....the New album!!! Yay!!
Welcome to our website w/the new look. We are hoping that you all enjoy checking out new songs, new video and new photos! Oh, please do not forget that we'll have some exciting shows coming up as well! Many interesting news will follow soon:)
One last reminder: our new album "We've Got A Map" will be released on August 7th, 2012!
We were once again, at Tiny Telephone Recording Studio last Saturday...not for recording. I hope you'll see & hear more about it and do like what we did there!
I love "the bear" edition....hee-hee-hee!!!
Thank you very much for those of you who came to see our recent show at Make-Out Room in SF! As always, we were so happy to see you enjoying music, conversation and the atmosphere. I don't know how many live shows I have done since I started playing music (piano first, then percussion -> drums), I can tell you how exciting and happy to be on stage and playing music you really LOVE.
[Tiny Telephone Recording Studio: A-room (Live room)]
We are heading back to the beautiful Tiny Telephone Studio this weekend for mixing and recording...yes, BOTH at the same time at their sweet 2 rooms! Officially and literally, we are occupying the entire studio!! Are you all ready for the party?
This is the keyboard I have been dreaming of for a long long time! What else should I say? Oh, we are not going to embarrass ourselves to add this for a live setting along with our 5-piece band worth gears...at least for now :)
[on this photo: Artistic director, Minna Lee Choi rehearsing with the string quartet of Magik*Magik Orchestra]
Our 2nd album in process of tracking for about 10 months has come to the climax stage. We have again invited Magik*Magik Orchestra to add more than just "strings part" to our songs...it was a beautiful, strong and super professional session with such fine players!
Well...where should I start with? Oh, yes, I sincerely thank to Erin Brazill and The Brazillionaires for the sweet show with lovely people! This show at Virachoa made possible by them. I have known Erin for a while (used to play some shows together too), and she is not only a talented & beautiful musician but also a really sweet & loving person...no wonder there were so many friends & fans gathering at the intimate venue in the heart of San Francisco.
A few days ago, I saw Ami Kurata again in Osaka, Japan. Ami is the animation artist who did create our first music video "Holy Grail." I am sure you all have seen the amazing video, yes? The video has been featured on many online magazines and blogs like wired.com.
First of all, Thank you very much for listening to our interview on Radio Valencia last night (8th)! Oh, you missed it? OK, you can click here to check out the complete interview (& songs including one you have never heard before) as many times you like.
The world where we live is getting ready for Christmas time (to be super precise, I am not really a Christian in this life and I was in my a few previous lives).
We just added 2 live shows in one day as a pre-Christmas gift....it will be on Saturday, December 3rd, 2011.
Happy Thanksgiving Day!!
Thank you for all of you out there to support us, listen to our music and find out about us. We love you.
This week (actually since last week) can be the busiest & most exciting time of the year for us...BOTH on 12th, another recording session at Tiny Telephone on 15-16th and San Jose on 18th!
I'm gonna pretend there is someone out there who cares, so just play along, ok? This is my pedalboard setup. I have two inputs, for my vocal mic and guitar. The chain runs Lehle switcher > Peterson Tuner > AnalogMan modified Ibanez TS-9 > Analogman Peppermint Fuzz > Xotic EP Boost > Malekko Heavy Industries Analog Delay > Empress Effects Vintage Superdelay > Moog MuRF (step-filter) > Boomerang Rang III. They are all powered by the Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 2, conveniently mounted underneath this custom pedalboard made by Pumaman. Don't get me started, I'll geek out with the geekiest of pedal freaks!
2 (two) more months to go for the end of 2011. This year, will be very memorable one for this music project as well as myself as a Japanese citizen.
As you see our calendar of events, our gig schedule is pretty nicely evenly filled with interesting varieties...BOTH in San Francisco, first time in San Jose & Rino, returning to Hemlock and more intimate setting at Viracocha, SF. It is very exciting and of course, there are challenges based on the venues, type of audience and how we feel for the night.
Recording is a very interesting project. I have done so many sessions with various bands/music groups and each one of them was totally different. Even within the same group, it is still very different. You may want to believe you would know so much better if you had a week (or month) long straight recording session...but it's not the case (We learned that from our "if..." recording last year).
Yes! The Vibraphone! This is a Deagan Traveler (I guess 581 model: built in 1962-64) which I rented for the upcoming recording session THIS weekend. Some of you don't know whether I can play this thing...yes, I kinda do.
Well, this little mounting device for my LP is not something you can find at any music store...because it was created based on my ideal situation (dream) for a new addition (it will be introduced in detail some other time).
In order to accomplish your great(?) idea, you should be very creative and believe you can truly do it.
Since I started playing the drums, synth and singing at once, people have been asking me more often how I practice those. I totally understand how (kinda) crazy it is and how one can do stuff like that. I used to have exactly same feeling & observation about playing the drumset too!
Thank you very much for those of you came to see us last night at Hemlock!! also, thank you very much for those of you have been supporting us as well!!
It was our 5th show since we started this project "officially." We have been still learning lots of things on and off the stage, and last night as well we learned more stuff...Little things like "how to set-up quickly", "how we can make the set flow better", "what we should do specifically in this particular song", etc.
This is my setup at our practice studio. It is always so nice and exciting to see this beautiful Moog LP...I would have never imagined how much I love to play & work with this sweet instrument.
As you see, we have been working on this website to show you a lot of things of us. We have nice photos, the beautiful music video, live videos from our CD release show (7/26/11), interesting reviews for you to enjoy reading, and more.
Thanks so much to all those who came out to the record release show. Could not have asked for a better evening. A very special thanks to Adam Willumsen and the Blue Rabbits, Debbie Neigher and her band, John Vanderslice, Ara Anderson, Masaru Koga and all the amazingly talented folks who graced the stage (and audience) that eve. So what's next, where next, and how to?
tidelands is tidelands
