I am so excited about the band's latest project, our live studio album, and just returned from a long afternoon of mixing. I really think this album is going to hit a lot of people at the right time. I just read an interview (forget which mag) with Radiohead, which is arguably one of the best bands in the world. Their songwriting, musicianship, and world vision are phenomenal. Something they talked about rang very true to me. They used to consciously try to make every album so different from each other one that eventually it became a construct rather than an organic process. I'm putting this all into my own words, of course, but the main idea was when they finally came out with Kid A they realized they were breaking barriers but not necessarily making the music they most wanted to. They actually talk about making lush POP songs. So watch out alterna-fans, Radiohead is self-professed pop! Pop should not be seen as derogatory, but rather as what it is; simply something accessible enough to reach a large audience. The term is colored by the quality of music for which we use it. OK....I'm heading somewhere with this. I identified with their desire to no longer strive so hard to be different but just to make the music that was inside of them. I don't think I've tried to make this live album so different from The Floating World, and in not trying, it has become so. My hope is that it WILL reach a lot of people even if this means it receives a "POP" label. Who knows where people will shelve it, I don't care as long as they are listening.