Check out this event: Erin Lang Live @ The Annex
Current mood: amused
Category: Music

it would be very lovely to see you there.. i am very excited to be playing in New York, one of my all time favorite cities.. if you are around let me know and we will have cocktails and duck into vintage shops and cupcake bakeries in the lower east side before the show. xo e


Hosted By: Erin Lang
When: 28 Apr 2008, 20:30
Where: The Annex
152 Orchard St
New York, 10002
United States
Description:
Erin Lang

Click Here To View Event

12:38 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Mixing 'You are Found'
Current mood: exanimate
Category: Music

these sunny days are already quickly rushing past as feel i am trying to catch dust or smoke on the breeze.. I am lost in the big blue sky's of Bavarian springtime and giving my ears some exercise.
for seven days we will listen to all the little clicks and chirps and gurgles and plucks and noises we have made over the course of the last year and put them each in their own little homes. each their own little cozy spot nestled in for time. but they can be elusive they vie and jostle for position and attention.. they hide and they leapfrog, they jockey through the mixes in their own little races, they play tricks on our clever ears that have to catch them by their tails and line them up in the right order.
it is a delicate thing..
Mario has ears like a very intelligent bat. a bat with fifteen years studio experience. The things he hears, frogs in nighttime far off treetops and crickets under the porch steps of the house 7 down the lane. He knows where they all fit, he tucks them in their beds with glasses of warm milk and moves swiftly on to the next while i strain my ears and decision making abilities and he is now hearing swallows making mud nests in woodsheds in the next village over. Roger is incredible with details.. he can find the one knot tied wrong in a persian rug, the slightest pull in the most intricate embroidery and Ron has the sixth sense for pop, easy confidence and knowledge of the big picture and that all will be well..
i fit cozily in this group as the last okay. the acknowledgment that all this magic creation has woven the tapestry of my dreams. its not really a big role but this is the first time i have mixed a record and it is hard! but so far so good. It is the third day and the third song and i am happy and excited to be accomplishing this final step but trying to keep at bay the idea that it will soon be over. i hate for things to be over.. but there is much auditory exercise before then so i best dive back into the darkened sea of a song that 'Until Then' is and attempt to organize the silver slips of fish and the sea snails and far off blue whales that glide through the dark.


Erin Lang 'You are Found'

4:09 AM - 10 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

another music blog
Current mood: mellow

It is a blurry bright but not sunny view across the thames to the dome, big blowzy clouds are waltzing and flouncing around to begin their week.. and i begin mine with some pumpernickel toast and marmite and a little message here! 99X/10 the label i am on and help run has started a music blog where all the artists on the label and readers discuss the music they are listening to and how they found it and other music related issues.. come and read and comment and see if you like it! i think it will be a nice place to duck under a corner of the blanket of the world of music and flick our flashlights in each others faces and tell little stories and slowly untangle a little bit of the big broad subject of music.
everyone is welcome!
the 99X/10 artist blog

Currently listening : Neon Golden By The Notwist Release date: 25 February, 2003

4:29 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

in the studio Blog
Current mood: determined
Category: Music

This is not along the lines of my usal blogs here but i thought i might mention a blog i started since i am in the studio in germany again for the final block of recording my album.. maybe it is a bit interesting but you can be the judge! So far things have been great in this small country town complete with 2 ice cream bars! but you can read for yourself..
studio blog

9:46 AM - 7 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

mutual dreaming and other adventures..
Current mood: curious

After much deliberation, floor pacing and careful calculation, instrument calibration and moral taxation i have decided, and now the change is at hand. a gate that creaks and whines in a voice that nearly deafens my temporary and rare sense of decisiveness, eventually yields to the light but constant pressure of my shoulder and finally sighs with resignation and is that sliver of welcome in the rust's grating whisper?
One gate behind me and i am in uncharted territory.. no maps to consult, no stars to navigate by (but then i have never understood this science anyway as i have spent many a night watching the stars make long and slow journeys clear across the sky, and had i been in a boat following each or any i would be completely turned back the way i came, i will leave it to 19th century explorers) but today is my turn to explore with nothing but my curiosity to navigate by, nothing but the subtle smell of straw and lilacs to accompany me.
It is May i gather and suddenly your childhood dog is beside me. I have heard about the old girl on nearly every occasion we have come across a dog in our waking lives. i found it charming and suspicious that every dog from the tallest Airedale to the smallest pug somehow looked like this one here, i suppose they all had these sweet loving eyes.
With her as my guide i am more confident on these trails, and more searching of these skys, brighter and bluer that the ones in my own dreams and more filled with song, with far stranger melodies. the wind in the trees whisper dissonant jazz chords and the ripples of the streams tap out fascinating time signatures. i suppose i expected this. i smile and relax into my small place here with your dog, we curl up in the blanket of the complicated harmonies of your crickets song. I am happy as the day ends in your subconscious,
there are beautiful sunsets here.

7:56 AM - 8 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

Just a kind of average day.
Current mood: thirsty

I will admit it seemed very strange at first.. i mean when a thistle starts speaking to you telepathically it can be very confusing. When its talking to you at first it seems just like a mosquito in your ear, granted the mosquito has quite an advanced vocabulary but do they choose to use it? on very rare occasions. With this high pitched kind of whiney song straight into my mind i began to lose focus on the conversation i was already having with an old acquaintance who stopped by unexpectedly and who was really interested in telling me all about his new found passion for camel racing.
So absorbed was he i suppose he didn't notice when i closed my eyes and plugged my ears with some sponge cake, not to be rude but to just get an idea who was going on about what in my head. anyone can understand that. So i thought it seemed strange to hear "i.. am.. prickly! prickly! prickly!" in a sing song kind of way.. i turned to the hedgehog foraging for slugs.. he was lost in the treasure hunt and certainly not trying to get my attention.. "i am prickly prickly prickly!" i turned to the pineapple on the table but it was only looking sullen and definitely not singsongy.. "prickly prickly PRICKLY!" finally my gaze falls to the thistle.. "aha! you dummy that pineapple is hardly prickly is it!? maybe SPINEY maybe rough.. even a little JAGGED.. anyway.. pick up those glasses.."
I spot a pair of rather glamorous red rimmed cats eyes with purple lenses near the base of this very tall and some what pushy thistle.. sure i thought it was strange at first but i made my way over to it and careful not to get pricked by this indeed very prickly looking thing, maneuvered my fingers through the long grasses to the glasses. They were warm against my fingers and as i drew them back somehow that thistle just managed to graze my forearm. "ouch!" i whispered as the thistle giggled.. i suppose thats all the fun a thistle gets..
So even though it seemed rather strange i obeyed when the thistle told me to put on the glasses. Through the purple lenses the garden looked especially lush and green and the flies who were just one second ago lazily buzzing around the remains of the sponge cake were now in a line on top of it arms over shoulders (bulbous wing attachments) doing the can-can and quite well at that, lifting those tiny legs high as you might!
The thistle was now a mighty purple and a trail of black and pink checkered toadstools invisible to the naked eye lead me down a narrow path that was very overgrown and moist with a sticky dew to a pond full of ducks that knew my name and had made a very charming little ditty out of it to the theme of "oh when the saints". i stopped to listen but the thistle barked in my mind "there is no time for that now!" in a tone that told me i should move on. Sure i could listen to ducks making up little songs for me another time.
Finally another majestic purple thistle came into view, long prickly arms out stretched and did seem rather glad to see me. "my love!" cried the thistle in my mind. Could it see through my eyes too? i suppose these glasses are the thistles eyes but i didn't have the chance to sort that out at the time "WE MUST BE TOGETHER!" I though this seemed a bit strange as i never realized that plants could fall in love with each other but now that i think about it why not indeed? so my orders were to carefully uproot this majestic specimen of a plant and reunite it with its long lost love. It seems the two were seeds together and nestled in the pod of their youth they told secrets and stories and planed their futures together, little did they know the cruelty of the wind, whence came their day of freedom, would whip them from each other and everything they had ever known and leave them at the mercy of the currents of convection to fend for themselves.
Until today while my friend jabbered about camel racing and the flys did an impressive can-can could the thistle speak to me (a rather longwinded and overly specific prophecy i though but i was not going to take that up with these particular soul bound thistles) and they could be reunited while the ducks sang a song of faith and joy.
So it started out pretty strange but in the end, a couple of happy thistles, incredibly scratched up hands and arms (though i know he didn't mean it) and some sponge cake crumbs later, just a kind of average day really.

10:36 AM - 9 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

forthright and far gone.
Current mood: mellow

it was with one swift motion that i twisted the cap. one quick precise movement of my wrist.
i stood there triumphant for a minute my grip still tight, the tension in my arms, my spine straight feet shoulder with apart. i finally relaxed to inspect my captive. my catch. my thrilling trophy. under the gold ragu cap, through the glass, behind the dishwasher cooked on remains of a label, strands of white fibers, was my personal slice of magic. my little piece of the unbelievable. it glowed like a ruby a jack-o-lanterns grinning mouth a daisy's eye a fern uncurling a bluejay feather a sweet grape lollypop in a child's clutching fist held up to the sun. it was all of these things in one easy swish. in one curl of a river one lap of a lake. and it was mine. i lured it to me with chants and coos, prayers and calls, the sweetest songs sung softly the sneakiest of spells. i lured it here with patience and dreams. and then i caught it. just like that. it was kind of easy actually. and so i stare at it and marvel. i have never seen one this close. i expect few have. no one even thinks is possible. so i sit it on the table and watch its blinking eyes. the blood the forest the sea. i watch its feathers fanning the canary the parrot the peacock the magpie. and then i notice a tremble. a shudder even a sigh? i think i had better put some holes in the top so i run for a nail and a hammer. i gently tap one hole then two then three.. i feel a rush through my fingers past my cheek through my hair, i catch a blinding glimpse a streak out the open window, and it is gone. nothing through the withered label, nothing under the gold screw cap.
i caught a rainbow but it got away.

9:25 AM - 8 Comments - 16 Kudos - Add Comment

for 6 lost..(warning this is sad)
Current mood: sad

in the shabby barn conversion across the courtyard
we throw all the junk we cant think of what to do with
we leave the windows open a crack because is smells strange in there
we threw in the box from a new tv
and didn't think any more about it

a week ago the box was moved into a back room
the door shut
to make space for more junk

today i went into that dark mildewy back room
orange wallpaper peeling from the walls
rolls of old carpet piled up on the floor
the tv box perched and leaning to one side
still and moist

took the pieces of the box apart
bits of leaves and moss trailing out behind cardboard inserts
whispering like sheets of papers' secrets to each other
i begin to wonder
and finally come across a nest
the size of my hands making a cup
cradling 6 tiny pearl eggs

i examine the patterns
imagine the thousands of trips
bringing in leaves
moss and horsehair

and try not to think of the stilled tiny lives
in the back of the box of our new tv



i am so sorry..

xo e

8:16 AM - 12 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

a furniture arrangement with a difference.
Current mood: good

"a furniture arrangement with a difference" he said to me, hurricane lanterns with the wicks way up, in his eyes and a grin on his cracked lips. i could smell his coffee breath and an empty stomach and he waited for my response. i couldnt help notice the crackle of his airwaves, the rasping of his breathing and a slight hiss from some spittle in the corner of his mouth. these sounds floated with the dust in the air to my uncomfortable ears. these are not my favorite sounds. i searched the filing cabinets of my mind for an appropriate response but suddenly they have rusted shut and give me only grumbles of amusement as i yank on their stubborn handles. of all the times for rust to sweep in like a plague. i circled his supposed masterpiece. i am attempting to block out the sounds of shrieking birds and rats the floorboards are making. very unnerving i have never heard floorboards in so much agony. and yet here and there my footsteps create a somewhat tuned kind of plaintive harmony, and i am distracted again.
"couch facing couch
sofa facing sofa
chesterfield facing chesterfield
a chair on a table and lamp upturned balancing on its shade its chord a seemingly severed umbilical.

all essentially adds up to the same thing"

he says filling the silence i am finding uncomfortable as a wrestle with alligators now appeared out of nowhere with orders to guard the rusted cabinets.. and well trained alligators they are.. i didnt know the albeit dedicated if a bit obsessed trainers of these beasts had had so much success.. i suppose that is what obsession gets you. they will be seeing eye dogs next.. or rather..

"an interior designer gone mad!"
he continues giddiness in his voice..

"you know," i say the words finally coming to me "that was on the tip of my tongue."

i wonder if i will get my deposit back.

xo e

5:44 AM - 6 Comments - 6 Kudos - Add Comment

a half a dozen sunbeams
Current mood: amused

a half a dozen sunbeams is just not going to do.
i am growing an avocado tree and i don't think its working.

i did so with such ease as a child and all i did was rest that big slimy pit on the window ledge with a couple of tooth pics in it and i had a root-system that would clog sewer systems in the metropolitan area within the space of a few short weeks.. a leafy canopy in a matter of months. many animals lived in its branches as it, and i grew older i lived with them in harmony when i felt the pressures of suburban childhood on my small shoulders. we shared the pulp of its fruits and one particularly kind and gentle parasite and i became very close for the few days in which the average life-span for this particular creature allowed it to grace this earth. the other inhabitants of this shared accommodation and i, had a a lovely funeral for him, some of the local people baked cakes and a stranger appeared from behind the old spruce tree and played the funeral march on his accordion as i carried the coffin on my pinky finger down the road to the burial site. a procession followed, mice carrying clover bouquets, birds scattering daisy petals crickets adding their tunes to the plaintive droning of the squeeze box (though it came out later that they were rather put out about being musically upstaged by a stranger on the special day) .

The deceased, our friend, had touched many in his short time. it was a beautiful day, his favorite kind, or rather the only kind he knew. (it had been a nice weekend). the avocado tree bowed its branches in mourning and though life returned to normal in time, i know i speak for all the beetles, moths, earwigs, rodents and birds when i say that our leafy condominium was never the same.
so in a different time in a different country i will grow another. or not so it seems i have lost the green fingers of my youth. or maybe it is too dry in here.

xo e

Currently listening : Astor Piazzolla - The Soul Of Tango: Greatest Hits By Astor Piazzolla Release date: 07 March, 2000

6:07 PM - 8 Comments - 12 Kudos - Add Comment