Shhhh, don’t tell anyone – there’s a new track up on the fan page.

This is an absolute tip top secret to be shared between you, me and the internet:- I've put a new track up on the fans page at http://comraderobot.com/tomslatter/?page_id=403

You'll need to be a member of the mailing list and know the password and so on, but there are instructions for how to sign up if you follow the link.

A few new things on the fan page too, and more to come over the next few days.

Enjoy!

And don't tell anyone about the new track (Aside – tell everyone!)

Should I think about what I’m going to say before typing a blog post?

I feel I should have something to say.

Is that vague feeling enough to start writing a blog post?

No, but here I am typing.

Ironbark continues apace. The title track is coming in at a nifty 18 minutes, all labyrinthine riffs melotron and silliness. Steamlife is arguably more silly, but redeemed by a pop chorus that I've been saving up for well over a decade. The Miser's Will tell's its story well. Being 5 songs that tell one story, complete with recurring musical themes, its essentially another 20 minute work. Which means I've well and truly ticked the prog box.

And then there's the Beast of the Air. That just needs a new vocal and a bit of mixing and it'll be done, ready for the video that we start filming in just over a week.

Whoop I say, for this shall be fun.

Here's a video of Joe testing one of the toys we'll be using.

So another perfectly sensible video to follow the Spinning the Compass one.

Recording is a manic depressive business. I find myself flitting between obsessive, proud and depressed, often in the space of the same few hours as I try to nail down a vocal or guitar solo, create the perfect sound and then realise moments later that it sounds awful. At the moment I can listen to the whole album through and find only one or two things per track to hate, so I suppose I am slowly winning the battle.

I long for the day when I can plug the computer directly into my skull and download the sounds I hear in my brain.

Tom Slatter – Live on a video!

Earlier this year I performed a couple of songs at the London 'FOP'.

This stands for Fawm Over Party and it was a gathering of people who had taken part in that year's February Album Writing Month. We all gathered together in a pub and played a few songs to each other. Very informal, a little rough around the edges (at least my performances were) but great fun nonetheless.

The lovely Morti (I sang a song on his previous album) has put up some videos, so here's me performing a couple of songs and babbling nonsense, followed by Matt Blick's 'Let's Build an Airport' which I happen to think is a fantastic song.



Newsletter 4 – All Mimsy were the Borograves

Greetings!

I have to say I was pleasantly suprised by how many readers of last month's newsletter correctly identified the Lewis Carrol poem in the competition – great to know that so many readers are fans of such unabashed nonsense.

The prize however went to Gary who was first in with the answer. Special mention should also be made of Alison who rather fantastically decided to compose her own following lines rather than merely google the lines I mentioned

 

This month has been one of ups and downs. Recording has continued apace but I have been sidetracked by my (Shock! Horror!) first bad review (Click here to read) and by the start of both the A Game Of Thrones TV adaptation and the new series of Dr Who. How is one supposed to concentrate when such geeky goodness is available to steal one's time away?

The Album

I'm making real progress on Ironbark. The Easter break gave me time to get a lot of recording done. I had a few difficulties with my voice, which I have documented on my blog (Click here for that) but by and large I'm exceedingly happy with it.

When will it be out?

Well here's the thing – certain bits will be ready before others. The Miser's Will, which is a set of 5 interconnected songs, will be ready before the rest of the album.

In the olden days before all this new-fangled internet nonsense that wouldn't make a difference – the whole thing would need finishing to put onto cd (Or vinyl. Or wax cylinder). While there will eventually be physical CDs of Ironbark available, there's nothing stopping me putting the album out in stages as songs are finished.

So what do you reckon? Should I release The Miser's Will early, or should I hold back and wait for the whole album to be finished? I'm genuinely undecided and could use some feedback.

The Video

Work continues. Joe's experimentation has led to me being molested by a glowing ball of blue energy, and Joe's head exploding.

Click here

Also here

 

As well as the special effects being more impressive than those for the Spinning the Compass video, the props Joe's building are fantastic and rather wonderful. And very, very silly.

Audio Sketchbook

This month's sketch is a rough draft of a song I wrote last Wednesday. It's provisionally titled 'Cutting up all of our Dreams' and is about scary creatures who come out at night.

Click ye here

Competition

Last week's competition was great fun. Let's make this one non-time related to give everyone a fair chance. As I like my nonsense poetry, we'll stick to that theme.

What are the next two lines after:

    Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
    Thy micturations are to me

I will randomly choose one of the people who correctly replies to recieve this months mp3. Anyone using google to discover the answer will of course have to deal with their own guilty conscience. Answers on a postcard to tomslattermusic AT gmail.com

Tom

PS. Releasing songs in stages rather than all at once when the albums finished? Would love to hear your thoughts.