I recently finished work for a band called Circle of Birds in the form of an online playable album consisting of three songs by members of Unwed Sailor, Ester Drang and Lasso along with three paintings by the wonderful Jamie Hunt. The first two are especially beautiful, and I highly suggest giving them a listen/look when you have the chance: Circle of Birds. In other news, www.Grimfeather.com is in development and Erik and I are trying to polish and complete the last two of our three old songs to release on the Web for listening. After this we will plow into the new territory we’re most excited about!

Just a quick note about Grimfeather. As we continue to progress in the recording of our first album, we are leaping into the tragic competition of “plays per day” via Purevolume, MySpace, and Download.com. Actually, the object of this is just to get the music out to as many people as possible, so even though MySpace and Purevolume are especially foul, we realize that people go there to find new music, and so perhaps they will find Grimfeather, stuck within the obligatory genre of whatever was quickest to click. Hence, you can now stream the “Candlesmoke” demo at the following Web sites:

www.download.com/grimfeather
www.purevolume.com/grimfeather
www.myspace.com/grimfeather

Old Cardboard Canary material has been available at these sites for quite some time also, so feel free to have a listen if you prefer to stream instead of download your music.

And now for something pretty exciting! This is the first song released through this Web site since “Proletariat” one and a half years ago. Erik and I feel as though we’ve gotten a pretty nice demo of a song called “Candlesmoke” done, and while it has a few rough edges to be ironed out, we thought a few people might like to know that we’re continuing to produce music, and hopefully there will be more. We have four more songs in progress, and we hope to have the wondrous Robby Ogden drumming to a few. So then, here it is: Candlesmoke.
We would love to hear what you think about the new song, both positive and otherwise, so give us a ring here: justin[at]cardboardcanary.com or through this AIM screenname: LadBoyTick. There is more to come!

Tonight, The Books conclude their first tour ever with a show at the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California at 8:00 PM. Erik and I will be going to check it out, and of course, I suggest you do as well. Also, you may be interested to find I’ve uploaded several new animations for tracks from their album "Thought For Food" awaiting your perusal at www.thebooksmusic.com in the Dining Room.

Also this weekend, Erik and I are planning to do a bit of recording and mixing, in hopes of having something up for download soon.

I am also developing an online playable, slightly animated version of Circle of Birds, which is a collaboration between Unwed Sailor, Ester Drang and Lasso. Stay tuned! It’s some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard, and I don’t think you’ll want to miss out on it.

Amid projects with The Books and Grimfeather, I’ve also taken on some work for a wonderful band called Unwed Sailor. Combining the paintings of Jamie Hunt with their music, The Marionette and the Music Box, their second full-length album, is now available to listen and view in a somewhat unique Web book form. I’ve been informed that it will be featured on their official Web site soon, but for now you can view and listen to it here. Life is chaotic at the moment, but there will be more to come soon.

I’ve been working on finishing up a series of animations which represent the eleven tracks on The Books’ new album "Lost and Safe" which is almost ready, except for audio. I expect this to go up soon on their site once the sound is ready for the remaining animations. Also, Taxidermy Penguin has officially changed its name to Grymfeathyr since it’s a new year, and we also thought it would be freaking awesome to use a goth-metal name with altered spelling. Rawk!!! Or rap. Whichever you prefer. Korn. Kutless. Sk8r Boi. Grymfeathyr. It’s tight, yo. Anyway, I’m pounding out my bass and vocal parts for two of the songs on the EP this weekend, and it’s gone well so far, but unfortunately things aren’t in good enough condition to put any songs up for listening. I don’t think it will be much longer, but then again I don’t know much. I think I know stuff. But I don’t.