Season's Greetings

Upsadaisy - 2013 is almost over and looking back it was quite a strenuous year what with our enforced removal in July and all that — and it really took us some time until everything went back to normal, especially as we had to deal with a completely new recording situation in our new flat (see previous blog entry).

But now we’re back on track again, enjoying the holidays and working on new songs as we’re still planning to release a new Antichrisis album in 2014. At the moment the following tracks are in the pipeline:

1. A Swan in the Rain
2. After the War
3. Goodbye to Jane Revisited
4. Gravity on Mars
5. Is Anybody There?
6. Last Night
7. Let You Go
8. No Going Back
9. St. Materiana
10. Stay
11. Subways of Time
12. The Night’s Still Young
13. There Were Crows
14. Understanding Everything

There are also 2 other nameless tracks ready to get recorded but I haven’t finished their lyrics yet.

Switching from Logic Pro 9 to Logic Pro X turned out to be a real bliss: so many once complicated workflows became extremely simplified (especially if it comes to MIDI FX), the new drummer feature is just awesome and Flex Pitch is an absolute timesaver. Logic Pro X is an amazing DAW and those guys at Apple really seem to be focused on developing it even further as one can tell by its latest updates.

I also got myself Zebra 2 and Diva by U-He for Christmas: these are 2 remarkable softsynths and together with Alchemy and Spectrasonics’ Omnisphere & Trilian they are definitely the most expandable, configurable and best sounding softsynths on the market. One really doesn’t need much more than these virtual instruments for great and versatile synth sounds.

But enough of that before I’m at risk of sounding like one of those nags from marketing department, but these chorus of praise is actually just based on my own experiences with the aforementioned products.

By the way: here’s my infamous Top Five list of 2013:

1. “If” — Glasvegas
2. “No Man’s Land” — OMD
3. “The Valley” — Christian Kjellvander
4. “Timeless” — The Airborne Toxic Event
5. “Das Schiff der grossen Illusionen” — Christian Anders (oldie but goodie)

Our New Vocal Booth

As we’ve got really nice neighbours in our new flat we didn’t want to annoy them with the hubbub caused by Antichrisis’ and Ayuma’s recording sessions, hence we got ourselves a pre-owned vocal booth that we had to pick up with a rental van in Hildesheim at Christoph’s place.

It was quite a trip, but it was worth it as that little vocal booth provides excellent sound insulation so that we won’t tick off our neighbours even if we’d do some vocal recordings in the middle of the night -- and even Whisky, our tomcat, seems to like that nifty little cabin.

The Eagle Has Landed

After two really stressful weeks we’re eventually getting back to normal: our relocation went surprisingly well, and though our new home is definitely smaller than our old dwelling we’re already feeling cosy and comfortable here in Zirndorf. Even Whisky, our tomcat, seems to be satisfied with his new habitat.

So I could be just as well working on new Antichrisis tracks again -- but thanks to Apple Logic Pro X was released a few weeks ago, and as we’re finally having a proper broadband connection here again, I was able to download those 42 GB of Logic Pro X and its contents in the wink of an eye. Of course this means that I’ll have to get familiar with all the new functions and elements of Logic Pro X, but as far as I can tell Logic Pro X seems to be a very promising and significant step forward: can’t wait to put my hands on the first production with Logic Pro X, but I’ll have to learn a few new tricks first (and thanks to those magnificent Logic-tutorials by MacProVideo I should be learning these aforementioned new tricks and functions within a reasonable time).

By the way: Ayuma and me had our 5th wedding anniversary on the 1st of August -- and we’re still enjoying every single day with each other as lovers, best friends, companions and soul mates. It feels exactly like in Bruce Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind”:

“We swore we’d travel side by side
We’d help each other stay in stride
But each lover’s steps fall so differently
But I'll wait for you
And if I should fall behind
Wait for me

Now everyone dreams of a love lasting and true
But you and I know what this world can do
So let’s make our steps clear that the other may see
And I'll wait for you
If I should fall behind
Wait for me”

Happy Summer Solstice

Thanks to bastard landlord we’ll have to change our residence again: we’ll be moving to our new tenement by the end of July, that’s way there’s gonna be some kind of radio silence during the next weeks.

I guess it’ll take us until September before our new studio is hooked up and we’ll be connected to the Internet again -- but fortunately we’ll be having a proper broadband connection then.

We’re busy preparing our removal at the moment, so there’s no time for working on new tracks right now. But as soon as everything’s set up, organised and arranged at our new dwelling and we’ve had a bit of a breather, we’ll be back to record and produce new tracks for Antichrisis as well as Ayuma.

In the meantime German-speaking readers might enjoy a very in-depth Antichrisis-interview with brand new German Webzine Sakona.

Nevertheless Ayuma and me are wishing you all a beautiful Summer Solstice celebration -- and Merry Meet again in September!

Candy Grapple Grey

It’s been a bit quiet lately -- but don’t worry: Ayuma and me are busily working on new tracks and you can be pretty sure that there will be quite a few surprises in the bag when we’ll have finished the recording sessions for the new Antichrisis album “Foxfire”.

Unfortunately we have to grapple with our bastard landlord at the moment: that nasty piece of work is trying to kick us out hence we had to contact the tenant association already to take legal measure. But as we’re preferring to live in peace we’ll have to spend our Saturdays with house hunting from now on.

Nonetheless our creative powers are still flowing and we’re both coming consistently up with new and exciting musical ideas, therefore “Foxfire” is taking more and more shape -- so stay tuned for more news as soon as we’ve found ourselves our new residence.

Working On New Tracks

When we released “Not Fade Away” last year, quite a few of you mentioned that they would have preferred not all album’s tracks being published on Bandcamp before as it spoiled the surprise of listening to a new album. And although I think that something like keeping an album or its tracks secret in the age of the Internet, your request shall be our command, as from now on only one or two songs of an album will be published before the album itself sees its release.

To be honest I’d still prefer to release any song as soon as its ready -- but in that case the majority of votes seems to be against me.

Nevertheless we’ve been diligently working on new tracks (thanks to my new Mac Mini which is really an awesome and powerful yet underestimated little machine): we’ve been finishing “Understanding Everything” two weeks ago, and a new song called “Be Gone” is already in the works.


At the same time I’ve put the finishing touches on Ayuma’s brand new track “Wenn Ich Dich heute seh’”-- and there really are lots of other new songs in the pipeline, hence Antichrisis’ new album is developing pretty well even if you won’t be hearing any new songs until “Foxfire” (the new album’s title) is released.