Archive for February, 2009

Powitanie!

Feb 22, 2009 Moving

So the video Anya made for me has been doing surprisingly well! The past day or two have had us featured on a couple of popular Polish websites (among others), and it looks like I’m getting some new visitors!

Weclome, new visitors! Here’s the lowdown. I’m an indie singer/songwriter of the soul persuasion. I write, record, and mix all my own stuff. There’s a vaguely Prince-like vibe to some of my harmonies, but I also claim D’Angelo, Rufus Wainwright, Steely Dan, The Beatles, Jeff Buckley, and dozens of others as influences.

I put out an EP called If We Were on September 30, 2008. It’s available on iTunes and on CD. Sweet Reprise, the song from the video, is on it. You can hear other bits of it below.

The first song you’ll hear, Far Side of Town, is under a Creative Commons nc-by 3.0 license (with the rest of the album soon to follow). This means I’m giving it away! You can take it, share it, remix it, and share what you’ve made, as long it’s noncommercial use, and you link back to my site. To download it, and get the full details, go to http://arthurthefourth.com/far-side-of-town/.

I’ve had this blog since June 2003. It’s taken a lot of shapes since then, but it’s starting to settle into one that I like. An exploration of the creative process and the struggle to become something more than I am. I’m sure many of you can relate.

Have a look around! If you like what you see (and hear), leave a comment. If you want to keep seeing it, subscribe to my RSS feed. If you want to hear more, join my mailing list. I’ll keep you posted about live shows, and send out occasional goodies that don’t appear on the site!

歓迎!

[Update: If there's no iTunes Music Store where you are, you can also get If We Were on Lala, Napster, or eMusic.]

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Forbidden Love

Feb 17, 2009 Waiting

Happy Valentine’s Day, all. Sorry I’m a little late. Here’s a video edited by photographer/filmmaker/firecracker Anya Garrett to a song from my If We Were EP, Sweet Reprise.

You can get Sweet Reprise on iTunes. If you like what you hear, buy the whole EP!

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A Hater’s Perspective on the Grammys

Feb 9, 2009 Events

I just watched the second half of the Grammys. I may go back and watch the first half if someone tells me it was worth it. Some thoughts on what I saw:

  • Stevie Wonder is not a sideman for the Jonas Brothers. No. I’m going to spend the rest of my life pretending I didn’t see that.
  • Adele has the best accent ever.
  • Radiohead is consistently disappointing live.
  • “Music” is neither a place nor a closed system. Calling someone “one of music’s all-time greats” (as Josh Groban did Neil Diamond) forces the creative pursuit of music-making into a NARAS-shaped box. It’s not just Groban; the Grammys have been doing this for years. (”music’s biggest night, anyone?”)
  • Whoever mixed that Jay-Z, Kanye, T.I., Lil’ Wayne business was clearly a Lil’ Wayne fan.
  • Robin Thicke looks uncomfortable in his own skin. He needs to drop the George Michael act, which is wholly unconvincing, and start writing great songs again.
  • Phrasing and dynamics apparently aren’t handed out until you turn 50. Adele and John Mayer may have snuck some early.
  • Ne-Yo’s voice is purty.
  • Lupe Fiasco looks like a young Herbie Hancock.
  • I wish Samuel L. Jackson were my friend.

Most importantly, congratulations to my fellow Freestyle Love Supreme members Lin and Bill, and my Rock Band buddy Alex, for the “Best Musical Show Album” award for In The Heights. Yeah boys!!

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Test

Feb 4, 2009 Moving

I woke up this morning with an itch to create. To write something, to make something, to do something. To use my hands for something that would last beyond today.

I’m listening to Joni Mitchell’s Little Green, and reading the lyrics online, and for the first time, I’m seeing the song for what it is. A story about three lives, intertwined briefly, and where they go from there. About having to choose what seems like the lesser of two evils, and what that feels like from the inside.

It’s about something real. Capturing a certain moment in her life, and opening it up. The art of what to say, and what not to – when to hone in, and when to abstract. The sweet and shifting balance of airing her self out, and letting us in.

I woke up this morning with Stephen King’s On Writing neatly placed on the pillow next to me. I’ve been re-reading it for the past few days; I’d remembered it was great, but I couldn’t tell you why.

A few chapters in, and I remember why. There’s nothing particularly clever about his writing, nothing particularly florid in his language, nothing so ground-breaking in his style. But when Steve King writes, you want to keep reading.

I woke up, this morning, a little antsy. With an urge to drive, and nowhere to go. I’ve got some projects on my mind, things that I’m really excited about, but I keep getting hung up on the details. Those snotty little details that always get in the way of the big ideas. The ones who sit just at the edge of your vision, waiting to ask you how, when, and why. Those goddamn know-it-alls that you always wanted to punch in the nose, but hey, you wouldn’t hit a kid with glasses, would you? You don’t want to get in trouble, do you? Oh, I know just what your mom will say…

The details always seem to know just what could go wrong. They’ve got 52 volumes at home of Why This Is A Bad Idea. But do they ever have any fun?

I’m at a crossroads in my career right now. I had one goal in mind for a long time. To create my calling card, the credentials that would define me as a musician, and pass from hand to hand, accelerating, pushing me forward.

I made my card. And the few months since then have focused on those hands. How to get them to cup my name and deliver it faithfully to another set just as willing. How to fine-tune and maneuver the process into a state of perfect mathematical induction, where each pair implies the next, and I’m sitting back and relaxing, pencil in hand.

But honestly? I just want to write. I just want to keep doing and making and writing and being. But I’ve never quite known how. When I listen to Joni, it feels so clear. That I need to start with something powerful and personal. That there need to be cafes and deep sadnesses, longing, and hope, and the glimmer of redemption. But when I read King, it’s about constructing the narrative. About looking up at the sky, and choosing. That one, that one, and this one. These are my Big Dipper. These are my Belt of Orion. These are The Story.

What do I want to do? What are my tools? How do I write?

I wish I knew. When you need to tear something down, the little details can always be counted on. But when it’s time to build, I’m not sure where they go.

It’s time for me to start learning how this works. Do something. Test. Try again. Do something. Test. Try again.

Do something. Test.

Do Something

Feb 2, 2009 Moving

I just read a post over at The Working Musician about the secret formula for making it as a musician. And I think Cameron Mizell may have hit it right on the nose with this one. I’m gonna spoil it for you.

The secret to making it as a musician: Do something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn’t, do something else.

An oversimplification, of course. I have been doing a number of things (many of them involving watching episodes of The West Wing in rapid succession), and I certainly wouldn’t call myself a successful musician. But the point is a good one. The only thing standing between me and a more lucrative musical career is doing the right stuff. And you can’t recognize the right stuff until you’re doing it.

I’m working on it. I spent a lot of yesterday putting together new charts for the new band; we’ve got our first rehearsal today, and I’m very excited! I’m producing an EP by Rabble Rouser, which is broadening my horizons and honing my recording skills. I’ve got a solo gig on February 24th at Rockwood Music Hall, and a Freestyle Love Supreme gig tonight. Some more FLS gigs are coming up, and I’m working on scheduling something solo in San Francisco in late May. (If anyone has any connections….)

I’m working on new material for a new project – not a new album, but new music nonetheless. I’m almost there, but I’ve still got some blocks to work out before I’m ready to really get started with it. Once I’ve got that one going, I’ve got another project or two waiting in the wings.

While all of this is happening, I’d like to revisit the basics. I want to spend time studying orchestration, but my piano and sight-reading skills are not up to snuff. I plan to spend some time over the next year building up my traditional piano skills (i.e. practicing the kinds of pieces most pianists played when they were 10 years old). I’m considering a secondary blog about the process.

I like process. I like doing things. I’m on the way.