13 November 2009

Coming Up For Air








Coming up for air!!!!




Is it a bird is it a plane no its Lavelle’s blog!!! All I can say is sorry had to disappear for a while. I’ve been in the rabbit hole and finally I’m coming up for air! Hope all you folks are all good and still interested in what’s happening in the kaleidoscopic world of UNKLE.

So what’s been happening? We have been locked deep in the studio essentially driving ourselves mad trying to finish the new record. It’s been a difficult process and that’s why I had to bail for a while trying to make sense of the puzzle we have created basically trying to get the pieces to fit and finally its all starting to make sense. The last time I reached out to you I was off to New York for some r and r which was great. Since coming back it’s been recording and travelling all the way. Throughout the last three month’s journey we have worked on around 28 tracks which we have now whittled down to fifteen, recorded in every way technically possible from our studio, to others and via the internet. We’ve recorded strings with The Heritage Orchestra, worked on artwork with Ben Drury, Warren and Nick and seen a few shows to keep us sane including Massive Attack, The Big Pink, The Cult, Dark Horses, Spiritualised, seen some good art shows Anosh Kappor, Show Studios, Alex Box and Jonas Burget. I’ve played some dope parties (Fabric in particular springs to mind) seen some good movies: District Nine, Up, Whatever Works and watched some great TV shows: the new Dexter, True Blood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Life etc.

We’ve had some great studio visits: Noel Gallagher (what a funny motherfucker!), Nick Nicely (yes the 80’s psychedelic maestro)! Russell Amos Toys - what a legend, worked on music for the new Paul Williams movie ‘Cherry Tree Lane”...that film is gonna fuck your head up!!! . We made a new mix CD of remixes of UNKLE for McQueen, and a special UNKLE DJ mix for Playstation 3’s “Home” avatar game. We’ve put together some remixes for heavy drug which will be out next month mixes coming from King Unique, Steve Mac, Future Beat Alliance and Fergie all of which I’ve been hammering in my DJ sets lately and trying ever so hard to finish the new LP!!! So regarding that.... here’s the deal: it’s gonna be mastered on Dec 15th so until then that’s where our focus lies. The album title is “Where Did The Night Fall” but gonna keep it tight re collaborators for the time being but will keep you posted but if you fancy hearing a new cut come see me DJ I’ve been opening my set with a collaboration with the Black Angels re others like I said I’ll let you know.

Oh yeah and if you fancy some New Years Eve Mediterranean action then come and join me and Sasha at Athenaeum Intercontinental Athens,. It is gonna be a big one! I’m going to be recording some vocals today and then I have a big weekend DJing in Romania and Amsterdam. Oh yeah and I won’t disappear on you again, I just needed a bit of space to breath, so until next week keep an open mind!! lol Jx

Click on the photos at the top to link through to the photo albums. The ones in the Drum Drops studio were taken by Graham Fox.

























9 comments:

  1. He's aliiiiiiiiiiive!

    Great to find another blog post James.
    I'm sure everyone will agree these sneak pics of the studio are a great way to see the going-ons and well worth the wait.

    What did you make of the Massive Attack gig?
    Saw them in Glasgow, and overall it was great. 2nd last track was phenomenal.

    Roll on Album 4!!! :)

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  2. a special UNKLE mix for Home? Where can this be found in Home? Looking forward to the 4th album =D

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  3. Happy to have you back! I remember a while back you mentioned you wanted to explore more brighter/upbeat/positive/optimistic etc. sounds; did this work out? I think that might be hard to pull off well for most modern artists that have traditionally explored dark places, but if anyone can I think you can!

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  4. Black Angels? Oh, Lord, waiting for the new LP gets even harder!

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  5. can not wait for the new album...I'll be at the Budapest DPU gig at 09.12.04!!!

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  7. I hope new album would include lots of Gavin Clark vocals.

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  8. I keep revisiting this blog in the hopes that it might get updated; it was a nice personal touch.

    I've just passed a milestone birthday and spent some time reminiscing about the one in '09 spent in Fabric (2 Oct). Just wanted to say the show was incredible. I'm not normally one for birthday celebrations but I'm so glad I went. The place hadn't been that alive in years and I haven't had a night like it since. Hope you'll play there again soon.

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