hey everyone, happy holidays!

to say thanks for all your support this year — especially around the release of our new acoustic album, black lab unplugged — I’m gonna do a little video hangout at ustream next week.

next wednesday I will play some songs live in my studio and answer questions sent in via twitter & facebook. you can submit questions and song requests both before the broadcast and during, and I’ll be giving a free copy of unplugged along with some exclusive black lab collector’s paraphernalia to random people who submit questions.

I’ve done a little test run over at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/blacklabworld under “intro to ustream.” go over and check out how easy it is to stream all kinds of stuff.

the broadcast will be on wednesday, december 14, at 6pm PT/9pm ET and will run for about a half hour. if you can’t make it during the live broadcast you’ll be able to check it out in recorded form afterwards (but it won’t be as much fun as having you there live.

so, think of your best questions and song requests and send ‘em to us. here’s how:

on facebook, post your question on your wall and be sure to tag us so we see it by adding @blacklab to your post. on twitter, post your question and then add my tag (@paulblacklab) to the end of the post (not the beginning). this way more of your friends and followers may see some of your posts, get curious and come over to check us out.

k, that’s the word. see you next wednesday!!

thx,
paul

new acoustic album now available on CD, at iTunes

unplugged is now for sale on CD and at iTunes and AmazonMp3, as well as via CD quality download here at black lab world. check out our 5-for-$45 offer or send someone a gift-wrapped CD w/ a note.

click here to preview 7 songs from the record.. thanks to everyone for all your support, for your presales orders and lovely emails, tweets & facebook messages. we deeply appreciate it.

pass the word and help us make this a black lab christmas. p

new album presale: unplugged

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hello everyone. we are pleased to announce that our new album — black lab unplugged — is now available for pre-order. order yours now for $12 and get instant access to all 16 songs via mp3 download.

after months of focused time in the studio, we are thrilled to release our first acoustic album, featuring unplugged versions of 13 black lab favorites as well as 3 new songs. breaking the songs down into pieces and then building them back using piano, acoustic guitar, cello, hand percussion and trap kit, we taught ourselves a new way of working — and are strangely pleased about their mesmerizing new forms. focused on the songs and what minimal embellishment would best serve them, we drilled down to the core of each one and gave it new life, bringing the acoustic versions we play live directly to you.

we have been wanting (and people have been asking us) to do an acoustic album for some time. inspired by the classic performances on ‘mtv’s unplugged’ by nirvana, unledded and jay-z, it became clear that we required a fuller sound than just andy and i playing live. with unplugged  we tried to strip away everything that lies between the listener and the song, while retaining the dynamics that each one has built into its dna. in many cases this meant andy stepping up to the piano to distill a whole electric arrangement into a single acoustic performance — with me singing away on the other side of glass.

included tracks: remember, something you don’t know, mine again, fall (shadows & blinds) [new song!], wash it away, see the sun, keep myself awake [buffy soundtrack], this night, tomorrow [new song], weightless, this ship goes down deep, the pain is gone, learn to crawl, circus lights, out loud [a new, full arrangement of the mp3 of the month club fav], time ago.

why you need to have it:  16 tracks of goodness, an album full of your favorite songs — as though you’ve never heard them before. also, lots of exclusive in-the-studio photos plus lyric pages.

why your family, friends and mate need to have it:  it’s the best of black lab, genre-free. your grandma likes neil diamond, your cousin likes slayer, your dad digs the stones, your boyfriend is indie-only. unplugged  is a one-size-fits-all holiday gift. now each of them get in on your black lab fetish without all those loud (or not-loud-enough) guitars.

to make it easy to handle all your shopping in one fell swoop, get 5 copies of unplugged  now for $45 (and still receive that instant-access mp3 download link).

you can also send a gift-wrapped CD to someone far away for $15 +s&h. click here, and then in the ‘comments/notes’ field type your friend’s name, address, and the note you’d like to send with it. we’ll print out your note on nice paper in a nice font and include it in the pretty package. yes!

pre-ordered CDs will go out tuesday the 29th, the day the album officially goes on sale, via USPS first class, and arrive in plenty of time for christmas.

and of course, you can always buy the album as a full CD quality download for $9. the .zip file includes all 16 tracks in pc/mac/ipod-friendly wav format, CD artwork in pdf format, and as a bonus three tracks from previous black lab albums.

in any case, we can’t wait for you to hear it. in fact, you can preview 7 songs from the album right here.

thank you for continuing to support us! lots of love from us and the songs.

paul

standby

hey folks, it’s been a bit quiet as we hunker down to get this thing done.

I’ve been busy learning how to mic (and try to play) drums, hand drums, all kinds of things we haven’t done before, trying to make something new — to make new things out of old songs and new songs that sound old. I know that doesn’t make sense but I’m hoping it will.

it’s been nice to have more sonic space in which to let my voice breathe, not pushing so hard to get above or cut thru the noise. it does some ghosty things when you can actually hear it.

anyway, sorry no free mp3 this month but we’ll make it up to you soon. please keep an eye out cause we can’t wait for you to hear this…

back from la – part 2

another excellent part of our audience in the studio was musician, engineer and videographer Kristian Anderson.

Kristian approached me ten years ago or so about shopping our “I feel fine” ep in Australia. he paid for the manufacturing of the ep and basically went to work trying to make us huge in Oz. it didn’t really happen, but he became a good friend and valuable ally in getting all kinds of technical stuff handled as we learned to do everything ourselves.

Kristian had a long time vision of shooting a live-performance DVD for us down under, and we got pretty close a couple of times to actually making a date. but a lack of money and other stuff always kept getting in our way.

then a few years ago Kristian got cancer. not young-guy-will-definitely-survive cancer but serious, lethal-like liver and bowel cancer. he’s got a wife and two young kids so he went to war, opened up his veins and let them pour the poison in, all in the hopes of sticking around for his sons’ childhoods.

along the way he put his skills and connections to work making a video for his wife’s birthday. anyone willing to have their heart ripped out can check it out right here.

meanwhile, Oprah saw the vid and during her week broadcasting from Australia invited Kristian and Rachel up on stage. you can see that here. this helped things out on the financial side. it also made them kinda famous.

Rachel seems like an incredibly cool person, because when Kristian found out we were going to be in LA recording piano, she said, “you should go film them.” so Kristian loaded up his brand new, $65,000 Red Epic, flew to LA from Oz, called his friend Joseph, and the two of them shot video of the sessions for three days.

I’ll be honest, he didn’t look so good when he got here, and each day he looked substantially worse. I told him I didn’t want him to die just because black lab needed some video shot. he just laughed.

in fact, he did a lot of laughing over the three days. it was great to meet him in person after all these years — he’s one of those fans that has contributed a lot to us and become a partner in what we do. but it was particularly amazing to feel his positivity in the face of sickness and potential death, of endless chemical treatments and the possibility of losing his kids (and, what is worse for a father, the possibility of his kids losing their dad).

we’re grateful Kristian got to come and can’t wait to see the footage (stills below from tracking ‘this night’). you can check out his blog here.