We’ve just added this Roland electronic drum kit to the Creative Studio. Should help us get away from super rigid, sequenced drums like on Ming & Ping’s tracks – works for them but not for everything. We got this kit used for half price. Stoked.

My friend Mariqueen sent me this video a couple of years ago and it was brilliant then, but recently its been relevant because I’ve been doing a lot of live looping in my own songs and songwriting. This is one of the most beautiful renditions of one of the most beautiful songs.

Gavin Castleton covering “Nothing Compares 2 U” written by Prince and originally performed (also beautifully) by Sinead O’Connor. <3

I will be replacing the studio’s big, loud, and temperamental Lacie Big Disks with smaller, quieter (and now cheaper) G-Tech G-Drives. I’m over Lacie drives with their unreliable power adapters and poorly engineered power management/sleep mode. The data recovery service will take 10 business days and cost almost $1300 because the Lacie Big Disk is actually made up of two hard drives on the inside, so they’re extracting data from two separate discs then merging it back into one folder structure. Definitely an unexpected cost and I’m sure I’m getting fleeced but I need this data – it includes “Chinatown” the final song from Ming & Ping’s new record (which should have been sent to the manufacturers by now) as well as all of my own demos from the last couple of years. Funny how you don’t think to back things up if they’re “in progress”. Live and learn. Or not.

I’m super sad and freaked out. The hard drive containing the files for all of my new music and some of Ming & Ping’s tracks has stopped mounting. Over two years of work – only some of it is backed up. Sometimes I can trick it into mounting, but all of the folders show zero files. Tomorrow I will take the drive to a data recovery place and see how it goes. The universe is really starting to wear on me…

This is so beautiful. I wish I could download it and loop it all day on my screen. Watch it in its full 1080 HD glory. <3

We just helped Ming & Ping announce their new tour dates for a short summer tour with Mike Diva and NVR-NDR. Ming & Ping will be promoting the first of their upcoming twin EP’s. Start making your plans to attend, because these will be special shows. I might be able to tag along and manage the tour this summer. Looking forward!

This song is how I feel sometimes. Each day after today, I will feel less and less resentment until only positives remain – in the form of nostalgia. That’s how it works, right?

Scavenger School of Seven Bells

I gave you the time
You didn’t say
You didn’t want it

You let the days slide
Into a drain
Until you lost it

You took me like a drug
To make you feel loved
To make you feel wanted
To make you feel fine
To make you feel life
I made you feel something
‘Cause you can feel nothing

I know what you are
You’re a fake
You’re a scavenger
Too scared to take part
You only take
‘Cause you’re a coward

On your own
You have no one
On your own
You’re not enough

You took me like a drug
To make you feel loved
To make you feel wanted
To make you feel fine
To make you feel life
I made you feel something
‘Cause you can feel nothing

A friend of mine gave me this book to read. I haven’t read a book in a hundred years but I think I can read this one, since there are only about 25 words per page.

Maybe I’ll even learn something… like… there is no spoon…

Thanks, Jessica!

Just got this funny gothy thing for the studio. It has black pearl bat-shaped fret markers. Haha! Matte black. 5 Strings. Goes looooow. Get ready for some crushing Joy Division style baselines. Just kidding, we’re gonna makes silly pop songs with it. :)