Rod Underhill, formerly of Mp3.com, is launching a brand new site called 1sound.com with streaming and downloadable music content, free blogs and much more. “Love Survives” is currently featured on their front page, but, more excitingly, Lovespirals have included a never before heard track on their artist page. Come listen to “One More” – only on 1sound!
Break downs
A few folks have written to ask us about our so-called “vacation at home” that Ryan mentioned we’d take after our L.A. show. Others just wonder in general what’s going on with Ryan, since he hasn’t posted in a bit. Well, let me just tell ya that he’s been busy as heck trouble shooting the iMac and trying to fix various broken down things the past few weeks. They say ‘when it rains, it pours’ and that must be true! We don’t know if we have a curse on us or what, but just about anything mechanical we touch seems to be breaking down, from effects units, to cars, to dryers. Blech!
One day we’ll have a clear shot to record some music again.
Knitting Factory
Wow! The Knitting Factory is a great venue; beautiful stage, great sound, super nice crew — top notch, all the way around. Our show was very intimate, with lots of friends in the audience, so it was really fun. It was nice to have Doron join us on stage again, too! We were much tighter this time around, so he didn’t blow us off the stage, like at Projekt Fest, heh heh heh. All in all, it’s nice we saved L.A. til last, as it was a nice way to end our little West Coast tour.
We plan to chill on live shows for awhile, so we can get back into the studio to record the many song ideas we’ve had since “Windblown Kiss” came out. Playing live is fun, but writing and recording is the thing that really keeps us excited.
Ipso Facto
The in-store acoustic show last night went well. I’d say that just the right amount of people showed up. The store was nicely filled, but not too packed. It was good to see Bob and Terri, from Ipso, again. We also saw Gary and Dach, both of whom I know from way back when at KUCI. It was a good crowd all the way around.
It was cool to see Audra perform acoustic. Bart borrowed Ryan’s steel string guitar, which sounded quite nice with Bret’s voice. After the show we were talking with them about doing a show together in Arizona. Bart was saying that we should have played a song together, so I suggested we do that in AZ. Today it occured to me that Bret and I could do one of the duets together; maybe “You are the Gun.” That could be cool.
Budget Projekt Comp CDs
Projekt just released 2 new budget priced compilations in conjuction with major chain stores to introduce the music of their label. For Hot Topic, there is Projekt:Gothic, including Lovespirals’ song, “Swollen Sea.” The Arbitrary Width of Shadows, featuring Lovespirals’ “Dejame,” was created for Borders.
Splendid Zine Reviews Windblown Kiss
George Zehora has written a cheeky little review of Windblown Kiss for the online zine, Splendid:
It’s no accident that the band’s name sounds vaguely familiar — Lovespirals features guitarist Ryan Lum, late of goth faves Love Spirals Downwards, teamed with vocalist/instrumentalist Anji Bee. The name change isn’t gratuitous, either, for while Lum’s LSD work thrived on ethereal gloominess, Windblown Kiss is going up, up, up. It’s a languid, shimmering pop album — yes, pop — that’s far better suited to breezy beach houses and billowing white linen curtains than introspective poetry and gothic architecture.Bee and Lum have distinguished themselves with a truly elegant work that belies their youthful looks. It’s as polished and professional as most indiepop wants to be, and refreshingly free of the overwrought lyrical imagery favored by the doom and gloom set. Lum’s guitar work (he’s credited with an impressive array of six and 12-string instruments) is expressive and moving, while Bee’s vocals — in English, French, Spanish and German — are distinctive without being showy. Eden’s Sean Bowley adds additional guitar muscle, as well as Elvis-like male vocal counterpoints on a couple of tracks, and Doren Orenstein (Frecoe) provides a bit of sax, which contributes, for better or worse, to the disc’s intermittent New Age vibe.
There’s a little loneliness (“Oh So Long”) and darkness (“Swollen Sea”) — that’s the stuff that sells, after all — but it’s balanced by the overall happiness of the music. And is it my imagination, or is “He Calls Me” pretty much a Christian rock (or at least deity-related-rock) song?
All told, this is a satisfying, surprisingly upbeat effort that’s likely to cause a fair amount of upheaval among LSD’s fan base. Then again, perhaps the time is right for a romantic album that doesn’t have a Romeo and Juliet ending.
For the record, the “He Calls Me” lyrics were actually inspired by a late-night listening session of John Coltrane’s classic album, A Love Supreme.
Borders Listening Stations
Borders is currently hosting Windblown Kiss in their Rock & Pop listening stations. If you haven’t heard the album yet, take this opportunity to preview it in it’s entirety at Borders now! This promotion will last until November 12th – just in time for your Christmas shopping.
Email List
Well, we can’t import my old address book into my new email program, so I have to start it all fresh… So, anyone reading this, please be sure to pop by CONTACTS to add yourself to the list today, and I’ll make sure to add you personally to the news list! Thanks!
Email List Overhaul
Lovespirals are currently attempting to recreate their fan email list, due to yet another computer meltdown at Lovespirals’ Headquarters (boo hoo). Anyone who has signed up since the new site launch (April 2002) should still be on the list, but older listees may have been lost in the shuffle. To make sure that you receive official Lovespirals updates, please go to the
CONTACT US page to sign up now!
What a drag…
My old iMac really bit the dust, so I had to get a new one. That’s actually a pretty cool thing, except that I can’t import my contacts into this new email program. So… getting the email list back together is going to be a real pain in the tush! I can’t tell you how many times I have recreated the Lovespirals mailing list since joining the band. Sheesh! Computers!
Man, being in a band is certainly not all glamour. Its more like non-stop work with a little bit of fun thrown in when you’re lucky.
New Audio Interview on Mp3.com
You can listen to an excellent audio interview conducted by DJ Carolee of KPSU in streaming Hi-Fi or Lo-Fi mp3 format on Lovespirals’ mp3.com page . Ryan and Anji discuss their recent West Coast tour, the new album, and much more with the lovely hostess of “A Strange Choice of Favorites.”
Back from the road
It’s been a week since we got back for our week on the road, and it’s taken me this long to finally have a chance to write here about it. Anji and I had a great time and want to thank everybody that came out to see us. And also big thanks go out to Mira for getting us off our “we’re too busy to tour” butts and on the road. Mira rocked each night, and whether or not your familiar with them, I highly recommend seeing them. Plus they are nice and friendly people.
We’ll be doing at least one more show, and that’ll be in Los Angeles on October 2. Check our news page for more info on that.