October 3, 2011

[Owen from Final Fantasy]

Hello from Iceland.

Sleeping up here has been tricky, we find ourselves drowsing around 11pm, then wide awake from 2am-5am. What do you do in those hours? There's nothing to do. Too cold to jog, too late to surf the internet.

We're tracking drums and bass, trying to get unprecedented, good sounds. Drums are the hardest. Recording digitally, recording to tape, recording digitally again. One song we recorded entirely to "bucket brigade" delay chips and then adjusted everything afterwards. Some days it sounds like Flying Lizards, other days like Sebadoh, other days like Cluster, other days like a freight train crossbred with a merry-go-round. It doesn't sound anything like 2011? Is this a good thing? I like today's music! It doesn't sound like metal or dance music or indie or classical.

Melodies fly out of me like beads of sweat; lyrics take some nurturing. But the biggest concern, the biggest of all: Genre Concerns. Ben Frost walks in on "Infernal fantasy" and says, "is there a rave going on in here?" (There are neither 303s nor Amen breaks on these recordings.) Rob references "No Intention" by Dirty Projectors on a song that sounds nothing like Dirty Projectors; he's tracking handclaps on a song that has no offbeats. (There are no Ali Farke Toure-esque solos on this record, there will not be an R&B breakout anthem.) What kind of music is this?

See, it all starts with the violin. It's like Iron Chef: forced to make a meal that uses "a leek" or "a foie gras" or whatever as the root of all dishes. With us it's this violin. Not because I love the violin, it's just the only instrument that I know how to play. It is my ukelele, my bass guitar, my brass section.

Secondly, there's that narcissistic urge to, uh, develop. I feel I could make "He poos clouds, again" in a couple of weeks, "Heartland II" in a couple of months. But a) who wants that? and b) I want to provide employment to two of my favourite musicians (Rob + Matt)...

So what is it? It is monoliths, it is discipline, it is repetition, it is anger. Do you remember in 2009 when Perez Hilton got punched and he started tweet-yelling "VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER" etc.? He's right; violence is a question, repression is the answer. I have violent desires on the daily; my mom hit me once or twice, my dad a couple of times. Natural human urges: violence, the will to power, hatred, xenophobia. This music is the sound of white knuckles, of indignation, of repression; it is the sound of Masculine Instruments, it is maleness, with all its inferiority; it is the sound of the Canadian mindset.

There is no release date, don't spread any rumours.

X Owen

[Carlo]

Sounds great Owen! Good luck on the new project and all its hassles!

I'm really interested on whats to come next. I only became a fan of yours shortly after He Poos Clouds came out listened that to death (which I can't seem to kill because I'm still listening to it) and Heartland, which I am trying to slaughter (but it will not die). I think I eat Heartland 6 meals a day.

Any how. Part of me really does wish for "Heartland II" or another "He Poos Clouds", and the other part wants to see something new. This is gonna be fun!!!!!

I don't want to already get critical and face-punched from just this first little tease but, I do hope you keep your orchestral elements. I hope there will be the 5000000000 violins and the 500000 woodwinds here and there. I just can't get used to Pallett's music being played with the usual guitar/bass and drums with the Violin. I am still glad that you have the Violin iron chef ingredient in there !

I'm just used to you using more (traditional?/baroque?. I don't know what words to use in my young age) ensembles. Hence Orchestra, String Quartet. And having super dense scores. However, this is just my only little concern. And I understand that making an orchestral album is much like tearing your liver out, but I think I just have some sort of sick obsession with the orchestra, I don't even know. So maybe down the road 10, 20, 30, 100(? we will make you a cyborg heh) years you will decide to make another orchestral album

Don't get me wrong on anything here, I'm not trying to be an utter douchebag or anything. From the youtube videos I've seen the new songs sound amazing! Keep on doing what you do best!

I am extremely excited on whats to come next and my mind is fully open! Also this may be a bit early, but will you still be looping? Will you tour solo or with a band?

You are the best!!!!!!


-Quicho

(You probably don't give two shits about me since I'm just a random face on the interweb but this is my current state anyways. I am trying to work out which song to play with our school's chamber orchestra. I was thinking Midnight Directives, Lewis Takes Action, Lewis Takes Off His Shirt, He Poos Clouds, Ultimatum. And I'm also trying to play violin. )


Oh and +1 on the press release thing!

[vestenet]

Whatever this turns into, I really hope you use this post as the press release.

Any music where you have to pause and ask "What kind of music is this?" is the kind of music I want hear.

[Alea]

Judging by the live renditions people have recorded of Soldier's Rock and Infernal Fantasy, it's going to be an incredible record. I say keep doing what you're doing and let the irrelevant references continue. The amazing thing about Heartland and He Poos Clouds is that they don't sound anything alike, yet both are so brilliant; you can totally get away with making another record that doesn't sound anything like those two, and the fact that it's a struggle will probably mean a better product. I hope Infernal Fantasy stays relatively true to the live version because it sounds excellent without any breathing room, even without any violin on that track.

I also agree with the press release comment.

So much love for you Owen!

[Cat]

Oct 3, 2011 20:48:15 GMT -5 Alea said:

Judging by the live renditions people have recorded of Soldier's Rock and Infernal Fantasy, it's going to be an incredible record. I say keep doing what you're doing and let the irrelevant references continue. The amazing thing about Heartland and He Poos Clouds is that they don't sound anything alike, yet both are so brilliant; you can totally get away with making another record that doesn't sound anything like those two, and the fact that it's a struggle will probably mean a better product. I hope Infernal Fantasy stays relatively true to the live version because it sounds excellent without any breathing room, even without any violin on that track.

I also agree with the press release comment.

So much love for you Owen!

I agree entirely. I'm sure whatever you come up with will sound incredible, however random/out of place/genre-less it seems. Anyway, I've always loved genre-defying music! I can't wait to hear the new record (when it is eventually released)

[Owen from Final Fantasy]

Ha, not a press release. Press releases usually begin with "Dear pricks," or something similar, jk.

Cleaning out my e-mail bin, I noticed that my e-mails from five years ago-- when I was handling my own booking and management and so forth-- they were longer, more descriptive. I don't have a Tumblr or a blog, Twitter is about lol butts, so I figured I'd keep at least the few people who visit this message board 'updated' while keeping my typing abilities sharp.

X

[muz]

Oct 4, 2011 15:54:35 GMT -5 Owen from Final Fantasy said:

I figured I'd keep at least the few people who visit this message board 'updated' while keeping my typing abilities sharp.

And we're very grateful for it.

[Alpentine]

Regardless of how the record sounds, it's still going to be labeled indie rock/baroque pop. Hand claps? Indie rock. Leeky violin? Indie rock. Merry-go-round? Patrick Wolf. Therefore, genre should not be a concern.

With the Iron Chef analogy, you have much more freedom than standard bands that have to combine the same 4-5 ingredients into every dish.

Why is inferiority associated with Canadian mentality? I don't know how people over in Medicine Hat feel, but I don't know anyone who seems to be afflicted by it.

It's never too late to surf the internet!

[sarpedon]

YOwen! I sent you a pm last week; just a question about a possible song reference that has been driving me crazy; I often times don't notice the PM bar up-top, so yeah, whenever you get a chance.

(On Topic) This is very exciting news, and I totally love Infernal Fantasy, so to hear this new material recorded in a studio will be a happy day! Any chance Matt will guest sing on a song a la Spalding Man?

[Alea]

If you make a blog please let it be on Tumblr.

[Deleted]

Thanks for update! Make sure this record has some "oompf" will ya?

That dark captivating style we've heard with Many Lives and Honour the Dead is far superior to the showtunesy orchestral stuff.

[Alyssa!]

It's weird to look back and expecting to see progress in expression: the thought that one would've been heartily whittled into a sharper communicator, or became a better carpenter for building bridges between things. My posts here used to be a long longer and metaphorical, playful. I felt like shit a lot of the time, but looking back there's a wealth of dancing language. Why would happier me write less beautiful things, when now I write in brusque shadelessness? (now included?)
I can imagine the consequences and colloraries you'd have to process in order to create an album for release. "How do I process?" "How do I process how I process?" It's heartening to hear you have musicians to support, and that they will in turn support you. "What are the boundaries of my expression?" "Should we order pizza? Is that...like...ok?"
All the best on the journey, Owen.

[jules]

Oct 4, 2011 16:02:36 GMT -5 muz said:

Oct 4, 2011 15:54:35 GMT -5 Owen from Final Fantasy said:

I figured I'd keep at least the few people who visit this message board 'updated' while keeping my typing abilities sharp.

And we're very grateful for it.

I'm grateful for anything these days.. well except for the new wisdom tooth that is playing havoc with my intelligence centre at the moment.

[Owen from Final Fantasy]

Oct 5, 2011 9:00:14 GMT -5 @mhmm said:

Thanks for update! Make sure this record has some "oompf" will ya?

That dark captivating style we've heard with Many Lives and Honour the Dead is far superior to the showtunesy orchestral stuff.

Genre concerns are in the ears of the listener, not the creator; at least, that's been my experience. "Many lives" is the most showtuney song I've recorded (excepting "Do you love" and the stuff on Plays to please).

Any gay dude or a man working with traditionally 'classical' instrumentation is going to get accusations of "showtune". To my mind, it is not a disparagement. Show tunes run the gamut from My Favourite Music Ever (Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the park with George) to Indelible Classics of American Art (Cole Porter, Gershwin Bros.) to campy jazz-hands (Glee) to superpopular shitburgers (Phantom, Wicked).

One of my closest friends, a fellow musician, once criticized my songwriting tendencies as veering toward showtunes. I didn't know what he meant; I still don't know what he meant. But it's true, I have no ear for what is jazz-hands and what is art.

Currently I'm seeking to tap into a form of aggression that is sterile, de-masculinized. Dissonance as a natural state instead of a weapon. "Oomph" as you describe it suggests something that I'm not interested in, or at least, not right now, or not consciously. Showtunes, on the other hand, well; what do you mean? Operatic singing? Jazz hands?

[emyli]

"Currently I'm seeking to tap into a form of aggression that is sterile, de-masculinized. Dissonance as a natural state instead of a weapon."

That sounds really, really cool. I bet the ensemble you're currently working with is well suited to the task, too.