Sam Was Selling Watches

The End of Years

I wanted to do an end-of-year roundup, but there seems so little point when you can just read the entries under this one. Similar for any end-of-year thankyous: they're the same as the ones below. What does that leave? I could tell you I'm sitting on quite a bit of new material, but that much of it is not in my power to see released. That might be interesting. And I've thought about maybe doing a year-in-review of the music world in general. But the only releases I can think of without prompting are Portishead's third, Third, and Chinese Democracy (which I haven't heard anyway). Well, you'll be getting enough reviews of those everywhere else, but I thought I'd pick up on the idea of bands-back-from-the-dead to mention old things I heard (or re-heard) this year.

Sylhet / Shillong

I've made another tune available on MySpace: 'Sylhet/Shillong'.

The tune is dedicated to my dad, Jolyon. The Auckland CD release gig fell on the same day as his 70th birthday and as that kinda ruled out me being in Wellington I promised to dedicate a tune to him. In the event this dedication turned into a whole new tune, custom-built to reflect his musical interests (well, I hope so). I believe he likes it :)

How to obtain Apropos of Nothing

Apropos of Nothing is now available for a reasonable price at:
Conch Records
Real Groovy
Smoke CDs

And here's a link to the official release page at Angry Rabbit.

Post-Gig Gratitude

Well, I really enjoyed playing those gigs, and I'd like to give some shout-outs to you-who-made-it-so: fellow Rabbits Michael Upton and Stuart McDonald, Dan Smith, Dave George, Jay who DJed for us, Hamish Guthrey, Pete May, Mel Watson, Murray Hepple, Andrew Manning, Kirsten Johnstone, Dylan Chase, Brigid on Drive, Liam Luff, Miles Buckingham, everyone who came along to listen, and everyone who bought a CD (including all o' you who asked me to sign 'em - weird but kinda cool). Thanks all!

Wellington CD Release

For the release of the Angry Rabbit compilation ...Apropos of Nothing, a gig at The Burgundy Room, under Bar Bodega, Friday 29 August
Starts around 9pm

Featuring :
Jet Jaguar
Malty Media
Group Five
Panoramica

$10 entry ($20 entry and a copy of the CD...)

Auckland CD Release

For the release of the Angry Rabbit compilation ...Apropos of Nothing, a gig at Khuja Lounge, Saturday 16 August
Starts at 7pm, ends at 11pm. (we mean it, this is a fixed schedule)

Featuring :
Jet Jaguar
Malty Media
Group Five
+ DJ Bignificent D

$10 entry ($20 entry and a lovely copy of the CD!)

Be aware of Beware of Trains...

I've put 'Beware of Trains' up on MySpace. This is the one that didn't make it to the upcoming compilation. The sound is a touch grubbier than the tracks that stayed (although it is meant to sound grubby), and it has a darkish repetitive bassline, ambiguous chords, and a lot of junk artifacts in the mix. All of which means it didn't fit in, but also that I'm quite happy with it, and wish to share. Enjoy.

Music and lyrics

Another month gone past. The compilation is progressing nicely. No, can't put a release date on it yet. I feel like that means it's not news, in which case I guess news means "something to sell". Well, nothing to sell just yet, so I'll carry on like last time with some hopefully amusing rambles.

I could add that for my own part in the compilation, I've changed the selection of material I've made, so there's a ready track looking for another home. It's called 'Beware of Trains', which may be good advice, but probably not relevant to any musical element in the track. Still, titles for instrumental music are like that. But then, instrumental music is like that too...