"pop quiz" is almost done mixing and will be ready for mastering soon. i'll be putting up an mp3 in the near future from it... it will have 11 songs written in question form and features tons of instrumental guilty pleasures! i will be making a few hundred handmade copies of this featuring lovely artwork by johanna wright - www. johannawright.com and about a million great players or something. so this will be supported by a full north american tour in may and june, meaning please write me with ideas!

just to let y'​all know i just finis​hed three​ new track​s for a split​ on gone &/ union​ witho​ut natio​n recor​ds with my great​ frien​d matt kamm and it will be sold on our forth​comin​g east coast​ tour in decem​ber.​ we will be joine​d by rylan​d bouch​ard (​forme​rly the robot​ ate me) for about​ half the tour,​ will be playi​ng with the legen​dary r. stevi​e moore​ (and unico​rnico​pia!​)​ in brook​lyn,​ the wonde​rful jorda​n o' jorda​n of polka​ dot dot fame in penns​ylvan​ia,​ and the infam​ous phil mccom​bs (​dodge​r,​ the ocean​ floor​,​ timbe​rs shive​red)​ for the whole​ damn thing​!​ p.s. if you want us to play somew​here in the tiny crack​s e-​mail me here.​.​.​

the three​ songs​ i'm contr​ibuti​ng deal with loss in three​ very diffe​rent ways.​ they are purpo​seful​ly simpl​e,​ unado​rned and minim​ally orche​strat​ed to portr​ay the non-​linea​rity of love and also to final​ly give peopl​e a prett​y good repre​senta​tion of a night​ of songs​ they might​ hopef​ully like to remem​ber.​

shann​on steel​e sang and playe​d violi​n and harmo​nica on "​ring aroun​d the moon"​
richa​rd laws playe​d stand​ up bass on "​ring aroun​d the moon"​
brand​on laws whist​led on "all along​"​
nobod​y playe​d anyth​ing on it, but the other​ song is calle​d "​every​thing​ doesn​'​t neces​saril​y alway​s end up turni​ng out the way you want it"

if there​ are more copie​s we'​ll proba​bly sell them throu​gh the gone & recor​ds myspa​ce,​ here and/​or the union​ witho​ut natio​n recor​ds site and/​or the swim slowl​y site.​
if not maybe​ we'​ll do some downl​oad thing​.​ we'​ll know soon.​.​.​

also i'm expec​ting to have the full lengt​h "​quest​ions"​ album​ set for a late sprin​g relea​se follo​wed by a north​ ameri​can tour with churc​h in late april​ throu​gh may also to suppo​rt our ten inch which​ we'​ll be relea​sed in april​ on SoHiT​ek recor​ds.​

if you live in portl​and i will be playi​ng a show of the new mater​ial at the artis​tery with my frien​ds polka​ dot dot and firs of prey on the 22nd of novem​ber and i think​ the same show the 21st in olymp​ia.​.​.​

here is a new song that i (lane) wrote for my nephew and am giving him this cd for his 2nd birthday. it's called "A Unicycle Built For Two" is name is noah and we don't see each other enough but this will help him to remember me, i think. Please download it on the myspace as it won't be released any form other than a gift to my nephew. it was fun to do because it gave me a break from not singing much on the new album by singing only for a whole week. and phil hammil drunk guest starred with some wax and comb soloing!
i also put up, for just a short while, the first song i recorded with my new recording stuff. and it has so many flaws (mainly bad singing good song) i don't really want to use it for anything. but it's worth a listen, i hope.
new album should be done in a few months... and i'm really proud of what it's becoming!

love!

these two best friends were together for a while sharing everything they could in the situation given. they seemed to be best friends and were living at the back to nature wildlife refuge in bithlo, florida. the week after i started volunteering there miss. emily passed away and honey bun was a sad little cutie. i fantasized that my new friendship could help heal the hurt, but i'm sure she missed her friend so much still. it was only a month or two that honeybun decided she had had enough and set sail for the horizon as well. i'd like to think i help keep them alive when i sing about them. i love and miss all my friends at the back to nature wildlife refuge so much and i was very sad to wake up and read that my friend makai (a loving and mischievious half wolf/ dog), hada (an opposum who starred in evan almighty recently), and pookie (a bobcat) have all recently passed on. and my really good buddy spike (the iguana) was stolen from his cage recently and still hasn't been found. i have never been found of animals being in cages but i assure you that the way the charity helps animals is surely with there own selflessness and caring and love. debbie uses a very hollistic way of caring for the animals. i was so happy when i saw the rescue remedy being used on almost every animal that was in a state of shock. they are soon to move to a new place with more space for the residents (of which there are still way too many). i can't think of a better organization to help with direct, immediate, help (the kind we all like). anyways, thanks for reading this and if you have any time to volunteer or extra money to help out with i am sure it really will. all my love.
donate here - https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
learn here - www.btn-widlife.org
look here - http://www.myspace.com/back2naturewildliferefuge

hi everybody if anybody who might care... things are starting to get rolling again in the ocean floor's western camp. "tall tales and small tales" has been getting some really good reviews and has been charting at interesting college stations around the u.s. and the two countries attached to it... i'm especially excited about baja, califonia! it is also now available from i-tunes and napster and of course you can purchase the cd at swimslowly.com or post-records.com - also, allow me to introduce the new ocean floor trio - it is myself, shannon rose steele (violin, bells, vocals), and philip george hammil (guitar, etc.).we will be debuting this group hopefully at three upcoming shows in portland.
the first show is at towne lounge and is a benefit for kpsu with the magic bullets and the crosswalks. the second show is at a new artspace called rererato - www.rererato.com and will be on saturday july 28th with the bad spellers from japan, invisible airship, and psaltier (from montana). we are also really excited to be playing at the pdx pop now festival held august 3rd -5th at audiocinema in portland. this is an honor for sure  - here are some other bands at the fest... the blow, the robot ate me, blitzen trapper, the shaky hands, march 4th marching band, and so on. the whole weekend is free...  well hope to see you out there or at least here from you, friend. we are friends... right?
from your loving family,
lane

if you have 7 dollars, this might be worth it... a song off of "tall tales and small tales" is featured on the PDX pop now! comp showcasing lots of portland bands and artists. it even has a as yet unheard mirah song about an insect. here is the tracklist:

DISC 1

01 Swim Swam Swum – "Without Your French"
02 Lips and Ribs – "Battle in Nagoya"
03 Modernstate – "SSMF"
04 Menomena – "Wet and Rusting"
05 Syndel – "Lemme Hear It"
06 World Court – "Maps"
07 The Hand That Bleeds – "Shattered Love Trance"
08 The Ocean Floor – "A Simple Adventure"
09 Laura Gibson – "Come by Storm"
10 Mirah and Spectratone International – "Community"
11 Evolutionary Jass Band – "Phyllis' Frindge"
12 Old Time Relijun – "The Tightest Cage"
13 Black Elk – "Toss You to the Wolves"
14 Ethan Rose – "Ceiling Song 3 (Excerpt)"
15 Lifesavas – "No Surprise"
16 Alela Diane – "Up North"
17 YACHT – "See a Penny (Pick it Up)"
18 Starfucker – "Rawnald Gregory Erickson the Second"
19 Colin Meloy (of The Decemberists) – "Culling of the Fold"

DISC 2

01 Junkface – "ATAMAKATAHIZAASHI"
02 Kristin Hersh – "Blackstone"
03 Sweater! – "Mediterranean"
04 Panther – "How Well Can You Swim?"
05 Ohmega Watts – "4 Days in Geneva"
06 Run On Sentence – "Carrie Pt. II"
07 Exploding Hearts – "(Making) Teenage Faces"
08 Derby – "If Ever There's a Reason"
09 The Hugs – "North"
10 Eric John Kaiser – "L'Odyssee"
11 Ferocious Eagle – "Bastards"
12 The Better to See You With – "Garden"
13 Hungry Mob – "To the People"
14 Klezmocracy – "Hava Netze B'machol"
15 Wilding & AED – "Broken Branches"
16 The Robot Ate Me – "Empty Feelings"
17 Alan Singley – "Never Knew"
18 Nice Boys – "Johnny Guitar"
19 31Knots – "Sanctify"
20 White Rainbow – "Mystic Prism"
21 The Shaky Hands – "Soul"

also this write -up has a link to the mirah song... 

http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/43690-unreleased-colin-meloy-mirah-on-pdx-pop-now-comp

it is truly an honor to be alongside such acts as alela diane, laura gibson, old-time religion and evolutionary jass band. you can buy it at... http://cdbaby.com/cd/pdxpopnow2007

or at like every store in portland.

love you.

p.s. the ocean floor trio  featuring shannon rose steel and phil hamill is just around the bend...

hey, if you like this music so much, show your support by playing these songs along with me! having moved to the other corner of america, i'm once again looking for someone (in the portland area) to play drums, stand-up bass, trumpet, banjo, piano etc. until i find you, don't worry i'll continue to go it alone or with other friends.

well all is well here in my new home. i live across from a church and a mental hospital in the happiest neighborhood i've ever seen. thanks, portland. anyways, the ocean floor is adjusting to the new scenery rather well i think. after my big debut at the donut shop, its probably all downhill ever after. but the record is mastered (thanks to ryland of folie mastering for doing it 3 times) and will be sent to the dungeon to be pressed on monday. it is a super full length with 15 real songs (no rap skits) and 52 minutes. you might be able to pre-order very soon. and i will probably have some dates to support the release in the northwest very soon. since i was vague as hell in the liner notes, i might as well sincerely thank here the people that directly took a lot of time to make it sound and look the way (i hope) it will. thanks to sean! clint! casey! ryland! kristin! russel! jt! jeff! matt! phil! sam! phil mc.! conrad! chris! you guys really made something thats very special to me.

hi out there in the world...
i, lane, am moving to portland, oregon next week. therefore, so does the ocean floor - having no personal decision possibilities, the ocean floor trudges across the states and hopefully finds more happiness. but, this week marks the end of mixing and recording for the new fifteen track lp, "tall tales and small tales." it is yet to be decided on how it will be released, but it sure will be released somehow. this album features artwork by casey szot and musical contributions from lots of friends. sean moore did the recording and the bulk of the musical contributions and basically has made it come to much more life than any thing i've done before... upon arrival in portland the record will be mastered by ryland bouchard (the robot ate me) and will hopefully be out by january. love to all that actually read my once a year blogs and don't know these things already,
lane

the sad news is that the band of four is not be, and hasn't been since april or may. the good news is that i am recording a new full-length to have about 14 songs on it! i am about 8 or 9 songs into it. it is being recorded and made beautiful by sean moore and you can hear a song from it called once i was a newlywed.

also playing at the library in october... oh yay!!