Scripted Failures

So as you can see, the new Bon Voyage record has moved from being tentatively called “Lies”, to being definitely called “Lies”.  As you can also see, the album has a stellar seductive cover.  This is the most seductive sensual cover I’ve ever seen Tooth and Nail put out.  If you’re wondering where I found the cover someone on the Velvet Blue Music Message Board was checking out the Invisible Creature Blog, and found it.

Speaking of which, that message board is quite the interesting place to hang around.  Check it out!  Jim and I are on there as happinessiseasy and lfh respectively.  Send us private messages and say hi!

Semi back on topic, Invisible Creature is the studio that is also doing artwork for the new Joy Electric album,  “My Grandfather, the Cubist”.  It’s run by brothers Ryan and Don Clark who were in the Tooth and Nail hardcore band Focused, then the Solid State (Tooth and Nail’s hardcore label) band Training for Utopia, if I’m remembering my history correctly.  The Clark Brothers used to run Asterik Studios who did tons of album sleeves for Tooth and Nail, including Starflyer 59’s “Talking Voice vs. Singing Voice” and Joy Electric’s “The Tick Tock Treasury”, as well as the album sleeve for Funeral for a Friend’s “Hours”.  Asterik Studios has now split into two different studios: Wonderful Union and the aforementioned Invisible Creatures.

Random asides aside, there’s more yummy Bon Voyage info to feast upon.  Here it is, straight from Bon Voyage’s Myspace Blog:

“The new album “LIES” is completed and scheduled for a release date this
June on Tooth and Nail Records. New photos have been completed, and the
artwork for the record is currently underway. The myspace page will be
going thru an overhaul with new photos, new music, and release
information…please check back periodically as we are hoping to have
the new page up here in the next month or so.”

June can’t come soon enough, not to mention a tracklist, and some new tracks to listen to!

Straight from Starflyer’s Myspace Blog:

“The new Starflyer 59 album “Dial M” has just been completed and is off
to be mixed next week by JR McNeely. We are looking at a late summer /
early fall release with select tour dates to follow. We are very
pleased with the results and hope you enjoy the new record. More info,
new songs, etc. coming soon.”

I guess I’ll be finding out soon if my supposition was correct that all the A-sides of “The Ghosts of the Future” 7″ boxset are an album to themselves and not the next true album Starflyer 59 was recording.  Either way, I’m excited and you should be too.  After all the release of a new Starflyer 59 or Joy Electric album is always a monumentally exciting event.  Speaking of that, don’t forget that the new Joy Electric record “My Grandfather, the Cubist” comes out May 26th!  Hopefully we can get some rad coverage of that leading up to the release.

Coming Home to Me(You)

Disc One: Finding One’s Heart a Home

Prelude: Hearts With No Homes
1. Yoko Kanno, “Stella By Moor”

Chapter One: A Love Found in Distance
2. Starflyer 59, “I Fell in Love at 22″

Interlude One: The Soldiers of Love
3. Yoko Kanno, “Cosmos”

Chapter Two: The Gnawing Ache of Distances
4. Mae, “We’re So Far Away”
5. Mae, “Someone Else’s Arms”
6. Bon Voyage, “I Just Wanna (Be With You)”

Interlude Two: Sometimes It’s Hard to Know Where Home Is
7. Yoko Kanno, “Road to the West”

Chapter Three: Letters from the Home Front
8. Bruce Springsteen, “Dancing in the Dark”
9. Bruce Springsteen, “Born to Run”
10. Death Cab for Cutie, “Transatlanticism”

Interlude Three: There Could Be Grace and Beauty in this Life
11. Yoko Kanno, “Blue”

Chapter Four: Calling the Soldiers of Love Home
12. Joy Electric, “Buttercup Fairy Jamboree”
13. Joy Electric, “Birds Will Sing Forever”
14. Starflyer 59, “Your Company”

Postlude: Leaving the War for Home
15. Yoko Kanno, “Flying Teapot”
16. Yoko Kanno, “I Do”

Disc Two: Yr(My) Home is With Me(You)

Prelude: The Birds That Sing, They Sing for Us
1. Yoko Kanno, “Cyberbird”
2. Yoko Kanno, “Green Bird”

Chapter One: A Homecoming
3. Death Cab for Cutie, “Passenger Seat”
4. Dance House Children, “Once Upon Your Lips”
5. Goat Explosion, “Night Cranes”
6. Interpol, “Public Pervert”

Interlude One: There is Grace and Beauty in this Life
7. Yoko Kanno, “Space Lion”

Chapter Two: Walking in the Sun
8. Yo La Tengo, “Our Way to Fall”
9. Mae, “The Everglow”
10. Mae, “Ready and Waiting to Fall”
11. Starflyer 59, “For Us”

Interlude Two: One Day We Will Look Back and Find…
12. Yoko Kanno, “Waltz for Zizi”

Chapter Three: Our Memories, Forever Treasured
13. Bon Voyage, “On Your Side”
14. Dance House Children, “There Will Never Be”
15. Dance House Children, “Wisteria Time”

Postlude: …That Life Has Been Good to Us
16. Yoko Kanno, “Ave Maria”
17. Yoko Kanno, “Memory”

- Finding One’s Heart a Home - i fell in love at 22 with a girl that’s close to you find a job and find a life no more long days longer nights remembering everything about my world and when you came wondering if the change you’d bring means nothing else would be the same did you know what you were doing did you know did you know how you would move me well i don’t really think so but the night came down and swept us away and the stars they seemed to paint the most elaborate scene to date when the lights first came upon us and we saw the everglow and the moment’s magic swept us away and a young man’s dream was almost seen so plain when was the night that showed us the sign revealed in the ksy to leave all behind but where to begin throwing caution to the wind we reached for the stars everything was now ours it’s so close but we’re so far away i just want to wake up in someone else’s arms i just wanna be with you if you don’t mind i get up in the evening and i ain’t got nothing to say i come home in the morning feeling the same way i ain’t nothing but tired man i’m just tired and bored with myself hey there baby i could use a little help you can’t start a fire you can’t start a fire without a spark baby this gun’s for hire even if we’re just dancing in the dark they say you gotta stay hungry hey baby i’m just about starving tonite i’m dying for some action i’m sick of sitting around here trying to write this book i need a little reaction hey pretty baby give me just one look you can’t start a fire worrying about your little world falling apart this gun’s for hire even if we’re just dancing in the dark baby this town rips the bones from your back it’sa death trap it’s a suicide rap we gotta get out while we’re young cause tramps like us baby we were born to run amanda let me in i wanna be your friend i wanna guard your dreams and visions just wrap your legsround these velvet rims and starap your hands cross my engines together we could break this trap we’ll run till we drop baby we’ll never go back you walk with me out on the wire cause baby i’m just a scared and lonely rider but i gotta know how it feels i wanna know if love is wild baby wanna know if love is real together amanda we can live with  the sadness i’ll love you with all the madness in my soul someday girl i don’t know when we’re gonna get to that place where we really wanna go and we’ll walk in the sun but till then tramps like us baby we were born to run the distance is quite simply much too far for me to row it seems farther than ever before oh no i need you so much closer so come on you are loving i am faithful i’ll do everything i’m able be in love with me here forever king and country live forever birds will sing forever when we’re together so come on and be with me i want your company - Yr(My) Home is With Me(You) - with my feet on the dash the world doesn’t matter when you feel embarassed then i’ll be your pride when you need directions then i’ll be the guide for all time happy daisy sunshine berry bugs dandelion wreath rose verse and prose phlox sweet sap tinglings strawberry jam bloom holly hocks and once upon your lips holly jolly sweet tart harpsichord melodeon songs virginia riddles dwindles penny porcelain chimes so tell me that this is a time for our day dreams i wanna tell you how i feel i wanna hold you close again i want to look around the room and i want to see you in my life hold me in your arms like you do i wanna feel your warmth at night i want you in my arms again there is love to be made so just stay here for this while i remember the song you sang i remember the way you looked at night and i remember the way it made me feel so we’ll try and try even if it lasts an hour with all our might we’ll try to make it ours cause we’re on our way we’re on our way to falling in love here’s the night and it shines and it calls us on and on so be here by my side and watch the stars they’re ours so take it all the way oh and our hearts are on the everglow so just let go and fall into it it’s never been more perfect being alive i’ve never been so satisfied misery’s not company for us not for us you’d never say life’s just all bad when you think of times we’ve had there will never be another day like today where we can sit and smell the roses there will never be another time another place where we can dance in all the flowers kiss the flower that i gave to you to hold and love kiss the days that you gave to me to hold and love remember for me remember for me remember for me…

Friday Mixes is a weekly feature that showcases a mix of songs from various genres that usually share some common theme.  If you have an idea for a theme, email us at feedback@scriptedfailures.com and maybe we’ll use it.

And I finally make my appearance on the blog.  Jim is happy.

So this has been around for awhile, both the band and the video, but I doubt that anyone outside of the Joy Electric, Fine China, and Starflyer 59 etc fanbase knows about it.  The Foxglove Hunt is Rob Withem, of the late great Fine China, writing the songs with Ronnie Martin, of the still going strong, Joy Electric doing all the programming and production.

So what do you get when add Fine China’s 80s pop with Joy Electric’s, for lack of better word, synth pop goodness? Pristine 80s synth pop, of course!  I could go into a long history of both of those bands, but this is all about The Foxglove Hunt.  It was early in ‘07 when news of The Foxglove Hunt surfaced.  Joy Electric and Fine China fans rejoiced.  I went ga-ga at the prospect.  But two songwriting luminaries teaming up doesn’t mean shit if the songs aren’t there.  Luckily they seem to be there.

“That’s Getting Personal” was the first song to show up on their myspace, and it was a killer.  I’ve listened to it way too many times and still haven’t worn it out.  Then “Business Casual” appeared which was good, but not necessarily as good as “That’s Getting Personal”.  Time passed, and then The Foxglove Hunt played one of their first shows, if not their first show, at Autobahn 7, which is Ronnie Martin’s synth pop festival.  Videos surfaced online.  Most of the songs didn’t make me do cartwheels on first listen, which is okay cause Fine China’s last album “The Jaws of Life” took a long time to hit me, and they’re only live versions after all.  Regardless, it was rad to watch Ronnie behind the drumset.  Then, in clicking through all the videos, I found this song (the video of which is below), which no one knows the title of.  I shot through the roof, as I usually do when i hear a song of this caliber.  So let’s get to the song.

What we have here is classic Rob Withem songwriting with classic Ronnie Martin synth work.  This is pure 80s gold, and I will swear, on whatever you consider holy, that this song would have torn up the airwaves in the 80s.  The song starts off with Ronnie’s arpeggiated synth and a beautiful Rhodes-esque lead line, that comes in for a few seconds, before exploding into full on synth pop glory with a lead line that will not leave your head, even with the aid of a shotgun, and an ultra classy synth pad playing out the chords.  Rob Withem’s fey vocals are in full effect, and his vocal line is spot on like his vocal lines always are.  The lead line is tops, the chorus is huge, the song is the perfect length, and the lyrics seem to be that wonderful special kind of melancholy that Jason Martin, of Starflyer 59, Ronnie Martin, and Rob Withem execute so well.  “Don’t go breaking my heart” (that’s the chorus), indeed.  Throughout the whole performance Ronnie looks like he’s having a blast on the drums, and Rob looks very 80s wrapping his hands around that little synth and totally sexing up the microphone.  The whole video and song is summed up perfectly at the end when someone in the audience yells out, best as I can tell, “That’s the bomb!”  While I’m not one to the use that phrase anymore, it’s true.  Whoever screamed that out isn’t bullshitting.  Just listen and see.

Wanna hear more?  Check out The Foxglove Hunt’s Myspace, or go here to see all the videos.  Wanna support the band?  Head to the distro section of the Velvet Blue Music website and buy their two song demo, for only $2.99, which features full quality versions of the two songs, “That’s Getting Personal” and “Business Casual”, that are streaming on their myspace.  It’s cheap and worth a purchase.  Here’s to hoping the full album comes out early next year!