A wise man once said 'be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it'. I asked for feedback/comments and I got 'em.
I am only joking of course, I am very grateful to anyone who took the time to listen and even more so to those who processed what they heard and formulated opinions, digested them into a comment and conveyed that in my direction.
I got 2 things from this process
(1) That I don't take comment well, I assume that it is negative feedback (even if it is proactive). I must kinda invite people to comment in a bid to get people to tell me how great I am. I have a narcasistic streak that I don't think will ever go away. But I do listen to whats been said and still would like to encourage comments that could potentially hurt my precious feelings.
(2) The second is more specific to the songs. It was queried more than once {why I didn't/if I had considered} singing in my own accent (Which is Glasgow, Scotland accent if you don't already know).
Well I think I was only semi-aware of singing in any accent, though on reflection I do sing, pretty much, with a sortof American Twang. I don't think this was ever a conscious decision that I made but it has happened. This has had quite a profound effect on me, because I would like to be true to my roots especially given the nature of my songs and my pride in where I am from.
Since the comments arrived, I have been trying to sing in my accent like Glasvegas have had recent success doing. I tell you what it is not natural for me to do this, it feels forced and my singing Scottish accent is different to my talking Scottish accent. I end up talking songs instead of singing them.
As you probably have guessed by using your earholes I am not a natural singer and it turns out that I have been singing all songs in this American voice, well forever. So this is now my actual singing voice.
What I have decided to do is think about how I sound and try to erradicate some of the more riculous Americanisms from the delivery and see how that goes for a while, but I don't want to end up with that generic Scottish accent that exists in modern rock bands (no I won't name names). Hopefully though it doesn't actually matter either way and the songs with pass or fail on their merits as they come from the right place regardless of the voice that delivers them.
OUT!
MMP
Thursday, 14 May 2009
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Sweet Beauty Mix 1 Arrives
Well folks its finally here.
After a day of singing, adding and fair amount of tweaking Sweet Beauty has finally arrived in musical format.
There are still problems for example the bass is a little bit fucked up at one point, the vocals don't meld as much as I would like etc but eventually you need to commit yourself.
You can only talk about something so much before that thing has to speak for itself.
Check it out here ...www.myspace.com/radiolabandmusic
This will be the location for all the music for the next wee while.
I would appreciate your comments.
Happy Listening!
MMP
After a day of singing, adding and fair amount of tweaking Sweet Beauty has finally arrived in musical format.
There are still problems for example the bass is a little bit fucked up at one point, the vocals don't meld as much as I would like etc but eventually you need to commit yourself.
You can only talk about something so much before that thing has to speak for itself.
Check it out here ...www.myspace.com/radiolabandmusic
This will be the location for all the music for the next wee while.
I would appreciate your comments.
Happy Listening!
MMP
Saturday, 2 May 2009
For Longer than a day should last...again
Been a while, eh?
When you are trying to create a song, or anything for that matter, it can be counterproductive to impose rules on the thing. That being said while writing 'For Longer Than a Day Should Last...' I found some rules have been imposing themselves on the lyrics.
So if you remember I was working with an autumnal theme based on the sound of the piano chords and this led to some seasonal words and ideas. Well the first verse had a rhyme at the start and the end of each couplet, which I really liked.
'Last autumn standing right in front of you, cried
I caught 'em trying to wash off a disguise'
So in writing the next verse, with some older ideas, I tried to impose these rhyming rules. Surprisingly, I managed to use old ideas and, organically, fuse these together with both the theme and the rules. Very proud, I was.
So one more verse to go with two verses in the bag and suddenly the rules became a hinderance and became more important than anything else, I didn't want to ruin the song by not using them but by trying to stick to them I was destroying any creative instincts I had (which have been few and far between, see last post). I was in a pickle.
So about 20 mins ago I was lying on the couch with the sun beating in the window and gust blowing through the room in that half sleeping, almost meditative state, thinking, but not consciously, and words started flowing about.
I think I have it or am very close at least. So here they are fresh from my brainbox to you before I sing them or write them down.
'Come out in a cold television sweat
a mountain of thing that haven't happened yet
Tower over us casting a vast shadow of sin
Flowers blow their dust making this a race we can't win
And you know that its moving too fast
For longer than a day should last'
(Note:I already had that last bit)
When you are trying to create a song, or anything for that matter, it can be counterproductive to impose rules on the thing. That being said while writing 'For Longer Than a Day Should Last...' I found some rules have been imposing themselves on the lyrics.
So if you remember I was working with an autumnal theme based on the sound of the piano chords and this led to some seasonal words and ideas. Well the first verse had a rhyme at the start and the end of each couplet, which I really liked.
'Last autumn standing right in front of you, cried
I caught 'em trying to wash off a disguise'
So in writing the next verse, with some older ideas, I tried to impose these rhyming rules. Surprisingly, I managed to use old ideas and, organically, fuse these together with both the theme and the rules. Very proud, I was.
So one more verse to go with two verses in the bag and suddenly the rules became a hinderance and became more important than anything else, I didn't want to ruin the song by not using them but by trying to stick to them I was destroying any creative instincts I had (which have been few and far between, see last post). I was in a pickle.
So about 20 mins ago I was lying on the couch with the sun beating in the window and gust blowing through the room in that half sleeping, almost meditative state, thinking, but not consciously, and words started flowing about.
I think I have it or am very close at least. So here they are fresh from my brainbox to you before I sing them or write them down.
'Come out in a cold television sweat
a mountain of thing that haven't happened yet
Tower over us casting a vast shadow of sin
Flowers blow their dust making this a race we can't win
And you know that its moving too fast
For longer than a day should last'
(Note:I already had that last bit)
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
Inspiration out-age
There could be several potential reasons why I have not wanted to write or record music over the last few weeks.
(1) I have been really busy at work.
(2) I had a reasonably bad cold and it sapped my enthusiasm.
(3) I have been leading a more active social life (not crazy, out drinking stuff just more actual things which require prior notice of attendance).
(4) I simply can't be bothered and am more likely to do the dishes, or anything for that matter, than enter the spare room with the purpose of making music cos it is quite a tricky little business and after 3 months I still have no songs finished.
(5) After such an intense period of thinking/worrying about almost nothing else other than whether I can actually sing or if the songs are actually any good or how I am going to write that verse that has been evading me or countless other tiny details that may or may not be important in the overall scheme of things my mind needs a break, so is taking one.
You know what? its probably a bit of all those things but the fact remains the inclination to work on the project has left me of late and I swore I would not try and force it. I assume it will come back as it has been lingering (for better and worse) in my psyche for years.
I am listening to Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, just now (its fuckin' good)and was thinking about a month ago I would've gotten all inspired and wanted to get plugged straight in but now I can only think, 'fuck, I couldn't do that ah well I am away to watch telly'.
So if you want me that's where I'll be.
'Til then.
(1) I have been really busy at work.
(2) I had a reasonably bad cold and it sapped my enthusiasm.
(3) I have been leading a more active social life (not crazy, out drinking stuff just more actual things which require prior notice of attendance).
(4) I simply can't be bothered and am more likely to do the dishes, or anything for that matter, than enter the spare room with the purpose of making music cos it is quite a tricky little business and after 3 months I still have no songs finished.
(5) After such an intense period of thinking/worrying about almost nothing else other than whether I can actually sing or if the songs are actually any good or how I am going to write that verse that has been evading me or countless other tiny details that may or may not be important in the overall scheme of things my mind needs a break, so is taking one.
You know what? its probably a bit of all those things but the fact remains the inclination to work on the project has left me of late and I swore I would not try and force it. I assume it will come back as it has been lingering (for better and worse) in my psyche for years.
I am listening to Astral Weeks by Van Morrison, just now (its fuckin' good)and was thinking about a month ago I would've gotten all inspired and wanted to get plugged straight in but now I can only think, 'fuck, I couldn't do that ah well I am away to watch telly'.
So if you want me that's where I'll be.
'Til then.
Saturday, 7 March 2009
Substandard Soup
So I have been messing around, familarising myself with the song 'still country', you know the one I found in an old box of crap.
It was obviously quite quickly that it had a striking similarity to a song by Neil Young, I won't tell you which one but mention it is buried on one of his best but probably least popular albums of the seventies.
This was interesting to me (and maybe to you keeping reading to find out) for a few reasons. My first reaction was 'oh shit' I can't continue with this. It was and is my general policy to not finish songs which bear such a striking resemblance to one particular song but this one was completed (unusual in itself). There was probably a period around about when this was written that I was so into Neil Young that everything sounded a bit like him so the problem was more that it was SO similar.
On the actual scrawled page I found in the box with lyrics and chords and musical ideas there was a wee note next to the chorus that just said 'its different from here' this ties in with where it changes to sound different from the Neil song. This is also where the lyrics take a more direct slant towards the meaning of the song. At this point the lyrics are:-
Shouldn't make a difference to me, today we're Still Country
So I think I knew what I was doing. If you are writing a song about trying to ignore that fact that loads of folks have achieved magnificent levels of songsmithery and the load that puts on you when you are attempting to do your own personal work. What better way to do it than to, all but, steal from the source and then add your own bit, no?
After my own bit there is a small instrumental section (which requires a harmonica in G about the only key I don't own) which is also reminiscent of another of my favourite artists, Lambchop. Its not as blatant as the previous nick but I am drawn to trying to make it sound more like the song in question, an urge I must quell. There is some logic in that part sounding similar, they are an artist who make music that owes a debt to the past yet sounds wholly original, so an example of a strategy the same as mine, succeeding. Hopefully, this was my train of thought back when my younger self wrote it but I probably just thieved from my heroes and fused some of there finest moments together into a substandard soup.
POSTSCRIPT: There are many songs that sound like other songs, hundreds and thousands actually.
Neil Young himself actually does it on Borrowed Tune (from Tonights the night - check it out if you haven't already) to the melody of Lady Jane he sings
I'm singing this borrowed tune, I took from the rolling stones
Alone in this empty room, too wasted to write my own
Another pertinent example was on Lucinda Williams most recent album, where she uses the melody from a Neil Young song, Cortez the Killer, blatantly and throughout.
So in short, not only is fine to do this its mandatory if it can be justified which I what I just done, so there!
It was obviously quite quickly that it had a striking similarity to a song by Neil Young, I won't tell you which one but mention it is buried on one of his best but probably least popular albums of the seventies.
This was interesting to me (and maybe to you keeping reading to find out) for a few reasons. My first reaction was 'oh shit' I can't continue with this. It was and is my general policy to not finish songs which bear such a striking resemblance to one particular song but this one was completed (unusual in itself). There was probably a period around about when this was written that I was so into Neil Young that everything sounded a bit like him so the problem was more that it was SO similar.
On the actual scrawled page I found in the box with lyrics and chords and musical ideas there was a wee note next to the chorus that just said 'its different from here' this ties in with where it changes to sound different from the Neil song. This is also where the lyrics take a more direct slant towards the meaning of the song. At this point the lyrics are:-
Shouldn't make a difference to me, today we're Still Country
So I think I knew what I was doing. If you are writing a song about trying to ignore that fact that loads of folks have achieved magnificent levels of songsmithery and the load that puts on you when you are attempting to do your own personal work. What better way to do it than to, all but, steal from the source and then add your own bit, no?
After my own bit there is a small instrumental section (which requires a harmonica in G about the only key I don't own) which is also reminiscent of another of my favourite artists, Lambchop. Its not as blatant as the previous nick but I am drawn to trying to make it sound more like the song in question, an urge I must quell. There is some logic in that part sounding similar, they are an artist who make music that owes a debt to the past yet sounds wholly original, so an example of a strategy the same as mine, succeeding. Hopefully, this was my train of thought back when my younger self wrote it but I probably just thieved from my heroes and fused some of there finest moments together into a substandard soup.
POSTSCRIPT: There are many songs that sound like other songs, hundreds and thousands actually.
Neil Young himself actually does it on Borrowed Tune (from Tonights the night - check it out if you haven't already) to the melody of Lady Jane he sings
I'm singing this borrowed tune, I took from the rolling stones
Alone in this empty room, too wasted to write my own
Another pertinent example was on Lucinda Williams most recent album, where she uses the melody from a Neil Young song, Cortez the Killer, blatantly and throughout.
So in short, not only is fine to do this its mandatory if it can be justified which I what I just done, so there!
Monday, 2 March 2009
Flat as a witch's tit
A large portion of the early part of Saturday was spend trying to recreate the therminish sound on PL using a blend of atonal whistling, deep humming and lala-ing. I think I have succeeded in making that part close to what I was after.
So on to the easy bit, singing, been rattling that shit out at high volume for years to the delight of my family and neighbours and passersby.
Lyrics writen down in a legible manner - check, microphone working - check, enthusiasm - check. Will we do one song no, fuck it, lets do both such is the power and prowess of my larynx....
Well it turns out that my, perceived, natural, emotive singing voice which I have been cultivating over the last few years is a flat as a witches' tit. I have developed quite a natural husky element, of which I am (was) very proud - those bits sound just fine it is the other bits that are like lemonade leftover from Christmas.
This all proved very disappointing at the weekend when I spent several hours trying to sing the lyrics to the two main songs I have been working on PL(GT?) and SB.
Lets not get too downhearted about it, lets just take out the rubbish, have a break and get back to it. Its not as if you are going to bump into an ageing female neighbour who is (unprovoked) going to take it upon herself to tell you that she and a friend were discussing the awful noise echoing through the building over a sherry and lay the blame for this cacophonic atrocity firmly at your door just when you are beginning to doubt the validity of the whole album project, that would never happen, would it.
It seems that I need to take a break from these 2 songs as they starting to erode my enthusiasm, its not that I am not happy with them, it is that I am but they are becoming something different in the way I am thinking about them. So best that I try some other songs for a bit and hit these 2 in about a month or so when I can give them some fresh lugs.
As a footnote, when clearing out a box of junk and paper - I found some scraps of paper with a lovely wee song written years ago (more than 5 maybe closer to 8 years it wasn't dated) called 'Still Country' which is about trying to ignore how good Neil Young and folk like that (Ok ,I know there is nobody like Neil Young but you understand, like from a beautiful bygone era) from the sixties/seventies and just do what you want to do. I felt there was some serendipity in this discovery so decided to give it a try next, I may even try to get some friends in and try a rehearsal/live take type scenario cos thats the type of treatment it deserves..
Get Some!
So on to the easy bit, singing, been rattling that shit out at high volume for years to the delight of my family and neighbours and passersby.
Lyrics writen down in a legible manner - check, microphone working - check, enthusiasm - check. Will we do one song no, fuck it, lets do both such is the power and prowess of my larynx....
Well it turns out that my, perceived, natural, emotive singing voice which I have been cultivating over the last few years is a flat as a witches' tit. I have developed quite a natural husky element, of which I am (was) very proud - those bits sound just fine it is the other bits that are like lemonade leftover from Christmas.
This all proved very disappointing at the weekend when I spent several hours trying to sing the lyrics to the two main songs I have been working on PL(GT?) and SB.
Lets not get too downhearted about it, lets just take out the rubbish, have a break and get back to it. Its not as if you are going to bump into an ageing female neighbour who is (unprovoked) going to take it upon herself to tell you that she and a friend were discussing the awful noise echoing through the building over a sherry and lay the blame for this cacophonic atrocity firmly at your door just when you are beginning to doubt the validity of the whole album project, that would never happen, would it.
It seems that I need to take a break from these 2 songs as they starting to erode my enthusiasm, its not that I am not happy with them, it is that I am but they are becoming something different in the way I am thinking about them. So best that I try some other songs for a bit and hit these 2 in about a month or so when I can give them some fresh lugs.
As a footnote, when clearing out a box of junk and paper - I found some scraps of paper with a lovely wee song written years ago (more than 5 maybe closer to 8 years it wasn't dated) called 'Still Country' which is about trying to ignore how good Neil Young and folk like that (Ok ,I know there is nobody like Neil Young but you understand, like from a beautiful bygone era) from the sixties/seventies and just do what you want to do. I felt there was some serendipity in this discovery so decided to give it a try next, I may even try to get some friends in and try a rehearsal/live take type scenario cos thats the type of treatment it deserves..
Get Some!
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Drumslog Til we're there
I got my first outsider help at the weekend. A buddy who is a competent ivory tickler popped round to put down the 'central movement' of the third song being recorded, namely For longer than a day should last.... (the song I am in the process writing and writing about) He duly accepted my instructions on what was to be achieved and pressed on with the part, he even recorded an optional coda by taking a little melodic walk on the chords in half-time.
However, none of this is why I am posting, the remarkable moment occurred after he listened to Sweet Beauty - as it currently sounded. His appraisal included a throwaway remark about the drums being a bit 'Northside'.
This led to a rethink of what I was doing drum-wise, he was right I had let a drumloop dictate the sound of the whole song. It was supposed to sound kinda dirty, not sexual like Marvin Gaye, more like Nirvana but served as a summer pudding. The path that the song was travelling down was making it sound more like a 70's rock radio affair than I had ever planned. This was evident when the grindy bass sound I had selected ages ago no longer fit [Note: I had spent a week after the bassline debacle previously described working out a decent bass guitar part and learning to play it] and was unconsciencously being replaced with a soft Andrexish ditty. 'Whew! a timely rescue' I hear you say and you would be correct cos this little comment led me to rip the drums out and start from close to scratch, completely change the lead guitar and allowed me to get back to the pudding I wanted.
During the next week(by Mojave the weeks are passing quickly, my 'song a month' strategem is crumbling like a ginger biscuit from the farmers market) I dabbled in drumage most nights for about 20 mins to 1 hour and by about wednesday I was happy with all parts except the chorus.
So I sent an email to a drummer friend of mine asking for some assistance, which I still awaiting a response (give the guy a break, he travels around, he may not even had access to a computer). I worked out the final touches to the bass and laid it down all nice and dirty like.
So it was on to the retake of the vocals but thats a another blog for A.N.Other (what does that mean? almost everyone says it, is it supposed to be a persons name?) time...
Stay Frosty!
This led to a rethink of what I was doing drum-wise, he was right I had let a drumloop dictate the sound of the whole song. It was supposed to sound kinda dirty, not sexual like Marvin Gaye, more like Nirvana but served as a summer pudding. The path that the song was travelling down was making it sound more like a 70's rock radio affair than I had ever planned. This was evident when the grindy bass sound I had selected ages ago no longer fit [Note: I had spent a week after the bassline debacle previously described working out a decent bass guitar part and learning to play it] and was unconsciencously being replaced with a soft Andrexish ditty. 'Whew! a timely rescue' I hear you say and you would be correct cos this little comment led me to rip the drums out and start from close to scratch, completely change the lead guitar and allowed me to get back to the pudding I wanted.
During the next week(by Mojave the weeks are passing quickly, my 'song a month' strategem is crumbling like a ginger biscuit from the farmers market) I dabbled in drumage most nights for about 20 mins to 1 hour and by about wednesday I was happy with all parts except the chorus.
So I sent an email to a drummer friend of mine asking for some assistance, which I still awaiting a response (give the guy a break, he travels around, he may not even had access to a computer). I worked out the final touches to the bass and laid it down all nice and dirty like.
So it was on to the retake of the vocals but thats a another blog for A.N.Other (what does that mean? almost everyone says it, is it supposed to be a persons name?) time...
Stay Frosty!
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