This month I joined the RPM Challenge. For those that don't know, the challenge is to write and record an album's worth of songs during the month of February.
So far, I only have one song done, and have another one in the works. At this rate, I don't think I'll be getting very far... The point really was to just get some new ideas going without any restrictions. Here's my first song, it's called Crayon Breath. It's in 19/8 and has some pretty absurd drum programming.
I have a tendency to overthink things way too much, especially when it comes to my music. This is essentially why I haven't released any albums of my own since my first one in 2002.
So instead of causing myself further headaches by thinking in circles, I've decided to release my new album right now. That's right. NOW.It's called "Solo Guitar 2009-2010: A Work in Progress."
As of today, it consists of only one song. Don't worry, there are more, I just haven't recorded them yet. As I do, I'll upload them, and the whole time it will be free to download.
I figured that in this day and age, where the music industry is in a state of flux, and many are questioning the future of CD's, it's a great time to question not only what an album is, but also how it's released. So rather than presenting an album as a fixed object which one presents when it's finished, I'm thinking of it as a flexible collection of songs which will grow and change until I consider it finished. And everybody will be witness to the process. And maybe when it's done, I'll release it as a physical CD. Or maybe not. I don't know, I'd rather not give myself anymore headaches.
As most musicians, or at least those of us who like to be up to date on social network geekery, I'm pretty tired of Myspace. I only have a profile there because "everybody else has one".
I'm tired of using that clunky old interface that feels like using an old VCR, of the hell that is uploading and updating songs, and *really* tired of dealing with the appalling code when desiging the layout. So after reading this article I decided to do something similar with my profile. I cleared out all the necessary junk, disabled HTML in the comments, and replaced the standard player with Soundcloud widget. And right below it links to my Twitter and Facebook pages, where I would much rather interact with people. And now, if I want to change or update a song, I just edit the set at Soundcloud. I just have to login occasionally to myspace to accept friend requests and answer to comments and messages. But in general, my goal is to divert traffic to my website and other networks. To be fair, Myspace have made some improvements, but they're progressing so slowly and there are so many better options, I'd rather spend as little energy as possible updating my presence there.
The other day I went to see Cecilia Zabala. I had recently seen this video of her and was completely blown away:
So she happened to be playing a few shows in Berlin last week and I managed to catch one. What really caught my attention is how she doesn't just use her guitar as an accompaniment for her voice.
Rather, her voice goes beyond just singing the melody and words, but also becomes a part of the arrangement. Notice in the video above her voice and guitar weave into each other, exchanging melodies.
Or listen to the song "Aguaribay" on her myspace page, where she extends arpeggios with her voice.Anyway, definitely worth checking out. I'm a fan. You can buy her music at CD Baby.
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