Cups and Videos

Some busy nights in the studio this week(& end). What have I been up to?

A couple vases, and some cups.

Still trimming away at that great big vase, and more cups.

And just a whole lot more cups!

And a great big vase. Maybe 24 inches tall? Will be several days of process before this guy is finished up and ready to dry. I hope it will fit into my firing schedule (drying-wise) before I'm done for the show.

So that's what it's been. I did lose a handful of cups while trimming - I had an incident where I tried to pick up the plank full of cups seen in the 3rd picture. It's a remnant of (I believe) some cementboard siding from our house. I tried picking it up apparently too far to one end and the board snapped, springboarding the cups on the other end into the air. Three cups made the unlucky journey all the way to the floor. Five more just tipped on their sides, but they were soft enough that they did still flatten a bit. I think those five have been salvaged - reshape, rub out the flattened side of the rim, and set upright to keep drying. Hopefully they will dry back to their circular state in a healthy manner.

So that's about all I've got right now. I received word that my copy of Switchfoot's upcoming album has been shipped, so that's exciting. They've also debuted the video for their first single, "Dark Horses." It's pretty standard fare, as performance based videos go, but a nice preview for the album. I've embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. "Dark Horses" is a hard hitting rocker, but the rest of the album sort of runs in the whole range of Switchfoot's sonic palette. On my first listen through (the online streaming version) it reminded me a whole lot of the sounds heard in their first three records as a three-piece coupled with the musical growth they've demonstrated as a maturing five-piece band. It's really good stuff, and I'm looking forward to having the real thing in hand.

On the other side of the "performance based music videos" spectrum, MuteMath has debuted the video for the second single ("Blood Pressure") from their October 4th release (Odd Soul). It's a bit trippier of an affair, and worth checking out (also embedded below). For a band that values video as a creative medium entirely, not just a promotional object, they're going to have to up the ante soon and film in outer space or in a shark cage or full motion capture and turn each band member into an awesome CGI ape or something because they're getting close to repeating themselves. But it's still an interesting video. As someone who has worked in 2D and now lives in 3D, trying to work in a 4D art form (motion picture adds the dimension of time, right?) I have no clue where one would even start in making a video like this. But they do! Fun note: drummer Darren King was one of the directors of the video. Should be a great album. Looking forward to it.

That said, check out the videos if you need some groovy tuneage, and have a great weekend!

Pictures sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry