Hate mastering

The last two days were spent re-mastering the release for Elevation as I wasn't so happy anymore. Little anomalies were noticed through playbacks on various platforms. As we all know, music has to sound good on ipods these days. But I mostly test it on my old-school Panasonic Shockwave discman, computer speakers, a soundsystem with subwoofer and in the car. Thus, work was skipped and dinner were served at odd hours, but it was necessary to erase any doubts, and reach that point of satisfaction. Producing music is a love/hate thing, the hate being emphasized thoroughly at the end of the journey. I hope the label likes it, they are currently listening to it at the moment. Artwork is in the works... I'm excited about my first digipak.

Friendship Cove

Always fun to play in loft spaces, especially one with access to the roof where you can watch the fireworks, the skylights and the mills between bands change-ups. The crowd was relatively pretty young, but the kids seem to enjoy it. However, I seemed to be the only one drinking that night, which was weird. Place Hands played an amazingly loud set, we swapped CDs. Saccidananda showed a lot of promise, looking forward to hearing them through a decent venue sound system next month.

Tren Brothers

Yesterday, I stumbled upon the Tren Brothers gig at La Sala Rossa, for the Suoni Per Il Popolo. The Tren Brothers are Mick Turner & Jim White from Dirty Three - basically Dirty Three without Warren Ellis, the violinist. I saw Dirty Three in 2000-something, at the Cabaret. They were accompanied by Zak Sally, then - also bassist of Low, which was one of my favorite gigs of all-time.

The Tren Brothers played a tremendous set. I never knew that a drummer could make me fall asleep, as I was drifting in and out of consciousness. Of course the 6-7 beers I had at a corporate party prior the show also had something to do with that. Anyway, check them out if they're playing near you.

Speaking of Low, the Gospel Retribution Choir led by Alan Sparkhawk are playing tonight, which is very, very tempting...

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Tomorrow I'm playing at the Friendship Cove, a DIY artsy underground loft in the middle of the abandonned, ghostly streets of Griffintown. 215A Murray Street is the address. I'm opening for Place Hands, this math/indie pseudo-hardcore band from Toronto & newcomers to the scene, Saccidananda. 5$. Check it out.

Autres Directions

Superbe critique de l'album 'Unconquered' sur l'excellent webzine français Autres Directions, merci Denis! À lire ici.

Divan Orange

Gig at Divan Orange yesterday, it went okay I think. I had problems with my laptop's screensaver for the visuals… it was distracting. The sound was massive, the bass on the new stage was boomy, which is good for TQA stuff because it usually lacks the low-end. My sporadic basslines (aka octave guitar notes) were a lot more present, and I also triggered more drum-loops than usual on the spot, making it a more upbeat/rockier set than the usual washed out hazy ambient. I also played some really old stuff that I haven't touched since the very first TQA shows, and some new stuff I just made up a few hours before the gig... and made quite a random mix-mash.

Apillow played his first set in 3 years (and 2nd ever), with guest musicians Kit Malo & Mike Baker. Very good stuff.

Playing again at the Friendship Cove in Griffintown this Saturday, with Toronto's Place Hands and newcomers Saccidananda. Should be a fun loft show...

Follow-up to Orange

Aidan Baker came over yesterday evening. We listened and figured out what to do with our tracks. They were recorded live in one afternoon back in October, playing simultaneously & completely improvised. Kept some, flushed some, editing & clean-up will ensue. It will sound pretty different to what we've done with Orange, not quite terror-ambient-ish. There's actually a part with a nice groove, that's all I'll say for now.

Entry for no one

I'm obviously not updating. Mainly, because no one is reading because I haven't publicized this. So for those who are reading, well... this is a random entry. I can't be arsed to make the effort to make a nice layout. I did try at some point, but unfortunately between work and music, I don't have time.

What else. I'm recording an EP for Elevation Recordings. Although it's turning into an album because some songs are just too long, past the 40-minute mark. It's currently in the DIY mastering process... which drives me as insane as the mixing process.

I'm trying to book some U.S. dates for the end of august, but I'm starting to lose my motivation... All I really want to do is not do anything for a while. But maybe that's not true either. If anyone in NY, MA, RI, NH, CT, PA, etc. wants to book me from August 26th-31st, get in touch.

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I also got some more reviews for 'Unconquered':

* Imperiumi.net (Finland):
http://www.imperiumi.net/alb_2.php?id=7517

* Nothingatall.net (UK):
http://nothingatall.net/review.php?what=reviewView&item=234

* Vital Weekly (Holland):
http://vitalweekly.net/628.html

* Exclaim! (Canada):
http://www.exclaim.ca/musicreviews/generalreview.aspx?csid1=122&csid2=847&fid1=31443

* The Metal Observer (Canada/Germany):
http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=14351

* Music-Scan (Germany):
http://www.music-scan.de/Templates/reviews_team.php?id=9886

* noiZine (Greece):
http://noiz.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/thisquietarmy-%e2%80%93-unconquered/

* Built On A Weak Spot (USA):
http://www.builtonaweakspot.com/2008/06/thisquietarmy-unconquered.html