Actualization

Right.

I’ve done nothing with Climate in the past week or so. The reason? Anberlin.

This is the best band I’ve heard since I discovered Silverchair. I’m spending all of my time listening to this and re-energizing my soul. I’m in love.

I’ll be back to recording soon enough with new ideas.

Progress. April 27, 2009.

Here are the songs I’ve been recording.

1. Moment is You (formerly Personal Effect, probably)

2. Rational Anthem

3. The Knifefight (formerly Hi, Travis)

4. Division Song (just the opening riff so far)

5. Stable Things

I want to work on:

1. Chaos Style

2. A new on in Bb (tent. called “This December”)

3. A new one in G# (tent. called “Fuck Your Yankee Bluejeans.” Not really.)

Progress is pretty good. I bought a 1TB FW800 drive to back everything up, but I forgot to take it home from work where it was delivered today. So one more day of risking losing everything should the hard drive crash for some reason.

The Knifefight is sounding good and I began trying to record a sonic technique I’ve imagined in my head for years and never really did w/ exception to Moment is You: very high guitar melody, abstract and patterned. The closest parallel I can equate it to is First Day Back by Braid, or some of the work Foals does. I love Braid’s interlude :20 in where the high guitar gives a second voice to the vocalist. It’s a bitch tuning my guitar to accommodate those high frets. Plainly speaking, I need a better guitar. I’ve had my Jagmaster Squire since May 2005. It won’t cut it for long. I’m too stubborn to change, I guess.

I decided on a typeface and some sort of design aesthetic for the new Climate branding. I want this one to be the one that lasts, the way that all good bands seem to. Think of Cake. Always Copperplate, always set high and large on the top middle of the cd cover. That sort of thing. A good brand will propel the promotional campaign and solidify and legitimize the purpose of the music.

I was going to sing tonight, but I wasn’t feel top notch. You know how it is. Some days you’re on fire, some you’re not. Tonight was a bit less frantic. I think in the coming days I’m going to see a breakthrough. I may end up putting The Knifefight, in some preliminary version, as a teaser. I’m tired of putting “DEMO” at the end of everything, and if I’m not satisfied with the mix to really, truly redefine Climate, then it won’t be worth it.

I look forward to designing for this, though.

I have a twitter (/climatemusic). I’m thinking about calling the EP/LP “Burn the Past.” there’s been a million names floating around. Afterglow. Burn the Past. Every Cadence. Every Climate. Love and Ambition. The more popular one was Forwards Fight, but I may actually let that sit until things are more established. The name Burn the Past, in itself, is contradictory. All of the material I’ve had is material that I’ve had for years. Namely Division Song, The Knifefight, etc. I did them under Suicentric. But going back and confronting my work, finishing it, and letting it out in the public is symbolic of moving on from the past.

I can’t wait to start making new music. I should just do that anyway.

I’ve been talking to close friends about this; I need to begin exorcising this material, getting it done, where I’m content enough to let it go, and then let it go. The work is good. My ideas shouldn’t just go to waste. I feel that if one person actually ends up enjoying the material, then the purpose of the material has been served. Who would I be to waste the melodies on just myself?

No more inaction.

I’m just going to record, now. No overtalk, no waiting, no guilt, no fear. Go. Go. Go.

Tonight I woke up.

Earlier tonight I began sifting through DVD’s and CD’s of data, music, poetry, photos, lyrics and songs of material and ideas that I had developed from a few years back. Amazing how much I’ve forgotten, how slumberful the past years have seemed.

My entire self-identity was developed from longing, distance and loneliness. A sense of expression and emotion, raw and unyielding. I wrote constantly, thought about music ad ideated, constantly. I started poetry at 14, lyrics at 16, and music at 18. Now that I’m single, living alone and have time at night to actually think about how my life stands against my past, I’m beginning to wake back up to that sense of identity.

The music I develop comes from internalization and deduction. Inspiration from feeling, soul and melody. Drafted through a narrative centralized by longing and abstracted by color and variance.

I started ideating and writing, recording and mixing again for the first time in a couple years. I don’t know what will come out of what I’m doing, but I never want to stop doing this. This is where I’ve been happiest, the idea of fusing my creative points into a tangible form: in this case, song. Climate and Party Bear are the identities of these endeavors and I intend to capitalize on my epiphany.

I’m running the definite risk of sounding pretentious.

Think what you will. It’s not going to stop me this time.