And that reason is Twitter. It used to be I’d collect my thoughts up, like guitar riffs, then put them altogether in a blog entry (or a song, in the case of guitar riffs, ’cause they don’t make such good blog entries).

But nowadays it’s just, ‘Ooh, I’ll put that on Twitter.’ It’s probably just as well, ’cause usually I’d forget my thoughts (and guitar riffs) when it came time to write a blog entry.

So I suppose a proper update is in store - but you’re not gonna get it just now, haha. But I will say the album is pretty much done - been working on the opening, and therefore most important track, ‘The Purpose of Man’ these past couple of days. I think it’s done - might cut part of the intro out, as it’s about 45 seconds in before the first verse otherwise, and the last minute-and-a-half has no drums at all, which might give a false impression of what’s to come.

Another one of the tracks might need a little vocal editing, and a few need them pushed a little higher perhaps (Jebus, I never expected to see myself writing those words - thank YOU, autotune), and one needs Rob’s killer guitar solo, then yeah. I’ve got the mastering settings pretty much locked in. Shit, might even be done for my birthday on the 7th.

I’ve completely dropped the double-album idea now, so the album’s just gonna be called Battletech. I’m still deciding whether next to work on all-new songs, use songs I already have but haven’t used, re-record what I did in these sessions (but better), or re-record an old luna spark album I know in my heart is good, but ears (and friends) tell me isn’t. No matter what I do, the result is going to be more electronic/synth oriented than Battletech, ie. no ballads.

I should make that a rule for ALL future albums, otherwise I’m gonna be stuck with autotune forever…

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I can’t believe I now own two cars. We bought this last night, a 1999 Nissan Tino, ’cause it’s not only almost 10 years newer than our previous car, and almost of this millenium, but it’s a lot safer, and being automatic will be easier to park on the hilly free parking street next to work. 

We’ve nicknamed it the Santino, for obvious and not so obvious reasons. 

Took it for my first drive today, and it’s weird - I’m used to driving an ancient manual, and it was so much easier - except the constant worry of how wide it is, which I’m sure I’ll get over.

Nicer stereo too - though no iPod/cassette input, so I’ll have to get an iTrip or make a whole lot of compilation MP3 CDs. That’s harder than it sounds, cause most of my stuff is in AAC (iTunes) format.

Just have to get rid of the old warhorse now… any takers? 

I have Parker all afternoon to myself, ’cause Tariqa’s out counting votes in the election today. If he’s good, I should get some recording done.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I know I haven’t even released the official version yet, but I was mucking around last night and put together this little remix - in other words, stripped out most of the guitars and drums, stuck in a drum machine and some synthesizers, tweaked everything a bit, and voila!

Download it here for free: Images of Bliss - Remix

Should be getting some more of the album proper done this afternoon - had a few weeks off - and Rob will be up in a few weeks, maybe we’ll get the vocals to The Purpose of Man done. We wrote it in like, 1996 or something, and it’s a psychedelic britpop-electro weirdo thing that pretty much sounds like nothing else on the album. Remixing that one will be fun too.

I haven’t blogged much recently - most of it’s been on Twitter and Facebook, haha. Shows what kind of attention span I’m forced to have at work when there’s actual news happening.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I sat my restricted driver licence test yesterday, at the grand old age of 28. The timing though not deliberate, seems apt.

Young guys in their cars statistically die more often between 16 and 25, and I’m past that. Rock stars die at 27, so  I’m free of that obstacle too. In more ways than age.

I was always convinced when younger I’d die in a car accident - my suspicion was it wouldn’t be whilst I was in a car, but cycling or jaywalking, but I figured with accident rates as they are for young guys, my rock star ambitions and the fact I grew up in a car-less family in a flat city, I’d be better off not getting behind the wheel too soon.

Still, there was never any conscious decision to wait this long - I began learning in 2003, with lessons from Rob - as a part of my post-freakout/Aropax, get in line phase - which never got beyond practise drives around Flagstaff. The theory was if we (I) hit anyone, the family would either be nice and rich enough to handle it, or evil and rich enough for us to be doing the universe a favour. Then again, getting to speed where injury was even a possibility was a problem, with my inept gear-changing skills.

I barely touched a steering wheel again till late last year, when Parker’s impending arrival, the realisation I had a real job, being past 27 and Tariqa’s … encouragement, got my motivation back up. 

I ran out of money a couple of times, and had to cancel what I thought would have been my last lesson - driving on busy motorways, lane changes and parallel parking - because Parker decided to arrive a few days earlier than we expected. That night was my first time driving by myself, which despite the disaster of getting completely lost, gave me the confidence I could actually make a car go forwards in the direction I wanted it to, etc.

Now, after spending a couple of months sometimes bussing, sometimes driving to work with the well-rehearsed (in my mind) ‘But officer, I’m 28 - I have a family - I’m not some 15-year-old hoon, I’m just trying to get to work,’ spiel ready to go, I have my restricted licence. The testing guy was a dick (’For the love of god, look out!’ when I was travelling 30km/h down an empty road towards a deserted pedestrian crossing), but gave me a pass, despite not saying a single nice thing about my driving skills from the time we met till the time we parted (where he took care to lock his door, but left the window wide open). 

I was driving home today in heavy lunchtime traffic, and realised, holy shit - I’m an Auckland commuter, in my own car, driving home from work to my family, listening to the Rolling Stones and Floyd on a Friday afternoon with the window down. 

In my defence there are no buses at 4.30am for my morning commute, and even if there were, I’m sure they’d still find a way to take 45 minutes to get to Eden Terrace. And I was listening to Bis and the Talking Heads, which are still cool. Aren’t they?

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

And in this dream, Depeche Mode recorded an acoustic album, made up songs written by Paul McCartney (music) and Mark Mothersbaugh (words). Weird… but awesome.

I’m close to finishing the Radio Over Moscow recordings. Might see if Rob’s keen to do the The Purpose of Man vocals while he’s up here for my Planet of the Apes Mid-Winter Movie Marathon (yes, it deserves capitals).

And lastly, my latest entry on Eight Track Mind is about NZ Music Month.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Picked up the new Manics album on the weekend, and have been listening to it almost non-stop since. I’m not sure how much any of you care, but it’s good hearing James singing Richey’s words again, even knowing it’ll never happen again. It’s a grower of a record, only the first couple of songs (Peeled Apples and Jackie Collins Existential Question Time) really stand out on first listen, but the rest soon show themselves - I’d have to say apart from those two, This Joke Sport Severed, All Is Vanity and Marlon JD would be my favourites. Steve Albini’s production is nice and heavy, but it’s been given a proper shiny mix so it’s not unlistenable. Rating at 83/100 on Metacritic at the moment, which is impressive for any major label album there. Nice artwork too, and all the lyrics printed out, which made the first listen (on my big headphones after a couple of drinks) all the much more enjoyable and eye-opening.

Anyway… that morning I was trying to catch a bus to town so I could pick up the CD before work, but didn’t have enough credit on my card. I figured I might have time to get some money and race onto the next bus stop, so hoofed it to the ATM and began navigating the long-winded menu.

I then heard this woman yelling, and turned around to see she was yelling at and approaching yours truly. WTF? I thought maybe I was being robbed - checked she wasn’t holding a knife - then listened to what she was actually saying: “GET OUT OF MY BODY! I TOLD YOU TO STAY OUT OF MY BODY!” Err, okay… she was shouting this whilst wearing a bum bag and rocking a boy’s haircut, waving her woollen-gloved hands in my face.

Then she attacked me - it wasn’t hard to block her blows, but it felt faintly ridiculous - I was being attacked by an insane lesbian. She then stormed off, much to the amusement of everyone standing around watching. The bus went past, and I thought shit, my bus to town, and ran off after it. I caught up, and for once the bus driver was accommodating, and pulled over for me.

All I wanted was to get my Manics album before work…

TOP TEN ALBUMS OF THE LAST… MONTH!

1. Sounds of the Universe - Depeche Mode
2. Journal for Plague Lovers - Manic Street Preachers
3. The Holy Bible - Manic Street Preachers
4. Doves - Kingdom of Rust
5. Screens - Mint Chicks
6. Day & Age - Killers
7. Years of Refusal - Morrissey
8. Modern Life Is Rubbish - Blur
9. Cardinology - Ryan Adams
10. Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future - The Bird and the Bee

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I’m reading a book at the moment (Shock! Horror! But I’ll have you know I used to read like… some kind of reading… machine…), Alex James’ autobiography, Bit of a Blur. It’s entertaining, but worthless if you want any kind of insight into Blur’s songwriting and recording processes.

As a result I’ve been relistening to Blur’s catalague (I’m not so sure about my ‘listen to every song on my iTunes in order of shortest to longest’ idea anymore), and I have to say because I had such crappy stereos and headphones as a kid, I never realised what an awesome bassist Alex is.

It’s easier to read on a bus than it is walking, which is one advantage of living out here in Avondale. The other, I suppose, is that we miss the new motorway by a kilometre or two, give or take.

In other news… Parker did his first tummy-to-back roll today! Then wouldn’t stop doing them.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Bought a new guitar today - from the reviews/retail prices I’ve seen, I think I got a major bargain… $300 including the case, and it’s pretty much new, hardly been used. Apparently the mum bought it for her kid, but he didn’t take to it, preferring the Epiphone his uncle or someone got him. Ah well - my gain! 

It’s a Karina Les Paul copy, looks pretty much like the classic white Les Paul James Dean Bradfield plays.

Watching the season finale of Lost tonight… treading carefully on the interwebs till then… 

In other news… Melissa Lee continues to entertain. We’re no longer in the Mt Albert electorate, just outside of it really, but I can still confidently say she never had a chance before this week, but well and truly doesn’t now. I doubt she’ll ever be able to stand for Waitakare either, considering her support for the motorway through Mt Albert is predicated around bypassing criminals west.

Assembled my cross trainer yesterday - if only that was the hard part. Now I have to convince myself to use it. I think I’ll find a way to set the computer never to display the calories burned, as it’s a little depressing. It’s a minute of running/walking/whatever it is you call what you do on a cross trainer to hurn off a Diet Coke. That’s not encouraging!

New Manics album next week. Freakin’ excited.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

And I don’t mean making a blog entry while I’m at work, though that shouldn’t be ruled out - it’s my new blog at 3news.co.nz, so it’s literally a blog at work. It’s about… go have a read, and you’ll see. RSS/Atom feed also available.

I was planning my next entry to be all about a genius idea the local bus companies should implement immediately, that will vastly increase the number of users, but that will have to wait. ‘Cause I’m blogging at work…

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I’ve decided to listen to EVERYTHING on my iTunes. It sounds hellishly dramatic, and in some ways it is, particularly this first 10 minutes or so. Why? Because I’ve decided to listen to it from smallest file to largest - which means I’m currently privy to bursts of introductory drumbeats interspersed with short vocal pieces, comedy skits and John Lennon quotes. I know eventually it’ll become punk songs a minute long, followed by those new wave sellouts who could play for two, the perfect three-minute pop songs, the post-45″ four, the rock five, metal six, prog-rock seven, eight, nine and beyond, then a few days.. weeks… later the epic classics, followed by the full-album-downloads-noone-ever-bothered-to-cut-up and then wrongly miscast Lost fan podcasts on how Faraday will change the future I haven’t deleted by then. 

Provided I go through with this insane plan.

It’s Mothers’ Day tomorrow/today. Tariqa hates surprises, so I bought her a dress she indicated she would like, and it arrived a day or two ago with an outdated, yet impressive price tag in the triple digits. We’ve kept up this ludicrous facede it’s actually the cross trainer I bought a day or two ago, which actually cost triple digits, which is the kind of thing I’m buying cause we have all this space to fill in the new place. 

After 15 minutes of listening to my iTunes from smallest file to largest, I’m a little disturbed that I’ve heard the Who sing how worried they are little Tommy is going to be staying with paedophile Uncle Ernie three times already. Do the Faraday and tell him not to go, already!

My cross trainer hasn’t arrived yet, so despite shaving completely yesterday, I still don’t get ID-d at the supermarket. 

Next week my new, music/tech blog goes live on 3news.co.nz.  It’s called ‘Eight Track Mind’. I’ll link when it arrives.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I just bought a freakin’ cross trainer. Lol, wut?

Yeah, I know.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Radio Over Moscow - ‘Anti-Human Nous’. First single from the upcoming album ‘Battletech 1′, out later in the year. The video’s a no-budget fuckaround, as you’ll see, but was something to do, nonetheless.

You can download the song (and others, in proper quality) from: http://radioovermoscow.com

I promise the next one won’t look as if it was shat out the back of an Atari in half an hour.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

…perhaps the funniest two and a half minutes ever broadcast on TV. Enjoy!

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I just heard an informercial that differentiated their product by saying it burnt off weight in ‘calories’…. I assume kilojoules are burnt off by their other product, the Scambuster 2000…

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Here’s a track from the Battletech sessions that isn’t going to be on one of the albums - calling it a ‘b-side’, ’cause that’s what it would have been in the old days. Can download for free at 128k if you want, as usual. It’s called ‘Broken Windows’, and you can conjecture what it’s about all you like - I wrote most of it 11 years ago, rewrote it a few months ago after a few wines and have no idea really. 

Last night after a few wines and an hour or two of recoring the note ‘E’ in a droning fashion for another song (it’s the kind of thing the song needs, but you have to be a few wines down to bother doing it), I went to bed but couldn’t work out where this shifting, changing grinding sound like a chainsaw, or circular saw, or some other kind of mechanised saw was coming from. It was loud, and sounded as if someone had decided to home renovations at 3am on a Sunday.

Tariqa found the source of the racket - my battery powered toothbrush had fallen into a bucket whilst on, and the vibrations were being amplified quite literally through the bathroom floor.

Weird!

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I was woken by noise this morning. My first thought was, ‘Why is the TV so damn loud?’. My second, ‘Why is Tariqa watching high school marching bands on TV?’. The third, ‘Wait, that’s not TV. Does this happen every weekend in Avondale?’ The last, ‘Oh shit. It’s Anzac Day. If this was any other morning I’d be at the window with the sniper rifle’.

Seriously, we have a very Lee Harvey Oswald-esque view over the Avondale shops. No US president (that isn’t Obama) or Austrian archduke better parade through this neighbourhood.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

Google is launching its new profile/social networking thingamabob this week, so I thought I’d have a quick squizz, and noticed one of the questions had an interesting answer suggestion…

Awesome. Link.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

For anyone new that may be following, I used to regularly list my current favourite albums of the week/fortnight/parsec, but for some reason even unknown to myself, I’ve stopped. That’s no good, so I’m going to start again, with a ‘Top Albums of the Last Three-And-Two-Thirds Months’ list (thank god for Last.fm!). So without further ado…

Top Albums of the Last Three-And-Two-Thirds Months!

1. Franz Ferdinand - Tonight
2. Morrissey - Years of Refusal
3. U2 - No Line on the Horizon
4. Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe
5. The Killers - Day & Age
6. Manic Street Preachers - The Holy Bible (US Mix)
7. Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
8. Cheap Trick - In Color
9. Mint Chicks - Screens
10.  Doves - Kingdom of Rust

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

I’ve been in Avondale a week now (the ‘South Auckland of West Auckland’, as my old boss put it), so feel like I should say something about the new place/neighbourhood.

Firstly, there are only four types of shop in Avondale - fruiterers and greengrocers, Chinese-made crap stores, fast food outlets and pawnbrokers/loan sharks.

Secondly, the buses are fast. It’s like Avondale is the located at the extreme end of a pulled-back rubber band about to be let go. It took 15 minutes to get to work today from pick-up to drop-off - that’s how long it takes to drive! Seriously.

Thirdly, there’s a big fuck-off spider ’statue’ which all the local drunks and freaks hang out beneath. It’s so awesome, I think if I’m still here in a couple of albums’ time, I’m going to have to do one called ‘Arachnid-Upon-Avon’.

Fourthly, building code regulations stipulate bedrooms must have a natural light source, so there’s a massive skylight in the middle of both bedrooms. This is great at 6pm, not so much at 6am.

Fifthly, and I’ll make it lastly for now, one of the neighbours has an unsecured wireless internet connection. The upshot of this is not needing to pay for the big-ass bandwidth cap anymore.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.