The Black Wood

For quite some time The Stumps have been waiting to announce that their new CD The Black Wood is out. The moment is not here quite yet, but it's pretty bloody close; certainly close enough for me to be able to happily say that the new Stumps CD The Black Wood has been released by Providence, RI label Last Visible Dog. It's not actually due to be officially released until August 2007, but there are already copies floating around distributors and radio stations.

(I'm not really sure why people -- myself included but not limited to -- feel compelled to preface statements with "Providence, RI" when referring to things to do with Providence, RI -- could it be New Zealand's long and heroic association with the noble sport of yacht-racing? I doubt it.)

It's far too early for reviews or anything, but if you want to read the characteristically hyperbolic text of the press release which accompanies the album, click on the artwork (top-right) and knock yerself out.

However, there's a bit of angst surrounding this release, because the printing of the cover art has been -- well, for want of a better term, cocked up. I'm still completely unsure how this came to pass, but the artwork has been printed in all wrong colours; if that wasn't enough, it's also far too dark.

Top-right is a picture of the cover-art, sure, but it's not supposed to look like that. Below left is what it's supposed to look like. Below right is how it actually turned out. Oh dear. And the problem is not limited to the front cover; the panels on the inside and the back of the cd-case are also far to dark, rendering the type almost completely illegible.

These things happen -- sure -- but what a fucking pain. And it's already caused one DJ some considerable confusion:

I made a little mistake announcing the title of the first track, due to the black-on-black type used on the album art. In black, it says "also by The Stumps", and then proceeds to list other albums in a lightly-colored font. I didn't see the black writing until just now, so I thought the first album listed was the track title. This isn't going to kill anyone, but I thought I'd clarify it for those of you who download the show later today. This album will be available in August, so I still have time to practice, hahaha.

Sorry, Dave. Actually, it's embarrassing. And I wish I could figure out what went wrong, because I've got the artwork for a new seht CD ready to go off to the pressing/printing plant very shortly; now I'm all paranoid that it's destined to suffer a similar fate.

What am I supposed to do? We send digital files to another country, who then send them on to a printer -- which is in some cases in a third country. Who's gonna do the proofs? Who's gonna take it upon themselves to make sure that we don't have 1,000 or more CD covers and booklets printed all fucked up? How to avert disaster? The best idea I can come up with at the moment is to generate PDFs of the artwork so at least someone can look at it on the screen and say "uh, that's not right".


Sleepless nights. Premature greying. All that.

...

About the only thing that's giving me any joy out of the whole situation is doing google searches for stumps "the black wood"; it turns up ALL sorts of delightful little abstracts. Here's some examples:

... (Blera fallax) which breeds in wet pockets of decay in large pine stumps. ... and the Black Wood of Rannoch and Culbin Sands have been designated as ...

It has also been suggested that the black wood- pecker and the ... and increasing food supply (cut stumps) in afforested areas in western Europe, ...

But the black wood that leans and sighs above her; No hour can change, .... Blistered and maimed the wide stumps grinned; From the black mouth of Thèlus ...

retained stumps, high cut stumps, or stubs. Their. suggestion likely underestimates the .... Mikusiński, G. 1997: Winter foraging of the black wood- ...

The tallest of the three is suspended in a broken tree stump with his front hoof ... Gold and black fillet liner raised above the black wood crinkled frame. ...

The falling tree avoids striking other trees or hitting stumps, ... The black wood stove is positioned on top of a 4" raised platform of green 12" quarry ...

The black wood reddens, the deathwatches inside begin running out of time, ..... on the thumb stump wisps of smoke ask a ride into the emptiness. ...

Some of their strongholds are Glen Affric, the Black Wood of Rannoch, ... that a high proportion of the lichens are found on stumps and standing dead trees. ...

The group includes the black-wood tree (also called the East Indian .... The tail is docked to a stump and the eyes are brown and almond-shaped with a keen, ...

.........and that's just the first couple of pages of results.

...

NP: Ghost -- Hypnotic Underworld (Allmusic)

I get the impression that listening to Ghost is not quite the hip activity that it once was; 'tis a pity, perhaps, or perhaps I don't give a fuck. The band is great, I've been a fan for at least 10 years now, and this album is sensational.