#3: Practice February 12th, 2006
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Someday, when the Perfect Drummer shows up on my doorstep, this one’s getting the full-on power-pop treatment. Well, actually, whatever, “this one”. When that happens, they’re all getting the full-on power-pop treatment.
A postcard from last April…
Your back seat’s cluttered with our morning haste:
Best of Bowie in a Promise Ring case.
I scraped both knees on the way to the train for you.
You know I’m always twenty minutes late,
you know I think that your stupid puns are great,
and now you know that I’m gonna wait for you’cause I’d been waiting for so long
for someone else to value spontaneity
when you said, “Let’s buy that house.”
And now I’m waking up again like I knew I would,
and it’s taking everything I’ve ever learned.
It was never so easy to fall so hard.I want to always have fading rubber stamps
from shows we went to on my wrists and hands.
I want to always be making crazy plans with you.
Headphones seated low and tight,
cables dressed for four-hour flight:
I’ll be in Portland at 9:25 with you’cause I’d been waiting for so long
for someone else to value spontaneity
when you said, “Let’s buy that house.”
And now I’m waking up again like I knew I would,
and it’s taking everything I’ve ever learned.
It was never so easy to fall so hard.Waking up again like I knew I would,
and it’s taking everything I ever learned:
All the mistakes that I ever made then
and every trace of wisdom I ever gained from them,
every time I ever second-guessed myself
when I tried to be someone else,
whenever I couldn’t stand to just read my lines
was practice for this time.
My whole life feels like practice for this time.
At 2:44 pm on February 13th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » back in the U.S.S—er, Iowa City wrote:
[…] Oh—like clockwork, a new Shoebox Full of Tapes, Practice. This week’s song, Practice, is a pop song, catchy and upbeat, but, unlike most pop songs, doesn’t yield its full meaning at first examination. Once it has a full band behind it, it will be devastating. […]
At 10:19 pm on February 13th, 2006, Will wrote:
This one’s my favorite so far. Very catchy and great lyrics.
Do you record your voice separately?
At 8:18 am on February 14th, 2006, Lindsey wrote:
All at the same time. Also, the vocal mic is sensitive enough to pick up my pedal squeaking. And I think you can hear my roommate saying “okay” at the end of this one, too. Yay, home recording.
At 11:42 am on February 15th, 2006, Will wrote:
I like this song a lot (as I mentioned), but the vocals seemed weird and I couldn’t put my finger on why. I asked my Ian and he said that (especially if you weren’t recording your voice separately) it was probably echoes of your voice. Apparently, we’re used to instruments sounding “far away,” but don’t like it with voices. He recommended putting a blanket over your head if you record your voice separately (he’s cheap like that) or if you’re not, putting some foam up on the walls to reduce the echoes.
At 6:43 pm on February 15th, 2006, Lindsey wrote:
I think we need to mic differently. As it was, we were more or less micing the whole room — hence the pedal squeaks. (You’re hearing the keyboard through a mic that was half an inch away from an amp which was actually in a separate room, on the other side of a soundproof wall. I was hearing myself in the phones.)
Foam on the walls of the studio is a good idea, but it’s not my call to make. Plus, that would mean covering up the beautiful blue walls! Four coats of paint for nothing!
At 8:24 pm on February 15th, 2006, Will wrote:
Hehe. You could always do the blanket over your head thing if you have a second mic (or make a second pass for vocals).
Even if you don’t do something like that every week, I think it would be cool to hear a separately recorded version of one of your songs.
At 9:40 pm on February 15th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » In short wrote:
[…] The unthinkable has happened—I have sort of become attached to one Lindsey Kuper lyric over another. From her latest (for the week, anyway), Practice: I want to always have fading rubber stamps from shows we went to on my wrists and hands. I want to always be making crazy plans with you. […]
At 6:48 pm on February 17th, 2006, Lindsey wrote:
Will — Well, I am using two mics. Vocals and keyboards get recorded on separate tracks, but at the same time. I guess that was more confusing than I thought it was! At some point I’ll actually record one at a time. Someday. I guess. Heh.
Nick — My friend Ariel, whom I’ve done music with from time to time, said that those lines stood out for him, too. Personally, the first line of the song is my favorite part.
At 9:45 am on April 13th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » worry. failure. stress. guilt. more stress. more guilt. query: self-esteem? wrote:
[…] - Lindsey Kuper, Practice […]
At 2:45 pm on April 16th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » “You (by E.B. Red)” wrote:
[…] And check out Kuper’s Practice. […]
At 2:34 pm on May 28th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » blog it while it happens wrote:
[…] From the blog-it-while-it-happens department comes my review of Lindsey Kuper’s latest—a rockafied version of Practice [just add a(n awesome) drummer!]. […]
At 10:50 pm on June 11th, 2006, Shoebox Full of Tapes » #16: Practice wrote:
[…] I posted the lyrics back in February, the first time this song appeared on SFoT. Thank you for listening, and for forgiving our inevitable mistakes as we figure out how to be a band. We’re just getting started. […]
At 8:57 pm on August 25th, 2006, unbottled soul » Blog Archive » (Re-)Discovering DiFranco, Looping Lindsey wrote:
[…] from Practice she thinks of me, due to my propensitidy to pun (actually, she said something more along the lines of when I open my mouth, that’s the line she thinks of). […]
At 7:36 am on April 21st, 2007, Shoebox Full of Tapes » *pause for breath* wrote:
[…] Okay, so my drummer, Brian, and I only know a few songs so far, and yeah, so the show was sort of…at my house. (Line I forgot to use: “We’re so indie, we barely even exist.”) But still! First show! The Jigsaw Gentlemen, Chris Corbell, and Douglas Shepherd played as well, and in case four bands and a keg and a half didn’t put it completely over the top as house parties go, we even had a couple of belly dancers. All of the performers were great. I couldn’t have asked for a friendlier or more talented group of people to help us make the party a success. And our set was well-received, too. Thanks to all of you who made it out! I can’t wait for our next show! […]
At 7:39 am on April 21st, 2007, Shoebox Full of Tapes » #4: You’ve Got Her Number wrote:
[…] Jury’s out. And so am I — except to say that this week, by Will’s request, we recorded piano first and vocal second. I was really hesitant to do this ’cause I thought the songs would lose the immediacy that comes from laying down everything at once. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. It turns out that the only thing we lost was crap singing and playing. Thanks. You’ve got her number You reach for the phone You might be reckless – but she might be home You shouldn’t care as much as you do Should have a way out In case you can’t get through […]