Disintegrating

Rebecca and I are putting the finishing touches on a recording of an old Cure song called 'Untitled'.

We were led to this particular song while playing around with this old forced-air organ that sounds similar to the accordian used on the original recording. As cool as that sounds, I decided to play it on the piano and from there we just decided to record it to see what it would sound like. Now Rebecca's finally got over her cold and we're able to record some vocals...

Ryan

10 years

Today marks 10 years of Rebecca and I being married. (Photo by Jake Appelbaum)

Happy Holidays

Thanks for reading our blog and we should be back up in a couple of days.

Happy Holidays.

Massive

So, I've now got NI's Massive installed on the G5 and have had a bit of time to cruise around it and listen to what it can do. Thankfully, the learning curve isn't too steep on this synth as it's rooted in the traditional structures I'm used to, unlike KORE and Guitar Rig, which challenge me a bit.

Massive has got great clarity - everything is loud, buzzy and fuzzy in the right places and the quantity of preset sounds is staggering. If Halou were an out-and-out electronic project, I expect we'd be able to put this thing to use in everything we did. As it is, I suspect I'll be using it mainly for other things.

Nice one.

Ryan.

2006

In no order at all:

Decemberists – The Crane Wife
Helios - Eingya
Console - Mono
Johann Johannsson – IMB1401
Pornopop – And The Slow Songs
Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye
Psapp – The Only Thing I Ever Wanted
Sparklehorse – Dreamt For Light Years…
Thom Yorke – The Eraser
The Late Cord – Lights From The Wheelhouse

RC

Good Feelings About Random Things

Tonight I heard some of the serious progress that's been made on a few of the songs for our next album. We basically have 5 songs that are close to done right now, with 5 others waiting to be developed. My son thinks we should call the album 'Volcanus' and, though I'm not exactly sure what that is, I'm sure we won't use it as it doesn't meet our strict criteria for such things (meaning, of course, that it doesn't start with a 'w').

What we've got so far has really got me excited. I'm very optimistic that early spring 2007 will, in fact, see us releasing our 4th record.

The track 'Seabright', in particular, has evolved into something quite unlike anything we've done before, but really sounds like a natural progression. Robin Guthrie (ex of Cocteau Twins) played guitar on this track while he was in town recording with Harold Budd and his work adds a nice sparkle to the climax.

Speaking of Robin, I've been meaning to mention two other blogs that you might be interested in checking out:

Robin Guthrie (as mentioned above)

Gareth Jones - Mixer/Engineer/Producer

Both contain fascinating insights and the unique touch of their respective hosts.

Evan, that swank curator of Dynamophone Records handed off to me his latest Lullaby League disc, which I hope to check out just as soon as my cranky G5 feels like acknowledging its placement in the disc slot.

Evan and I also made a brief trip to Amoeba where I picked up the new Hammock record. Quite nice and atmospheric in a way that takes me back to Slowdive/Boo Radleys et al.

Until next time...

Ryan.

New Seattle show posted

In one of the more ironic twists to date, Halou celebrate the release of their iTunes exclusive EP, "ALBATROSS" at a Microsoft Zune-sponsored show at El Corazon in Seattle on January 13, 2007.

Halou will have a limited number of hard-copy ALBATROSS CDs available at the show. Please email info@halou.com if you want a copy but live outside the Seattle area.

The line-up will include Halou, the incomprable Ms Zoey Keating, and others.

Here are complete details:

Saturday, January 13, 2007
El Corazón, 109 Eastlake Ave. East, Seattle
Zune Presents
- HALOU
- Mexican Institute Of Sound
- Zoe Keating (Imogen Heap/Rasputina)
- Plus Guests
Doors: 9:00 pm
Show: 10:00 pm (Zoey is opening, please be prompt!)
Tickets Available at TicketsWest Ouetlets & At The Door

Seattleites, want to help Halou? Please print this flier and hang it at work, or on your front door, or on your fridge, or anywhere you think potential Halou fans might lurk...




Hope to see you there!
-REBECCA

Albatross News

We now have a limited supply of 'hard copies' of the 'Albatross EP' for those dedicated followers of Ned Ludd out there. Unfortunately, we can't sell 'em for as cheap as the iTunes version, but if you contact us, we'll get you set up with one of them.

More news very soon, in minutes actually, just wanted this to have its own entry.

Deny The Cold

Regrettably, the hellish cold has arrived and scared away my ability to sleep. The past couple of days have been spent blissfully out of the studio and in the company of great friends doing enjoyable holiday things.

Friday night was an evening so extraordinary that blogging about it in detail would cheapen it somehow. Food was enjoyed, wine (VAST understatement) was consumed and a large crowd of new friends made Rebecca and I feel like happy new members in an incredibly warm and loving family.

Today, Rebecca and I bundled the kids and leapt over the bridge to catch the SF Youth Symphony's holiday concert. The first of what I hope to be an annual tradition for us. The program was light-hearted but quite well-thought-out and easy to get lost in. The main draw was Prokofiev's classic 'Peter & The Wolf' led by the symphony's 27 year-old(!) conductor and it was a nice reading. However, the selections played just before it were picked to highlight for the children and neophytes in the audience the different sections of the orchestra. Light waltzes and bright brass symphonies gave way to a stunning piece performed entirely by a quintet of drummers. The lone bass drummer stood stoic on stage beating his simple, but crescendoing, pulse while 4 other drummers slowly proceeded up the aisles toward the stage beating their single tuned toms. As they neared the stage, the rhythm became more frenzied and the audience more spellbound. Written as a 'wake' for the composer's musical idol, I was left utterly reminded how much more powerful music is when rended from the soul by an honest emotion and a unique thought.

The highlight, though, did not come from the stage, but from little Olivia whose response to first hearing the sweeps of the full orchestra were little gossamer tears that trickled down her sweet warm cheeks. From the first, she was completely consumed and did not disengage until the final strains. Selfishly, I grinned as I felt my parental satisfaction reserves overflow enough to warm me through until spring.

More Halou news soon, as I can hear the faint, siren-like whisper calling up the stairs from the studio. Much, much to do in the week ahead.

Ryan.

The Usual

Tonight, I've been trying to use Atmosphere for the first time and it really does not want to play nice with any other plug-ins. If I have any NI plugins open, it crashes the whole session and forces a restart.

To be honest, cool as it is, I think Atmosphere is probably something I would have found more useful 10 years ago. It's a little Jean-Michael Jarre-ish for me with its insta-ambient leanings. Nevertheless, the synthesis behind it and the GUI are very cool. Perhaps I will find a way to work it in somewhere.

On The Weekend

The volatile combination of weather and holiday shopping made things quite slow over the past couple of days. Unfortunately, I had little time to spend working on anything much in the studio - apart from cleaning things up now that rehearsals have subsided for the time being.

I did get the opportunity to work with Rebecca on finding a new tempo for the track I've been calling 'Stoplights'. Also found out Rebecca has been calling it 'Breath Makes Smoke'. In any case, we adjusted it upward 11 beats per minute, which is substantial. Typically, I don't move things up or down more than 5 BPM to get it right. I guess we both felt this particular track has the potential to be fairly energetic, which is hard to achieve at lower tempos.

Also, I did the original demo using dodgy synth sounds from Reason so I've been replacing those with real performances to work out what I/we will actually play once we go into the studio proper...

Ryan.

Last Night

Though Marin County hardly suffers from dynamic weather to the degree of, say, the East Coast, things can get pretty murky and dark. Last year around this time, Rebecca and I were nearly done with the R/R Coseboom album, a project taken on largely to pass the late fall and winter doldrums and maybe reflect a little bit of that time of year.

This year, Halou feels more vibrant and we have begun working on our next album in earnest. I have gone into some of the work that we’ve done so far on this blog, but I expect to really get into things right around the beginning of next year.

Last night, though, we got together for dinner and a little bit of recording and rehearsal. Rebecca – who can always be counted on to brighten a table with her face and her fare – served an elegant mushroom soup with fresh chantrelles, cannelloni stuffed with smoked cherries and Swiss chard (then topped with parsnip cream), and I-Li’s recipe for Moo-less chocolate cake. Almost more decadence than you should be allowed to fit into one sentence – or onto one table, but we found a way.

It was a good night for wine, too, actually. With the mushroom soup, we had the 2004 Ramey Russian River Chardonnay – a current favorite that Rebecca and I also had this Thanksgiving. With the cannelloni we drank the new Parallel Cabernet, perhaps my favorite red of the moment. To get us through the recording, we hurt a bottle of Valdez Rockpile Zinfandel – the new wine that the Spectator, Chronicle, etc. keep talking about. Lives up to the hype, no question.

We used the rehearsal to further work out the newer songs and tighten ourselves up on the older ones. ‘Albatross’ is already a new live favorite of mine with its tremolo guitar rakes and moog modulating. Also, ‘It Will All Make Sense In The Morning’ now makes a lot more sense to all of us as we were sort of confused about how to arrange it.

I’ve got much work to do on several other demos laying around. Next up, I’ve got this ‘Stoplights’ track staring at me from a lonely folder in a remote corner of an audio drive…

Ryan

Reload Image Roundup

The internets. Photos. Instantly. WTF.

DNA Lounge Photos

Flickr Photos

Live Footage

As Rebecca mentioned, the Reload event was great. Very healthy turnout of friendly people and (once we were onstage) little to no technical fuckups. A LOT of video footage to go through, but here's a small nugget:

Rebecca's Reload Recap

We had an amazing time in San Francisco at Reload the other night and we're so grateful to everyone who came and made the night so fantastic!

The lofty goal of the evening was to highlight new technologies and how live performance might be more interactive with their use. While we had a few "setbacks" toward achieving that goal, I was pretty content with the fact that it was an awesome evening of live music! That is a feat in and of itself. If ever Corey wants to put on another Reload, I'm in - especially if it's at the DNA Lounge, a fantastic venue.

The Podcast meetup was great. I was impressed with the turnout and thrilled with the enthusiasm of the attendees. I even met one person who had actually changed his last name to "Podcaster." I wonder what he'll be named in 5 years... or even 3...

Black Fiction was a nice surprise. I didn't know what to expect and besides the neckbeards, they were very well received!



One of the greatest parts of the night for me was Zoe Keating. I finally got a chance to get to know her a little better and I was thrilled to discover that she is as wonderful as you might imagine. She may be staying at chez Coseboom in the coming weeks and has promised to consult with us regarding updating our live setup. Oddly enough, we figured out that she was working at the culinary academy when I was a student there!



I have not one complaint about our set. I was so happy and relaxed and comfortable. Our new song went over as well as I had hoped and we were all really excited about sharing some more of the new music we've been working on for the new album. Hopefully, if all goes well, we will have some shows in mid-January and we can add another new one.



To the best of my knowledge, no audio recording of any value exists to chronicle the evening, but we do have loads of video. As soon as one of us has half a moment to catch breath, we'll post some of it online.

Special thanks to Darren for so capably managing our merch booth! You can see him in this photo I found online, slaving away, all bent over there on the right:



-REBECCA