Checking In on a Big Day

hi -
jack here. writing you from the studio. sitting here with daniel while justin mixes one of the tracks for terrible thrills vol 1.  massively excited about all of this. ok- lets talk.

our new self-titled record comes out in a week. oh my god. i can't even believe i just wrote that. how did we get here already? i'm so confused, but also elated and somehow ready. making this record was one of the most thrilling and hard experiences i've ever been through. i won't say too much because i want to tell you all about it on release day in an 'emotional release day blog' that i've slowly been writing for three weeks now. sounds cheesy, but its completely true. this record means so much to us, and it has taken me a month to find a way to tell all of you (and im not done yet). so, if you're into ignoring social boundries and getting overly touchy feely, then you can look forward to that on tuesday the 29th. but for now, i just have big news. and here it is.

we are streaming our record for free as of RIGHT NOW.

yep. we've been grossly withholding from all of you for the past few months. intensely secretive. as if we were pretending this record only consisted of the three songs that are floating around out there on youtube and such. now the floodgates are open. here goes. all 12 songs. the entire new record is up for you to listen to. the time finally feels right to share this record. a week before release date, three days before the tour starts. that gives you three days to learn the lyrics and musical changes so you can sing loudly and gyrate you body in strange fashions that link up with the chord and beat changes in the new songs. but in all seriousness, its here. for you. we would not have made this record if it wasn't for you guys, so please, enjoy this stream to the fullest.

moving on. like i said, tour starts in three days. we are amped (first time i've ever used that word. this blog just became a 90s surge commercial). this tuesday the 22nd is our cd release show in NY. ticket bundles are sold out, and we've released regular tickets here. after that we go all over this odd country. excited to see all of our old friends, and the new ones we've made on the tegan and sara and hanson tours (and anyone that just found out about us through their second cousin
etc etc). we've been practicing like animals preparing for this tour. tons of new stuff, tons of old stuff, tons of surprises, tons of
reimagining of songs, covers, and of course...daniel silbert in the flesh. not really sure what i mean by that.

lastly, i want to talk about our companion record terrible thrills vol 1. this is something that i've been wanting to do for a very long
time. two years i'd say. wanted to do it back when we released trampoline, but because of certain speedbumps, we couldn't. now things are different. we are our own label so we can release as much music as we want. jam! it all started four months ago when we put together a wish list of our favorite female artists. the entire point of this project was to create an alternate universe version of our new record in the voice and aesthetic of each distinct artist covering each song. my favorite singers in the world are all females. i wish i had a female voice. but i don't, so this project is a dream come true in that sense. often when
i write, i imagine my songs being sung by females. working on this project is one of the first times that i've been able to listen to something that i'm a part of and actually hear it. it feels like a different record. all of the artists went so over and above with their efforts and concepts. the songs are completely reimagined and were taken to places that i could never have dreamed. i'd like to talk about everyone involved, as well as announce the track listing:

1. "bullet" - scarlett johansson
- scarlett's voice is insane. her tom waits cover record is one of my favorite albums that i've heard in the past decade. not sure how anyone can cover tom waits, but she did it and still made it her own.  amazing. its breathtaking. her voice is so incredibly dark and beautiful. couldn't be happier that she chose "bullet," which truly is a very dark song even though we made into something bigger and brighter.

2. "turnpike ghost" - tegan and sara
- we toured with tegan and sara for like three months this year. seriously, the greatest tour ever. they are two of my all time favorite singers . i love both of their voices for different reasons, and after touring with them, i love both of them for different reasons as well.  hearing their version of "turnpike ghost" is nothing short of mind-blowing for me. this track was remixed by RAC and is in someway borderline dub-y. its fit for a saturday night dance party. could not be more excited for everyone to hear this one. its a serious party. an emotions party that is?!

3. "you and i undercover" - holly miranda
- holly was the other opener on the tegan and sara tour. she's a dear friend, and has the voice of a bird from heaven. i think thats the only way that i can describe it. it will haunt your dreams. her new record is fantastic and completely heart-wrenching. "you and i undercover" is an emotional song to begin with, but holly took it even further. i was in the UK when she first sent me her version of this. it was 5 in the morning and i was jet lagged as fuck. i listened to it in bed in a strange place far from home. it made me truly happy.

4. "you are dangerous" - deradoorian
- angel deradoorian actually played with steel train for a very short time in 2006. she currently has two amazing bands, the dirty projectors and deradoorian. angel is small and funny, and somehow has one of the biggest and most serious voices i've ever heard. not sure where it comes from, but its like a tornado coming out of a hobbit hole. make sense? anyway, she chose one of the most poppy and fast-paced songs on the album and turned it into a complete soul burner. it is brilliant and i cannot wait for everyone to hear this. its a total 180. she basically wrote a new song with my lyrics. she's genius.

5. "s.o.g. burning in hell" - alia shawkat
- most people don't know that alia has a crazy brilliant voice. she took this song, which is a completely unhinged loud moment on the album, and turned it into something that sounds like it came out of a speakeasy in the early 1900s. we worked on this one together. i was pushing her to make it a dance remix thing, and she kept insisting on a ragtime vibe. we recorded it at midnight, just a piano and vocal. i'm so thrilled with this one. its how she heard it, and it became something spectacular. she pushed to make it this way, and i am so thrilled that she did because it truly has a life of its own now. her voice will melt you.

6. "touch me bad" - nellie mckay
- nellie mckay is so incredibly inventive. i've been a massive fan of hers for years. she too chose to cover a crazy off-the-chain moment on the album. there are so few artists these days that really stand up and do something different. she is a beacon of hope for anyone trying to create music that goes beyond the radio. i am absolutely thrilled that she's a part of this record.

7. "behavior" - amanda palmer
- im a big dresden dolls fan, and an even bigger fan of amanda's solo music. she is one of those artists that make you proud to be making music in this generation. like its still possible for massive creativity to happen. rocky horror picture show is one of my favorite movies/soundtracks ever (hence 'terrible thrills') and she has this incredible richard o'brien touch that she puts on things. it worked perfectly on this track. she took that sound and turned into something that feels like a twisted dark sock hop happening in a cloud at night. get it? ha. this one is brilliant.

8. "children in the 90's (i'm not the same)" - greta salpeter
- greta! love greta. we toured with greta's old band, the hush sound, a few years ago. her voice is magic. its hard to imagine it comes from her because it sounds like its from another generation in another world. i could listen to her sing forever and hearing her tackle this borderline punk song is absolutely inspiring. she made it into something that could be the end credits to my favorite movie that i've never seen. its haunting as only greta could do.

9. "soldier in the army" - rachael cantu
-  i met rachael in the studio. we were both a part of a group vocal thing for this band called kisschasey. turned out we knew a lot of the same people but had never met. rachael's new record hasn't left my cd player in a very long time. her songs are incredible. they aren't sad, but for some reason they make me sad in the best kind of way. like driving home late at night alone. if i had a crush on someone, i'd make a mix for them and a few of rachael's songs would undoubtably be on it, and
they would undoubtably make my crush love me. that's the best way i can describe rachael and her voice. what she did with this track is amazing. I'm thrilled for everyone to hear it.

10. "bloody lips" - charlotte caffey and astrid mcdonald
- this one is so cooooool. charlotte and her daughter astrid have such amazing voices. its so cool to have a mother and daughter on a track together. charlotte is a part of the amazing and classic band the go go's, and astrid's voice at her young age is already classic. justin remixed this one and it has an optimistic beastie boys vibe to it. you'll understand when you hear it. its good for the summer.

11. "the speedway motor racers club" - anna waronker
- anna is the lead singer of one of my favorite bands of all time....that dog! her record, retreat from the sun, is the greatest pop record to come out of the 90s. she also happens to be married to steve mcdonald (who produced our record) and was around a ton during the making of this album. it was a no-brainer to ask her to participate in this and i'm so excited that she is. her voice is beautiful and honest. its incredibly comforting to me for some reason. im sure you will all understand when you hear this song.

12. "fall asleep" - rachel antonoff
- rachel is my sister. duh. besides that, she is also my favorite singer of all time. she is the reason i play music, and even though we are related, its a giant honor to have her sing this song. its about our family, and in many ways it was written for her to sing. she sings the backup vocals on the album version of this track, and from the second we recorded those, i knew that she had to sing the whole thing herself one day. its a sad and important way to end both records. in many ways it's the song that ties things together, and only rachel could sing that. i am beyond excited for all of you to hear her sing this.

ok- bye now. that was a long blog. go to www.steeltrain.net and take a listen and then pre-order the album and then buy tour tickets and then and then and then and then move on with your life.

love - jack