My freaking recording computer is on the fritz! Still! Oh it is times like this that I wish I had a Mac. But instead I get to reinstall windows. I have demos to record already! Jeepers.

In case you haven’t noticed, Applewine is waiting for you to pick him up. Please. He can’t walk home by himself! Not in this neighborhood! He might get devoured by a cougar… or worse, a disco remix DJ!

Alex

Hello friends and neighbors! Applewine is now out and available on CD Baby for you to cradle and caress in your arms. You can listen to high quality 2-minute samples on the page, so I won’t tire my brain trying to think of another pitch line. I do think it’s the best thing I’ve done yet. I’m quite proud of it. It’s a great pop album, and I am all about the pop. But it’s not boring top 40 pop or anything–it’s got some bite. It’s fizzy. It has carbonation.

It is only obtainable through CD Baby at the moment, but it will be on iTunes and other download stores in a week or two.

Click here to read more. Please give it an inspection.

Wonderfully,
Alex

P.S. Please vote today! It’s kind of really important.

Hey. Hello. Hey. Here is the final track listing for Applewine:

1. Plains Of Mostly Still Life
2. Coldplay Got Eaten By Piranhas
3. Fearful Symmetry
4. I Can Kill My Enemies With My Mind
5. Engulf The Manatee
6. Under Your Spell
7. Hills Of The Mind
8. Land Of Dainty Wonder
9. I Hope You’re Never Crushed By Something Heavy
10. I Wasn’t Meant To Be
11. The Bevel Collector
12. Bugs
13. Update Your Blog
14. Corn Dog Shaped Like California
15. All I Have To Do Is Hurt You
16. Elysium

Applewine is getting closer and closer to becoming a real boy. But right now Alex is working all angles to make this a release unlike any previous. There’s the matter of just getting the artwork squared away, getting everything ready for the factory, promo, various administrative errands, etc. The mixing is pretty much all done though, at least. The finished product should be available in a month or two. You will be the second to know. The first will be the UPS man.

There is a rapper dude called Spuyten Duyvil from the LA area who did a remix/reworking of Alex’s song “Rap How I Wanna Rap”! It’s called “Gift Rap” and it’s on his Myspace site here: myspace.com/spuyten. When you’ve got not one but TWO dudes who be gotten down on their rap skillz, it makes for some serious West Coast bizniz.

Do ya listen to Ween? That band is fantastic. Alex and I have been listening to them like mad lately. We’re finally catching on to them after years of fairweather likingness. The Mollusk is a revolution of the spleen.

Soupily,
The Albatross

The new album is in the mixing stage now! And, well, since I’ve been informally calling it Applewine since the beginning of the summer and I haven’t thought of anything else I like better, it looks like that’s the title. It may change though, who knows. Also, Madeline Stevens will be doing the album art. Her style is very homegrown, collagey and mossy, and I think it will be a totally different look from what I usually do.

And that brings up another subject: Not only will the album art be in color this time, but the CDs will be ACTUAL CDs, not CD-Rs. So, if everything goes according to plan, it will be indistinguishable from an actual commercial CD. I’ve always liked the homemade feel of my products, but I think it’s time to take the pro factor up a notch, so more people will actually take it seriously. (What, you mean black and white photocopies of a poorly drawn avian tombstone don’t get Jann Wenner begging for more? What about the WHITE ALBUM huh?!) That’s the hope anyway. The only problem is that this takes money! Donate to the cause by buying my CDs and songs!! Just pretend I’m a wild-eyed hobo downtown asking for money and a guinea pig. So while the speech part of Applewine is wrapping up fairly soon, the visual aide part of this musical science presentation might take a while longer to get done. Hopefully it’ll be out by the end of the year.

Finally, Alyssa has started working on a total redesign of this site. So far it looks super aces, now she just needs to make everything functional. The plan is for the unveiling to coincide with the album release. Woof!

Universally,
Alex