Below are the most recent 13 friends' journal entries.

Sunday, December 20th, 2009
anachronaut	5:28p	satellite sinai Just finished shooting for the first of a series of short webisodes for what might become something akin to a sci-fi Sesame Street Some shots of my set/ space module we threw together on the fly. ( Read more... ) (4 Comments |Comment on this)
robert_from_ap	11:33a	Christmas Songs Me and Kristina often just hang out around the piano(s) in Kristinas piano nook, and sing off off sheet music. This is nothing fancy, but since my iPhone shoots video, I thought I'd upload some Christmas songs for you. (28 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 19th, 2011
robert_from_ap	10:47a	Æther Shantys, NOW FOR DIGITAL DOWNLOAD Instantly download extremely high quality mp3's of Æther Shanties. All songs compressed directly from the digital masters at 320bps! Æther Shanties The Further Trials and Tribulations of Abney Park  released December 1st, 2009 Under the Radar Building Steam Until the Day I Die My Life Wanderlust Throw Them Overboard The Derelict Victoria Æther Shanty The Clock Yard Too Far to Turn Back   FREE SAMPLE SONGS NOTE: After paying for your instant download, you will be taken to a screen that looks like this: You will notice there is a button marked "download". Click that to download your music. You will also be sent an email with a link to your "Detailed Invoice". That page will also contain download buttons. Or, log into your account at any time and view the order and download links. Your download link will expire after 7 days, so go get your music right away. (17 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 18th, 2011
robert_from_ap	10:46a	Changes Misconceptions Reguarding Aether Shanties Last night during rehearsal I was spacing out on the lyrics to the new songs we are learning for the New Years eve show at The Edison. Since our fans are the most awesome in the world, and since I lost my notes as to the actual lyrics, I went on line to get your copies, and printed them. Some of what you THOUGHT I said is hysterical! For example, this verse in Wanderlust goes:     When I am feeling stagnant My lungs are filled with mud I dream of Bejing and Molikai   but the fan version said: And I am feeling stagnant My lungs are filled with mud I dream a big dream where more are kind? I sang this fan version once, and Jody said "Wow, in THIS version your a douche!" Anyway, I'm correcting these now and will have them online soon. I'll post them here. (45 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 16th, 2009
anachronaut	1:43a	The Persians I'm currently in the concept stages for a theater peace called 'the Persians'. Background of the piece is that it is the oldest surviving play in the history of theater. It details an account of the Persian total defeat lead by Xerxies against the much weaker Greek nation. It's an odd piece, written by Aeschylus for a Greek audience, who was a Greek soldier in the actual battle, yet written from the Persian perspective in an oddly sympathetic point of view. ... I've been sort of wrestling with a notion, and I'm curious to hear if anyone had some input on the subject. How do you feel/ relate to war? I don't mean this in the conventional rhetoric sort of 'stance' way. I mean, as a public, specifically a public who isn't actually directly involved in the fighting, how do you relate to it, understand it? And how does that conflict with the viewpoint of someone who's really seen war... how does the real experience of war change someone's view of society? War is there, it's in the news, we hear about it, but if we're not directly fighting in the conflict, how do we relate? It's like this abstract thing, that we're cerebrally aware of... but there's also something unreal about it... especially here in the US, so far from the actual carnage. The reason I'm asking this is the main energy of the piece seems to be in a collision between the Persian public waiting at home, for news... and the few surviving warriors who've managed to retreat on a death march back to Iran... (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
robert_from_ap	1:08p	AP NEWSLETTER "The entire album is thrillingly infectious from start to finish" - Ron Insaint, really cool fan So Æther Shanties, our new album, has been arriving at all the homes of the first fans to buy it, and the reasponse has been overwhelming! I was honestly nervous if people would like this one, as we took alot of risks here, and merdged some styles that people normally don't think of as "hip" or "now". Turns out, people were DYING for somthing new! Here are a couple comments: "Æther Shanties is absolutely amazing!" - Angiwyn, really cool fan "music that is new but feels like an old friend" - Active Gnome, really cool fan "There are no bad songs on this CD - I love every song on it. Thank you!" - Lis Elfwench, really cool fan "NO HUMAN COULD EVER WRITE ANYTHING SO PERFECTLY BEAUTIFUL!!!" - Kate Crust, really cool fan "'Alcohology' is my new favorite word." - Deleva, really cool fan To see more comments, or to ad some of your own, Read my blog. Shipping this thing has been a HUGE job. We've pretty much done nothing else since the CD came out. This is what it was like (click the picture). Here you might notice that we've started to post videos of the day-to-day of being in Abney Park.Subscribe to our Youtube so you won't miss anything, like this snippet of us working out a new arrangment for our classic old song, "Hush": Oh, that reminds me, we've only got a few more days to order stuff, if theres a hope you'll get it by Christimas, and so check out this: ROCK'EN NEW SHIRT: We have an awesome new shirt out, brown stripes on black, with a gold Jolly Rodger. This is our nicest looking shirt yet, and its especially hip under a jacket or with a vest! (thats how I wear mine) This shirt ranges in size from Small to 3 XL! No, Kato is NOT wearing a 3XL in that photo. Yes, it looks this sexy on a guy. Okay, well, maybe not THIS sexy, but it depends on the guy! - Captian Robert (38 Comments |Comment on this)
robert_from_ap	9:42a	Rock The Goggles http://www.steambaby.net has some of the coolest goggles out there. but more importantly, they are the only ones I know who sell MY goggles: These goggles are SUPER light and comfortable, and will fold flat to store in you shirt pockets! Anyway, go buy some. (13 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, December 13th, 2009
lady_shadowlily	4:05a	I'm too amused by this... ( ...or maybe Fenriz is just too amusing. ) Current Mood: exhausted (14 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, December 10th, 2011
robert_from_ap	8:55a	WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE SONGS FROM ÆTHER SHANTIES? Lets all talk about what you like best....and I'll tell you a couple little insiders tips: Until The Day I Die started as a concept: "If Steampunk art is old parts bolted together to make new things, can that be done with very old recordings?" So just like Daniel and Nathaniel's instruments, I started bolting together vintage parts and modern parts to create something new. Prior to this we had taken old STYLES and mixed with new STYLES, but this is the first time we took very old recordings and stitched them together to make something new. Wanderlust I wrote on the plane back from London. We all have different things we take joy in from the band. Kristina loves MAKING music, and would be happy never leaving the studio. Nathaniel loves the stage, and would never get off if he had his choice. I'm not sure what Dan likes, but it seems to invovle making spread sheets, and counting the money ;) For me, I love to TRAVEL. If I had my way, we'd never go to the same town twice...and we'd play in southeast Asia A LOT more. I grew up on the move. Victoria was written mostly be Kristina. I wrote the words and mellowdy, and then said, "Hey, can you do something 'Victoria Piano' with it?" and she rocked all the paino stuff. Being Kristina, it made her super nervous and she thought it wasn't good enough to be on the album. When I finally said "Babe, it HAS to go on the album" she said "Well, maybe it can just be a hidden track or somthing!?" Throw them overboard was kinda lame at first. I mean, it had funny lyrics and a cool accordian hook, but it just wouldn't turn into a good enough song...UNTIL JODY GOT ON IT. She came and siad "I've got an idea, but its kind of silly, so maybe we should ..." and everybody yelled "GET IN THE BOOTH" at the same time. She did, and that's what you hear. Thats pretty much her first take too, an it made the song in MY opinion a sleeper hit of the album, its so much fun! Under The Radar was the first song on the album to be written. It started as me alone in the studio dropping down electronic drums, Darbuka, and Puff Organ. Kristina heard the organ parts and stormed into the the studio, "Thats AWESOME, move over!" and we banged out the first version. Months later we brought in Nathaniel, and he dropped down the mandolin lines, which just made every bodies jaw drop. In fact, for the longest time there was a a bit of me at the end of the recording saying "Holy shit!" Building Steam was unfinished for the longest time. I basically hadn't written the second second verse. I was imagine the Steampunk Cowboy theme of it, but I hadn't really written that in, and we got used to it, and then even start performing it unfinished! Finally, during the mastering phaze which is supposed to take place WAY after the album is done) said "Oh shit!" and wrote that and recorded that second verse. This ways literally three days before it went to press! Æther Shanty is about the best song to SING I have ever written. I wanted to write a Sea Shanty for the skies, and express all the turmoil we went through over the last year. The Clockyard so needs a music video. We might start on one soon, actually. This song is about following your dreams, or playing it safe. The message: follow your dreams before you too old to, you old coot! To Far To Turn Back I tried to cut this from the album a billion times, but it really did come together for tell the last second. Nathan pushed and pushed, and finally it came together and the VERY last second. If you like it, thank Nathaniel. If you don't like it ITS NATHANS FAULT! (105 Comments |Comment on this)
robert_from_ap	8:27a	EAGLE HAS LANDED So as I'm sure you've read by now, the CD's have been starting to arrive for everyone. Here are some important things to do: 1. Stop asking me "Daddy, are we there yet?" It'll come. Take a deep breathe, we are excited to! 2. Prepare a large silk cushion on which to carry the CD around with. 3. Tell a member of Abney Park thank you for bust'n their asses to get these too you, dispite all the extra work and late hours we had to spend so they'd all go out on time. 4. come back here, and tell me what your favorite songs are! (My next post will be for that!) (28 Comments |Comment on this)
Friday, December 9th, 2011
robert_from_ap	11:20a	Shipping Aether Shanties (40 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
lady_shadowlily	3:19p	kitten video #2 Not drastically different from the first one, except for being a little longer (and "filmed" even more crappily). Illustrates how spastic (and adorable) they can be while playful. (10 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, December 7th, 2009
lady_shadowlily	10:23p	more kitten pictures ( For those who wish to witness the insane cuteness ) Current Mood: enthralled Current Music: Psyclon Nine - Suicide Note Lullaby | Powered by Last.fm (13 Comments |Comment on this)