
• 8 Million Dollar Boy
• 9 We, The Drowned
• 10 Spasm
• 11 Fault Lines
  

Playing time is around 37 minutes.

Well, let's talk again on mastering-tuesday. Until then... MWUAH!

A holiday-induced update!

The über-maestro of da biz, yebo, requested there be written a new blog entry. And he who asks shall receive.

Allow me to start off on a personal note, talking about my vacation. Just skip down a paragraph if you don't care, so... Still here? Alright. I've been in France with three of my mates. Mr producer-guy Kenneth, drummer extraordinaire Mr Q, and sensational guitarist and all-round good guy Claus of Vestbjerg-fame. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend two weeks in a house in lovely Bargemon, an old village in Provence. We spent the days drinking wine, basking in the sun and trying out this disturbing Chat-roulette. Oh, and Kenneth and I went golfing and sightseeing in the Gorges du Verdon also. It was the best vacation in years and I love my friends to bits and everything was just dandy. We saw gekkoes, giant ants, did some hiking and oh, would you believe it, knocked out a hiphop tune one day on the porch. Perhaps it will see the light of day one sweet day. The Malpractice boxset, or the Beta Satan one. I don't think it'll fit very well with Figurines' material, although it has Claus blasting some vicious rhymes, hehe.

So. What does this have to do with the album we're working on, you ask? Well, it recharged some pretty low batteries and work the coming month doesn't seem as ardous. We also set a wonderful new array of postponed deadlines! I'll give you the scoop in the shortest of terms:

We'll start mixing august 12th. Before that we'll record the last bits – including a brand new, awesome'er version of the bad apple 'Executive this, Executive That'. The various versions we did sucks and one day I had had enough of trying to find a way into the song, so I told Kenneth: Fuck it, delete everything and I'll rethink the damn thing while babysitting my moms dog. And by gawd, it worked! I had half an unfinished song sitting on the hard-drive, which were basically part of the song Agitator in an early version. It never left my mind, and one night as I was falling asleep, it just occured to me, holy fuck, why the hell not use that as the body for this executive song. I totally loved the intro and outro of the executive track, so why not delete everything inbetween, replace that with the old, unfinished song and just go nuts?! It only took two hours to make the elements fit together, and whenever things are that fast, it's a good sign that it's a damn good idea you are working on. And as it turned out – in demo form - it is. Right now, I think it's the best thing on the album! Really huge and lazy and it uses just two notes for the entire duration of the song!

We'll start the mastering process on august 28th. And then the master is done september 1st! Holy shit! And release dates are set for – are you sitting down - either october 11th or 18th. Holy hot dicks in hell!

And what about the album title? Have you thought about that, dude? Yes. Yes, I have. Right now, I want to call it 'Tectonics'. From, like, the geography-terminology. I like the idea of these huge tectonic plates banging into each other over millions of years, creating landscapes. It's so beautiful and very fitting for the lyrical subject matter on the album. There's alot of me banging my head on the world, yet, somehow always succumbing to the forces of nature.

Alright, would that cut it as an update mister label-dawg?

Lots of summer love for everyone,

Johannes

News from the beyond!

Booyakasha! So lemme tell you 'bout the goings ons in malpractice country. Firstly, let me apologize for the infrequent updates as of late. Not that anyone is reading though... at least I don't think there are... hello? Anyone there? Hello? Hmm. Perhaps you just have better things to do, and who the fuck could blame you? Well, the main reason for the silence has been that we've been recording vocals, which I dreaded getting started on (consult the last entry). However, things have turned out much better than expected. I just needed to get into it again, you know, singing. I don't sing much. I can't because of my neighbours and stuff, and it's been forever since the last i am bones show, or beta satan for that matter. So, I was pretty rusty getting started. But we worked at a pace of roughly 1½ song pr day only interrupted by world cup football and a committed alcohol abuse. So, now we just need to sing on three more tracks, re-record another track (fucking hell), a touch-up-session and then of course mixing and mastering. The new and improved deadline is july 1st, however, that is impossible, so now it's the day before departing for a fortnights vacation, jule 14th. Which is very needed by now... all of this album shite, and then university exams on top of it. It surely has been an eventful year! Stressful, yes. Boring, hell no! Somewhat annoying, yeah kinda.

Oh, hi! How ARE you doing? I ask because I've figured out a way to open up for comments on this damn blog. Things are moderately OK over here, I suppose. But. The album-stuff keeps dragging out and I'm about to go nuts and have become somewhat of an asshole regarding the whole process. However, we are seeing more and more green bars in the studio. No, we are not on mushrooms, it's the system we have on Kenneth's computer to see how far we've come, you know, by the colours of the folders on the computer; we paint them green in order to point out that, hey, this is pretty good. Speaking of pretty good, we've actually had a couple of pretty good days and we are not far from starting the recording of vocals on a bunch of tracks – an absolutely horrible stage, comparable to the last days of a romantic relationship. This is the where the separation phase begins for me. The only pieces of gut-wrenching, skull-fucking, annoying pieces of shite that's left to do before that final, god awful stage, are solving a drum problem or two and re-recording some plague-ridden guitars, oh, and I fucking have to re-write some gangrene lyrics too – which i HATE. If writing lyrics is having to endure a biopsy, having to sing them is receiving the terminal diagnose. So basically, if I die before this album is done, I'll kill myself. All this talk serves to vent my frustration, of course. Whenever I feel this level of artistic AIDS I remind myself that the material is actually still pretty strong, and the reason I get worked up or bogged down is because I actually still care – a fact I hope will eventually be reflected in the final result. So uhm....... yeah... basically.... Both Kenneth and I will probably have to see a therapist after this is done – a fact the buying public MUST recognize and PITY by appreciating the end result. Ahem!

Hey, so I've signed with danish label Crunchy Frog. It's totally awesome! When Beta Satan played Roskilde in 2008, we had a pretty jolly time after the show, where we'd walk around the festival area, swinging a bottle of Jack Daniels exultantly, being relieved, having a job well done under our belt. I remember Kaare – of Beta Satan – kept bugging Crunchy labelboss Yebo by telling him that he totally should give my new songs a listen. He promised he would. So, being thrilled with the work Crunchy has and is doing for Beta Satan, I sent him a bunch of demos last year and he and the office was all like 'damn boyfriend, this is great – let's make a god damn hit record' – and I was all like 'damn bro, that's too cool, lemme just write a couple more dope tracks for yous, cuz I'm on to sumthin' awesome' – and so I did. And here we are. I'm proud as can be!

However, the joy is also tinged with a pinch of sadness, as this means that I am departing from Morningside Records with whom I've been for 7 years or so... Jesper Brodersen has been a totally good guy to me and my bands over the years, and he has invested time and money in my stuff and he has always been an ideological, no-bullshit-beacon to me. So it kinda bums me out. My very best to Jesper and the wonderful artists on Morningside Records!

3rd Tsunami and Jesper Frydenlund will continue to maintain the booking department of this corporation... which is cool!

In other news: the single will be mastered next sunday! I think the mix is pretty good by now. But, honestly, I can't tell anymore as I've listened to the song 500+ times. You sorta loose perspective, but luckily Kenneth is as steady as a rock and has worked relentlessly the last couple of days to mix the track. Apparently, the first song is the hardest in the mixing stages because you have give shape to the ideas you have for both the track itself, but also to the entire direction of the album. God, I hate mixing. It is the single most annoying phase of recording an album – which is itself pretty effing annoying! I become so unsure of the entire project and my songwriting and my musical abilities... yikes! Luckily, when this is over, I'm going to France with my friends Klaus and Clauern.

Oh fuck, i almost forgot! Cabin Fever is no longer the name of the band. Now it's The Malpractice. I'll elaborate on this some other time.

Best!

Ragazze! Che notte!

Hmm hmm. Going to mix the lead single this sunday. So that's just great. And then Kenneth and I will venture to Ajstrup for a week of absolutely friggin resolve to get as close to the god damn finish line as possible. I still need to write some lyrics... oh and some melody and the title track isn't even remotely arranged yet... and I have a ton of exam papers to top it off, but i'll work it out somehow. I hope... Yes. signing-things went fine last thursday. We met at Raadhuscafeen in Aarhus and had wienerschnitzels (no, not weener-schnitzels). That's a pretty good starting point in my opinion. Io sono un poco in amorato con i miei amici nuovi. Yes. The headquarters recommends the Mondo Cane album. It's pure spaghetti carbonara. Especially the first track 'il cielo in una stanza'. It has rekindled my love for the italian language and I've promised myself to start learning it properly this summer. So. Yeah. I guess that's pretty much it. Which isn't a lot really. Oh, might I add, that the Q & Hans one-off concert in May is, well not taking shape, but we are not quite as fucked as it looked a week ago according to rehearsals last night.

Perhaps it's time for a wee update. Things are looking up! Slightly. A lot of stuff has fallen into place in the last 48 hours. Tomorrow I'll be puttin' my signature on a new record deal, some shows are as good as confirmed, the first track is all done and now only needs mixing and mastering, oh and – on a personal note – May looks as though it is going to be the busiest period of my life ever. Tons of exams, record stuff, the INTERspot-art-concert-thingy with q, and a remix-track I am working on for my friend Marie. I'm totally redoing a new song of hers called Difference. It's sleazy and funky and delightfully disgusting.. like, lenny-kravitz-makin'-slo-mo-love-to-barry-white-sleazy. Here's a little teaser.

And:

Here are some videoes and some photos of the last couple of days in the studio :)

Ohai. So. Album's still pulling teeth. However, we've set some deadlines that look possible. Hell, they bloody well have to be, because – honestly - I'm fucking fed up with this piece of shit right now. The songs are friggin killer, but we just need some coherent time to get into the grooves, man. Time is being eaten by university and work, and that sucks. So, we've worked out a trip to Kenneth's summer abode on the eastern coast of Jutland come mid may, and the aim is to finish the first single, entirely, for release june 1st. The deadline for the master is july 1st. So the release is set to be, like, mid-september, or something like that... Depending on my new label's release schedules. I'll tell you more in a month's time, when everything will has been put down in writing.

In other news. A brilliant idea has popped up. Arh, a sort of brilliant idea... See, I used to love the concept of b-sides back in the day. Some of my favorite tracks in all the world are the contorted, ugly songs bands hid on the flip-side of their singles. Like a peak into the band-abyss. So, when I'm not doing album-stuff, I'm working on a couple of exclusive extra tracks for the iTunes singles that will come of the album. I think the tracks will be cover-songs and outtakes, just recorded at home. It's gonna be great, and I hope I find enough time to follow the idea to the end.

Oh, and in these troublesome, woesome times... The headquarters look to this track for strenght... as a good friend put it earlier today: it is hell disguised as the heavenly blessing. Jesus Christ. Just fucking listen to it! It makes me want to kill myself again and again and again and poke out my eyeballs and shove them up my ass. Horrid, indeed. Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF7H9Ri7o-0

CIAO!

Stuff

So what's new? Nothing much. We had three consequtive days lined up, but the first one was abandonned because Figurines and Q had to use our ”studio” to mix some new tracks of theirs. It turned out excellent, and y'all should consider yourselves lucky to be blessed with such beautiful music soon. We met up with them in the evening and had a great night out. Good times.



Day 2 was marked with heavy hang-overs from the night before, so Kenneth and I spent the better part of the day staring at the guitars, and feeling guilty for not getting shit done. Or perhaps the guitars we're staring at us. Fuck it, all I know is that there was a lot of guilt! However, a meal and a six-pack later, we got working on the track Oh, The Irony. We had been post-poning it indefinitely because it's really difficult, but perhaps the hang-over facilitated the session – we did the entire thing A to Z in just a matter of hours. Totally awesome. It went from the bottom of my list to one of my favorite tracks, like this *snaps fingers*.



Thinking we could pull off the same with brand new track The Human Condition on Day 3 proved fullblown, outbreak-AIDS, though. No progress. Kenneth worked on the aesthetics of the song Spasm instead. I think it turned out OK, but we have to re-record the guitars now, because of the shift in aesthetics. Oh, and this morning my throat's all tied up. Coming down with a cold I guess, for the fourth fucking time in the past six months, dammit! Anyway... Now, I'll work a bit on the Krautrock-track. I still haven't written a single word or fleshed out a melody yet, so that needs to get done. Happy easter. Here's a little thingy that got cut:

A moment of clarity

Yeah, so the other day my friend Klaus remarked that this blog was one of the most boring things he ever saw. He said it needed pictures and videos. Now, I haven't really got anything entertaining in my private vaults, well, other than the video of said Klaus drumming and screaming over at facebook... So, instead of showing you more footage of that or of me looking for a screw driver , I'll hook you up with some of the tunes that have inspired the music we're recording these days. Look below! Finally, I have sort of come up with a tentative title for the album: 'Flux' – but I'm still thinking about it. Oh, and I've been asked by Marybell Katastrophy to remix a new song of hers. I am honored to have been asked as I have a great deal of respect for Marie and her music and her partners in crime. I can't wait to get going as soon as we need a break with the album. On to the videos, well, links, really. I've included a little comment to each song.

Silo This is one of my all-time favorite bands. They're so circular and hypnotic, beautiful and packed with beautiful tonal and rhythmic systems, and this track is no exceptions. I recommend the album Alloy!

Talk Talk This is just great, man. Please note the passage from 2:25-3:05, and the mellow ending. Music doesn't get any better than this!

Meshuggah The evil twin of talk talk! Seriously. They are connected in some weird way that I'm trying to figure out. Awesome, hypnotic music. This is the opening passage of my favorite album, Catch 33. Pure enlightenment!

Hooray for earth My aquintance Noel's band. I love his melodies and adventurous song structures and the potential for heaviness that all their songs contain. Great music. They're releasing a new album soon and I can't friggin wait :)



God bless!

Aight. So we’re still recording guitars, one song a day, taking our time, nice and easy. Last night we had a breakthrough, though. One of the tracks that I had dreaded recording because of the pretty complex – and fast – chord structures was done. And it wasn’t even that difficult, hehe. See, we cheated a bit. I’d grab the first chord and play along, and then Kenneth would sit right by me with his hands in place for the second chord, so I’d just let go of my chord and continue playing with my right arm, yeah? And it sounds as though I’m a totally awesome musician now! I figured that if it sounds good, it is good. I’m not that much of a puritan anymore. Furthermore, the song has a pretty complex ending with a whole bunch of guitars and synths on top of each other, yet we didn’t quite know how to finish it, round it of. I was screwing about with some harmonies on the guitar, and there it was… it sounds like perception melting, a collapse of consciousness, very “blaaaaargh”. All in all a good night last night! Today – after work – we’ll get to work on some drum-programming at my house. The song It’s All About Love needs some assistance in the drum department in the verses. Oh, and on a personal note, I’m going skiing with my friend Torsten soon. I have absolutely no monies so take the Cabin Fever Purchase Vow as a stress relief for me. Repeat after me: “Yes, I will buy your album - for myself and a couple of friends. Or at least give you a very generous donation. Yes, the music is godlike awesome. Yes, you of all people have tapped into the truth about all that is awesome.” See! Now, that wasn’t hard now was it?

Mjello. What's up you ask? Well, I presume you ask... Things are pretty mellow seeing as both kenneth and I have a lot to do in terms of work and university-biz. However, we had a couple of days tracking guitars last week. 2 days, to be exact. We had two visitors from the linguistics-department at Aarhus University, who taped us discussing how to approach the guitar work. They were doing some sort of project on how the discourse works in creative processes. Well, let it be known that their tape must contain a whole lot of FUCK and NO and PISS and other vulgar exclamations of woe, because we had a really hard time doing the guitars for the Executive-song. I literally felt like it was ages ago that I'd played guitar and I just couldn't get it right. We spent 12 hours on getting absolutely nothing! Very frustrating, as I'm sure you can imagine. An all time low for my guitar playing. Kenneth gave it a couple of shots as well, and it didn't work out either. The following day we managed to track pretty much all the guitars for the song Spasm. Turned out OK as far as I recall. We decided on approaching things from a different angle. Instead of recording to un-mixed, poor sounding stuff, we decided to beef things up in order to get some more passionate responses in the guitar playing, which proved to be a good idea, so hopefully we've worked around winding up in guitar-hell again. In other news, we finished the drum-touch-up session in the studio and managed to squeeze in a totally new track, the one I mentioned in a previous post. I think the drums are bound to turn out cool as they are multi-layered and climaxes in a wonderful percussive dissolution. It'll be great, but Q is more apprehensive, hehe. And and and I've got an idea for yet another track, that I hope to get to work on today. It's really funny how with the feeling of closing the entire thing approaching, I get all sorts of ideas... If this one turns out cool, the vast majority of the stuff has been written since june. Anyways, cheerio and thanks for reading these endless ego-rants.

Oh yeah! and Morten Riis has started working out some synth-stuff. He's my art buddy. Here's one of his works.

and here's a picture of me lovin' the crap out of him in oslo last year.

Yo dawgs. So, here's an update on the progression. We recorded the drums for 10 tracks last tuesday and thursday. Things turned out pretty awesome, and it proved a wise decision to spend some time in a proper studio. We finished the session by having a couple of beers and listening to brutal metal. It was fun! I think we'll have to re-record the drums for a song called agitator on thursday where we have a touch-up session. It needs a different snare sound. These songs are so minimalistic that, with the drums being cool, there is really only guitars and vocals left to do. That should take a couple of weeks, so what seemed like a behemoth of an undertaking is actually pretty well under way. I think this will be the best album I've ever done :)

here are some pictures from the drum session. Click for a full-screen view. Photo-credit: Mr. Q


The team - Kenneth, Q, Bredahl and myself - celebrating a job well done.


Let them eat cake.


Men of the year


Awesome conditions


Q recording a song tentatively entitled Kraut


Q's majestic setup. boom goes the drum.

Hey kids. So tomorrow is a big day for this record. We tried recording the drums at our rehearsal space which we totally botched – see the latest entry – so we decided to turn to a previous success. We've booked two days at the same studio we recorded the beta satan album a couple of years ago. Kenneth knows his way around the place, klaus is comfortable playing in the drum room and we've got a certain jacob bredahl (fee!) helping us out. Well, it's his studio, so he'll help us around what ever problem may arise. I'm pretty comfortable about this, seeing as we've prepared pretty much every single detail, and klaus is an amazing drummer so i can't see this not working out. I'll keep you posted, of course.

As for the songs, I wrote a new one on friday. It's totally depressing and a potential suicide risk, however, it is quite beautiful in my humble opinion, and it is going on the album fo' shaw. It's funny about these things... Just materialising out of thin air sometimes. Well, the new track brings the tally to 11, because we've ditched another mellow song I did. And i've got an idea for the album art work as well. I want big, mono-chrome, bright-as-fuck colours on every surface of it. It'd be cool to make the art work refer to nothing at all, somehow. I don't know. We'll see. I have to start thinking about album titles, also! Damn, I haven't given that much thought...

here's a picture of the love-team this time round. Photo credit: Kevin N. Andersen

Hey. Alright, so how's the little album coming along then? Well. Things aren't as simple as I had projected, of course. We're on a tight budget, so we can't afford extravagant studios and what not, so we decided to do the entire thing at beta satan's rehearsal space on account of the fact that we've gathered a fair amount of recording equipment there over the years. However, the room itself isn't suited for recording drums. It sounds tiny and makes the drums sound like hitting wet cardboard with a sausage, which is kinda not what we are looking for. So we tried recording the drums in two different corners of the room, and even the adjacent kitchen, and by golly, it just won't work. So, we're in the process of booking some studio time, stretching the aforementioned tight fucking budget, dammit!

Here's a video of little drummer boy mr Q screwing around with an ebow and me looking for a screwdriver. Riveting stuff right here.

and here are a couple of wide-lens photos for your visual enjoyment. How about that.

The daily diet consists of bananas, kanelgifler, coffee, cigarettes and a couple of beers in the evening. I find recording processes annoying and tedious and frustrating, so it's nice to eat crap and hang out with my buddies while cursing at elusive timbres and stuff. bye for now!

last night we started work on the album. retrieved re-useable files from the demos and sorted out cues for the guys I have helping me out this time. Speaking of... My good friend Kenneth is pushing buttons, recording and producing the damn thing along side myself, my good friend Klaus Mr Q Hedegaard is playing the drums, and my good friend Morten is doing the synth-stuff. The connaisseur of danish bullshit will notice that, yes, that is in fact pretty much Beta Satan, except for Kaare. The live band will be made up of these guys and myself. It's gon' be awesome.

yo dawgs

This is a blog! It shall henceforth contain the musings of yours truly in regards to the going-ons in Cabin Fever-land. It shall serve as a more in-depth, intimate, journal-y blahblah than the usual look-how-cool-my-band-is-myspace-page. It shall not be pushed upon thee as do some of my dear colleagues with their shameless self-promo. I've had enough of that shit, it is tiresome.

First order of business is a promise to track the development of the recording of the debut album. There will be video, cover art ponderings and a whole lot of me talking out of my ass about stuff I am concerned with during the different processes i'm facing. Why, you ask? I don't know. Does one need a reason for every little thing? If you don't care, then fuck off and don't come a-knocking. But I'd like you to care, being the narcissistic little cunt that I am.

best, johannes