All posts by Anji

Anji LIVE on Chillcuts Sunday

Just thought I’d mention that I’m going live on Chillcuts Radio this Sunday to premier a brand new feature with one of my favorite bands, Sunburn in Cyprus. I will be talking with band founder, Ulli Conrad, as I preview their new album. The feature will run twice, the first time at 4pm PST and then again at 6pm, with me deejaying a chilled selection of independent and indie label electronica bands in between. I may log in a little earlier for a set beforehand, too…

Tune in to listen directly via live365 or through the “listen” link at chillcuts.com. If you’re on MySpace, please join our Chillcuts Group to comment on the station, recommend music or just chit chat!

What genre are Lovespirals?

It seems like we always come back to the question of genre with our music. It’s unfortunate that promotions rely on super specific categories, but that’s just the way it is. The music world is like a giant data base in that way. Folks want to be able to put each band and release into a box so that they can stack it up with other boxes into neat little tables (data base “tables,” not dining room “tables”). I can understand the need to organize information like that, but with something like music it isn’t always so simple. Sure, some bands are totally fine making a career out of one style of music writing, song after song, album after album, but we aren’t. Since 1999, Ryan and I have shifted musical styles drastically, and since 1991, Ryan has made some pretty dramatic evolutions in his sound.

I’m thinking today about the fact that our last album, Windblown Kiss, is listed as “Jazz.” While that is a very cool genre and all, it really doesn’t successfully describe our CD. Nor does “Electronica” really represent the myriad styles of LSD’s retrospective collection, Temporal. Our upcoming album could be listed under either of those genres, and either way it would be missing the whole “Rock” element also inherent in the songs. Not only are the songs each of different genre varieties, but many of the songs themselves are a mix of genres. So how the heck are we going to categorize this one? And how is our band itself being classified?

Nice weather!

Finally the storm has broken here in Southern California, to be replaced by a wonderfully warm Santa Ana wind. Mmm… Actually went to the beach yesterday and laid out, enjoying my new iPod. I hope this weather lasts long enough for us to sneak in a band photo shoot. It’s about time we got some current portraits taken. I’m also starting to seriously think about album art for the new CD cover. We’ll probably go with colorful nature shots again, but maybe a bit less abstract this time. I’m not sure that folks even realize that the Windblown Kiss artwork is photos of reflections in water or not?

Hi-Res digital files

Ryan and I have come to the realization that 128kbps mp3s are way too old school. Like, so 1998!

I’ve been re-encoding my digital music library into 320kbps AAC files, which sound much better — much better even that 320kbps mp3 files. For special albums, I’m using Apple Lossless, which sounds basically like an AIFF or WAV file (which is what CDs are generally made from), but is only about half the size. I mean, I have a huge hard drive, so why not enjoy my music in hi-res quality?

I love the concept of the iTunes store, and selling our music there, but what I don’t love is the sound quality. We make these gorgeous 24bit start-to-finish albums (more music geek talk, I know!), only to have it all squashed down into measly 128k mp3 files. It’s murder! We really need to figure out a way to sell our fans nice, high quality files worthy of critical listening.

It’s so sad how the music industry is completely melting down under the pressure of new technology. Kids today don’t even think they should have to buy CDs anymore! They are perfectly content with crappy mp3s files traded on the Internet.

It seems that a whole new model for music is necessary now, one that somehow combines professional quality sound with affordable prices so that we artists can get our music out to fans in a format that is not only convenient, but great sounding, doesn’t cost too much, and yet allows us to cover all the costs of creating and distributing the music.

Any bright ideas, anyone?

New Year's Resolutions

Here we are on the first Monday of the new year. Hurrah! The band’s resolution for the year is to release our new album and to set that whole whirlwind of promotion in motion. Part of that will likely include our first practice with a live bassist and drummer. So I guess that’s 2 resolutions: 1. release album, 2. practice with live rhythm section. I ‘spose that would lead to 3. set up live shows. Sounds like a full year in and of itself, doesn’t it?

Lovespirals 2005 Biography

It’s a new year, we’re working on a new album; time to release a new band bio!

Lovespirals began in 1999 as an outgrowth of multi-instrumentalist Ryan Lum’s previous band incarnation, Love Spirals Downwards. Following the release of his 10,000+ selling electronica/ethereal rock hybrid album, Flux, Lum began working as a DJ and dance track producer, collaborating with vocalist Anji Bee, and the members of Subliminal Records duo, Monkey Bars, Doron Orenstein and Gabriel D. Vine.

By 2001, Lovespirals had released a number of tracks on various artist compilations, including Chill Out in the City and Chill Out Lounge Vol. 2 on Water Music Records, and a remix of Claire Voyant for their album Time Again on Metropolis Records in the US and Accession Records in Europe. 2002 brought the release of Lovespirals’ first full-length album, Windblown Kiss, on New York indie label, Projekt Records, as well as tracks on Hot Topic and Border’s various artists’ compilations.

Over time, Lovespirals have evolved from a dance sound to a more pop sound, highlighting Bee’s versatile vocal work and Lum’s mastery of guitar.  From track to track, and even within each tune itself, the duo culls their favorite aspects of every genre – those most beautiful, haunting, or groovy – to create a unique hybrid of electronica, soul, jazz, blues, and pop, with dashes of world, folk, and rock… or whatever else tickles their fancy.

Lovespirals have performed all across North America with a semi-live set featuring guitar, sax, and vocals over a backing track on laptop. Lum as also appeared in Los Angeles and San Francisco clubs with traditional DJ sets, often including dub plates of their material.

If you are seeking music for the soul as well as the body, something sweet to kick back and unwind with, then Lovespirals are for you.

Relax was, well, relaxing!

Sunday night over at the Kitsch was pretty mellow and fun. The bar has a nice vibe and nobody ever gives attitude, which is great. It was my first time DJing to a live club audience, even though I’ve been a radio DJ for years, so I was a little bit nervous. Once I got going though, I was totally in the groove. It was fun mixing from old school jazz to new school downtempo, then into classic soul and on into contemporary deep house. Its always great to hear your favorite tunes blasting on a good sound system, too. I was particularly grooving to Diana Ross’ “Brown Baby.” Anyway, Kristina B. was way into both of our sets and said we were welcome back “anytime” so I’m sure we’ll set another date early next year, for those who were too busy with holiday plans to make it out this time!

E-mail List Elves

It’s great that the site has been redesigned so that the email list automatically updates itself when people join. Just about every day since the change, someone has joined. Even still, there are hundreds of folks on the old email list that I’m making sure don’t get left behind.

I think I’ve recreated our email list probably a half dozen times since I joined the band in 1999. I’ve done it so many times before that I feel like I’ve memorized some of these people’s contact info, even though I don’t know them personally.

Last night I was fricken dreaming that I was updating the email list… If only I had woken up to find that little elves had done all the work for me!

:[ chillcuts ]:

I’ve had this concept of an internet radio station and record label that I’ve been working on for a few months now, called chillcuts.

I thought I’d reactivate my old Live365 account that I used to stream “The Lovely Ladies of Electronica” with back in 1999. I began a trial run last week. I’m trying out their new Mp3Pro streams, which are better sounding, but a pain in the ass. I have to re-rip anything I might want to play from CD format into Mp3Pro format, because turning an mp3 into an Mp3Pro just doesn’t sound good.

Right now my station selection is relying heavily on the Live365 library, which luckily has a lot of cool tunes. I’m slowly adding my own selections into the mix as bands send me their CDs, so my playlist is expanding every few days. I’ve got about 6 hours of music on random play. Later, I’ll make personalized playlists and schedule them at set times.

The lame thing right now is that, since I’m using a free account I began during their beta phase, only paid listeners can tune into my stream. I’ll probably sign up for their free “upgrade” trial sometime soon so I can test out the new Mac live broadcast tool. Anyone will be able to tune in during that phase. If everything seems cool, then I guess I’ll bite the bullet and start paying for my account, so the general population can tune in, along with the paid subscribers.

After that, then I’ll worry about the record label side of my plan…

Find out more at chillcuts.com

Looking Goo-ood!

Man, the site is looking awfully sharp if I do say so, myself! After a heavy 2 days of geeking out, everything has come together just as we envisioned. We really needed a good first page, but when we first changed the site over, we still weren’t sure what we wanted. Now we’ve got a pretty nice balance of image and content, with an emphasis on all the basic things any first time or returning visitor would want to find. We even have a link to the previous incarnation of the band, to make it easier on old folks looking up the band for the first time in a decade. 😉