Projects

You are currently browsing the archive for the Projects category.

Neglect

I have neglected this blog. I didn’t even stop to check the date of my last post, because I’m sure it would be embarrassing to me. I have been not writing here because I’ve been writing like a maniac to catch up on Independent Clauses work. And it’s working! As of today, I have no albatross albums hanging around; I finally reviewed Inner Surge’s An Offering, a year and a half after it came out and a year after the band broke up. But I reviewed it, because it was haunting me. Distressingly, it was an awesome album. Why did I not get to it sooner?! There are no good answers.

While I have no releases clouding my mental happiness, I do have four more releases that came in the door before February started. Once I finish those four reviews, I’ll be working on current stuff. And that will be a really good feeling. I can just feel it.

So, my good friend Adam Howard has enlisted a percussionist to accompany his mad guitar skills. With Jordan Weeks in tow, Adam is going to write a song every day and post it on YouTube. This is gonna be awesome, guys. They’re only two songs in and they’ve already busted out pedal looping, weird synth-like instruments, sung rounds (no, seriously!), djembe, struck poses (okay, that is a little ridiculous) and more awesomeness.

In short, GO HERE AND LISTEN. Cause it’s goooood.

This is my 200th post. It neatly coincides with my decision to start being more disciplined in posting. I’m going to start using “tags” and “categories,” because I’ve heard that people like these things. Also I’ve heard that they make people be able to find your site. Ah, that. Readership.

An update on projects:

- I “released” the album today. Its “official” release was December 21. I say all these things “in quotations” because when there’s no money being exchanged, it’s very unimportant to have things like “release dates.” Nevertheless, it is now available at this website for free. You can listen to and download the whole thing, and all you have to do is go to www.stephencarradiniandthemidnightsons.bandcamp.com. Honest! I won’t sell your e-mail address to strangers, I swear. Quick numbers: 13 tracks, 5 years to write, 9 months to record, 8 musicians, 7 recording sessions, 4 completely solo tracks, 1 cover song.

-Now that the album is “released,” I’m going to start editing The Last Unicorns on Earth in earnest.

-I want to get re-started on the fantasy project that Peter C. Myers and I started writing this summer but put on hold for the semester while I wrote Unicorns.

-I’m in the plotting stages of my next solo novel. Details are fuzzy, but it looks like there will be a lot less cursing and probably more fight scenes (as odd as that combo seems).

-I’m in the process of making Independent Clauses back into a daily pub (that is, five times a week). It’s going to be a lot of work, but it’s what I want to do.

-Listening to a lot of good music: Post Harbor’s excellent post-rock manifesto “They Can’t Hurt You If You Don’t Believe in Them,” Freelance Whales’ Myspace at the urging of my friend Jenn Scott, and Wild Light’s Myspace because of my friend (and incredibly talented illustrator) Jason Flack.

Projects

I am close to being done with several projects.

All the words are in on my manuscript The Last Unicorns on Earth. I just need to edit it. Then the real fun begins.

All that needs to be done on my album How We Lived is mail out the link to the free album online, burn the discs for the 20 hard copies I hand-crafted, and distribute said lovingly made pieces.

“Getting caught up” is a nebulous concept when it comes to Independent Clauses, but I’m going to do my darndest to not take submissions until my current stack is below seven CDs. This does mean working like a banshee (to mix your metaphors). But I really want to get there.

Other than that, I’m just adjusting to life not as a college student. You know, the usual.

THE END

I finished my last final today. This is unnecessary information for anyone but those intimately acquainted with the disdain I feel towards most homework. And maybe those who feel like donating to the “Stephen Carradini is poor” fund.

Latest: Skyline Circle review.

Upcoming: Jenny and Tyler review.

This evening: Finishing the recording of How We Lived with John Calvin Abney III engineering.

Forthcoming: MFA applications.

Hanging out at the back of my brain: Graduating/getting a job.

“Oh life, with your colorful surprises.” -Sufjan Stevens, “The Henney Buggy Band.”