Les Paul was a genuine musical legend, the real thing.
This man was not just a virtuoso jazz guitar player with one of the most famous guitars of all time named after him (the Gibson Les Paul)
This was the man who essentially invented the electric guitar and more importantly, if that wasn’t enough, this was the man who invented multi-track recording.
Without his genius, I simply wouldn’t be able to do what I do.
What’s more, without his creation, none of the recorded music of the last 60 years would exist as we know it.
We all owe this man more than we could ever possibly express.
Ever so sorry for the delay. I finally arrived in France a few weeks ago and finally got hooked up to teh intertubez about a week ago.
Since then I’ve been trying to re-familiarize myself with this whole interwebs malarkey and generally get back into the swing of things.
I figured it was about time I updated the blog.
That said, I don’t have much in the way of actual updates just now, although you may be happy/interested/disgusted/terrified to hear that I’ve started work on the next record. More on that later, in the meantime, here is an awesome 80s movie mashup video for the song Lisztomania by Phoenix. Enjoy!
So, a few weeks ago, I uploaded a song and entered it into the ongoing contest on www.garageband.com .
The idea being, to get some reviews.
Given that my finger is clearly a stranger when it comes to the pulse, I neatly side stepped all of what I’ve since learned are the most popular songs on the album and uploaded Summers Cast In Gold because I thought the bassline was the best thing I’ve done to date.
Anywho, I have thus far received 2 reviews, both of which were not entirely uncomplimentary.
good chilled relaxing, chilled. sounds like a harmonnica wih some tremeloish effect. drum effect/mix is a little weird. reminds me of the flaming lips a little bit more serious tho. really cool.
interesting percussion effects its the first thing that grabs my attention. sounds like a reverse envelope filter on the snare, which is quite unusual. the warbly effect on the intermittent melody instrument (keyboards?) is decent, but i think this may be a hair to hot in the mix. i like the way this track builds up and how the instrumentation is layed out. this would be good sound track music, as it is evocative and paints a picture. not sure if i could compare you guys to anything, it sounds quite original and fresh to my ears.
Even a grumpy so and so like yours truly can’t complain about that!
First of all, I should apologise for the appalling lack of updates lately.
I really have no excuse. I’ve simply been too busy arsing around on Twitter or watching X-Files or Burn Notice or Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe to bother!
So I figure a quick stream of consciousness post about awesome stuff I’ve seen or heard lately might help make up for it.
Before I try and think of awesome stuff though, let me start be mentioning something despicable.
Namely ‘journalist’ Paula Murray’s sickeningly vile excuse for an article in a recent edition of the Scottish Daily Express.
Rather than try to explain in detail here, I shall instead refer you to the blog of TV writer, actor, director and burgeoning web crusader, Graham Linehan.
His recent post on the article and the subsequent campaign to get the paper to apologise and is far more eloquent and informative than anything I could hope to write on the subject.
Besides which, you should check out his blog anyway because he’s a bit of a legend.
Just promise me you’ll come back here when you’ve finished. Deal?
Finished? Shameful excuse for front page news isn’t it? I hope you signed the petition!
Anywho, at least Graham’s blog is jam packed with other funny stuff, so it’s not all doom and gloom.
Consider Why, That’s Delightful! Awesome Thing Number 1.
Awesome Thing Number 2:
I’ve watched countless excellent videos on YouTube recently (mostly via Twitter recommendations). Here’s a few of them.
Kutiman Remixing YouTube
That’s right, fantastic music made by sampling YouTube instructional videos! The best bit is the fact the songs have ready made music videos themselves. Genius.
You should visit his channel and watch all his other videos too. Freakin’ brilliant! Kutiman’s Channel
David Letterman Bill Hicks Apology
On January 30th 2009, after more than 15 years, David Letterman finally apologised for screwing Bill over just before his tragic death by inviting BIll’s mother on the show and finally broadcasting the routine that sparked the controversy.
It’s surprisingly moving and the routine is unsurprisingly brilliant.
As of today, you can now purchase the CD at CD Baby if you prefer.
I get a little less out of the deal, but I understand some people may be more comfortable shopping there, and they are a great company and a fantastic resource for independent music peddlers such as myself.
If you want the CD from them it’ll set you back $9.99 + shipping.
However
If you are an exciting, modern individual who likes to purchase your music digitally via the intertubes then CD Baby are also offering a mp3 download of the record.
Buying the download version from them actually means more money for me and, get this, it will cost you a mere $4.99. That’s right $4.99
At that price you can’t afford NOT to buy it!!
Wow, I’m kinda getting into this cheesy ad copy thing.
Anywho, if you’re interested head on over to CD Baby by clicking the link
That’s right folks, One Inch Man’s debut album - Space, Time & Plexiglass - is finally available for your purchasing pleasure!
For the time being, you can only get it direct from the folks at Kunaki but it should become available through other outlets eventually. Buying direct however will always be the cheapest way.
I’m currently charging $4.99 which, when kunaki have added the $4.00 shipping charge, means you are getting it delivered to your door, anywhere in the world, for $8.99.
I sincerely wish I could sell it for less but, on this small scale, it’s just not practical.
If that is still a little too rich for your blood, fear not! Pretty soon it should also be available to download from all kinds of places like iTunes and, more importantly CD Baby.
I have not quite figured out all the details yet but the CD Baby mp3 download will be the cheapest option and ironically the one that generates the most profit for the artist, ie, me!
I’m also in the middle of conjuring up some One Inch Man merchandise, T-shirts, posters and the like. More news on that soon I hope.
Anywho, it’s been an exciting, tiring day so I’ll sign off now before i fall asleep on my keyboard.
After going to all the trouble of making this blog, I’ve found myself spending most of my time and doing most of my communicating via Twitter lately! Excluding the inordinate amount of friendly chatter that goes on (almost) daily at the forum of course.
Anywho, I thought I’d take a moment to update the blog.
1) I’ve finished the album and I am currently waiting for my review copy to arrive to make sure everything is OK. That should hopefully show up in a week or so and, if everything is OK, it’ll go on sale immediately thereafter! I can’t be more specific than that timewise, but no matter, release dates are so 20th century anyway!
2) In the meantime, almost all the songs are up on last.fm for your free streaming pleasure. Almost all because last.fm is playing silly buggers at the moment and two of them don’t work. Yet.
I’ve also moved the other random songs that I put up to a new (fictional) record called Pomskizillious & Gromphiberous and all of those are available for free download.
3) I appear to have added gravatar compatibility to the site. It doesn’t seem to have broken anything yet and I now have my sexy Sarah-in-a-One-Inch-Man-shirt avatar attached to every post! I can’t seem to remove it from the pages yet though.
Summing up then - If you’re on last.fm be my friend, if you’re on Twitter, follow me and, while you’re at it, join us in the forum.
Yep, I’ve finally finished the record. As soon as I’ve finished putting together all the CD artwork, it will be ready for release. Hopefully, in a few days.
I say hopefully as I am currently busy trying to find out why my internet connection is running at only 10% of the speed we’re actually paying for. I am most displeased!
