Log From Razlog.

Exclusive content in this one, but first..

The House of ALI convened last weekend at the usual not-so-secret location where cats chase each other up pines and beg for food, otherwise sober bodies surrender to the allure of wine and eons of Earth's history observe you from the tops of three majestic mountains. Cross this with a full mini-studio setup and failure is not an option. We are grateful to our hosts for letting us move furniture around for a few days!

This year apart from family, we were joined by Mitko, House of ALI's distinguished member. A 28-year-old dynamo, jack-of-all-trades and master of lighting and sound. Sharing meals at a proper dinner table, rather than dripping grease from doner kebabs on posters posing as tablecloths on the ground makes a difference. The conversations covered everything from the usual song ideas, across pondering how much we're like Lady Gaga or the Spice Girls, to hot peppers, and chances of encountering aliens in the vastness of space. So, that's covered now.

Technically, we got the setup right for the most part. Used the portable mixer (40-50kg lighter than the full rack), brought enough extension cords, cables (and the right kind!) and mics enabling both the playing and the demo recording. Bringing bass and guitar amps for monitoring was the right move, too. Central PA did its job for the vocals. Cubase worked out, too, after Tony and Mitko had a few conversations with it and conferring with AI on some pretty hidden options. Only thing to fix for next time - bring a synth, rather than a MIDI keyboard. Reason is the latency. Couldn't fix it until the very end when we connected it to a separate laptop with an audio interface, which kind of defeats the purpose of going small. We'll just take the Roland next time.

What did we do? Between dinner and sleep we watched live videos of QOTSA. How easy they make it look. But we'll get there. As for us, I'd say we pretty much got down demos for 4 new songs. Almost no time was left for anything brand new, but it was worth it. Next step, prepare demo packages for Gogo The Producer and move to the next ones. With the first gig of the year less than two months from now we also need to work on getting into stage-ready shape. Don't want to ruin Milenksi's debut (or do we...?!) - happening in Blagoevgrad on April 18th. By the way, we'll be playing at an alumni event of the American University in Bulgaria. The place where Tony, Kalo and I originally met. We'll be joined by other alumni bands Heptagram (yes, indeed) and Kota 0. There's other bands with AUBG participation like Jin Monic and hug or handshake, and a few others (including Mary Boys Band). Fun facts, not necessarily useful facts.

Anyhoo, when we started this blog we said you'd be getting access to some exclusive content. Without further ado, we present to you a draft of one of the new songs codenamed "Fame" as recorded using the setup and a 360 camera one late Saturday evening. What are these lyrics? Why is the mix so rough? Are the video and audio the same take? Who cares. What's important is that we have video proof that Milenski is not AI-generated. We needed convincing as much as you. Hope you enjoy this:

Let us know what you think in the comments!

That same Saturday we had an interesting conversation with professional showbiz folks from Italy discussing the character of ALI as a band. Some food for thought there which can help us shape the direction of positioning and content. Music remains the same, that wasn't the point. Waiting now for the report of that exercise. One key takeaway is that the word we most associate with the band is "empathy". I think that's nice. 

In other news, we are on the way to having full-time electricity in the Red Room. Which can only mean one thing: fridge. Which can only mean one thing: cold beer.