Category: hello.music

Last night I was playing through some songs by Sufjan Stevens and Cat Stevens and came across a song that I really enjoyed playing. I know the hello.music project and even the RPM Challenge we are taking part in this month is supposed to be original material, but I couldn’t help doing a cover of this short little song that closes Cat Steven’s album of the same name.

Not sure I am really adding a whole lot to this and it might still need some work, but it really is fun to play and sing… and it’s only 45 seconds so stick with me. Here it is…

Tea For the Tillerman version one.

Thoughts?

No progress on “I am the King of Sad Retorts” this week. In fact no vocals that I recorded did I actually keep. So here is a new base of a song:

There You Are.

The title is meaningless really since I have no words yet. Nor do I know what I want to do with this song. A bit repetitive but maybe has potential with some words and other instruments. Thoughts?

Maybe because it was cold or because I had long day at work or because of that huge delicious lunch. Suffice to say, nothing productive came out of my two and a half hour long recording\writing session last night. Nothing. It just wasn’t happening and when that’s the case it’s always best to just walk away and do something else. The chords progressions weren’t coming together, the melodies simplistic and unmemorable.

And the lyrics? This has always been my weak point. I think it has something to do with my difficulties in hearing lyrics and words when I listen to music. Don’t get me wrong, I love that aspect of pop and rock music but it takes me longer than most people I know to hear the words, and therefore the meaning. I know people who can hear a song once or twice and already be singing along. But I simply hear the melodies and harmonies and phrasings more clearly.

I think because of this fact, my lyric writing can be anemic. I have been ‘studying up,’ so to speak; reading some of my favourite lyricists and looking at their styles and techniques. But also trying to always carry a small moleskin notebook with me in case a phrase comes to mind. But after two or three years now of focusing on this stuff, I still feel my lyric writing borders on cliche, illiterate and clumsy at best. The best will make an intimate personal sentiment feel like a broad universal statement. It can be such a fine line though.

Am I too hard on myself? Probably. But I think that drive to make myself better at music also translates to the lyrics. The next few weeks of hello.music I will probably try to spend more time on the lyrics and vocal melodies and less on the intricate harmonies and layers of overdubs. A simple melody and poignant line stands out much longer than studio techniques. It will be an interesting challenge.

Here is I am the King of Sad Retorts version two.

Added some sonic textures and guitars and such to the song and did a first mixdown on Live. But still need to pen some lyrics and track vocals to know where to fill it out. Sure would like to have lyrics in mind before I write a song the next time…it makes things considerably easier when structuring out the song. Thoughts?

It is now less than ten minutes away from February 1st here on the east coast and with that comes a new challenge: the RPM Challenge. What is that you ask? It seems to be a challenge to musicians everywhere to create an album of music in 28 days…that is 10 songs or 35 minutes minimum (whichever comes first) for the month of February.

Much like those film festivals where you have 48 hours to make a movie or those writing competitions to write a novel, this gives aspiring and amateur musicians a kick in the right direction towards getting off the couch and making something.

We figured since we are already doing this EP a month project for our own efforts, why not expand our idea for the month of February and create a few more songs… As if we weren’t fired up and excited this will be a great way to show off what we’re doing and find other similar, like-minded and not-so like-minded types out there doing the same things. You can find us on the site listed as, typically, “Hello Come In.”

Follow on our blog here for the weekly progress of each of our new songs…make comments and take part. And like we did with our January EP, this February EP will come at the end of the month, both on our site and perhaps on the RPM website as well.

So here we are …now five minutes to go. Time to get those pencils sharpened, those notebooks open, those strings tuned, those drumheads tightened, those phantom powered microphones phantom powered, those fingers cracked, those computers charged up, those voices warmed up, and those neighbors warned of strange noises for the next month.

Should be a great month of music writing. Let the games begin!

UPDATE: All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen (who I interned for as production assistant for a year ago at NPR) did a great feature on the RPM Challenge last week.  Listen here…  And for those wondering, I’m pretty sure it was me who mentioned the project to him that he mentions.  Anyway…a few days in and I think we are all psyched about this challenge. 

Finally… I took some time last night to finalize We Sang Modern English version FOUR.

The delays came from visiting guests (damn you Aryn!) and simple writer’s block. I have tracked any number of combinations of lyrics and melodies for the choruses (those really long gaps between verses)…but have yet to find anything I really like.

You will hear some sonic additions to the sound near the end…still experimenting with getting those right for some sort of climax to the song, but you will get the gist. So for the final January EP (next MONDAY!!!) I am making this song my main area focus to see if I can get it as close to done as possible. Thoughts?