Daniel (that's me) ran into Luke at Banana Republic in Seattle's U Village yesterday. He introduced himself and we talked about the Neumo's show where he last saw the band. Time warp! I ended up scouring the sale for a sweatshirt ($24.99 if you're curious). But the real question about buying anything there is if you wait another month will it be $9.99 -- down all the way from $50? Sometimes you've just got to pull the trigger.

Nice to meet you, Luke.

We have about 50 Maktub shirts sitting in a box at my (Daniel's) house (mostly leftovers) and we're giving them away.  Yes, we've done this before (and once before that).  In 15 minutes (currently it's about noon on Friday November 20, 2009) I'm going to run these tees down to:

Porchlight Coffee
1515 14th Avenue (between Pike & Pine on 14th)
Seattle, WA 98122



Come by and grab one for free! Zack owns and runs Porchlight Coffee and is kind enough to offer up his excellent joint as the pick-up spot. While you're there:

• grab a cup of coffee
• snap a photo and send it to info [at] maktub [dot] com.  I'll post the pics here w/ your free tee @ Porchlight

Did I mention these tees are free? You can thank us on Facebook. Here's the t-shirt stock that will be waiting for you:

womens:

• 4ea L, mint cap sleeve
• 14ea XL, mint cap sleeve
• 1ea M, orange cap sleeve
• 5ea L, orange cap sleeve
• 7ea XL, orange cap sleeve

everybody:

• 17ea 2XL, black
• 1ea L, black tank top

Todd returned from India with a pic of the gents he met in a bar swapping Maktub music files. No idea what your names are (from Tucson?) but here you are. Continue rocking gents ...

Tony introduced himself Daniel (me) at the first annual Seattle City of Music Awards last night at the Showbox. Thanks for being a fan of Maktub!  There is a 37% chance that Tony's name is Chris. Conversely, I'm 63% sure Tony's name is Tony.

From a friend currently traveling in India ...

A great Electric Company video featuring the Music Man (aka Reggie).

wudmun
Reno
Jul 22, 2009 @ 4:24 PM

I must admit that my review of MAKTUB’s previous album “Start it Over” was a bit harsh. I called it “disjointed” and “forced”. But I still liked it because I have been a huge fan of this band since “Subtle Ways”. I just felt that MAKTUB was settling and no longer trying to make it big; their peak had passed. With Reggie in NYC doing comedy and other members leaving town and having babies (so did I), I felt that one of my favorite bands was leaving me (how selfish) and that I would have to listen to “Khronos” for the rest of my life thinking of what could have been.

But I was wrong. MAKTUB did what I consider the unexpected, they managed to put together more material and recorded yet another album, FIVE (V), to my and every other fan’s delight. And to my surprise, FIVE (V) might just be their best effort to date. Songs like “Took It All Away” and “Slippin' Away” reminded me that this band’s best recordings are not nestled in distant memory, but instead are booming though my car cabin’s interior like a kid with a new bike; I simply love this album.

First of all, the production and sound quality is on par with any major label and by far MAKTUB’s best mix. The dynamics of Davis’s drums and Kevin’s bass are so intricately linked, that I wonder if they might be conjoined twins, thinking, hearing and reacting as a single entity. Reggie’s vocals are breathing and gasping with Daniel’s smooth intonations and inflections. But I think it’s Thaddeus’s guitar work that is the unifying thread that weaves each number together and shows how the members of MAKTUB stay together, no matter the geographical constraints, making an endeavor like FIVE (V) seemingly impractical and, thankfully, possible. A truly great album, which may not become huge in terms of the standards of the music industry, MAKTUB’s FIVE (V) is a quiet sleeper that begs for music enthusiasts to wake up. Thanks guys.

Thanks Wudmun! Maybe we've met, maybe we haven't ... either way it's great to hear this from a fan of the band. We all read your comments and it meant a lot coming from someone who has listened since our first release Subtle Ways. Or as Reggie wrote after reading this, "Wow. That's a nice thing to read!"

My favorite iPhone apps are generally free.  Not just because they're free, but somehow the free onces (Facebook, Mint, Amazon, etc.) are useful. Anyhow, the new Maktub iPhone app is free ... and it's fun. You can listen to all the tunes from FIVE, see pictures from the recording session and Twitter action from band and fans. You can even post comments to the app.  But probably the coolest part are the slide puzzles made out of alternate album cover art -- these are comps that Charles Whiteside proposed before we settled on the final design.

Go get the app, write an review and pass it along to your friends.

A week late, but we'll take it. FIVE is now available on iTunes, as is the entire Maktub catalog. That's right "catalog" as in five albums since 1999. We're officially an institution. When the Subtle Ways came out in '99 people ordered the CD direct from maktub.com and sent us a check when they received the album in the mail. Back then many people were wary of ordering online and we didn't have an easy system for accepting payment. Anyway, here we are in 2009 and your options have multiplied fivefold:

FIVE from iTunes
FIVE from Amazon as a CD
FIVE from Amazon as mp3s
FIVE from Maktub as a CD
FIVE from Maktub as a free download



In 2019 we'll be beaming it to your brain via your sonicare toothrush. You'll pay us in toothpaste commodities.

FIVE releases today: June 23, 2009! Yep, it's a free download. It's a CD you can buy from us. Or, you can buy the CD from Amazon or download mp3s from Amazon. iTunes should have it up shortly (they're running behind this week). Pick your poison.

We would love nothing more than for you to climb inside each and every one of your friend's email inboxes this morning and jump out with this link in hand: http://maktub.com/five.cfm.  Stir their coffee with it, pat them on the back, or scramble their eggs with it while they read their Kindle newspaper. In short, spread the word that FIVE IS FREE. Maktub deserves to be heard by people 'round the globe ... you can help.

Thanks for hanging with us for the past decade.

In 5 days you'll be able to download FIVE directly from Maktub.com or from iTunes or you can always order ye old FIVE compact disque on the Maktub or Amazon interwebs. In the meantime, here's Davis and his lovely daughter Vivian holding the new FIVE CD:

"Took It All Away" is a dark horse ... and a personal favorite for me (Daniel). There's no great punchline or hook-laden choruses, but it has soul and toughness and it grows on you the more you listen. Listen to "Took it All Away".  Order the FIVE CD and we'll ship it now!  Or, wait until June 23rd and download it from iTunes or Amazon or direct from Maktub.com for free.

Note from a friend ...

There are many odd things about this week's song: it's in 15/16 (odd time signature), it features cello squeaks from Paul Rucker, it cross-fades into next's week's song and therefore gets chopped off at the tail end. Imagine a stagecoach traveling a lonely rain-soaked trail on mishapen wagon wheels that clunk and squeak out a languid beat across the open prairie. Better yet, listen for yourself cowpeeeps. If you like, pre-order the CD today ... or wait for the free download on June the 23rd.

You can now listen to Song 4 "Strange World". One person described it as "your best friend high on mushrooms giving you advice about life". Better yet, imagine Geddy Lee and Reggie Watts playing lyrical scrabble on the back porch. Strange world indeed.

We're joined by trumpeter Owuor Arunga on this tune. Owuor adds beautiful, sparse trumpet pads in the chorus and Reggie gets caught whistling in the outro. Lovely stuff.

P.S. listen through headphones or decent speakers otherwise you'll miss all the good stuff over laptop speakers