Honourable folk of the Intercontinental Music Lab,

Well done one and all!

We only gone done and made it. It was touch and go there for a while as to whether it would be complete on time. However, with one final dogged, unwavering and determined push we did it. No man or woman was left behind. Xmas is now nearly upon us and you, my brave foot soldiers of the IML, are home. I lent back against some soft cushions yesterday and listened in detail to the whole album from start to finish. I have said this before and have no qualms about saying it again; the quality of our albums always surprises and delights me. This, ladies and gentlemen, is one hell of an album! Some of our most heavy music to date coupled with some unbelievably tender music too. It really is a pleasure.

Also a special tip of the hat must go to Aya "Robotoniku" Saito for the wonderful album cover and back cover art work. Splendid! Thank you Aya!

Well done to the first time contributors too for all their fantastic material. Bally marvelous!

We pulled together and we fought tooth and nail and the final result is an album packed full of goodness and joyful nuggets to set us up for Xmas. So it is with a heavy heart that I must now leave the war based puns alone as we now look forward to a new year and new project ahead. Merry Christmas everyone and a happy new year.

May whichever type of god (or equivalent) you admire most, bless you this festive season.

Jules (Retired - Field Marshall)

x

Over and out

AT EASE, soldiers!

The WAR is over! - I've been mastering for a couple of days, and I'm EXTREMELY excited about this album. Every track is an genuine winner - wonderfully detailed and though-provoking lyrics and melodies, and the edgiest music I've heard yet. Somehow, this album is the most consistent to date - it could easily pass as the work of a single artist. Its an album I am VERY proud to be a part of. Well done everybody!

Though I'm getting the hang of this mastering lark, its still an epic challenge - and I don't think I'll ever be able to do it without painstaking critical-listening and a lot of revisions. That said - the standard of IML submissions has risen to a level where I have had NO serious problems or asked anyone to remix. BRAVO/A to the IML massive. You are all HOT!

Well done also to our newbies - you nailed it!

Tim Donderevo
XXX

Nearly there chaps and chapesses!

Fine folk of the IML. We are so nearly there. We can nearly taste the sweet smell of victory at our fingertips. We are going to win! This WILL be out by christmas. Hurrah!
There is one more track to come. Right now that track has burst through the undergrowth into a clearing where the IML transport helicopter awaits. It is crouching, tired but still running with a hail of bullets screaming all around, whizzing across our line of sight but mercifully thudding harmlessly into the trees. The smoke grenades are doing their job and providing a thick blanket of cover as we all hang from the chopper doors screaming encouragement and firing blindly into the jungle...erm...yeah anyway... check out the artwork made by Aya"Robotoniku"Saito. It is brilliant. Thanks Aya! We salute you.
As a perfectionist she is prone to making alterations so here is a link to the online cover which will update automatically should any changes be made.
Well done all, for today we are all heroes!
Jules

War or Peace?

War. What is it good for? I don't know. Anyway, my song about Irish Independence will not be included on the new IML album. The reasons are complex, but primarily I was unable to reach an accord with the writers of the backing track as to the subject matter. This is unfortunate, but I understand. As an alternative I have created new lyrics for a song now titled "Feel No Peace". Simply put, it is a song about depression and how sometimes a person can suddenly lose control of his or her reactions without even realizing what's happening. I suffer from depression of the unipolar kind and for this I receive medication. I've been on anti-depressant medication contintually since August 2005. I seem to be one of these people for whom long term treatment is the prognosis.

Normally the pills help to keep me on a fairly even keel, but every once in a while just occasionally something happens which upsets the balance. Or some things happen simultaneously. And in moments of particular stress a different person is unveiled. This different person looks and sounds just like me, but he doesn't act like me at all. Although he is not violent, he is scarily self righteous in the face of some perceived slight. He is irrational. He is capable of startling his friends and loved ones with sudden bursts of anger. And unfortunately when this is about to happen, he doesn't warn me. It often takes me several hours to come back to my senses and observe the car crash.

And of course when I say "he" I realize that he is me and that I must take responsibility for what happens. Once I forgot to take a pill before bed and the next day because of a stressful event at work I had an episode that resulted in the loss of my job. I'm always sorry when this happens, and fortunately now it very rarely does. But it did happen today. So here's my song (uploaded to the file share for the perusal of the group). I hope you like it better than the last one. ;-)    And I'm sorry, guys. Really.

Holdouts

So me and Julian have finished our vocals for Jim and Brownio's rollickingly great track. We were attracted to the idea of the Japanese holdouts, soldiers living in the jungle on islands long after the war had ended unknowing or disbelieving that Japan had surrended. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout

We put ourselves in the shoes of one particular soldier who spent almost 30 years on a remote Philippine island attacking "enemy" fishermen and destroying the "enemy food supply" (harvested rice), and thought we had quite a poignant little theme going on. Then we stumbled upon a recent newspaper article where our hero gurgitates (Can one just gurgitate?) nationalist militaristic claptrap, so we ended up giving him a gentle ribbing.

As everything that me and Julian have done together with IML, it quickly descended into farce, and I love it.

Can't wait for the album.

Samu

Our Day Will Come (Freedom for Ireland)

UPDATE: Finally uploaded to the file share.

Well I've got my tune finished and it's uploading (very slowly) right now. The title is "Our Day Will Come (Freedom for Ireland)". As I've said before, it's all about Irish Independence. It seems like a strange time to be penning anything to do with Irish Independence, since Ireland is entirely dependant on aid from benefactor countries such as ours at the moment. Well, when I started this project the Irish economy was not headline news. At any rate, I'm quite pleased with it. Here are the lyrics (outro refrain borrows from "Danny Boy" by Frederick Weatherly:

UPDATE AGAIN: The lyrics have been retracted and this song will not appear on the new IML album. I attempt to explain this in a follow up blog post.

Purple Heart

Just had the pleasure of completing the vocals on Matt Flaherty's ace backing track. The track is called Purple Heart, after the American medal awarded to all those killed or injured in service, and is from the point of view of a US soldier questioning his patriotism as he faces the inevitability of death on the battlefield. With a comedy rap middle 8... (just joking Matt)

Its been a tough assignment - with a voice best suited to elevators and weddings, nailing a rock vocal has always eluded me. Rock generally requires a register higher than mine and something of a gritty nature in the vocal tone (which sadly a few teenage years party-smoking Silk Cut has not given me). My previous attempts at a rock voice have sounded like Kermit fronting Aerosmith. And those were the good takes.

Anyway its nearly done and hopefully sounds worthy of the effort Matt had put into his opus. Just a 'cold light of day' listen tomorrow, a few tweaks and mission complete.

Roger and out

Greg

Just finished my vocals! I sang over Thom Lyne's track...hopefully I was right in assuming it was a "free choice" topic, as I have no idea what "Daddy Get Your Gun" meant as a title...but I think I picked something appropriate.

I sang about Simo Hayha, the world's most "successful" sniper. He had 505 confirmed kills...and that was just with his sniper rifle. He likely had 200 or so more in traditional combat. He killed almost 700 people, ONE BY ONE. His only response when asked if he regretted it was "I did what I was told to, as well as I could." I think the only way to psychologically deal with this kind of bloodshed is to see war as a game, and that's sort of where I went with the lyrics.

I have a feeling I'm not the only one who did a sniper track...I just hope nobody did the exact same guy!

Something just occurred to me that I want to address. Inevitably, viewpoints on the subject of 'war' are going to have political direction, and may touch on aspects of religion and policies based on the moral doctrines of religions. Its likely then, that we will have some controversy on 'IML Goes To War.' For the first time, our lyric-writers are poised to create material that might not be universally appreciated by all IML members. Chances are, toes won't be stepped on - but if you are offended or upset by any of the ideas on the finished album, remember that the aim of the IML process is to collaborate to create something new (whether it turns out wonderfully beautiful or tastelessly ugly), rather than converge on something mediocre! The IML we are - the U.N. we ain't.

From the trenches, Tim

Irish Free State

So I've received my marching orders and my assignment is to write a song on top of the backing track provided by The Incredible Flight of Birdman. As I listen to this track more and more, I'm struck by its minimalist beauty. Simple, yet elegant. It conveys a melancholy and to me a sense of futility. No subject was provided, but the music is calling to mind a twilight false calm among green hills and rolling fields of barley. I'm definitely thinking of the Irish War for Independence, which is a rich history that is dear to my namesake. It is a war that ended on a real down note with the Anglo-Irish treaty that divided Republicans right down the middle and led quickly to the Irish Civil War. So that's where I am at the moment. I will make a full report when I'm nearer my immediate destination, which is Easter 1916.

On a related note, I cannot be happier that LCpl Greg Dean has been assigned to work on my backing track, The Glorious Dead. I'm sure he will make his country proud. Everyone, please wear a poppy in support of the troops. Over and out.

Anna Chapman sure is a classy broad

So I'm now facebook 'friends' with sexy 'spy' Anna Chapman - her page is just an ad for this - an iphone poker app that promises 'lots of sexy new pictures not found anywhere else on the internet'. So my main task here is trying to find a war-ish theme to connect her with; I'm not overly convinced she was ever actually a spy so maybe I'm looking at some kind of internet popularity battle? Hmm, now to see if there's a chart of popular apps somewhere, or maybe I'll just look at her boobs again...

Rolling out

We've now had our marching orders from Corporal Peters and this is how the next phase of the album is going to pan out:

• TIM DONDEREVO's backing track about Stalingrad goes to KIP LOADES
• GREG DEAN's track about the US Marine Corps goes to JIMMY SMITH
• MATT FLAHERTY's track on "The glorious dead" goes to GREG DEAN
• JULES's track about (possibly) The lonely US civil war infantryman goes to KELLY HOGLUND
• BARNEY BROWN's track on the Peloponnesian War goes to JOSEPH ASHLEY SMITH
• THOM LYNE's track called provisionally "Daddy get your gun" goes to DAN WALDKIRCH
• DAN WILDKIRCH's track about Anna Chapman goes to LAYLA VANDENBERGH
• JIM and BARN's track about illegal war goes to SAM and JULES
• NEIL PARFITTS track (theme: robots in war/the future of warfare) goes to BARNEY BROWN
• FLIGHT OF BIRDMANS track (theme unknown) goes to MATT FLAHERTY
• ROB FISHER'S track on the Ottoman-Habsburg Wars goes to MADELEINE OSBOURNE
• SEB ROBERT'S track on War of Aggression goes to TIM DONDEREVO
• JOE DEAN'S track on Torii Mototada goes to THOM LYNE
• JOSEPH ASHLEY-SMITH'S track on the conscientious objector goes to ROB FISHER

So now's the time to go to your local library and check out some books on your assigned subject. Or just nip over to Wikipedia.

I've got to explore the world of robots in warfare, and with them, the future of technology used in war. We've been told to keep within the boundaries of the real world so I'm not going to be going all Battlestar Galactica or T2. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going to get primed on my topic by watching TED talk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1pr683SYFk

Being deployed to occupied territory

This is a very exciting part of the IML process (which many of us have now been through five times already). Once we've all written and submitted our backing tracks, the commanding officer (Jules this time round) has a good old listen, and decides who to assign each track to. The decision making process involved with this is intriguing. I've had the privilege of calling the shots during this phase on two previous albums (Superheroes of Science, and, Ancien Greeks and Circus Freaks). The first time round, it being our first ever album and all, was largely a process of reuniting musicians who I felt should make more music together, or mixing up friends who hadn't necessarily worked with each other before. Subsequent albums coordinated by other people, I guess, followed different processes. Maybe people have assigned musical styles to vocalists they felt would suit the, or maybe the commanders have challenged lyricists with genres, picked to push them?

I wonder what Jules' tactic is going to be. As an artist working in this album rather than someone help run it, it's intriguing to wait and hear where I'm going to be deployed:

• The badlands of the avant garde, a lyrical warzone where, finding a melody, let alone writing lyrics can drive a soldier mad?
• A civil war where different musical styles have risen up to fight against their alterative musical style oppressors? In this land, would I side with the rebels (folk-rock) or the government (hippity-hop).
• An easy war, where the musical style, structure of the song, is very accommodating. A land where as vocalist/lyricist you are welcomed by the populous and encouraged to help achieve stability.

Jules will no doubt be looking at the psychological profiles of the soldiers in our squad and deciding which zones are a best fit. I just hope that wherever he deploys me, I get to see some action, and come back alive.

Wow, sounds like we've got some heavy material this time around. Not me!

I'm doing a jazzy spy theme for Anna Chapman, one of the Russian spies that got busted in the US earlier this year. Hopefully this still qualifies as "war," especially since the US concluded that the spies accomplished absolutely nothing.

Anna herself is about as close as you can get to a real-life cartoon character. She's a sexy Russian spy, but she doesn't have a whole lot going on upstairs. She registered a cell phone under the address "99 Fake St." and, despite a thick Russian accent, tried to convince neighbors she was from Canada.

Here's more about Anna and her dastardly crew: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/06/russian_spies_seem_to_have_bee.html

I'm excited for this one.

The Glorious Dead

Hi all. I've been working on a backing track that is inspired by the idea of glorifying the dead who fought to secure victory. This seems fitting with Remembrance Day coming very soon. When I started scratching out ideas for my very first IML track I had been thinking about a rather more tense and energetic composition that was more along the lines of the thrill of battle. I couldn't manage to make that work though, and before long this idea took over. It is a layered guitar ballad in a major key (E) and could probably work as a love song (eyuck). But no. It's not a love song, okay? It's about dead soldiers. It's somewhat triumphant without (I hope) sounding pompous or pretentious. It is a work in progress, but the basic elements are there. Working title, The Glorious Dead.

Kelly and I have been working on a rather moody piece for 'Goes To War' - and after much deliberation have chosen THE BATTLE OF STALINGRAD as our backing-track subject. This was one of the bloodiest battles in history, and the turning point for the Allies in WWII. The Russian movie epic 'Stalingrad' is well worth a watch if you're researching, and a microcosmos of the campaign is stylishly portrayed in 'Enemy At The Gates' - despite lisping pretty-boy Jude Law.

A USEFUL SITE?

Here is a link to a site I rumbled over in my Cat Tank yesterday.

http://www.oddee.com/item_96610.aspx

Quite an interesting read and may provide the adrenaline shot you need if, like me, you are thinking about themes etc.

Going over the top

I'm a pacifist at heart, so writing about war without wimping out is a difficult proposition. So I've dashed off a composition I'm happy with which hopefully which is sounding like a casualty of war. Not decided on the specific theme yet, but I think this will be necessary to help the lyricist. I've written it on a piano, a knackered piano, and am hoping to record it as such. Much as it's tempting to use a virtual instrument again there's something about a REAL shonky upright piano which I love. Perhaps it would be to cliched to link this to the scene from The Pianist where Adrien Brody sits in that chateau plinking away but there you go.

I've attached a photo of my knackered piano for inspiration. What you can't SEE in the photo is the noise the pedals make when I use them. If anyone has any tips for recordging knackered pianos, please leave them as comments against this post. Tally ho!