"Do you have any of the Oxford demos?"
Oh my goodness. We're barely into this show and with that single question and I already feel like I should step down and hand over the running of the Archive to John Kennedy. It would be in safe hands because he understands the psychology of music fanatics, which is why it's so great that he's the guiding hand of this fantastic little podcast called Tape Notes. If you enjoy geeking out over recording practices and understanding the assembly of your favourite records, then this is like having your birthday every day. The premise is simple but very, very interesting. You get members of the group, the producer they worked with on an album and then encourage them to take you through how they ended up with the final product. It's an aural autopsy, with those taking part bringing some demos or stems from recording sessions and laying it all out in front of the listener to let them see the how it all works. It's the kind of question and answers that you long for during the promotional campaign, but due to the compact and surface level nature of those encounters, you never quite arrive at a satisfying destination.
This episode is all about explaining how VI OLENCE was conceived. It's been done as part of Mr Kennedy's Radio X show before, but this media format has allowed for more in depth discussion. John Kennedy has previously done some great album walkthroughs by Editors, and comparatively he is the equivalent of the best MMA referees. When you're watching a fight, you can tell how good the official in the cage is by how little you're aware of their presence. In this podcast John Kennedy understands the benefits of allowing the participants to speak with minimal intrusion. He's reserved in his interventions, but possesses a collection of insightful questions to keep the flow going when he does.
I should point out that in order to avoid the copyright bans that accompany this being posted on YouTube (I was hit twice with worldwide blocks when I initially uploaded it), I removed as much of the officially released stuff as possible. It was done with care, love and total respect to the original material. My motivation here is only to preserve and share.
I should point out that in order to avoid the copyright bans that accompany this being posted on YouTube (I was hit twice with worldwide blocks when I initially uploaded it), I removed as much of the officially released stuff as possible. It was done with care, love and total respect to the original material. My motivation here is only to preserve and share.
If you visit the Tape Notes website, and I strongly suggest you do, you'll find that a participant in a different episiode of the podcast is Jim Abbiss. Who is that? The gentleman who produced the Back Room.
This is the first time hearing from Leo Abrahams and his approach to the construction of VI OLENCE, and I loved discovering that he watched old live footage of the band with a view to capturing that spirit in a studio setting. People who've been on this journey with the band for a long time will acknowledge that the one thing that is their curse as well as their strength, is that the live sound is usually more powerful and effective than the studio sessions. Hearing that Leo had a handle on that shows how perfect he was as a choice for producer. He gets it.
I mean this without any slight on Mr Smith but I also love that the less obvious road is being taken with Justin and Elliott taking us through all of this, rather than doing a re-recording with Tom. It's a signal of how much Editors have evolved. They are no longer "the new guys" (thank goodness!), and are instead able to carry an hour and a half of conversation about Editors' music and keep you totally engaged throughout.
I mean this without any slight on Mr Smith but I also love that the less obvious road is being taken with Justin and Elliott taking us through all of this, rather than doing a re-recording with Tom. It's a signal of how much Editors have evolved. They are no longer "the new guys" (thank goodness!), and are instead able to carry an hour and a half of conversation about Editors' music and keep you totally engaged throughout.
Ironically, I could spend paragraph after paragraph dissecting the podcast, and I did have to cut out an awful lot before I posted this, because there are so many interesting details and ideas at work here. But as always, it would be better if you heard it all from those involved. Great job Mr Kennedy, enjoy the chatter ;)
