A couple of things.

For the record, I am in no way associated with "Ominous Chords," although I have hired Hot Chip to remix it.

I would also like to take this opportunity to deny any rumors that may have been circulating concerning me and lingerie.

That is all.

Much love to the adoring fan(s),
Chris.

demo (ominous chords)

It's all serious business around Touch Artist Headquarters ("tah" when abbreviated, and yes, we do actually say "tah" instead of spelling it out; it makes us cooler), as per usual. As promised, we do have a demo, but it isn't one that's going to make it onto the new album, unfortunately (as much I plead and beg - they beat me, they really do).

As of right now, it's available for download here on our blog. (edited to add: also available on our myspace.)

The Touch Artists - "Ominous Chords"

What people are saying about "Ominous Chords":
"It didn't seem like they were trying hard enough." - Filter

"I wanted to dance, but at the same time, I wanted to stay put. I've never felt so paradoxically conflicted in my life. ... Wait. Never mind. There was that one band. I think they all died. Nevertheless, this is a great single and I thoroughly recommend listening to it while on some sort of hallucinogen." - Under the Radar

"NOPE." - Large Hadron Collider, on destroying the world.

"Rating: negative eleventy and/or nine-point-nine. I'm pretty sure this song makes me want to kill myself. [...] On the other hand, "Ominous Chords" is just the kind of push we all need to do something substantial for the world we live in. [...]" - Pitchfork

"No." - Anonymous

"We have a record?" - Amber

Varying interpretations of "Ominous Chords":
"It's pretty clear that the illegal parakeets are the true ninjas. Being ninjas, their activities are illicit by default, thereby appropriating them to ninjahood. It is unclear whether or not the ominous chords are aware of the secret lives of these parakeets, but I guess that means the birds are doing their job." - Amber

"Regardless of the grammatical leanings of this song, I'm sure that the chords themselves are the real ninjas. Raising illegal parakeets has just been included as a requisite practise of anyone ascribing themselves to ninjahood, and I only know this because of my association with actual ninjas." - Lea

"This song represents a subconscious lust for their parents." - Freud

"No." - Anonymous

work is butt

I just left a voice memo to myself consisting entirely of "ba-da-ba, ba-da-da DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN."

You guys can work with that, can't you?

2008 what?

It's a little disheartening to think that this thing hasn't been updated for almost a year. I thought I'd remedy that with a little news, in case anyone actually reads this. I'm sure there's maybe ... one? Or that could be the peyote talking.

Despite hardcore university life and soul-sucking day jobs, the Touch Artists have been undergoing a vicious kicking of the gears. I've decided temporarily that being in a Shakespearean sci-fi rock musical is far more important than attending classes this Autumn (or, at least, that's what I'm telling myself), so you can look for me in the Newtowne Players' November production of "Return to the Forbidden Planet." There will be tentacles (and possibly Starbucks)!

Amber has taken to falling on her head occasionally, but only when animals of the equine persuasion are involved. I don't know how she can narrow down the frequency of the occurrence to an ordered state; I fall on my head arbitrarily and whenever possible.

Chris, I believe, has either finally gained dictatorship in a small third world country (though he plans to make it larger by June of 2010). Either that, or he's fallen into a university-created literary aperture, occasionally peeking out to say "hello" - and, of course, update us on the status of his domination over the as of yet unspecified third world country. Chris and I holed together for a week in August and prepped a couple of parts for demo, which means that something should be posted here for sampling ... at some point.

We're all planning to convene again from the 18th to the 21st of September overall, mainly to absorb the music of people far more talented than ourselves, but possibly making the skeleton of a cohesive track, and perhaps breathing or eating, though we aren't entirely sure.

A call to arms! (And a plea for attention.)

Gotta Start With the Basics:
Hi there. My name is Chris. I made this blog on behalf of myself and my bandmates. They did not ask me to. I didn't even ask myself to. In fact, this blog is pretty much entirely uncalled for. I just made it because I felt like it. Why did I feel like it? I wanted there to be a cute little niche, a pull-off if you will, on the side of the information superhighway for my bandmates and I to write about both the music we love and the music we are creating.

Music? Writing? Creating? Um, Just Who the Hell Do We Think We Are?:
We think we're an indie-rock band. Whether or not we actually are is not a piece of information we particularly want imparted to us. When we're not writing music, which is most of the time because we're new at this and would likely become sucidial if we tried to convince ourselves at this juncture that this would be a great new day job, we are a bunch of unapologetic music geeks. This is a quality I fervently hope will be expressed in every post of this blog. We listen to lots of music, we love music, we obsess over music. This is why we also want to create some. We know it's a long, long journey from where we are into the upper echelon of musical awesomeness that we so lovingly turn our heads to, but damned if we're not going to try little by little to scramble our way up there.

Okay, So What Are We Working On?:
I can only speak for myself here. See, this is a difficult question to answer. The Touch Artists are not a band in the typical sense -- the sense that we can all meet up on Saturdays and jam out in someone's garage. Rather, we're analogous to that beloved Ben Gibbard/Jimmy Tamborello collaboration The Postal Service (none of which is as good as their "(This Is) The Dream of Evan and Chan" recorded in 2001 under the Dntel moniker, but I digress). The three of us have only met up in person once. I live in Albuquerque, NM. Lea lives in Lexington Park, MD. Amber lives in Los Angeles, CA. This naturally makes it more difficult to get together and rock out. We're poor. We can't afford that kind of plane fare. (Though, of course, if you wish to be a mysterious benefactor, the band would be happy to create a PayPal account.) We will not let this stand in our way, though. The miracle of the internet makes music recording and sharing easier than it has ever been, and even the simplest software goes a long way in the creation process.

Okay, So What Am I Working On?:
I'm a college student. A beginning one, even. A freshman. A rookie. Naturally, this takes most -- if not all -- of my time. To complicate matters, I am also employed part-time at a used bookstore (which is excellent and actually pays me money and stuff). This doesn't leave me with very much time to write music.

However! The Touch Artists' recent union has inspired me, and I have spent more time than usual sitting with my guitar and trying to finger out interesting sounds. I have come up with (and actually written down!) a couple interesting riffs and melodies. I hope to apply these to an actual song sometime soon. It is my early New Year's Resolution to compose a full song or two by the time my Christmas winter break is over and I return to school in mid-January.

What I'm saying is, I am making progress. It's slow, but it is progress. We all know about the tortoise and the hare. It's better to work slowly and turn out some quality stuff than to rush like hell through all of it and put out crap every damn year. (Yes, Fiery Furnaces, I'm looking at you. Seriously. Blueberry Boat and EP were awesome, but then you just lost it. What gives?)

What Are My Bandmates Working On?:
I'm not sure. It would help if I talked to them.

I'll give them the information for this blog and force them to post stuff. It will happen. And I might even talk to them, too.

Other People's Music:
Awesome "Classic" Album I Had Never Heard Before But Bought a Week Ago: Boards of Canada's Music Has the Right to Children. It's just one that I had never gotten around to, despite having heard glowing things about it for years. In general, ambient techno isn't my favorite form of electronica (it's very mellow, which can be great for certain moods, but in general I prefer something with a little more bite and pulse), but this is probably one of the best examples of it I have heard. It's certainly more beat-heavy and higher-BPM than Aphex Twin's classic Selected Ambient Works albums (the baseline from which I measure this type of music), not to mention spooky, atmospheric, and highly effective. I'll have to give it a few more listens before I can pass definitive judgment on it, but it's really a delightful recording.

I Wanted This CD, But No Stores In My Area Had It: LCD Soundsystem's 45:33. I'm not sure what's up with this. I had no problem finding both his debut and Sound of Silver 'round these parts. Oh well. I'll order it.

Geez, Is This Blog Post Over Yet?!:
Yes. Happy Thanksgiving, all!

--Chris