Whoah, somebody just told me I was nominated for a dern Grammy for the recording and mixing of the Floratone record. That's a shocker, but I suppose an honor nonetheless. I've been battling a herniated disk so I have had to slow it down a bit as of late but I did manage to mix some songs for Death Cab for Cutie's Christopher Walla recently. He has a record called Field Manual coming out on Barsuk in January. In October I recorded a record for Brian Blade Fellowship which will be released by Verve Records in 2008. We also did some more work on a record of Brian's singing record. He's currently in Toronto with Daniel Lanois adding to those tracks which we'll continue in the new year. I just got back from Brooklyn where some friends added tracks to the ever evolving new Mount Analog record. I also finished a new Mudhoney record for Subpop. It's really raw and energetic. The Thao Nguyen record is all wrapped up and coming out in January on Kill Rock Stars. You can hear a track here. I got to mix some great songs for the new Transmissionary Six album, too. Jim White's record Transnormal Skiperoo comes out in January on Luaka Bop records. Stay tuned, I'm excited about what the new year holds...

I'm chuffed to announce that on August 18 Blue Note Records will release Floratone, a collaboration between guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Matt Chamberlain and myself producing with Lee Townsend. You can listen to some bits here.

Sufjan Stevens is coming to Flora on Friday and we shall finish what we started last Summer. 2 songs to be released on 7 inch in 2008. I just finished mixing the debut record by a band I'm excited about called Musee Mecanique. It won't be out for a while but you can hear some sneak peeks here.

Laura Veirs record "Saltbreakers" is out now on Nonesuch Records. I got to produce, record, mix AND play drum like stuff on it! We recently got back from 2 months of touring in Europe and the US.  See her page for highlights.

I also just mixed a live solo record by Colin Meloy of the Decemberists for Kill Rock Stars. He spins a mean yarn. Thanks for checking in, there's lots more cooking here in the Flora kitchen to report soon but for now I need to go find myself a swimming hole...

Hello all ye lovers of wire and wood! A few highlights of the last few months since the last update:

Toured Spain, Portugal and Australia with Laura Veirs. Saw wombats, Roos and Summertime. Got to share bills with Cat Power and Jeff Tweedy who both killed. Had Josh Rouse sit in on bass in Valencia and a surprise visit from Andrew Bird in Melbourne. Visited Graceland again, Sun Studios, Stax and the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis. All transcend their touristic nature. I got to spend 5 days and nights working on the new Mount Analog record with Steve Moore and Karl Blau. This last week I started a record with an incredible, very original band from Olympia, Washington called Lake. They've got the best horses. Laura Veirs' Saltbreakers record comes out on Nonesuch April 10 in the US. It turned out wonderfully. Film Guerrero is going to release the vinyl of it! Sorry for all of the exclamation points.

Well, I'm not sure if this is something I'm proud of or not, but the new Microsoft operating system Vista is out and the startup sound is the result of a collaboration between myself, Robert Fripp and Steve Moore. Of course, it was then filtered through a huge committee of people who watered it down to what you hear now. In case you're curious, you can hear it here. Some of you may know that the Windows XP startup sound was made by none other than Brian Eno...now back into the basement to finish up the Laura Veirs record.

Man alive. I spent the day recording a remarkable church choir at Johnny Cash's cabin in Hendersonville, TN. for the new Laura Veirs record we've been working on. We got goose bumps so many times being in the place of Johnny and June. I think they're still there. The new record, it's called Saltbreakers. Those are waves. It comes out in March on Nonesuch. We got our church on today. Now back to the Northwest to try to steer this baby in for a smooth landing.

Howdy Ho and welcome to the hot, hot, new redesigned site. All of the pleasure your eyes are about to experience is thanks to Clyde at Do It For the Girls Productions. We'll be fine tuning it over the coming weeks. Things are going swimmingly here in Portland where I have set up residency for the better part of the Summer with the Decemberists at Kung Fu Bakery. If you can overlook the Seattle like Winters, this is a bit of a utopia. The music community is thriving like no other. Home to folks like the Shins, Decemberists, the Gossip, Stephen Malkmus, M Ward, Norfolk and Western, Point Juncture WA, Super XX Men, Alan Singley, the Ready, Quasi, Sleater Kinney, Tracker, Hush Records, Film Guerrero, Menomena, Holy Sons, Jealous Butcher Records, oh it goes and goes on and on.

I should mention too that Im excited about doing some tracks and playing HORSE with Virginias Thao Nguyen for Kill Rock Stars in August.

Managed to finish the Jesse Sykes record on time. I think its her best! Nicolai Dunger lent his voice to a number...off soon to Portland for the next Decemberists record. Producing it with Chris Walla. And looking forward to making a 7 inch with Sufjan Stevens in May as well. Playing a couple of shows with Laura Veirs in France next week. More soon!