winter break, etc.

This was my Christmas present ... I love it. The Leica lens is amazing - 12x optical zoom and it's capable of keeping an f value of 2.8 all the way through that range. It's got a 5 megapixel CCD and optical image stablilazation. I'm really excited to get to a show with this thing and see how well it does. When I do, some of the pictures are definitely going up on here (maybe some video too ... I'll have to see how well that feature works).

In other news, my friend Neal and I are back to working on some new material under our old moniker Where There Is Fire We Will Carry Gasoline. Obviously that line is also the namesake for this blog and comes from a line in the movie Waking Life which is one of my favorite movies. Once we've done some recording I'll put some stuff up on a myspace so keep your eyes open for that. If you've heard us play before (I doubt you have since we've only played about 5 times) expect more post-rock ambient goodness. I'm working with a lot of samples from some songs Neal recorded over the summer and it's looking very promising. We've set up sort of a makeshift practice studio in my newly finished basement and hopefully I/he can be very productive down there in the next couple days.

I have a video of the first time we played that I may upload at some point. I just need to find the miniDV tape ... I have no idea where it is. It's just one song, but it is one we are planning on recording a version of. In addition to the Korg Triton, guitar, and cello we used in our previous stuff, we're adding my laptop with fruityloops, the casio SK-1 (with it's prehistoric, but still really sweet, sampling abilities), a bowed psaltery, bass, and possibly some acoustic guitar action. So it should be pretty eclectic.

In other news, both Neal and I are excited to get our hands on the new(er) Castanets album First Lights Freeze but sadly enough neither of us have yet. I also have completely re-fallen in love with The Notwist's Neon Golden all over again. This is an album I used to listen to every once and a while but seriously neglected for the past year. I am foolish for doing so. It is an amazing album that truly stands apart from anything else.

[mp3] Castanets - All That I Know

[mp3] The Notwist - One with the Freaks