Radio Killed the Video Star

We've had some very positive feedback about "The Unofficial National Anthem" from a few sources now, which has been quite encouraging, comparing the song, or parts of it, to Syd Barrett, Brian Eno, Pink Floyd, Can, Jethro Tull and others. The song has recently been played on the Spellbound radio programme, which will be available as a downloadable mp3 within a week. It is also likely to appear on a compilation CD in the near future - details to follow shortly, I hope.

Work is progressing slowly but surely on "Stockholm", both in terms of the visual side (with animated scenes progressing well - almost 20% complete) and the audio. We have a growing collection of soundtrack material to choose from, ranging from our first ever recording session through to the latest pieces, and will be putting some short selections up on The Lunacy Board website. The first piece is already there, a 2 minute piece of improvised instrumental music reminiscent of Meddle-era Pink Floyd.

Finally, for the moment, we also have a dedicated forum area over at Melos' Prog Bazaar, so drop in any time and let us know what you think about the band, the music, the weather or anything else.

All Stand, Please

We had a good Lunacy Board session last weekend - first time using the new studio set-up, which worked out pretty well, though we didn't exactly put it all through its paces.

Sean brought a few ideas for lyrics and music, which we mulled over and mangled into the skeleton of a song. I think we managed to capture the intent of the original text, but the music went off in its own direction, as often happens. What we thought would be a deep and meaningful anti-anthem became a perfectly formed 3-minute pop tune, albeit with deeper than the average lyrics.

The piece ("The Unofficial National Anthem") features Sean on vocals and drums and yours truly on guitar and bass, which was all recorded fairly painlessly with a couple of back-up takes just in case. The result was very pleasing, and positively catchy, if a little ragged around the edges. We're planning on doing some rehearsal of it before the next session to tighten it up before re-recording, as well as trying something more suited to our musical roots in a Can / Robert Wyatt style.

Change of Direction

We had another jam/recording session at the weekend, and things took an interesting (for me, at least) turn following a bit of between-track banter. We'd been working on a song that just wasn't quite coming together in the way expected - it kept turning into a ballad without being asked. Some chat later, we came across the discovery that we both have a deep love of Can's music, which changed things in a significant fashion.

So now we're going to focus on longer improvisational pieces, which may be overlaid with spoken word or singing depending on the music. We recorded a number of improvised snippets with just bass and synth, with fairly mixed results. Mostly it sounded like a part of a larger piece, lacking percussion and a lead instrument or voice, whilst some bits just sounded painful, like when we changed key to different keys, but time and practice should sort those things out, or at least address how to recover quickly. There were a few parts where the sounds and the lines we were playing meshed together really well, giving a hint of how good it could be with work.

What I particularly like about this direction is that it will allow us to swap between instruments and make use of our whole sonic arsenal, which means I'll get to put the theremin and yobstick (when completed) into use.

Hopefully we'll have another session within the next week or two, and more progress can be made...