007: Completely Unrelated

Completely unrelated to anything Futuro, but a good looking mixture for fake blood is:

1. a cup of warm water
2. some golden syrup
3. some red food colouring
4. a splash of green food colouring
5. a spoonful or two of cocoa powder.

Not only does it look pretty good (if you get a good consistency) but it tastes pretty good too.

I spent Saturday covered in the stuff for a short film we worked on. Its all part of retrocausal's plan to take over the world one media type at a time. My first 'acting job' too and I must say it was quite fun. Other things Retrocausal (and by that I mean 'Futuro and friends') are working on are:

Futuro's album (obviously)
Several short movies (including the above)
Music for various adverts that we've been asked to provide
New T-shirt designs, both Futuro and non.

Told you we were busy. Although technically yes, this does eat into album making time, but again, its all part of the plan :)

j x

006: Cancellation! Alert!

What are the chances? But yeah, Edinburgh gig this Saturday is cancelled. Its no ones fault, and its all going to be rescheduled, so we'll be back soon enough. We do have a gig coming in Glasgow, near the end of April (Tuesday 29th, for Oxjam) but hopefully something else sooner too.

We're working on a few other projects this weekend, that are not fully Futuro related, and we'll probably post a lil bit about that too, because, why not.

x

005: Rehearsals and Technicals

Been rehearsing again, and it has been a while since we were in this zone of loud playing and having fun. Its only after a few months (really) of not playing/gigging that you realise how it keeps you fit! But good to get back on the horse. We've forgotten lyrics, tempos and all sorts, but after 30 mins we were back on track like we never left.

The pic above represents my semi-circle of pedals, and while its not THAT impressive compared to some others, its a little playground for me. If anyone is interested, heres whats going on up there.

Guitar goes into that zoom multi fx at the left. Its not very good and pretty old, but it comes equipped with a startlingly good -2/+2 octave shifter. That noise of the guitar winding down at the start/mid of lights out - thats the puppy there. It also has a decent delay on it, which i can control the time/volume of with the expression pedal, for some funky on/off delay antics.

From there we go to a boss multi fx (me-50). Its not bad, and has the harmoniser, delay, reverb and compressor that I use a fair bit. It also has a pretty little ring mod attached to the expression pedal, which the new re-mixed version of Easy Money (on the album) has in the second verse. Its like a synth on a guitar.

And then from there, my best friend, the looper. I rambled on about this in the past, but it allows me to record something live and play it back, while playing over it. Not just guitar too, but vocals also - hence why I now have 2 mic's live (it's not just wankyness). Perfect example would be in the chorus to lost in the mess, where I play the high guitar part and sing away into 'loop mic' as normal. Then come chorus no.2, i play that back, and play the chord backing and harmonise with myself. Its quite interesting! One guy said i was cheating and miming, but i'm not, everything you hear (bar 2 samples because I dont have an organ or a symphonic orchestra on stage) is recorded live and looped at some point, so its performance in a way, not cheating!

And yeah, thats my pedals. I'm gonna get another that I plug my loop vocal into so I can distort/delay/pitch my vocals for some more weird effects, which could be fun.

Gone are the days where I set up with 1 cable going from guitar to amp. Now its a mess, but a nice sounding one!

Gig @ Edinburgh on Saturday - Wee Red Bar / Edinburgh College of Art - come along.

x

004: Photoshoots and Artwork

To prove we have been busy, have a featurette. The first of many to come, this one detailing the rather fun time we had photographing our friends to feature in the album artwork/booklet. It looks a bit odd, and frankly it is.

People in white, tied up in cables. It does actually mean something other than looking cool. It represents our struggles over the last year, with shirts and cables representing business and creativity. Arty? Probably, but in the end, it looks cool. The background to our site proper was the test shot (and most likely the front cover) and these will feature throughout the booklet art, adverts and all sorts.

Thanks to us (Jon, Nick and Omar), and to our fine friends: Lee, Ben, Amy, Stuart, Andy, Hinda, Greig and Paul. Thank you.

p.s. the album will be available online worldwide, and to order from the site worldwide also. We might even get the likes of amazon into it. Stay tuned. x

003: Another Format War, But A Good One

We've been talking about different ideas for this release, different ways to approach it all in light of the 2007 FuturoGate scandal (see post 001), and its actually... fun.

Y'see, when you work with 'others' you get tied into schedules, formats and in the end, you are just all tangled up with no-one really knowing what to do next. Thats kind of how I see the music industry now. It's a whole load of people, all a little bit confused and 'winging it'. It's not really an insult because, well, we feel that way too.

When you discuss a project with distributors/promotions/retail, the issue of formats arises. It's fairly safe to say that the CD Single (or 'physical single') is no longer a valid product in todays market. Even I admit that i'm more likely to buy a single from iTunes rather than go into the shop and buy a single on cd for £1.99 or more. But aside from that, the shape of the album packaging, 7" Vinyl vs 12", CD Singles or EP's - they all heavily affect how your release will fair in the world of retail. Awkward packaging means it wont sit in the racks properly. Vinyl is pretty much ignored in prime retail, and EP's aren't chart eligble (should you want go down that road).

The problem here is that even if you don't want to go down that road, you can be sure your distributor does. Because if it charts well, it sells more, and if it sells more, they earn more. Makes sense! But in a creative way, it's also limiting.

But here's the thing - we love physical releases. Sure i'll buy the odd single off iTunes, but i'll buy an album on cd and/or vinyl. I like the booklet, I like reading the liner notes while i listen for the first time. I must admit, I'm also a sucker for the limited edition packaging.

So y'know what? Thats what we're going to go for. Multiple formats, varying features, various options to you, the 'consumer', the 'end-user'. Like vinyl? Have it on vinyl. Like FLAC encoded high quality audio? Have that too. Limited Edition numbered and signed 12" Gatefold with litho prints inside? Why the hell not.

We'll have more info on all this when we have thrashed out the details ourselves, but I thought I would stop by and let you know that we're kinda at that stage now, so the release isn't too far off...

I would also like to announce while we're here, and while I'm talking about limited releases etc that the legendary Andy Jackson (who remixed some early Futuro tracks under 'JFunc') is working with me (more me working with him actually) on a full length remix album featuring every track from Lines in Motion reworked, to be released at the same time as the album itself. Interested? You should be!

More recording soon to tie up loose ends. Promise to take pictures this time.

j