Lovespirals are back with tons of stories, mostly related to their upcoming new album, Future Past. The duo just returned from a trip up North to master the album with Robert Rich, and throw an intimate pre-release listening party at the BlizzzzCrib with a few friends including members of Karmacoda, Under, and Falling You, as well as band photographer, Susan Jennings, and Sinikus and Sarika of Below Zero. The band also discuss finalizing CD artwork with Scott of ithinkitsnice and going green by manufacturing with Groove House Records. Ryan and Anji also talk about attending the Immersion Festival and hanging out with Steve Roach and Loren Nerell afterwards at Noisebug. The show closes with a clip from the opening track of Future Past, “Home.”
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Some photos from the past week:
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New video from our YouTube account:
Steve Roach plays his didgeridoo at the Immersion Festival in Pomona, CA
Have you seen the Xtranormal site yet? It allows you to select from various characters and backgrounds — including your choice of gender and language — then animate them using various actions and expressions. Type in what you want them to say and how you want them to say it — even choose which camera angle — and the site turns your script into an animated video. It is way too fun! I had heard of it somewhere, but once I saw it in action – via a video by Ryan Coseboom of Stripmall Architecture, I knew I had to try it out. I hope you get a good chuckle out of it and hey, feel free to repost! Without further ado, may we present the comic ad for our upcoming new CD, Future Past, entitled, “Have You Heard?”
“Is Lovespirals that old Goth band?” “No. They are so not Goth.”
Ambient music legend/mastering engineer Robert Rich explains the basics of mastering Lovespirals’ new album, Future Past, at his Soundscape Studio in Mountain View California. Ryan and Anji listen on as Robert demonstrates how he uses Apple’s Logic Studio, Izotope mastering software, and audio dithering to give each track its best possible sound. Robert also mastered Lovespirals’ 2002 release Windblown Kiss and 2007’s Long Way From Home. But the band was pleased to hear Robert say that the mixes “nailed it” this time, leaving him just enough room to creatively add a magic sparkle to the album. The result is the best sounding Lovespirals album by far; achieving a true big studio sound from their much more modestly equipped home studio.
Robert Rich explains his mastering process to Lovespirals
The band return with yet another in-studio video! This time Ryan and Anji are in a vocal session for the chorus of new song, “One Of Those Days,” from their upcoming 4th album, Future Past. Anji is a little stuck on how best to do the harmony in the first chorus, trying to choose between two melody lines. This video gives you a different view into the new Lovespirals studio, including glimpses of Ryan’s amps and speakers and some of his guitar collection. Yes, some. Look forward to the next video, where Ryan points out that a 3-part harmony is not a good idea for this Dorian mode song…
In this minute-plus in-studio video, Ryan Lum performs bass for the new Lovespirals song, “Sinking.” As mentioned in a previous episode of the band’s podcast, Chillin’ with Lovespirals, he is – in fact – shirtless. Perhaps more interesting (or not), is the fact that this song had the bass and drums added after completing a vocal and guitar based recording. After listening to all of the song for the new album together as a group, the band decided this song needed to be expanded a bit. The results of added instrumentation are quite striking! Perhaps you’ll get to hear a bit of the original version in another video or podcast? Lovespirals 4th album, Future Past, is due out this November.
This time around, our in-studio video series features Anji working on vocal harmonies for the song, “Sinking,” from Lovespirals upcoming 4th album due out later this year. In a rare daytime recording session, you can actually see the band’s vintage hippy decor, including some of Ryan’s gear and guitars. Thrill to the sounds of Ryan and Anji discussing mic placement and singing preparedness… OK, maybe that’s pushing it a bit far? Just watch the clip already! And no, this was not the final take used in the song. In fact, the final take sounds completely different. LOL!
The band are really excited about finishing up their upcoming album! Ryan and Anji talk the mixing process, discuss what’s next, and chat about some of the promotion they’ve already begun. Anji asks listeners to send in questions for the in-studio videos they are uploading to the Lovespirals Facebook page, and urges them to add themselves as fans. The duo also talk about spending the day at Village Studios for the Audio Underground talks, attending the Blame it on Rio show at Hollywood Bowl and Bob Weir show at the Greek. Be sure to join the band email list to keep up with album release news and to get a free download of Lovespirals’ cover of “Cymbaline” — which the band play a clip of at the show’s end.
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Lovespirals are in the final stages of producing their 4th full-length album, Future Past. The 11 songs comprising this new collection include some of the band’s most ambitious work to date. Band founder, Ryan Lum, has achieved what he feels is truly a big-studio sound in his private home studio. His attention to detail in sound design is born of a true love of the craft, and he’s been perfecting these skills since his first indie release, Idylls, back in 1992. Lum has updated his musical equipment and recording system quite extensively since Lovespirals’ 2007 album, Long Way From Home. This might be most noticeable to the listener in the range of guitar and keyboard sounds used on this album. In addition to the Rhodes piano and Hammond organ featured in the past, Lum has enhanced his vintage keyboard palette with analogue synth and string machine sounds. And guitar tones too have been pushed into new future retro sonics, utilizing both vintage and modern boutique guitars, tube amplifiers, and effects pedals.
Ryan Lum strums acoustic guitar in Chillcuts Studio
Band vocalist, Anji Bee, who began collaborating with Lum in the early 2000’s, has also worked hard to improve upon her sound and performances. Armed with a new microphone, cabling, and preamp, she has pushed her voice to new heights, exploring diverse vocal territory. From deep, sultry rhythm and blues soulfulness to bright, ethereal breathiness — and all points in-between — from a single voice to a 3-part harmony; Bee is the vocal equivalent of a one-man band. And lyrically, Bee has dug deep to unearth some of her most revealing and intimate lyrics yet. Though her song topics have always touched upon more than personal relationships, the abundance of such fare in the past has led critics to label Lovespirals as purveyors of “love songs.” Bee feels confident that will not be the case this time. Interestingly, the two songs most obviously tied to romance are not ballads, but upbeat numbers; “Feel So Good” is soulful funk with a distinctly retro feel, while “Love” is an atmospheric drum ‘n’ bass song, reminiscent of the duo’s earliest work together.
Anji & Ryan of Lovespirals listening to a fresh take
Not that this new album is wholly composed of electronica vibes; on the contrary. Lovespirals have achieved a fine balance between their various influences, including moody classic-rock ala Pink Floyd or Fleetwood Mac; groovy late-period Motown soul & funk; bittersweet electropop in the vein of Air or Zero 7 — with a sprinkling of sensual slow-burning blues, and a dash of the soaring ethereality that the band has long been known for. Somehow Lum and Bee are able to take such disparate elements and combine them into an easily identifiable sound that can only be described as “Lovespirals.” Though it’s hard to label their music for today’s highly genre-defined culture, Lovespirals are not concerned. The joy of independent music is that it is not bogged down by marketing research and sales strategies; it exists because of the creator’s love of music. And Future Past is certainly a labor of love for Lovespirals.
Please add yourself to the official Lovespirals newslist to stay informed of release date, news, events, and specials. Check out the video section to view in-studio clips of the band at work on the new album.
For the second edition of our newly launched Lovespirals In-Studio video series, we have Ryan illustrating the use of a virtual de-esser plugin on Anji’s vocals for their latest song, “Water Under The Bridge.” He and Anji discuss the process as he works on the track, giving you some insight into the process of digital recording, as well as a sneak peek of the song. Like the Lovespirals In-Studio Video #1, this video is just shy of 2 minutes. We hope to edit together some longer, more in-depth studio features in the near future. At the moment, we are quite busy finishing up our mixing sessions, however!
By the way, these videos are being hosted by the Lovespirals Facebook Page. Please come add yourself as a fan, if you haven’t already.
Ryan in Chillcuts Studio producing Anji’s vocals on a new track
Ryan and Anji detail the horrors of their recent hard drive crash just after completing a vocal session for their new album and their attempts to recover the data, fill you in a little more on album progress, talk about their reaction to Jack White in the new documentary, ‘It Might Get Loud,’ as well as how they started a Facebook flame war on the subject, give a review of a recent Buddy Guy concert, and more in this half hour episode. Be sure to follow twitter.com/lovespirals for regular updates. You can also follow twitter.com/ryanlum and twitter.com/anjibee for additional posts of all kinds.
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Buddy Guy Live at Hollywood Bowl 8/12/2009 filmed by Anji Bee
Lovespirals are hard at work back in the studio finishing up recording and mixing of their upcoming 4th album. Anji shares a bit of her vocal editing session for the song, “Let It Shine,” in this short video. This is the first of a series of videos the band hope to release as they get ready to master and release their new album this fall. You can look forward to a sneak peek of Ryan recording guitar and bass, and possibly keyboards, from another track on the album in a future video. The duo also perform a track or two acoustically for another video and who knows what else? Anyway, enjoy this first installment recorded with the Mino HD camcorder.
We finally got word back from the Pacific Marine Mammal Center that our “Meals For Seals” sponsored pinniped is Cyntia, a California Sea Lion pup. Apparently she is a special case, as she came in not only malnourished and dehydrated, but with an eye injury, as well. Poor thing! Cyntia has been at the center for about 3 months now, and after medical care, vitamins, and food, she is finally able to join the other pinipeds in the swim tanks and eat whole fishes. Apparently she is eating 5 and a half pounds of fish per day! We think Cyntia might have been one of the 3 pups we saw in the nursery the day of our visit. Check out this short video we took of them, they are absolutely adorable!
She sure looks a lot happier now, don’t you think?
