The first review has arrived

We only sent out the discs last week! Man, that was fast!

From LMNOP (LINK):

Hop On Pop - Chicken On A Bicycle (CD, Spade Kitty, Pop)

Wow...such a great band name, hard to believe no one thought of it before. Hop On Pop is the project driven by the songwriting skills of Todd Leiter-Weintraub. Joining Todd on these recordings is David Kling and various other artists/musicians. The humorously-titled Chicken On A Bicycle kicks off with the slightly goofy "Here"...an instantly addictive tune that sounds not unlike My Dad Is Dead in some ways. Many of the tunes on this album are pure pop but there are some acoustic solo tracks as well. Leiter-Weintraub proves himself to be an excellent songwriter. When he's "on" he comes up with songs that are remarkably appealing and intelligent. Ten tracks including "Here," "Tortured Artist" (a really cool standout cut), "I'm Pathetic," and "Happy Days." This came very close to being a top pick this month. We'd be willing to bet that the world will be hearing some even more amazing stuff from this peculiar little band in the very near future. Sigh... thanks LMNOP/Babysue people.

My heart is still pounding. (It tends to do that when reviews come in... especially the first one!)

And even closer...

Got the masters back from Brad Sarno and they sound pretty good. Of course (as always) there are things that I would like tweaked, but for the first run-through, it sounded pretty damn good. Brad is a very talented guy. So, not only did he add brilliant pedal steel to one song, but he's mastering the whole damn thing. Hooray for IAC for hooking me up with him!

Also, in our conversations, it turns out that we have another (loose) connection, as he used to play in the local Dead cover band when I was in college down at the University of Missouri, Columbia -- Blue Dixie. I think that I saw them only once, but their flyers were everywhere when I was down there, as they seemed to play all the freaking time at the Blue Note. (A wonderful club, which happens to be the first place that I ever got up on stage to play in front of a crowd!) 

Sending off the artwork to the duplication folks today, also. They're gonna check it to make sure that it all fits into their template; and then they'll get the printing set up. After that, when the final masters come in... it's MUSIC AHOY!!! I should have the discs in my greedy little hands before the end of the year. My label is gonna get us set up at iTunes, eMusic, Amazon, and CD Baby in time for an "official" release date sometime in early/mid February.

:>D :>D :>D :>D etc...

Back from mastering!

So, I got to my mail today and what is waiting for me there? A box from Blue Jade Audio Mastering -- my masters!!!

I have had a chance to listen through the album once. Intermittently. On an imperfect stereo setup. While making lunch in the next room. With both my wife and younger son vying for my attention.

That said, there is a significant improvement in the way the album sounds, as a whole. (Although I think that I did hear one or two tweaks that can be made on a couple of songs.) But, anyone who tries to tell you that mastering does not make a difference, or that they can make it sound just fine with "pre-mastering" is wrong.

So psyched.