Its the end of our first week in the studio,its been a ball, a laugh, a lot of hard work, very tiring, completely amazing, slightly frustating, wonderfully smelling (our producer insists on burning joss sticks all over the studio "good for the soul..."he says) revealing and telling, sometimes people yelling, group discussions, lots of percussion, broken strings,things to sing...........you get the idea. I have emerged as the trailing light in our ping-pong games, having been thrashed by everyone from skinny Kapil to big chief Erol, Kai coming in as the number 1, the don, the maestro, the very reason i'm alive. I'm pretty good but lack the reflexes and the general nack of it. Anyone seen the new justin timberlake video, featuring Scarlett Johanson??? Many of our dinner times have been spent in deep discussion about this video (well its more of a short film) Is it over the top and meladramatic? (the fight scene where the music cuts out and a scuffling timberlake appears cursing and shaking his fists at naughty miss Scarlett, to the tragic ending where they crash their cars and one of them ends up dead) Or is it a really good effort from the biggest pop star in the world, trying to keep his ideas fresh and surprise his audience a bit.......i don't know, i'm not hugely into Master Justin, but his timbaland produced stuff is wicked (I'm sure you've all heard it...if not.) You decide.....
The last succession of hours has seen us get down a song which so far is untitled, but we all refer to as the "michael jackson"...its full of little hooks and backing vocal ideas, some of which sound quite haunting, its definately got a "thriller" kind of feel to it. We are taking the Quincey Jones approach to producing it aswell (he is the man behind "Off the wall" "Thriller" and "Bad"), dry drum sounds, the toms recorded separately, and lots of weird guitar noises, that sound more like synths than actual guitars. As for the lyrics, i won't give them away, lets just say its an extremely warped love song, the fact that wacko jacko is the inspiration for the music perhaps makes the whole thing even more ironic.
These are some things we've been listening to in the studio: coco rosie (thankyou to max shake for sending me thisX) this a song off their new album, really brilliant i reckon. A band called the Monochrome Set, a post-punk gem....... A chk chk chk song which is pretty interesting, and this..........a song called Ldn is a victim, it basically rips apart all the "cool" bands and musicians in london at the moment, its mildly amusing in places and a little dull in others but have a listen all the same, its one of those songs which is about the scene and for the scene, (whatever the scene is (assuming the musicians living/working in london can all be clustered together into a so called scene)).
And finally, allow me to recommend the above. Its a whole grain mustard,made in france, and its called "Maille". There are pots and pots of the stuff all around the studio, and heres why: Its made from the finest of ingredients (spirit vinegar, mustard seed and white wine) and when applied to pretty much anything you can think of, magic happens. Its no musical wonder tool or maker of miracles, it just tastes fucking amazing. Buy a pot, slap it onto cheese and toast...watch it transform a common snack into a royal delicacy. Sorry for the randomness but it needed a mention, me and blaine have been putting it on everything, its just really nice.
I hope you're all extremely well and happy, please try the mustard, and let us know how you are all keeping,
love william.X
