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Back On Track
Oct 29, 2007 Waiting Leave a comment
Well folks, it’s been a long time. Which is not to say that I haven’t been working. Oh, I have. Instrumental parts, vocals, harmonies, lyrics. The usual struggles. Just behind the scenes.
Incognito.
But I’m coming out to show my face. Maybe it’s the showy spirit of Sexyween. Or maybe it’s because I miss performing, and I need some sort of audience to listen to me ramble. But most likely, it’s the seminar I listened to yesterday on “How To Make Yourself Do Just About Anything,” and the new Statement of Purpose I’ve drafted as a result.
You see, all this time I’d been working on this album, and claiming it was my number one priority, but I was fooling myself, because I wasn’t following the most important rule for getting what you want:
“Take what you want, as long as you pay first.”
Sure, I knew I’d have to make sacrifices, both creative internal ones and external ones, but I didn’t have a handle on what those were. Every time one came up, I had to decide – is this more important than the album? And each one of those decisions cost me a little bit of willpower and eroded a little bit of the importance I’d assigned to this project.
But that changes starting today. I’ve thought long and hard about what sacrifices I’ll need to make to get this project finished, and I’ve accepted them. I’ve made a list, signed it, and put it up on my wall, a few feet away from my newly signed Statement of Purpose, my new daily schedule, and my new timeline.
This is not to say that I have nothing to show for the past few months. La Da Da Dee is done, and if I do say so myself, it is awesome. Silly Pop Song has a new breakdown section, inspired in part by all the Aretha I’ve been listening to. (Actually, it’s been mostly You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman over and over again. That song is a triumph of arrangement, performance, and composition. The piano intro is sheer magic) If We Were is so close; I just can’t get my falsetto to operate the way it used to.
More to come, more to come. And if anyone’s interested in the science behind these changes, check out Phillip J. Eby at dirtsimple.org. Brilliant stuff.
Names
Oct 20, 2007 Personal 1 Comment
Nothing like a good SQL injection comic to start you off right in the morning.
Phil Collins + Gorilla = Must-See!!!!
Sep 1, 2007 Personal Leave a comment
I’m Sorry I Can’t Embed This Video, But You HAVE TO WATCH IT!!!
Oh Snap
Aug 3, 2007 Personal Leave a comment
Zippy the Geniuses
Jul 7, 2007 Personal Leave a comment
Something about this cartoon struck me, reminding me of the original impetus behind the Nonsense Album, and reflecting a certain sense of inexplicable magic that is part of why I make the music I make. Enjoy.
Celebrities
Jun 21, 2007 Personal Leave a comment
Forbes just put out its list of Top 100 Celebrities. There are 24 people on this list that I could not possibly identify. Many others whose names I’ve heard but very little else. Actually, I was hoping to get a higher number. I’m much more tuned in than I expected. Dang Golden Age of Television. Anyone who gets higher than 24 please post in the comments so I can be impressed.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2007/53/07celebrities_The-Celebrity-100_Rank.html
P.S. Don’t worry; I’m still working on the album. I just haven’t had time to post. I will soon.
Day 25
Jun 7, 2007 Waiting Leave a comment
Worked on Far Side again this evening. It’s hard to tell what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s beautiful and what’s just too much. Time for bed.
Day 24
If you have it, put on Stevie Wonder’s I Believe When I Fall In Love and listen to the piano going into the chorus right at 1:13. If not, you’ll just have to read this entry instead.
On the subject of timing, Questlove in a recent blog entry:
and FEELING is something you aint getting now. this is why i fucks with Rell….even in his program shit and cats telling me “it sounds like a 3 year old programed it…..you don’t hear the chorus rushing on beyonce’s “Green Light”?! that IS the point! that is what made prince the shit: embracing electronics but STILL maintaining a HUMAN feel. all them flaws Pharrell got in programming and chords and whatnot is the VERY thing i like about working with him.
And then
before i met Dilla i too felt out of place cause all the drummers from these parts of town were as perfect as one could get. and here i go tryna approximate some part time drummer from the backwoods of TN who probably played on a trash can drum kit all off beat—but that is what made my personality. FEELING!
Now I’ve never been a big fan of the Roots, but Questlove is without a doubt my favorite drummer. His work as a musical director is awe-inspiring (Dave Chappelle’s Block Party? Jay-Z Unplugged? Voodoo Tour?!!!), and his knowledge and understanding of the music of the past few decades is truly terrifying.
I’m not saying this to blow smoke up his ass – there are plenty people on MySpace doing that already – I’m trying to illustrate just how heavy it was for me to read that. This is a question I’ve been struggling with for a long time, and it’s become more and more important as I start to revisit some of these songs and fill in the cracks. The last time I talked about it, I was still vacillating. I knew I shouldn’t work so hard to clean up my “mistakes,” but it was just so hard to listen to them and think about other people listening to them critically.
But Questlove is so so right. And it was just what I needed to hear, just when I needed to hear it. Because Far Side needs to be loose and sparse on the verge of falling apart in order to work, and before today, I was too chicken to make that happen. Too concerned about it not sounding “professional” enough or “slick” enough.
But you know what? I have to do what I do. My music is my music. My feeling is my feeling; my flaws are my flaws. I’m going to make this album my way, and some people are going to hate it, and I am going to take that as a sign that I did something right. I’m psyched.
Oh yeah, worked on Far Side today. Piano parts blah blah blah drum programming yackity-shmackity.
Over and out.
Day 21
Jun 3, 2007 Waiting Leave a comment
More work tonight on Far Side. I redid one of the verses and made it sort of stark. I tried some reversed harmonies, but immediately it sounded like I was trying to do Radiohead. The song is Thom Yorkey enough as it is.
But it’s turning out well. It’s meant to be haunting, and working on it for hours today has gotten me into a very weird place. Sort of sad and hopeless, but at the same time knowing that it’s only because I’ve really immersed myself in the song. That everything is in fact OK.
Bizarre.
Also, Arthur and the Geniuses have our first gig tomorrow night. Just a few songs, but stage time nonetheless. I think it might be my sister’s first onstage performance ever, or at least as an adult, so I’m excited for her. She’s gonna rock. We’re all gonna rock.
Rock.
