Texting Mackenzie are thrilled to announce that their debut full length album (a "long player" to all you hipcats in the know) will be ready on March 30, and her name will be Karateka. Karateka means practitioner of karate. Karate means awesome. Karateka also means awesome Texting Mackenzie album - we'll tell you why.
Karateka is produced both by Rob Blank and Texting Mackenzie. Some of it was recorded in Toronto, some was recorded at Rob's house outside Dornoch (that's near Owen Sound), and some was recorded in a cabin with no running water in Holland Centre (somewhere in Grey County - it was damn snowy!). The album is also being mixed by Mr. Blank, and a special mystery guest will be mastering it (in other words, TBA).
The album design itself will take a more organic approach than before. Still under the amazing prowess of Chelsea Miller-Blank, it will have the Texting Mackenzie quirk you expect, utilizing her unique collage-style art (best recognized on her work with Backwoods Justice). The cover of the album will have the solemn, disciplined hajiji-dachi of the one they call Ivars, photographed at Sensei James Toth's dojo in downtown St. Catharines.
You must be asking... WHICH OF THESE FINE SONGS MADE THE CUT? A smattering of kick-ass rockers rife with TM-true melodies and energy, ("Down Eramosa", "My Ocean", "Indier than Thou", "Late for Dinner"), a gypsy-pop slanderfest with fiddle and accordion courtesy of Anna Atkinson ("Funny Bastard"), good ol' alt-country with Your Neck of the Woods' Tom Schiks ("End of the World"), bluegrass meets hardcore ("Kekulé's Dream"), a samba duet with Tropicalia's Amy Medvick ("Lemonade"), gentle mizrahi-influenced acoustic rock with a booming surprise ("Okinawa"), and the patented aww-shucks unrequited ballads ("Kiddo", "Keeping it Yeats").
Karateka also takes more lyrical steps than the previous Quoi de Neuf? which was 80% shoegazer loser-in-love content. The loser-in-love content still pops up, but other material is explored such as the apocalypse, image awareness, infidelity, pregnancy scares, abstract molecular-chemistry visions, hazardous diets, long distance love, and yearning for a different life. Alex steps up to the plate writing and singing both "My Ocean" and "End of the World".
We are filming a video for our first single "Indier than Thou" which will be posted on Youtube and Radio3 as soon as it's done. The album will be sold at our two CD release shows (as well as all other subsequent shows): Wednesday March 30 - Tranzac, Toronto Thursday March 31 - TBA house show.
We will also make it available through Zunior, the only decent place to buy online music. More opportunities to purchase will arrive soon. It should also be noted that this blog is being done exclusively through Radio3. Yeah. We're shooting for that. Despite the fact that myspace (or my____ - cute! cute! cute!) has become this manic ad-encrusted corporate monster, we really feel it is necessary to express our true patriot love by making a lot of our announcements (and more songs) accessible through a truly wonderful, culturally-significant godsend that is CBC. We plan on keeping it that way, because excellent radio should be commercial free and highlight our wonderful artistic heritage.
Send your love to textingmackenzie@gmail.com or follow us on Twitter (textingmack). You can also be one of those bookface fans too. Yeah, it's all there. Oh, and check out our vids for RSVP and Annex if you haven't already!
Love and truth, Texting Mackenzie.