A rare personal note.

So I've been working on an album since April, intermittently. It'll be the second album I've made this year, and both albums are unique in that they feature the co-production and engineering assistance of close friends of mine. My artistic solitude has become far less all-encompassing, if that's at all a good way to put it. The one I finished two months ago (I think) was called iTunes Changed My Life, and for various reasons (well, how about "every song is based on an illegal sample") I didn't really spread it around. My longtime brotha Morgan Klein was the criminal partner in that endeavor and we completed it (started and finished it! really!) in two days. He was a phenomenal collaborator and I'm extremely proud of those results. It was made, however, with the full awareness that I was looking for an outlet, something to get my desires for instant gratification and the art of spontaneity met.

The next album is called The Light Touch, and not to sound big, or too big, it represents me, now, completely. A young woman named Theresa Rife, with whom I've had the irregrettable pleasure of becoming great friends well over the last year in particular, has been my studio engineer and co-producer on this project. I couldn't be more grateful for the time, skills, thoughts and ears she has contributed (and continues to contribute) to the process. As for the music, so many of my influences and loves -- Laurie Anderson, Steely Dan, Woody Allen, Jacques Rivette, Jim O'Rourke, Vince Guaraldi -- are poured into this record's mold and the resulting bastard sculpture is the work I'm proudest to have sired in all my 24+ years.

I wrote, arranged and performed all of it myself, as usual. For no particular reason other than that it lends some sort of "news"-like quality to this journal entry, here's the tracklist:

1. Jeu des Treize (for Out 1); 2. One Night; 3. Heavy, Heavy Hand (for Manhattan); 4. Alex in the Shower (for Paranoid Park); 5. Biker with a Deathwish; 6. Highway 17 Revisited (for Grapefruit); 7. The Light Touch*

Running at just about 40 minutes, that's the album. I don't know how it's gonna get heard, although I'll probably spread it around for free to a bunch of people and then at the very least make a CD. It's not a vinyl piece; it doesn't handily split into two. It runs straight through. Don't stop. In any case, I hope to have it completed by the end of the month. Dedicated to the east Bay.