A crab scuttles backward to move forward, and so acts our peculiar memories. We somehow have to constantly be scuttling backward to move forward--as Gunter Grass puts it.
Looking back on the past or one's very history is a form of identifying the self--a way of retrieving 'identity'.

So with that, today I sit with less anxiety than the day before about the long hurry-up and wait. We've taken a bit to finally record our first LP and the mixes are turning out fantastic. We are not sure how or who will release it as we currently don't have a label or distributor--but that's neither here nor there--we'll get it out to you somehow.

We've been busy with various other undertakings. Ryan has gotten a few new instruments of late to challenge our sound a bit--and we've all taken to them quite handsomely--a melodica, an accordion. Diego has been living nomadically and working out the bucket beats. Cal has been snapping his camera trigger-happy like around the city. I have been working on finishing my short film (below) so that I can start a new one soon.

All the meanwhile we have been in the studio writing even more. The new stuff is sounding so good and we're excited--we'll show you a few of these surprise at a few of the festivals this spring/summer, including Bonnaroo in June.

Just heard a few songs that Ethan just mixed and we're so excited for this record to come out. In the meantime stay tuned and listen close for updates and free releases of random things.

We miss you and we'll see you.


-Harley

A film written and directed by Harley Prechtel-Cortez. "Ignacio" is a short film about a man, whose journey to find his lost son becomes a lesson in discovering more than just himself. The film takes place in a rural region near the border of Mexico and California 1931. Shot all in spanish (with english subtitles), the film recalls Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jim Jarmusch, and even a hint of Alexandro Jodorwosky.

Traveling through the rolling hills, valleys, mountains and deserts of California, we follow Mauricio as he is spun into what seems like an existential run-in of sorts. His surreal experience has him come across a circus of mutes who call themselves "The Silent Circus", a man named Sancho who has seemingly escaped a mental asylum, and a rush of memories that lead him to find what he has really been looking for.
Searching for Ignacio, Mauricio's son, the film takes you on a journey of idiosyncratic, yet thought provoking and poetic vignettes.

Filmed in the late summer of 2009 in various locations in and outside of Los Angeles.


Written and Directed by Harley Prechtel-Cortez

Edited by Ravi Subramanian and Harley Prechtel-Cortez

Original Music written and performed by Harley Prechtel-Cortez.

Produced by French Riots (Ravi Subramanian, Harley cortez, and Elise Velasco)


Release date TBA.