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I think we’re pretty much at phase two of Black Cabs & London Fog now. The 17 track listing has been finalised – I’m afraid that we’ve run out of room for any extra, last minute entries, so sorry to John.S and anyone else out there keen to contribute.
There may be space, however, for one more vocal skit at the end, so if anyoneÂ’s got something thickly regional that inadvertently mentions words relating to what we waste our free time on, letÂ’s hear it!
So, phase two is basically the mastering, manufacture and design work for the comp. If Wooly’s offer to master the whole thing is still on the table, I think we should take him up on it – get the whole nice and consistent on the volume levels front etc.
We'll also need the original copies of some of the tracks to re-record. For instance, some were sent in on minidisc, some had earth issues, slight background buzz, rumble etc.
For manufacturing, all suggestions welcome. I guess some sort of package where they’ll include the printing of a basic insert for cover and tracklisting – of which, may I suggest printing the contributor and a blank space for the owner to fill in the track name and artist himself, a bit of novelty design to encourage the ‘treasure hunt’.
Also, volunteers for the design are welcome too. Ed has already suggested asking the fella who does all his Liquorice Soul design work, who also does loads of CD stuff for BMG Europe. My friend Julian, multiple award winning designer with a penchant for sleeve designs may be up for it, described by Peter Saville as the best designer in the country right now... However, maybe weÂ’re not looking for a design classic for this particular project...
So that’s the outline for Phase Two – plenty of things to volunteer for etc, so no need to feel left out if you didn’t manage to get tracks in etc!
HereÂ’s a couple of suggestions of my own to get the phase two debate rolling:
For the design, I propose an image not unlike covers like Entroducing, or even the Black Chains comp... IÂ’m picturing a perspective heavy photo of two lanes of car boots, backed up and facing each other. A strip of grass between the two, as if the photographer is standing at one end of an airstrip. All around the boots mill a wide array of boot folk, old ladies etc, rather than record hunters. It may clash with the title though, unless we can find a black cab being used in a car boot sale, which would hilarious!
My second suggestion concerns the amount to be pressed up. I suggest we limit copies to ten for each contributor. Despite the fact that it would probably cost the same amount to have 500 as 170, I feel uncomfortable about having 500 for two reasons:
Firstly, we’re trying to keep it from being a boot. It’s not for sale, it’s not even a promo – but having 500 copies floating around, well that’s getting towards a proper distributed release so to speak and I feel a bit dodgy about that in today’s times. I mean, what are we gonna do with 500 copies? There’ll be piles lying around the place, we’ll never get around to getting rid of them all, quite a lot of hassle, constantly mailing CDs to people etc.
The other reason is that limiting the amount to ten each for each contributor - and copies for everyone else who contributes by providing other tasks such as design, mastering etc – helps reign in the whole thing and keep a buzz going. This will help its cult status. It creates more of a demand and will result in whoever getting an OG copy, burning it for their circle of friends, so it ends up in a state of what I call ‘natural distribution’. This decentralises our role in the spreading of the music and will certainly feel less of an operation on the issue of ethics etc. But I’m convinced that limiting this project, in an already limited world of collectors and lovers of this kind of stuff, will definitely help get the buzz going – make a just a tad more difficult to get a copy and you’ll create more demand, more expectation and excitement in tracking down the track listing – more feeling in involvement and less of the idea that it’s us showing others what it’s all about, if you catch my drift – more communal, more sharing. So that’s my pitch for a limited run...
There may be space, however, for one more vocal skit at the end, so if anyoneÂ’s got something thickly regional that inadvertently mentions words relating to what we waste our free time on, letÂ’s hear it!
So, phase two is basically the mastering, manufacture and design work for the comp. If Wooly’s offer to master the whole thing is still on the table, I think we should take him up on it – get the whole nice and consistent on the volume levels front etc.
We'll also need the original copies of some of the tracks to re-record. For instance, some were sent in on minidisc, some had earth issues, slight background buzz, rumble etc.
For manufacturing, all suggestions welcome. I guess some sort of package where they’ll include the printing of a basic insert for cover and tracklisting – of which, may I suggest printing the contributor and a blank space for the owner to fill in the track name and artist himself, a bit of novelty design to encourage the ‘treasure hunt’.
Also, volunteers for the design are welcome too. Ed has already suggested asking the fella who does all his Liquorice Soul design work, who also does loads of CD stuff for BMG Europe. My friend Julian, multiple award winning designer with a penchant for sleeve designs may be up for it, described by Peter Saville as the best designer in the country right now... However, maybe weÂ’re not looking for a design classic for this particular project...
So that’s the outline for Phase Two – plenty of things to volunteer for etc, so no need to feel left out if you didn’t manage to get tracks in etc!
HereÂ’s a couple of suggestions of my own to get the phase two debate rolling:
For the design, I propose an image not unlike covers like Entroducing, or even the Black Chains comp... IÂ’m picturing a perspective heavy photo of two lanes of car boots, backed up and facing each other. A strip of grass between the two, as if the photographer is standing at one end of an airstrip. All around the boots mill a wide array of boot folk, old ladies etc, rather than record hunters. It may clash with the title though, unless we can find a black cab being used in a car boot sale, which would hilarious!
My second suggestion concerns the amount to be pressed up. I suggest we limit copies to ten for each contributor. Despite the fact that it would probably cost the same amount to have 500 as 170, I feel uncomfortable about having 500 for two reasons:
Firstly, we’re trying to keep it from being a boot. It’s not for sale, it’s not even a promo – but having 500 copies floating around, well that’s getting towards a proper distributed release so to speak and I feel a bit dodgy about that in today’s times. I mean, what are we gonna do with 500 copies? There’ll be piles lying around the place, we’ll never get around to getting rid of them all, quite a lot of hassle, constantly mailing CDs to people etc.
The other reason is that limiting the amount to ten each for each contributor - and copies for everyone else who contributes by providing other tasks such as design, mastering etc – helps reign in the whole thing and keep a buzz going. This will help its cult status. It creates more of a demand and will result in whoever getting an OG copy, burning it for their circle of friends, so it ends up in a state of what I call ‘natural distribution’. This decentralises our role in the spreading of the music and will certainly feel less of an operation on the issue of ethics etc. But I’m convinced that limiting this project, in an already limited world of collectors and lovers of this kind of stuff, will definitely help get the buzz going – make a just a tad more difficult to get a copy and you’ll create more demand, more expectation and excitement in tracking down the track listing – more feeling in involvement and less of the idea that it’s us showing others what it’s all about, if you catch my drift – more communal, more sharing. So that’s my pitch for a limited run...
 
 
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