Hi,

So the single is going to radio next week. I wanted Rounder to do a single cover with a white limousine flying through the air with Santa’s head coming out of the sun roof and the limo overflowing with presents. Best case scenario … not going to happen. One of the radio reps at Rounder asked me on behalf of some of the stations she talks to what the song is really about. Is White Limo about our American Idol, reality-tv culture, or is it an anti-bush song? Here was my reply …

Hi Katrinka,

It’s both.? In my humble opinion, the tacky, wasteful, over-hyped part of our entertainment culture and the scary political reality we now face in this country are both symptoms of a deeper problem.? I think the problem is philosophical.? It seems like many of us in this country?find?powerful ways to either?not look into what’s going on in the rest of the world, or to rationalize the state of the world by means of some messianic fantasy.??Whether you are too busy reading about Brangelina to read a book about 20th century middle-eastern history, or you just assume that what happens in the middle-east is a biblical foregone conclusion, those are both ways of avoiding the more difficult reality of our complicated world.? It is Bush that I’m poking fun at in the second verse of the song and his “mission accomplished” speech that I’m referencing at the end, but I’m not really?villainizing him.? I feel bad for him that, because his world-view is so inaccurate, he makes such terrible decisions.? ?I also feel bad for people on the streets of New York when, on the anniversary of 9/11, a fire-truck covered in American flags flies down the street with Josh Groban’s “Wings of an Eagle” blaring from it’s speakers, assaulting everyone with the worst possible combination of Jingoism and bad taste that you could possibly concoct.? But, there it is, and I really do wish Josh, George, Brad, Jen, and Angelina a holiday season filled with good friends, family, warmth and all the happiness that freedom can buy.??

Cheers,
DS

Well, I guess I should just go ahead and let you know about what we’re planning for the DVD that will accompany the White Limousine CD. Here is my explanation that was sent out to the press …

—————————————————————————————

A word about the White Limousine companion DVD.

While I was on tour promoting my last album, the very nice people at M-Audio gave me a copy of a piece of software called Reason. Though I had played around with it’s predecessor, Rebirth, Reason is a far more versatile tool (kind of a virtual rack of synths and samplers on your laptop) and I started to think about how it might inform the songwriting process for my next record. Once I had come up with a couple of dozen musical ideas using Reason, I thought I might make a record where the entire arrangement for the songs (except for a vocal and an acoustic guitar) would be generated in Reason. This was going to be my version of the minimalist, electronica, singer-songwriter record. My next thought was that I could release the Reason files along with the CD so that anyone could remix the songs however they wanted to.

I started to make my record this way but to make a long and winding creative process short, I ended up re-doing the record with my band as four human musicians playing in a room together with a great engineer. I think that as much as I love electronic music, I was kind of afraid of committing to a record that’s mainly programming. But I still very much liked the idea of releasing the record in such a way that anyone could remix the songs or create new music from the constituent parts of those songs. Luckily, the folks at M-Audio had also given me a copy of software called Live which, because it deals with pre-recorded audio as well as midi, would be an ideal way to release the record in a format such that it can be remixed and messed with in any imaginable way. When you open up a given song in Live, all the individual parts will be separated out so that they can be muted, soloed or altered. This is not a new idea. Peter Gabriel did a 4-track version of it for his record Us, Brian Eno talks about it in his book/diary A Year With Swollen Appendices, I hear Todd Rundgren did something conceptually similar a while back, and, very recently, Nine Inch Nails have released some of their songs in Garage Band format.

So, all that being said, White Limousine will be released with two discs. A normal CD labeled mine with the twelve songs, and a DVD labeled yours with an installable version of Live software and all twelve songs set up in Live so that they can be remixed.

In this way, maybe someone will actually make the minimalist electronica version of White Limousine that I was afraid to realize - personally, that is what I hope. But, of course, there are countless other types of versions of these songs that one might attempt and I’m genuinely interested in what other people do with this material. Also, I plan to set up a web site where people can post their remixes and listen to what others have done. I’m not really sure how these songs might evolve - and I think it is that uncertainty that I like most about this process.

Hi,

Since some of you naughty people can’t seem to stay on topic (i.e. the previous thread) this post will be a place for comments regarding the Yellow Umbrella Tour. As for myself, let me just say that I think the YUT cause and the people involved are really great - but there are complications and difficulties in putting on a show with four diverse acts that have made me a little distracted on certain nights. So, I’ll agree with some of the previous comments about the shows and try to rise above those distractions.

Lots of Love.
DS

Their new record, Leaders of the Free World is niiice. What a great band.
May not be out in the states yet, but get it when you can.

Cheers,
DS

UPDATE: It’s out here in the states as of today.

Hello,

We recorded strings for seven songs yesterday here in rainy old London. Simon Hale did some very beautiful arrangements for “Fantastic Toys and Corduroys”, “Hymn”, “Star-field on Red Lines”, “The Dawn’s Request”, “So Gone” and “I Wouldn’t Mind” for the new record. We also did one for “Purple Trail” which is in The Nightingale (the other musical I’m doing with Steven Sater). It was a great day with Gavin Wright leading his most excellent crew.

See you all over the next couple of weeks (I hope),
DS

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If you haven’t seen it … go see it. Bring a hankie.

XO
DS

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Thanks.

It’s so nice up here in Oregon, I wish we could just keep playing shows. But I have to get back to NYC (and London to do the strings for White Limo). I guess I’ll see some of you on the Yellow Umbrella extravaganza, but for all of you who came to the west coast shows, it was great to see you.

Cheers,
DS

This afternoon, Duncan and David Poe were John Schaefer’s guests on WNYC’s Soundcheck. They talked about wrestling, contemporary classical music, politics and much more. They also played “Love’s A Sinner” and “White Limousine” acoustic in the studio. Here’s the showpage and here’s a direct link to the audio.

Thanks to WNYC for making the audio available.

When I was in my early teens I listened to a lot of “Prog” rock: Yes, Genesis, King Crimson, even Rush.
When I was in my mid to late teens I listened to a lot of English “Alternative” music: The Smiths, Talk Talk, Japan (David Sylvian), New Order, The Cure, The Cocteau Twins, The Blue Nile, Depeche Mode, etc.
In my early to mid twenties I listened to Bill Frisell, David Torn, Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Arvo Part and Steve Reich.
I guess I’m stuck in my ways because not much has changed…
What did you guys listen to growing up?
DS

So, Duncan’s on the road and pretty disconnected from all things related to the Internets. Folks who saw any of the last few shows are welcome to post thoughts/reactions/polite criticisms in comments. Come on, people: make me feel like I was there, too instead of stuck here at my boring day-job.

In that spirit, here’s Catherine P. Lewis’s review of the Birchmere show that ran in the Washington Post last Friday (complete with shouts out to D. Poe as well as her polite criticism of Duncan’s Wonderwall cover… to each her own, I guess…). The original can be found here (free registration required).

Sheik Goes Minimalist
Friday, August 26, 2005; C03

At the Birchmere on Wednesday night, Duncan Sheik devoted a third of his two-hour set to songs from his forthcoming album, “White Limousine,” which is due out early next year. Those new pieces find Sheik on a minimalist kick: The glistening instrumentation provided by his three-piece backing band was just as restrained as Sheik’s mellow vocals. His dreamy tenor drifted effortlessly to a falsetto in the meandering “Fantastic Toys and Corduroys” and a deliberate melody gave “I Don’t Believe in Ghosts” a pensive feel.

As the night progressed, though, Sheik’s music grew more aggressive, from the pulsing harshness of “Rubbed Out” to the abrasive urgency of “Genius.” A particularly grating version of Oasis’s “Wonderwall” was incongruous with the rest of his set — Sheik himself commented that he was “starting to feel like a bad cover band.”

By contrast, opener David Poe’s set was consistently mellow. His simple approach intensified the emotions in songs such as “Love Is Red” and even made a song about pornography sound like a lullaby. The highlight of Poe’s set was a pair of songs performed with Sheik. Their obvious rapport — not to mention the richness of their voices in harmony — infused Poe’s songs with warmth. The duo’s strength is a sneak peek at things to come: The two plan to form a still-unnamed band next year.

- Catherine P. Lewis
? 2005 The Washington Post Company

Just to avoid confusion, I will be headlining the Yellow Umbrella shows in October and November. David Poe, Sarah Bettens and one other performer will be playing short sets prior to my set - which should be a “normal” 90 minutes or so (more if the club lets me!).
If you google “pop smear” and/or “yellow umbrella tour” you can find out more about the sponsor.

Sweet,
DS

We’ve just confirmed some more shows for Oct. and Nov. including a show at Irving Plaza in NYC.

Please go to places i’m playing for more info. These shows will be part of a “Yellow Umbrella” mini-tour in which David Poe, Sarah Bettens and myself will wander over hill and dale gladly singing our songs of joy and redemption. Or something along those lines.

Sincerely,
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

On Saturday night I saw “Pretty Persuasion” and last night I saw a German movie called “The Edukators”. They were very different in that the former is an American black comedy and the latter is a German kidnapping drama shot on DV, but they were both very interesting (and pretty good) in their indictment of late capitalism and materialist culture. Has anyone else seen either of these fims?

DS

Sorry I played the longest show ever - someone needs to stop me or I’ll just drone on and on all night.
Anyway, it was great to see all y’all and just so you know we are about to announce another run of shows from the middle of Oct. into Nov. that will include NYC and other fancy places.

It so damn hot, milk was a bad choice.
DS

This is out of character but I feel the need to respond to something posted on sheikfreik.com about the Ann Arbor show.

As you might imagine, if you’ve read the thread, I’m referring to Matthias’s posts. Of course, he is totally entitled his opinion and I’m sorry that he wasn’t happy with the set list. However, the “upbeat” music he seems to want to hear generally fails to move me in any way. In fact, the further I move away from “likable” pop music, the happier I am with what I’m doing. I think Rick Moody (Author of “The Ice Storm”) said it best in an article he wrote recently railing against teachers he had in college who wanted his characters to be more sympathetic. He wrote - “to me, likability has always been the hobgoblin of simple minds.”

And maybe that’s the real point - now that I’m finally clear in my own mind about what’s important to me musically, and I’m not so worried about pleasing all the people all the time, I’m able to focus more on those qualities that inspire me. And to leave behind those that don’t.

Take, for example, Will Smith. He has gone on record saying that, with regard to his music, all he wants to do is entertain his audience and make sure they have fun. And I think there is definitely a place in the world for that kind of music. But, as I write this, I really don’t feel like I’m ever going to be that kind of artist. And if I ever was, it was an accident of bad marketing and my own lack of good judgement.

If I look back on all the music that has ever been important to me, it has always evoked emotions that are nuanced and mysterious, perhaps a bit on the somber side but never completely dark or light. To give another example, I’ll take the Beck of “Sea Change” over the Beck of “Guero” any day of the week but I don’t take it personally when he does stuff that is not to my taste.

I believe music has the potential to do some very profound things to people emotionally, spiritually and even ideologically. And the artists I respect all aspire to have that kind of profound effect on their listeners. At the risk of sounding ridiculous, I do too. But I’ll probably never succeed in having that kind of effect without running the risk of alienating certain people. So there it is …

And one last thing for the record. There was one show I played back in ‘97 when I got stoned about 6 hours before I went on stage. My grandmother was at the show and it was possibly the worst 70 minutes of my life. Suffice to say I have never been stoned during a show since then and don’t plan on taking it up in the future.

See you all soon I hope,
DS

Just to reiterate and avoid confusion: the first four songs on the E.P. will be on the full release, and the last three songs are b-sides. The main reason I have it at the shows is that I feel bad that the full release isn’t out yet and I wanted to have something for you guys to listen to. There will be an announcement about White Limousine, its new home (label-wise) and its expected street date fairly soon.

See you in Chicago tonight, I hope …

DS

O.K. we are going to try and figure something out so that the M.O. folks will get the EP. They might have to send a SASE to Peter or something like that, but we’ll try and make it happen ASAP.

P.S. I just wanted to use more acronyms!

If you are interested, go to variety.com and playbill.com to see the articles about the Atlantic Theater announcing Spring Awakening’s world premiere production in NYC (beginning in May of ‘06). It’s about bloody time!

Sweet,
DS