Slash Dot Dash single details....

There's no real point me repeating too much of what will be coming out in press releases like this one over the next few weeks of course, but just to expand on a few bits:

The current plan is that CD1 will contain SDD and "Close To Home" (aka. the original version of the O2 ad) and CD2 will probably be along the lines of SDD, "Jingo" (Jon Carter mix), "What They're Looking For" and "Slash Dot Dash" (accapella). With perhaps a bit of videoness included too. If you all promise to be good.

The 12" is set to be SDD, Jingo and 2 DJ delites of those two tracks.

And it's now out that Tim Pope will be doing the video (next week!)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 4:58:32 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

You have to love the way these things work....(actually I don't)

So, as I type this, Fatboy Slim's version of "The Joker" (featuring Bootsy Collins) [those last 9 words were for people Googling that phrase!] is now available to buy on iTunes (in the US only *sorry*. It'll cost you a whole 99 American cents - hope people think it's worth that much!)

An interesting way for people to get a taster of the new album I must say (as I commented on www.normancook.net a few days ago - I suggest using there as a forum for FBS chatter since the demise of Gutter And Stars etc) but at least something is Out There now I guess. For the record (oops) it's not perhaps the best, or most obvious, indication of what the rest of the long-player will provide, though we like it enough.

But my concern right now is looking at the "Top Artist Downloads" list you get when you select it for purchase (i.e. the "this is what other people that have bought this went on to buy" bit)....oh dear.....anything that we've ever done is now being re-classed as "Fatboy Slim". Now, that's being a little creative, to say the least.

Yes, I am aware of that horrible "Fatboy Slim/Norman Cook Selection" CD - all of us this side of the fence are - but for people to think that the James Brown "The Payback Mix" we did (all done from start to finish in 24 hours straight, including such moments as all of us - Norman, DJ Streetsahead and myself - taking turns sleeping under the mixing desk *TRUE* - back in late 1988. I seem to remember it made the Urban '88 CD collection...hence why I can date it for a change) should be housed under the normal FBS 'banner' is pushing the whole idea somewhat....

All a bit sad really.

You could, in a really generous moment, be interested that people still seem to want (and even pay for) something we did 16 years ago but it's a struggle to think that, frankly.

Oh, I've just noticed that the version up on iTunes is one of the US edits, coming in at 3:31 or so - which is a bit of shame. The album version is 5:24 or there abouts (including end fadey outy bit) - just so you know...

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 4:00:09 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

You just gotta love OS X...for spanners like me....

I finally did something this evening that I'd always expected to do/always feared I would do but had never quite managed until right now.

I spilt half a pint of water into my powerbook - as it was running. Switched on. Using electricity. Had current flowing.

OOOOPS.

I've had computers for getting on for 23 years, and this is literally the first time that I have managed to spill a drink - of any sort - on to one, whether it was powered-up or not. Maybe this is a sign of getting old....eeek. Time to water-proof every bit of electrical gear I own, perhaps....

A minor disaster made - happily - a significantly less minor because:

a: it spilt into the right edge of the machine, not over the whole keyboard, and
b: the lovely way Mac OS X is designed. Thanks Apple.

In other words - after the initial panic and forcing the machine to power off - I pulled the Powerbook to pieces, whipped out the hard disk [the internals of Powerbooks are SO well designed, so clever, but I wish I didn't know that right now] installed it (the 2.5" Powerbook internal hard disk) into a 2.5" HD->Firewire Lacie enclosure I had, plugged it into my 'spare' silver G4, booted up holding down the 'alt' key, selected the Powerbook drive as the start-up device, and "Hey Presto": I've booted up just like I would have on the Powerbook, not one byte out of place. Just happens to be my normal Powerbook system running on a faster dual-processor machine, is actually rather nice....

OS X seems very portable between machines [the theory being, that newer setups are easy to run on older hardware, but it's not so plain sailing the other way round], much more so than a Windows XP setup with all its "specific drivers for whatever hardware you seem to have" principle. And, yes, I've actually had to do a similar thing on a Windows system in the past (not caused by clumsiness on my part, I might add) and it was a 'mare, frankly.

Oh well, an excuse to buy a new 17" Powerbook perhaps.... (currently my soggy machine will not charge the battery properly and the screen is a little shaky, to say the least - perhaps with a day or two or drying out it might recover a bit...yay for hairdryers...)

update: well, the screen (rather the backlight for said screen) has come back to life ok, but it seems very unhappy about charging the battery now, just a constant green flashing from the power cable thinggy. oh well, it seems to work as a desktop replacement but i think it's days of running off battery power are somewhat over....

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 11:47:47 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

The Final Vinyl

Well, I have next to me right now vinyl test pressings of "Palookavile" (all 4 sides of it) and a test of a 12" promo of a track from it that will be around quite soon, and also a strange hybrid thing - a limited 10" release of yet another track from the album, but it's actually a 12" disc with lots of spare space on it...and it's one sided too (a nice cool item, I reckon)

So, over this weekend I have to listen through all these carefully and check they're OK and up to 'standard' (which, when it comes to how vinyl works and the changes it makes - just 'cos of the physics involved - to the overall sound is always an interesting definition) so I can approve the whole collection on Monday - then we can actually start making the silly things sometime soon!

Damn, this does mean I'm going to have to listen to the whole album yet again. As much as I think it's good I could so do with a little break from it. Especially as this week I've actually gotten around to "creating" what amounts to an instrumental version of the whole album as well, to be sent round to TV companies and the like for possible consideration for theme tunes etc (we've already got someone that is thinking of using an instrumental version of one of the album tracks for a new upcoming TV show, for example. So it is worth doing.)

Oh, and while I'm on the subject, for anyone that has never seen what grooves in a vinyl disc look like - the important bits that define every single thing you hear (well apart from the dust and beer stains [hello Djs!]) - they look a little like this... [scroll down a bit]

There's also some more pictures on this page.. Yes, I can Google!

[OK, and this is amazing to look at if you've got the time/bandwidth. It's a computer-generated video sequence of what a record groove actually looks like, if you could travel around it....you'll see what I mean if you view it. Mad stuff]

[that site I've linked to a bit further up also has some interesting tips for how to keep your records in good condition etc, should anyone be interested. And there was I thinking I was so sad buying a shed-load of acid-free 12" inner sleeves years ago, perhaps I wasn't after all...]

[oh, and here's a - perhaps over-complicated and badly-worded - explanation of the process normally involved to get a recording made into a vinyl masterpiece]

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 1:21:53 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Roland Clark is a very nice guy.

And that's all I'm gonna say for now. And, well, he can so sing too.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 12:23:13 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

So the next thing on the list....

....is to sort out the tracklisting for the "Slash Dot Dash" single(s). It always seems to be left this late, is the nature of the beast it seems.

Looking like it might be a bumper package. We, just for once, have quite a few options of what to spread across the formats (might well be a 12" and 2x CDs)...there's a B side (which is quite fun) that we've had for ages (it was going to used on something we almost released as a single a year ago, but didn't end up doing)...3 different versions of SDD to choose from (we'll only be using 2 of them at the most, I'd of thought)....a bit of DJ Delite-ness around too...perhaps a remix of a track from the album by someone else....and perhaps, just perhaps, something people will know from, like, off-the-telly....

The completist collectors out there will have to start saving the pennies, cos each format will have different tracks on it (mostly), so you'll need all 3 releases to get the whole set of stuff.

Oh, and I know who's going to be directing the SDD video (but I don't think I'm allowed to mention who that is yet), and I read through the treatment the other night. Looks like it's gonna be slightly bonkers, in a very good way.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 5:04:55 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

I know I've said this before....

...but it's DONE.

I originally tried to find a George Lucas quote about this, but as Mr Tom pointed out, it was actually something Peter Jackson (he of Lord Of The Rings) said which I'll kind guess at here, cos I can't find the quote online....it was something along the lines of "nothing is ever 'finished' until someone comes to take it out of your hands"....

Hence, today was yet another "It's done!" day. I ran off a whole load of 'final' CD masters to be sent over to Astralwerks for the US side of all this - it's not quite the same system as with working with Skint here in the UK, that's for sure. And I also did the masters for the vinyl that is being 'cut' [quick translation for people who don't know what 'cut' means: = being processed and converted into a format that then can be transfered onto large pieces of round black plastic for your turntable-enjoyment] on Thursday. Which was not as simple as it perhaps could of been, for so many boring reasons.

This makes it all REAL. No more changes allowed. It is now ALL out of my hands. All the decisions and changes I've recently made (haha, I am 'Executive Producer' on this whole thing, don't you know) are now FINAL and set in stone. Forever. And a day. I have to say, this bit is sometimes scary.

I'm happy with 'It' - I think I have done the best I can do from my point of view; from where I look at the overall thing; from what I think I bring to the whole 'project' (yuk) - as much as anyone can ever be sure of that. I hope other people think it's good, I really do.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 12:34:41 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Random album titbits

For anyone (and I'm guessing it's actually that many people i.e. one) that cares...

'Don't Let The Man' is now 4:01, needed shortening a bit more.
'Slash Dot Dash' for the album is now different to the radio edit, but should be the same as the single version (still thinking about that).
There is to be a vinyl release now, and it will be in a very slightly different order, and the tracks won't be glued tightly together as they are on the CD i.e. there will be gaps...oh...and the version of "Jingo" on it will be a longer version, if not the whole thing...
'Masochistic Baby' has changed title, as I said it would, and it's now to be called 'El Bebe Masoquista' - very Adam And The Ants (long story)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 12:05:41 AM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

I should have mentioned, re: first single in US

It is indeed "The Joker", I just forgot to mention that earlier. Probably because it's been in place so long (the track was finished, oooh, over a year ago) it's not been in the front of my mind for a good while.

It does mean though that, hopefully, we'll have two videos quite soon - which is quite fun I reckon.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 3:24:03 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

Palookaville is announced. Slash Dot Dash first single.

See, I told you all I had to wait until it was given to some sort of online news thing before I could talk about it, but yes.....

"Palookaville", the 4th Fatboy Slim album, has been announced.

NOW you all know what the songs titles really are....

Don't Let The Man [Version 2] [Album Edit] 4:33
Slash Dot Dash [Album Edit] 2:53
Wonderful Night (featuring Lateef) 4:46
Long Way From Home (featuring Johnny Quality) 4:44 ("the O2 ad")
Put It Back Together (featuring Damon Albarn) 4:36
Masochistic Baby 4:26
Push And Shove (featuring Justin Robertson) 4:27
North West Three 4:23
The Journey (featuring Lateef) 4:38
Jingo [Album Edit] 4:32
Song For Chesh 4:20
The Joker (featuring Bootsy Collins) 5:24

The version of SDD is currently the same as the radio and CD single versions, that might change, or it might not....

(The NME announcement is here)

(Update: as I seem to be the top listing on a Google search for "Slash Dot Dash" at the moment, I think it's worth mentioning that a basic front page for www.fatboyslim.net is now up and running - simon)

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 2:22:58 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []  

A strange thing happened at Wimbledon today.

It rained. OK, that's not too strange. It was covered by BBC1, as ever, and 3 sets into the men's semi-final today the skys opened, as they do. Now, normally, when that happens we get a whole barrage of inane chatter from the commentators, followed by repeats of boring stuff, followed by other, well, rubbish really. Not today though - there was a good 15 minutes of TV without any stupid time-filling voiceover. No silly music. No nothing. Just shots of the crowd patiently waiting, eating their strawberries and cream etc etc....and you know what?

It was really good TV. Why? Because, just for once, just for a change, it really WAS like being there. You heard the sounds of people sitting quietly in the rain, you just got a real idea what it's like to sit on those little hard green chairs waiting for the play to restart. You could almost smell them (ewww).

Strange, but true.

Posted By Simon Thornton @ 1:48:18 PM  trackback []  comment(s) []