16.07 Ghost Call: cheap paper + tape version

As most anyone who has worked with me can testify, I am not very detail-oriented. Not ideal for a designer. When I worked at Intermedia Arts, I would often skip making full-size mock-ups of the wall graphics for exhibitions, and then be horrified at huge letter-spacing gaps in words or monstrous leading between lines. None of which is noticeable on the surface to most people, but its definately something you can feel. In an effort to turn over a new leaf, I've been making mock-ups of my projects and the results have been much better. The SMS series that I screen-printed with Dan Black was one of the first projects I've done, where when it was finished there were no instances of finding some easy-to-overlook mistake and thinking “Oh, well, that’s not a big deal”. Its fairly disturbing to look over the last 5 years worth of work and feel like none of it is truly done. (Now, every artist and designer I know will say “No one’s ever 100% percent happy with their work,” to which I reply “True, but my batting average is like 60%, so 85 would be awesome.”)
But, I mocked-up the new Ghost Call sleeve on Friday and I’m psyched on the results. The new version has a fold-over flap to give it some more weight.
The interior has a full-inside print of one of Kim’s MonoWood images. Its great to finally be using her images on projects. I feel like these landscape images sync up perfectly with the vibe of “Ghost Call.” We were just discussing whether to use the image additionally for a t-shirt.
The thing I’m most excited about for this package is that it will have an actual spine. I’m aware of the fact that pretty much every 12" on the planet has a printed spine on the jacket, but when you are making things by hand, this more or less doubles (or triples) the production time on the record. Every fold on the jacket is done using a tool that looks like a guillotine or a paper cutter, and is done one at a time. So, on the first pressing, it was a simple fold-over for 300 covers. Therefore, 300 folds. This one has 2 spines, so each cover is hand-creased 4 times. So, 62 records will be 248 folds. I am a dumb ass. On the other hand, I feel like this really adds something intangible to the overall essence of the project. It wouldn’t have even occurred to me to do this, but I was helping Dan print the vinyl version of these and said “Wait, did you print a spine on these?”. This also speaks to the absurd lengths Dan Black will go for quality. Hopefully that is starting to rub off on me and me days of glossing over the fine print are behind me.

Also, if you want to listen to the Ghost Call record in its entirety visit our Virb page. The 3rd track gets a little too compressed but overall it sounds great.

Just got back from visiting an Apple Orchard in Jordan MN to stand around in 23° weather for an hour-and-a-half. Go here to find out why.

16.6 Sound Enforcer

Taking a break from talking about myself...

SF/Boston DJ Kid Kameleon has turned me on to a ton of new music over the last couple of years so I'm excited to see that he's started blogging again.

Luckily, he's also posted some new mixes, including his two-part take on “outsider” Dubstep “Aim High/Aim Low”. Both are ridiculous and worth grabbing, and even if they don't showcase the “stars” of the Dubstep scene, they do show how much amazing music is coming out of it.

On a related note, “Aim High” is hosted by Boston beat-science label Mashit, who have a slew of sick mixes there, including a few from Converge-sampling ragga/junglist/breakcore genius Aaron Spectre. “Aim Low” lives at Spannered.org, a site that I hadn't seen until last week but now I'm pretty obsessed with. Great interviews and live sets from the aforementioned Spectre, plus Detroit junglist Soundmurderer and the absolutely amazing Goth Trad. I seriously don't understand how I've gone through life not hearing this shit. Post to the comments if you dig it.

16.5 Socially networking

I'm not sure what tennis elbow is, but I think I have it. Only I haven't been lucky enough to be on a tennis court. I've been tethered to a computer for weeks. Last week I thought I was going to get bed sores on my butt from sitting.

Anyway, I realized I should save my carpal tunnel for actual design work and so I hired my first employee: my youngest brother Nic. Kim was awesome enough to set up our Virb (HD 022) and MySpace (HD 023) pages, and now Nic is maintaining them. He did a bunch of updates at MySpace, getting it nice and monochromatic, posting some news, and getting our label MP3 player loaded with goods. Be our friend.

On a side note, our Virb page, while not being on-brand yet is loaded with the whole Ghost Call ep, plus a Cages jam. I can't reccommend Virb enough, its clean, easy to use, and has built-in customization. killer. Oh, and this thing loads automatically to it. sign up.

Just finished the outside of HD 007: Ghost Call overpress thing. Looks hot. Artwork is definately different and only 2 color, so if you want one of the original full-bleed four-color bangers, get it at www.hd017.com. I just counted and we've got 15 left.