In this Discussion
- Aleatory July 2010
- autumnraina June 2010
- BeckiWitte November 2012
- beckysioux May 2014
- BeverlEy July 2010
- Chips November 2012
- ChristelAdina June 2010
- darbie_starpower April 2010
- DJRose May 2011
- EMc2 November 2012
- ezorvera February 2009
- jedi_grrlie December 2008
- laeticia May 2011
- llama0engine February 2009
- mayonaise December 2008
- ox77bow May 2009
- pemi_blue May 2011
- quart87ghost December 2008
- Rebekker April 2009
- rice62witch October 2008
- samanferr April 2010
- Snack_Cakes May 2011
- Sunnyside February 2010
- sureeyesawake December 2008
- Surfer Rosa October 2008
- swissfeast68 March 2009
- target35ghost December 2008
- Tempe Arizona November 2008
- thephantommilk March 2009
- TipoDeemin July 2012
- violetchaos364 May 2011
- Will February 2010
- women60banana November 2008
- YoDoofball! April 2010
Comments
Encouragement of Ritual Spending
It’s possible that 2012 will come and go without any kind of cosmic singularity rearranging our brain-particles, opening our third eyes, or defunding public television. To mark the occasion, as well as to generally cash in on the traditional Christian/Jewish/pagan holidays, OK Go proudly presents a striking new collection of Damian’s Instagram photos, available right now at the OK Go online store.
Every day since June, Damian has been offering dispatches from his corner of the world, posting photos of dogs, leaves, clouds, mysterious NASA equipment, Tim, and other subjects that photographers have used for springboards into explorations of form and light since time immemorial. And we decided to grab 50 of them and create a simple little book. It’s quite compact, at just 3.5” x 2.4”, and there’s not a single title, caption, or word in the entire thing. But it’s cheap, at a measly $14. And it’s got a load of photos of Dora and Bunny in it. Perfect for that small, rectangular stocking in your life.
If your gift-receiving socks are more normally shaped, there are plenty of other bits and bobs in the OK Go store that will fit a little more snugly -- and in the case of the pine-scented Dan head, might literally freshen up your holiday. The band’s online dry goods outpost features items for all stocking and budget sizes, ranging from baby onesies and flipbooks to LPs and autographed paper airplanes.
In September, Paracadute--the label OK Go founded in 2010--released its first album by an outside artist, a magical portal to light and love by Lavender Diamond called Incorruptible Heart. Produced by Damian (who also plays on it) and recorded by Dave Fridmann, it’s the kind of music cosmically engineered to thaw the deepest of chills, inner or outer. The band recently debuted a brand new video for “Light My Way,” to go along with “Everybody’s Heart’s Breaking Now,” the gorgeous set-piece involving a soaring and dancing Becky Stark. (You can also hear/watch Damian cover the latter song.) The album, and many other goodies, are available here for all your winter needs.
There is much to report about 2013, but also precious little. Tomorrow the band head back to the studio for a second session with longtime producer Dave Fridmann for the first of several sessions towards the yet-untitled, yet-undated, yet-uneverything OK Go album which will be out... sometime. There’s also the matter of a brand-new forthcoming full-length by Tim’s other band, PYYRAMIDS, dropping from the sky in Spring 2013 like a giant beacon to the ancient astronauts. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.
I LOVE that they are working on the new album. Even if it is light years away at this point it makes me happy just to know that it's in process and that more awesomeness is somewhere in the future.
When Damian put up that photo of Bunny in Tim's case on Instagram it did my heart good to know that while I was busy cleaning up my kids toys, somewhere in New York Tim and Damian were hashing out some great new music.
P.S. - I can't be the only one that thinks they missed the boat on the air fresheners... clearly Tim should have been the c-c-c-cinnamon scented one, not Andy! lol
The Brightest Darkest Day & 12 Months of (Rare, Unreleased) OK Go
On April 9th, Paracadute--OK Go's totally independent in-house multi-media conglomerate--will release the very first album by Tim's other band, PYYRAMIDS. It's called Brightest Darkest Day, and is filled with the kind of penetrating electro-soul that soothes the ever-pulsing inner drum machine embedded in your chest cavity. With carefully calibrated computer programming skills (ie. clicking here) you can stream "Do You Think You're Enough," the first new track released from the album, right now.
By reading this very sentence, you have already demonstrated the keen sense to sign up for semi-regular info-crammed emails from OK Go's super-bunker. This also makes you a charter member of a brand-new program created exclusively for the band's mailing list.
You can watch Dan & Tim tell you the same thing, but the gist is this: Every month in 2013, building up towards the band’s yet-untitled new album, we will send out a free, totally unreleased mp3 from the band's archives -- demos, cover songs, unheard originals, live cuts, etc. They will be yours in glorious DRM-free digital form. If you happen to have a record lathe at home, you're even welcome to cut your own copies, though--if you do--please make us some.
To get this thing started, we dip back to 2004 for a song titled "This Thing Has Started," which you may recognize as an early version of "Here It Goes Again." Grab it here -- and tell your friends to sign up to get copies of their own. (You can also catch up on the free mp3s we gave away over the holiday season during the 12 Days of OK Go by following that link there.)
Here’s what Danimal had to say about “This Thing Has Started”:
This was recorded right around the time we were getting ready to record our 2nd record, "Oh No." We recorded quite a few of those songs (including "This Thing Has Started") at Damian's place in LA in the summer of 2004. We set up the drums right in the center of his living room and tracked for I think about ten days with Ken Sluiter engineering the session. He's a great friend and engineer we kept from our Chicago days. I remember getting hooked on coffee that session. I had never really drank coffee until then and remember being amazed by the caffeine jolt I got from it. I knew then exactly what everybody was so damn excited about when we'd take breaks for Starbucks while on tour.
On January 11th, the brilliant programmer and activist Aaron Swartz took his own life at his apartment in Brooklyn. Aaron was richly talented; a singular person who dedicated himself to protecting and furthering an open Internet and the free exchange of knowledge and ideas. Sadly, for a minor offense he committed in defense of the principles he believed in, he was being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and facing 35 years in prison, a factor many say contributed to his decision to end his life. We hope you'll take a moment to read more about Aaron's life and his work.
On January 19th, Damian performed at a memorial service for Aaron's friends, family, and community held at Cooper Union in Manhattan. You can watch his performance here.
Over the holiday season, we compiled a stocking-stuffer edition of Damian's Instagram photos. A limited supply remains. Meanwhile, Andy programmed the latest OK Go Spotify playlist, titled Andy's Mellow Winter Mix For When You're Bundled Under the Covers. While we're speaking of Mr. @arossexperience himself, we'll also mention that Andy's working on a brand new app to be debuted later this spring. Watch the aforementioned Twitter account and other OK Go channels for details.
And seriously, if you're still not signed up, what's taking so long?! Go here and give 'em your email addy. Right now!!!
Season of the Tim
To be perfectly honest, when we asked on Twitter and Facebook the other day what people were interested in hearing in our Twelve Months of OK Go free mp3 club, we here at HQ already had this month’s song picked out. Which is another way of saying that we totally agree with @KristaMichelle and Facebook fan Laura V, who requested MOAR TIM. We promise wish fulfillment for every single some of your suggestions in the future. But this month in OK Go adds up to a whole lotta Tim. Which leads us to...
This month’s free, unreleased, never-before-heard-except-by-some-people MP3 is entitled “Make Up Your Mind,” and comes from the band’s Chicago days of yore, from the woodshed songwriting period leading up to 2005’s Oh No. Grab it here, and read what Tim has to say about it:
“Make Up Your Mind” is a demo that was recorded sometime between our first and second record. I recorded the song in my bedroom while sharing an apartment in Chicago with our former guitarist Andy Duncan. Andy did a lot of the programming, played keys, and a wonderful slow and melodic Duncansian guitar solo in the middle of the song. The solo always kind of sounded like George Harrison to me. “Make Up Your Mind” was written for a friend who was having really difficult relationship problems with her boyfriend at the time. She was incredibly confused by him because he didn't know whether he wanted in or out of the relationship. She told me he voiced his confusion with lines like, "I mean we're just two really different people, you like to drive a car and I like to take the bus and ride my bike." I really wanted to use that line, but couldn't figure out a way to make it fit rhythmically. But man, I tried. Anyway, I felt bad for her and wanted to try to cheer her up with a song.
We’re currently preparing the Paracadute machinery for the worldwide launch of Brightest Darkest Day, the debut full-length by Tim’s other band, PYYRAMIDS. The next couple months will see Tim and PYYRAMIDS chanteuse Drea Smith deployed across these United States, and then across the Atlantic to bring the good word to the people. If you live in Los Angeles, New York, Austin, Philadelphia, Paris, or swinging swinging London, come on down and make contact. Full tour info is here.
In the meantime, get yourself prepared for Brightest Darkest Day with a couple of new acoustic PYYRAMIDS videos shot live and unedited in Tim’s living room:
“Don’t Go (Acoustic Version)”
“Nothing I Can Say (Acoustic Version)”
Are you headed to Austin for South by Southwest? If so, you should know that PYYRAMIDS will be playing a handful of shows, Andy will be braining off with DJ Spooky on a panel about building movements, and that there’ll be a few other surprises we’re not allowed to announce just yet. For now, you can add these to whatever handy app you’re using to plan your assault:
3/12: Andy on the Activists, Rockstars & Startups: Building Movements panel, 3:30pm.
3/13: PYYRAMIDS at Hangar Lounge, 8pm.
3/14: PYYRAMIDS at the Whiskey Room, 8pm.
We have no idea what the next pun in the snowpacalypse/snowmaggedon/frankenstorm sequence is going to be, but we know you’re going to want to stay warm when it comes. The soon-to-be-ever-popular hoodie and hat bundle is now available in the OK Go online store. Also appropriate for non-extreme weather.
Just so you know, there's some info on PYYRAMIDS being on The Tonight Show tonight, some stuff on the Say The Same Thing app, a download of a pretty awesome cover in which Dan is the main event, and then a list of some stuff that needs to get done.
So, who still isn't on the list?
We know, we know. We never call, we never write. But guess what, that's all about to change. Right…now.
OK Go
Why? Because there's a new album, a new EP, a new tour, a new stage show, new modular synths, new prizes, new haircuts, new everything. Our group-mind is about to explode into confetti just trying to get it all out. So, let's all take some deep, cleansing breaths together and try to get down to business calmly, shall we?
AN ALBUM, AN EP, A PRE-ORDER
The new album is called Hungry Ghosts and is coming to the world in October via our beloved Paracadute imprint. It was made with Dave Fridmann in Fredonia, Tony Hoffer in Los Angeles, and includes a few years worth of blood, sweat, tears, and funky good times. It's been a long time coming, and it's going to be a mite longer still. So to ameliorate that, we are pleased to also announce the Upside Out EP, coming as a digital-only release on June 17th, and featuring four songs from the album. The cover looks like this:
But, even better: today we are announcing a summer-long party in the form of a Pledge Music pre-order campaign featuring exclusives designed to make your group-mind explode into confetti. Over the next six months we'll be rolling out a steady stream of behind-the-scenes footage from the studio and posting exclusive photos, videos, and other goodies there for everyone who pre-orders.
And we are particularly excited about the exclusives we've prepared. Ever wanted to consult with the band about your creative project? Get a ride to a show on the band's tour bus? Be in one of our videos? Have us direct a fake documentary about you? Well now's your chance. And, to put it gently, the really crazy stuff is yet to come.
To kick things off we've prepared a teaser video for you that features short clips from (almost) every song on the album accompanying some footage from what we've been up to the last year or two...so wander on over to Pledge Music, join the party, and be the first living being within hearing range to check out brand new OK Go music.
TOUR DATES!
The guys hit the road this July for their first extended tour in quite some time—and not just a tour, but a brand new show with all kinds of fresh gimcracks. West coasters, Mountain Timers, and Midwest friends, we hope to see you at some of these familiar haunts. Right coasters, keep an eye out for more live action very soon.
Everyone else from Antarctica to Ireland, fear not. It's going to be a busy few years, and we are just getting started.
7/15/2014 Assembly Music Hall, Sacramento, CA
7/16/2014 The Independent, San Francisco, CA
7/18/2014 Neumos Crystal Ball Reading Room, Seattle, WA
7/19/2014 Venue, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
7/20/2014 Hawthorne Theatre, Portland, OR
7/22/2014 The Troubadour, West Hollywood, CA
7/23/2014 The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
7/24/2014 Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA
8/08/2014 The State Room, Salt Lake City, UT
8/09/2014 The Gothic Theater, Denver, CO
8/12/2014 The Riot Room, Kansas City, MO
8/13/2014 The Old Rock House, St. Louis, MO
8/14/2014 Deluxe, Indianapolis, IN
8/15/2014 Lincon Hall, Chicago, IL
8/16/2014 Fine Line, Minneapolis, MN
xoxo,
OK Go