The Silence Is Deafening

Over the past couple weeks, I have handed out dozens of copies of The Aluminum Album. It often happens something like this:

Casual Acquaintance Making Small Talk: "Hey Jennie, what ever happened with
that album you were recording?"

Me: "Here it is!" (whipping a CD out of my purse) "Keep it! Look, I want you to know that we know it's terrible....that is its charm. No really, keep it! No, I INSIST."

The absolute worst thing, as far as I'm concerned, would be if someone thought that WE thought that the album was actually good. Because then they would pity us. Ha. We have no illusions about it being good. But I hoped that being up-front about its badness might prompt some humorous jokes about it. I pictured people listening to it, and having a good hearty laugh, and writing some sarcastic reviews on the blog.

Instead, pretty much no one has said anything about it to me at all, to my huge disappointment. The exception is one listener's inquiry as to whether he was correct in believing that the background noise in "You Know I'm No Good" was generated by a bevy of constipated back-up singers (it was not; that's the kazoo). I was grateful that someone finally made a joke about it, but it doesn't really count in terms of "feedback" since it came from Brad, who is in the band.

Sigh.

Maybe the rest of you haven't even listened to it?

Please, make some jokes!

Listener's Guide

The seven songs on the album speak for themselves, of course (and perhaps unfortunately), but I was compelled to make some notes about them that may prove enlightening as you listen. Naturally, all the blog entries over the past month and a half also shed some light. If you are checking out the blog for the first time after seeing the web address on the CD, it will probably make more sense if you read my first blog entry: http://aluminumalbum.blogspot.com/2007/10/auspicious-beginnings.html

Above all else, as you listen, keep in mind that we recorded the album in 30 days (more or less) and while it may not inspire any talk of a 35-city live tour, I do think it features moments of musical brilliance - however fleeting! I should also mention that the KEIT members surprised me over and over again with their creativity, dedication, insight, and courage. I am so grateful to them for making my wacky idea a reality.

1. 6AM
This was our sole original song, of which we are all really enamored. We find the chorus really catchy. We want to hear you humming it as you walk the dog, and singing it in the shower (which is not to say we want to take a shower with you, necessarily). I added the background vocals as an afterthought and became obsessed with the echo sound enabled by the software. Probably it is a bit over the top, but I don't care. Also, I really like the end of the song.

2. Super Freak
Mic did such a great job on this that it was really criminal that I had to ruin it with the kazoo at the end, but we had no good alternatives. Derrick, man, you have to locate that saxophone before November 2008! (oh yes, we'll be doing this again in '08)

3. Sunday Bloody Sunday
This was our only live number; the rest were recorded track by track. We kept accidentally speeding up as we played it, because the percussion wasn't very prominent. In the end I decided I liked it played fast, so I just followed the keyboard/guitar with the percussion. Consequently, it starts at U2 pace and finishes at U2-on-amphetamines pace. The amazing thing about that is that Brad had to play the violin part toward the end a LOT faster than U2 plays it, and you know what? He was amazing. Bono should think about using him. Also, I cannot resist pointing out that I think I sound EXACTLY like Bono when I sing the "wipe the tears from your eyes" part, so listen for that.

4. Brighter Than Sunshine
A big thank you to KEIT Guest Recording Artist Jamie Bellis for stepping in after technical crises threatened to doom this song. We wanted Jamie to be in the band all along because she has an angelic voice, so it was like a homecoming.

5. I Just Called To Say I Love You
It took only 2 KEIT musicians to record this song, isn't that remarkable? Mic did 3 tracks on The Device and Peter did the vocal track. I have always been a 70s and 80s Stevie Wonder fan but was especially struck, as we recorded it, by the complexity of what sounds on the surface like a pretty simple song (which was why I naively chose it). That Stevie has a genious beyond what I understood back in October.

6. Eleanor Rigby
Too bad we didn't have a KEIT Guest Recording Artist on the day we did "Eleanor Rigby," because you got stuck with me instead. I know, I know, I cannot hit the right notes, except the very last line sounds miraculously in tune, somehow. Anyway, try to ignore me and just focus on the rich sound of KEIT's 2-person string quartet.

7. You Know I'm No Good
This was the first song we recorded, back on November 2 when we were oh so green. The product reflects that greenness. You have to start somewhere!

Flying Off The Shelves

50 of the CDs have been burned, with more finished every 5 minutes! The CD case inserts have been printed, cut, and folded! The Aluminum Album is FINALLY ready!

Want a copy? Prepared to be blown away by its wonderful awfulness? Think it would make an excellent Christmas gift for your Great Aunt Bessie? If she's largely deaf, you may be right!

All those interested, just say the word, and I'll have The Aluminum Album in your eager hands in no time.

Freaking Lasers

This evening I started recording the songs onto CDs. This went swell the first few times, but with the fourth disc, I started getting an error message indicating that "the device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media," whatever that means. It is as if Dr. Evil sent a school of sharks with laser beams on their heads swimming around my iMac.

I have a portable CD, um, thing (what are they called?) that I have plugged into my desktop computer because its built-in CD thing also conked out at one point, so I plugged the portable thing into my iMac and proceeded. It works great, but takes about 5 minutes per disc. So with 96 discs remaining, that translated to 8 hours of recording.

If anyone has bright ideas about speeding this up, I'm all ears. So far I have recorded a whopping 11 discs.

And no, I still don't have the CD inserts printed. It is frustrating to finally have the darned songs all ready to go and yet be mired in the logistics, twelve days into December.

The good news is that none of these issues impairs my ability to go to holiday parties and brag about my album. So I'm doing plenty of that.

All Songs Are Go!

I finished assembling all the remaining songs tonight and exported them to iTunes to be copied onto the 100 CDs I bought at Target this morning. I haven't finalized the song order yet, though. I do know that it will start with "6AM," our strongest song, and end with our weakest, "You Know I'm No Good." There are a total of seven songs.

I had been procrastinating on finalizing "You Know I'm No Good" because when I put all its tracks together last weekend, I was alarmed to find that it simply did not contain enough music. It sounded like it needed more instruments and more musicians. There was one part of the song where no one was playing anything, except the percussion! Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I whipped out the kazoo tonight and did a little filling in. It sounds bad, of course, but not as bad as I had feared. It will have to do. I am counting on the fact that many listeners will be so put off by the mediocrity of the first six songs that they won't even still be listening by song number seven!

Incidentally, I can't help noticing that Amy Winehouse was nominated for six Grammies, yet Know Eye Inn Teem only snagged five nominations. What gives?

Just kidding. Actually we only received four Grammy nominations.

The Aluminum Album Proceeds In Slow Motion

Some of the urgency went out of finishing the album today as we learned that logistical considerations would prevent us from holding an album release party on December 10. I confess that I was relieved as much as disappointed. I was starting to freak out about the party.

The album is close to done, however. Technical unpredictabilities necessitated the re-recording of the vocals on "Brighter Than Sunshine" by KEIT Guest Recording Artist Jamie Bellis, who did a lovely job at 10 PM on Monday. Then Mic's unflagging willingness to take on Stevie Wonder prompted him to volunteer for yet another keyboard track on "I Just Called To Say I Love You" last night. This wasn't even at my request. I told him I was happy with it as it was, but he was very keen, in true Know Eye Inn Teem spirit. We've got keenness going for us.

Absent the need to frantically mix tracks and obtain CDs and CD cases and copy songs to the CDs and produce a CD insert and get color copies and cut them down to 4.75 inches squared and promote a massive party and figure out beer and food and obtain a microphone for a live performance, things have slowed blissfully down. Tonight, on the way home from work, I stopped at Home Depot and spent a good ten minutes just sniffing Christmas trees (they smell so good), then I came home and put on fleece and watched an hour and a half of television. You could look at this as a sign that I am single and pathetic, or you could look at it as a sign that I am relishing my newfound free time.

Here is a sneak peak at the cover of The Aluminum Album:

KEIT Triangulist Julie Flinn

Photos from Wednesday's rehearsal. Julie was working on percussion for "6AM."