I’m back in the studio with Michael this week, recording our new EP, which will probably excite you just a little too much. Don’t let your mother know, or we might not be allowed back. It’s coming along awesomely, and we’re fortunate enough to have a cast on hand of very talented musicians to help us out.

We’re planning some shows in North Carolina this June, so keep an eye on the events page, southern friends! No final word on this yet, but we may also be playing up north later this summer. Really, we’re just trying to feed our gambling addiction, but we’ll have more money to lose if we play a few shows.

I’m late for the studio, as usual, so I’ll leave off here with a song from Oz Osborne, who invented me. If you’ve seen us live, you probably heard me cover an old song of his called “Boxcar Number 9.” Here’s one of my favorites, the title track from his latest album, “New Moon & Mars.”

Oz Osborne – New Moon & Mars

Coming back home from the road feels a lot like stepping off a roller coaster; you miss the feeling of being in motion and the ride is always too short. Nevertheless, I had an awesome week of shows with Michael, playing around the state.

We started with a short jaunt out to 419 West in Roanoke where they have fantastic pizza, incredibly friendly bartenders, and a crowd to match the wonderful and generous space inside. After that, we rested our voices for a few days, courageously battling off sore throats, and got better just in time to pack our things and head off to Richmond. There, we played a cozy show on the corner at Emilio’s and rounded the night off with a trip to the bar and a bit of Monty Python. The following day, we returned to the Cowboy Café in Arlington. Our performance and the audience there were bigger, better, and more beautiful this time, and it was generally concluded to be a Win-Win all around. We reserved Friday as a day of rest and recovery at Jackson Manor, venturing out to explore the rehabilitative possibilities of Thai food, preceding drinks and dessert in a three-story pub. By the time we left our show on Saturday night in Norfolk we were exhausted, and we got some well-deserved sleep on the finest couches in Virginia Beach.

In other news, we’ve added April 3rd to our calendar, when we’ll be playing at Hollins University. Their chapter of STAND, a student coalition against genocide, is holding a benefit concert to raise money for humanitarian relief efforts in Burma, and we’re proud to be on the bill. We’ll be sharing the stage with April Smith and the Great Picture Show and Jonny Corndawg.
Tonight’s music comes from a band that Michael turned me on to, The Bees, whose latest record, “Octopus,” has become a staple of our in-car listening. This song gives me sort of a Steve Miller vibe, can you hear it?

The Bees – Got To Let Go

Has it really been over a week since my last post? Funny how time sneaks up on you like that, even with clocks and calendars everywhere. Speaking of that, I wrote an entry back in December after receiving and advent calendar, saying that I’d be much more aware of the passage of time if I had an entire, 12-month calendar filled with candy. Well, now I do (thanks Amy!) and it looks pretty sweet:

It’s been a great, candy-filled week for me. Michael and I both have seen a tremendous jump in our web traffic (already more than double!) since our article ran in the newspaper, and we’ve been doing a bit of cleaning up and business-end work, as well as rehearsing new songs, to prepare for our next big step. Things to look for soon:

A new, five-song EP
We’ve selected several favorites from our live set and a batch of recent writings, and we’ll be recording them very shortly. The EP will be available at upcoming shows, so keep an eye out.

Exclusive t-shirts
These are already in the works and should be finished in a few weeks’ time, but we’re only offering them at shows, so you’ve got to come see us live!

More shows
O, God, so many shows! When will I find the time to come home and eat my calendar?

Coming up soon:
Friday, March 5th: 419 West (Roanoke)
Wednesday, March 10th: Emilio’s (Richmond)
Thursday, March 11th: Cowboy Café (Arlington)
Saturday, March 13th: Cap’n Ron’s (Norfolk)

Hopefully, you’re enjoying my site immensely and wish that I would update a little more often (I’m working on that), and I’m very interested to hear your thoughts! Send me some feedback through the “Contact” link on the left… no, down a little more, toward the bottom… then, scroll all the way up and add me on Facebook, Twitter, and Myspace! I promise not to invite you to Mafia Wars. For serious.

Passion Pit – Little Secrets
(Video) Julian Smith – “Techno Jeep”

Lynchburg’s daily paper, The News & Advance, just ran a great interview with my bandmate, Michael Chagnon, and stuck a big, beautiful picture of us on the first page of the Lifestyle section. We also got a nice photo at the top of the front page! I’m very excited by all the press we’ve been getting. We were featured in an article in The Burg last week, and I posted our WNRN interview in my last update, in case you missed it back in November.

That should catch you up on recent happenings; now, what’s next for us? A round of shows in the first two weeks of March will take us to Charlottesville, Richmond, Arlington, and Norfolk, concluding with a huge St. Patrick’s party where we’ll play an extended set and, I’m sure, get into the Irish spirits. If you’re close to any of those towns, I would love you forever for coming out to show! (If you’re a bit farther away, don’t fret– check the Events Page to see when we’ll be nearest to your backyard.)

Enough with all the excitement, here’s tonight’s music: I picked up Brighton-based jangly rockers Passenger on my daily trip to the place where all good music lives, and this song really wedged itself in my ear. The lyrics remind me of a certain Radiohead song, but the music simply makes me happy.

Passenger – Night Vision Binoculars

In this picture, I’m standing with Michael at a gas station on the side of Route 29, a major highway that was completely obscured in snow on our way back from a recent gig in Charlottesville. Navigating was a bit of a challenge at times, not being able to tell where the road was, but we made it back in one piece.

We stopped for some excellent pizza on the way into C-ville, and our gig at Maya was a blast. (Thanks to Hayden for hosting us.) The food at Maya is top-notch, I can’t wait to go back for more when it’s warmer– next time, we’ll be playing on their outdoor patio! After stopping in Lynchburg for a bit of rest, it was straight on to Awful Arthur’s in Roanoke for a ridiculously fun show on their dock-themed stage and some local microbrew. The dart board behind the stage made me a bit nervous, but luckily we didn’t get impaled. We wrapped up the week with a trip to Virginia Beach, to played a relaxed, unplugged set at the Green Parrot Grille, where we reunited with some old friends and made a few new ones. I can’t say thank you enough to Jen and Eric for their hospitality, it feels like a vacation every time they have us over, and it’s wonderful to have a home base in Virginia Beach. Also, they slipped us a lot of drinks.

Remember when we went on WNRN in November and did that interview about our music and our websites and lynchburgmusicscene.com? You do? Wow, you’ve been taking your ginseng. I’m impressed. Anyway, I finally have a copy of the interview, edited slightly for time, so here it is:

That’s it for now, come see us live sometime! Our next show is in Richmond on Friday, February 19th at the Beach House Bar. Tonight’s song-that-I-can’t-stop-listening-to comes to us from Brooklyn, courtesy of The Essex Green. I think this song sums up just about everything that I love about classic pop. Jangly goodness at its finest!

The Essex Green – Don’t Know Why (You Stay)

I can’t believe January is almost over, doesn’t it seem like New Years just happened? I suppose it did, in a way, but no matter: onward to February! Michael and myself will be spending a lot of time on the road over the next few weeks (check out the events page to see when we’ll be near you.) It’s going to be a lot of fun, I just hope that the impending snow won’t get in the way!

I don’t like bad news, but right now all eyes are on Haiti. Fortunately, donations have been pouring in from all manner of agencies, aid drives, and charitable citizens– the US government itself has already spent $379 million on rescue and relief efforts– and now I’m doing my part. One dollar from every CD purchased from my site between now and February 7th will be donated toward relief efforts in Haiti. You can purchase the EP here. Michael is offering the same donation, you can get his album here. In addition, every digital download purchase of over $8.99 will also contribute to the fund.

Here’s something really neat: two researchers at Imperial College London started an experiment last year called DarwinTunes, a sound generator that has learned to make music based on its user’s ratings of streaming, 15-second clips. It’s very interesting, but you’ll lose track of time very quickly playing around on it. You can hear how the music has “evolved” on their News page, where they’ve posted samples from various points along the experiment.

And now, some music produced (mostly) by humans. First, I’ve posted my favorite song by French quartet Phoenix, a tune apparently inspired by Franz Liszt, or maybe by the Ken Russell film of the same name. In any case, I really thought I had posted this song back in September, but I was still figuring out all the bells and whistles of the internets, so I must have made a mistake.
Secondly, a song by Major Lazer, a collaboration between DJs Diplo and Switch (of “Paper Planes” fame) and a seemingly endless line-up of Jamaican guest rappers and dance hall artists. It’s a bizarre combination, but weirdly catchy, and I have been powerless to get it out of my head.

Phoenix – Lisztomania
Major Lazer – Keep it Goin’ Louder

I’ve been doing some research on how to get my EP out to more people, and I’ve determined that I may be missing a key demographic by having plain cover art.

I did a quick search for platinum-selling album covers, and found these two:

©2004 Reprise Records

©2009 Reprise Records

After carefully studying the stylistic and compositional elements of these two examples, I have produced a “Limited Edition” EP cover, which officially goes on sale this week:

©2010 Geoffrey Osborne

If you’d like the new Limited Edition EP, just send a message through the “Contact” link over there on the left, and when you order I’ll send you a signed copy! (The original version is still available, too.)

It’s been a long time between updates, my apologies. I kept very busy (and had a lot of fun!) over the holidays, but the dust is finally settling, so it’s back to the grind for me. Michael and I played an awesome show last weekend in Virginia Beach at the Regal Beagle Taphouse. It’s a very cool space with a huge bar, about a million beers on tap, arcade games, and a fun crowd. We also enjoyed the colorful stage and lighting effects. We made some new friends after the show, then spent the rest of the evening catching up with old ones over drinks and Chinese food. Truly, some of life’s simplest and most profound pleasures.

That does it for now, keep the feedback coming! I love reading the comments I get on the site. Tonight’s music is a song whose title is also a movie, by a band whose name is taken from a line in The Office.

MP3: Does It Offend You, Yeah – Dawn Of The Dead

Merry December, I hope you’re staying warm and happy. Get your shopping done early, too. I did most of mine on the interweb; I like to support my local economy whenever possible, but it’s hard to refuse lower prices and free shipping.

Fortunately, I’ve been wicked busy playing out around Virginia. Michael and I stopped in Richmond and Charlottesville last week and played two great shows at The Camel and Coupe DeVille’s.

We were in Portsmouth this past weekend, playing at the Baron’s Pub. I had a great time, the crowd was awesome, and I can’t wait to return to the beach area in January. Right now, we’re gearing up for Roanoke this Friday, at Zak’s Café. In our small amount of down time, we’ve been finishing some songs for our upcoming album, which we’ll start tracking this month. I promise it will be amazing.

Sometimes, I’ll forget how much I love a certain artist or song, then eventually rediscover them and resume my obsession. That happened to me this past week with St. Vincent (known to some as Annie Clark), in particular her song “Landmines”. I couldn’t stop listening to this for about a month when I first found it, and now it’s making a comeback for me:

MP3: St. Vincent – Landmines

Here it is! My EP is online for sale today, and for $4.99 you’re practically snatching it from my hands. You won’t find a better deal this side of the AIG board room. Want more? You can download the single, “Come Down“, for free, too. Michael Chagnon also released his compilation album today, check it out. I make an appearance on the track “The Only One”, singing heavenly vocal harmonies and ripping on the guitar solo. Go forth, listen, and download!

On Black Friday, we played at the Cowboy Café in Arlington to a great crowd, then stopped by WNRN in Charlottesville for an interview. We’ll be posting the audio soon on Michael’s website, but it will only be available to mailing list subscribers, so make sure you enter your email to get exclusive access. More big things to come soon, check back often!

Also, check out the last video release in our series, “Casablanca by the Riverside”. It’s relaxed and jazzy, and there’s a little something in there for Gershwin lovers, too:

I hope you’re all as stuffed as I am! If you’re slightly more comfortable, that’s good as well. You probably made wiser decisions at the dinner table than I did, but I choose to blame the homemade sangria.

Now that November is effectively dead to the world, I’ll be kicking off a busy four-week streak of performances and interviews, culminating in what I hope will be a relaxing Christmas holiday. Tomorrow we’ll be in Arlington, at the Cowboy Café. If you’re in the D.C. area doing your holiday shopping, I’d love for you to stop in for a drink and a few songs!

Finally, the fourth installation of our video series, in which I make my debut on drumset: