Scalpelist Daily Brief – Friday 7/31/09

HW/Hope of New Fields  -  Jonny Greenwood

Xanadu  -  Olivia Newton-John

American Boy (feat. Kanye West)  -  Estelle

Iamundernodisguise  -  School of Seven Bells

Katrien  -  Mogwai

Turnabout  -  Ornette Coleman

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough  -  Michael Jackson

E Preciso Muito Amor  -  Chico Da Silva

Good Morning Beautiful  -  The The

Like a Friend  -  Pulp

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)  -  Sly & The Family Stone

Heaterz  -  Wu-Tang Clan

(S)

We Have Signal

If you live in Alabama, there’s a show called ‘We Have Signal’ on Alabama Public Television, Thursday nights 10pm & Sunday nights 11pm .  I’ve repeatedly stumbled upon it while getting ready for Sunday sleep,  and every time I’m amazed at how cool it is!  It’s live performance and interviews of bands/artists at The Bottletree Cafe in Birmingham.  The Dodos,  The Fiery Furnaces,  Bill Frisell,  The Wedding Present,  The Sword and many others were featured this season.  I caught The Duke Spirit tonight and Deerhunter is on next week.  Seeing music like that on tv would be special anywhere,  and the fact that this show is based in Birmingham makes it even weirder and more amazing.  The Bottletree and ‘We Have Signal’ should be treasured by those in and around The Magic City…

(S)

The O+S iPhone app!

O+S have an iPhone app! Like most pieces in our little puzzle, it’s simple – music, pics, video, updates – but as time goes on we’ll try to expand how we use it in cool ways.  Debuting new songs, videos & remixes,  temporarily streaming demos,  ticket giveaways…   who knows?  Whatever it is,  don’t miss out – download it today!

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=319026153&mt=8

The O+S iPhone app

Start Where You Are

I have a weird relationship with Birmingham, AL.  It’s where I’m living now with my little family.  It’s also where I:  moved in with my  mom when I was 10;  spent most of my teen years;  started my 1st band,  Remy Zero,  with my best friends in 1989;  met Orenda Fink in 1992;  left and swore I’d never move back in 1994;  moved back in 2007;  finished the debut album for my 2nd and current band,  O+S,  a collaboration with Orenda Fink.

I find it to be alternately alluring and infuriating,  dream-inspiring and dreary.  It’s nickname is The Magic City,  and I actually think there IS something magical here,  in the air and the trees and the quiet, empty nights.  But there’s also something that keeps that energy from being fully expressed.  It’s a place of latent potential,  somehow never fully realized,  and slow decay.  I’ve decided to take an inventory of the unique aspects,  the sights and sounds that make it special,  or at least that have made it special to my life.  An homage I guess.  I hope in the process to get source material we can use for the next O+S project,  similar to the way we used Orenda’s Haitian & southern recordings.  If anyone out there has suggestions of people,  places or things we should include in this collection,  please feel free to share.  (Thank you to all those who already have on Twitter and Facebook…)  It’d be really cool to convey some of what I’ve gotten from this compelling,  confounding place.  At the very least it seems like good place to start…  (S)

Storm Coming

Pregnant clouds but no lightning strikes yet.  Orenda is off riding the wave of Azure Ray’s reunion (see tour dates here) and I’m home gestating the beginnings of new O+S songs.  I think I’ve found the guiding idea,  the direction the new music should be heading in.  I just haven’t quite hit on the method to make the sound in my head reality. It was easy last time because O had gone to Haiti and around the South to collect field recordings,  and she’d started a few things.  So the mood and the method were predetermined.  Also,  it came out of the blue.  No one knew we were even making a record together,  so there were no preconceived notions. This time we’ve got a pretty good (I think) record behind us,  a blank slate in front of us,  and a headful of ideas that need to be made tangible.  Nothing that’s come out so far has been quite what I’m after,  but I’m getting closer.  If we pull off what I’m imagining I think everyone will be surprised.  I just hope it’s surprised in a good way!  Time will tell…

(S)

What’s Happening

Here’s a little recap of recent events in O+S world: 

We’ve made a cool new video for ‘We Do What We Want To’ directed by Chris Lawson & Antonio Scarlata,  and also 2 remixes of ‘Permanent Scar’,  one by Depressed Buttons (Todd,  Clark & Jacob of The Faint) & one by BlesteNation.  We’re really excited and all of it will be available very soon.   The next few weeks will find me in the studio trying to perform songwriting alchemy while Orenda embarks on a tour with the reunited Azure Ray (!) and prepares for the October 6 release of her new solo album,  ‘Ask The Night’.   Orenda also appears in the new Japancakes video for ‘Behind The Mountains’ and the new Jenny Lewis video for ‘See Fernando’.  

Busy girl,  isn’t she?  A little dynamo!  That’s why I love working with her.  Look for new O+S music to be a part of that output in the near future.

More soon…   -Cedric

Welcome to the new site!

Or more precisely, the new format.  Finally we have something a little more involved than a splash page pointing elsewhere.  Let’s hope it’s an improvement! 

A very special thank you to the talented and generous Mia Kirby for building our little home base (and the last one).  Check her out:  http://miakirby.com