February 20, 2012

Interview: Christa Couture

Folk songwriter • guitarist • vocalist • keyboardist

What’s your writing process like?

It’s like that part in “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” about how to fly: “There is… a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.” Which is to say, at its best, it catches me off guard; it picks me up and swings me around; it just comes. Or not. I try not to overthink it – for me, thinking is the end of writing. I’m a bit artsy fartsy about it in that respect – I just start to sing when I’m moved to do so, and the muse doesn’t always have the greatest timing, but I do my best to accept her when she arrives. I can also sit down, be deliberate and say “I’m going to write a song about this now” as I have the tools to do so – but I’m never connected to those works in the same way as I am to the ones that reveal themselves to me on their terms. And for me, the connection is what makes it worthwhile.

What’s something you refuse to write about?

That seems like a trick question! Wouldn’t telling you be the end of my refusal? That said, there are things I keep private – even for all my conversational, autobiographically work. My relationship with my husband is pretty well protected, save for the occasional love song. But it’s not for me to share his stories with the world. I keep us safely stowed away.

What’s the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?

I love you.

Tell me about how you wrote the featured song.

I had just been at a gig – my friends Tons of Fun University at Cafe Deux Soleils on Commercial Drive in Vancouver. It was a hot, packed room on a summer night and their fiery performance added to the buzz and heat. I was so moved by their music and poetry and feeling lifted and inspired by them. As I walked home I sang/wrote this song. It’s about musicians, how often I am inspired, fueled and touched by what those around me do. That’s when I know I’m moved most by an artist’s work – when it sets me to creating my own. So this song came as a mirror, a thank you, a big wet kiss to my fellow artists.

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase The Wedding Singer and the Undertaker here!

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December 19, 2011

Interview: Gabrielle Aimée

Pop singer/songwriter • actress

What are you up to right now, music-wise? Current or upcoming recordings, top secret projects, etc.?

Well, I started learning guitar this past May and since then, I’ve been writing a ton. I’m writing on my own and the music I’m working on is all vocal and acoustic guitar based. The music will be on my next record, which is being produced by Wheatus frontman Brendan B. Brown. We’ve already started experimenting in the studio with different mics and I’m sooooo excited to record these songs. I’ve also started playing guitar at my gigs, which is mega-stressful. I love it but the stress is exhausting — I keep wondering, why am I doing this to myself? But I can’t stop.

I also just released my first record, which was produced and co-written by the awesome Leo Sidran. It’s available on iTunes and Amazon and I’m really excited to finally have it out in the world. It was a long time in the making!

Does your best songwriting come from active, conscious thinking about what a song should say?

No, I wouldn’t say that it does. My ideas can come at any time, but usually they come in the morning, sometimes before I’m totally awake, and sometimes while I’m still sleeping. I always have a dictaphone and a pad handy so that I can record my ideas whenever they come. I could get an idea for a lyric or melody while I’m on the subway, or even watching TV. Sometimes I sit down with my guitar or at the piano and some chord catches me. I try not to involve my conscious mind until after the initial creative impulses are out. I feel like if you have to plan what a song “should say” it’s probably not as true as what would just come out when you’re not looking.

What are some of your likes outside of music?

I’m an actress. I love dance. I’m also a very enthusiastic foodie. I love Food Network and when I have time, I’m fairly awesome in the kitchen.

Could you provide a little bit of context to your featured song?

“It’s You” is a song on the self-titled record I just released. It’s one of the few songs I’ve written on piano and I think it is definitely influenced by the jazz standards I listened to growing up. It was also recorded the day I broke up with someone. It was a pretty raw day, but I think that was a good thing.

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase Gabrielle Aimée’s self titled album!

December 12, 2011

Interview: Tom Stuart from Cold Blood Club and Radio America

Alternative songwriter • guitarist • vocalist

In your experience, do the best-written melodies seem to be generated by an instrument or separate from one?

Separate! Always separate!

I find that any time I venture to write a tune (whole or in part) while staring down at an instrument all I see are notes and scales that I have seen before. Confronted with that — even just the muscle memory of playing chords — I find that I never get too far. At best, anything I’d write with a guitar in my hands or at a piano ends up turning out as derivative as I would fear.

Instead I prefer to collect melodies in a sort of undisciplined way. For some reason or another, something might pop into my head walking down the street (this is my favorite sort), in the shower, during a film, etc. If it seems to have merit then I find it’s not hard to remember it and so I sort of set aside all of these melodies for a rainy day. Then, when I feel like writing something — e.g. maybe I come up with a lyric or maybe even a title I like — there’s a slew of melodies in the back of my mind that I plow through to try to find one that seems like a best fit. Sort of like picking out the right suit for the right occasion.

Do more songs come from sitting down and working out your craft or from a flash of inspiration?

I generally don’t ‘try’ to force myself into writing anymore. At least I haven’t for a long while. And I don’t really ask myself where the ideas (melodies/lyrics/dynamics) come from. I couldn’t care less, to be honest. It’s enough for me to know that I hear music and enjoy making art and that that music is just sort of there, like an imaginary stuffed elephant best friend is to a toddler.

Actually, I was watching the FX series ‘Wilfred’ the other day and I couldn’t help but thinking that I identified with the character in a kind of uncanny way. The talking dog thing is a pretty good metaphor (or is it allegory? — I can never get that right) for that kind of internal, creative voice. Whether or not you choose to interpret that voice constructively or destructively… that’s on you, I suppose.

As for craft? For me that’s another side of the equation entirely. Inspiration comes and goes. Craft, to me, is what I talked about before when I was like, “Hmmm…how do I marry these lyrical concepts to this beat I have in mind and with whatever melody I have in the kitty…” Putting that all together feels like craft to me. It’s applying a million little lessons you’ve learned over the course of trying to write every piece of music you’ve ever tried to write, or more often, heard and loved and dissected. Whether you’re building a chair or cobbling together a pop song, I think craft is about the application of knowledge to art.

How autobiographical are your songs?

Meh.

I’m not sure that I am too interested in autobiography. At the same time, I only really can make good music out of things which I feel passionate… so I find that I inherently write ‘what I know’. So I guess I feel like the songs — the ones I finish and bother to perform — are personal, but personal to me without having real narratives. Narratives kind of bore me; which isn’t to say that I don’t think narrative songwriting is bad, but it’s just not my jones I guess.

Every so often I will look back over a lyric sheet or hear a tune that’s been recorded by one of the bands I’ve been in and I’ve written for, and think “Holy f**k, I was saying [x] and being very deliberate about it, wasn’t I?” But that stuff only ever seems to really hit me in hindsight. Because while I’m in the trenches trying to finish a song it’s all about a “whatever it takes” mentality to finish it. Some things are done in haste and others in a kind of fog of war/inspiration and there’s no time to think or worry about why. Because I hate having unfinished s**t; I just want the song in question to be done. Then I can move onto the next song and want that song to be done.

Where did you come up with the idea for your featured song?

This song is called “Ladies & Gentlemen” and it was the first song I wrote on purpose for my new band, Cold Blood Club.

I wanted a tune for my friends Kendra and Brad to sing together so they would be able to hit the ground running as the two frontpersons of the new group. So, the thinking was, “OK, let’s make sure it’s (a) kinda big so they can get really excited to sing it, (b) let’s have it be explicitly about New York which is where we all live and shared our time together as friends, (c) make it not suck, and (d) make sure it’s in a key so that they can both sing it comfortably in opposing octaves. Later, as the rest of the band came on board, they helped shape the dynamic and sharpen things (especially in the bridge). Additionally, our friend Jason (Finkel) came on board as producer and you can really credit him with adding a lot of sizzle to the choruses. Sonically, he’s a savant.

Anyways, it’s my favorite song I’ve had the pleasure of recording in some time and I am excited to send it along to the internets, and by extension, the world.

Listen to the featured song!

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December 9, 2011

Interview: Blake Madden from Hotels

Post-punk songwriter • bassist • vocalist • keyboardist

What web sites do you visit most?

Comedy Central, Netflix, Grantland, YouTube

What’s the saddest song you’ve ever heard?

“Finale” by Elliot Goldenthal from the movie Titus.

Describe a typical fan of your work.

A seeker. Someone who needs their favorite music to sit right in a sweet spot between various extremes. They appreciate synths.

What’s the story behind your featured song?

This is from our album earlier in the year entitled “On The Casino Floor”. It’s a concept album about a super secret agent who has to stop an evil madman from blowing up the world from his outerspace hotel/resort/casino. “Trouble At The Consulate” is the agent’s former mentor (and current arch-nemesis! Zounds!) describing the life of an agent in training.

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase On The Casino Floor here!

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December 7, 2011

Interview: Paul Steel

Psychedelic pop/rock songwriter • producer • arranger • guitarist • vocalist • keyboardist

Many songwriters draw a distinction between consciously and unconsciously writing songs. How do you do it?

For me, the initial idea, whether it’s a melody or a lyric or bunch of chords usually seemingly comes from nowhere. I find when I sit down and say to myself “Sit down and write a song. So.. Brain… What have we got?” I tend to force it too much and you can always hear that in the final track. I think once the initial idea’s become something real then I very consciously have to make certain things work. A lot of the time I write in quite a chronological way starting from the beginning of the song and by the time I’m at the end of the first chorus or whatever I’m in a different key or tempo to where I started, so if I want to come back to the original verse key I have to think about it a bit a more. I think the trick is to not let it sound too laboured.

How autobiographical are your songs?

Not very autobiographical at all when it comes to subject matter (with a few exceptions). I fear my life and most intimate thoughts are either too dull or too intense to write about directly. However, even with my more surreal or fictitious songs I try to put as much of my personality in them as possible so certain lyrics here and there might reflect some of my thoughts and opinions at the time.

Who are some of your musical/personal heroes?

I’ve always been a massive fan of ambitious melodic pop by people like XTC, The Beach Boys, Zombies and Beatles etc but more recently (mainly out of necessity) I’ve been observing slightly more experimental acts focusing on production. Todd Rundgren is a bit of a hero of mine not only for his musical achievements but also his attitude towards music and the music industry. He was so prolific, always stuck to his guns and always looked for ways to innovate in the studio. Also a great influence are the early electronic music pioneers like Joe Meek and Delia Derbyshire who were just fearless when it came to mangling sounds and opening up doors for the way pop music has been produced for the last 40/50 years.

Tell me about your featured song.

‘Saturday Night In Alcatraz’ is the second track from my new project LL COSMONAUT. It’s basically meant to paint a picture of 1930s San Francisco but in an alternate reality. All the inmates at are looking to escape but not before they rock the rock one last time. Though it’s hard to have sympathy with cold blooded killers and gangsters I still get excited by mass rebellion against a powerful authority and musically I tried to represent that adrenaline rush. The instrumental section is supposed to be the hopes and memories of the outside world. Really, in all the films and documentaries I’ve seen about Alcatraz it’s always felt suitably drab and grey but I really wanted to bring it to life in technicolor. I think it would make a great theme tune for ‘Muppets in Alcatraz’

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase Moon Rock here!

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December 5, 2011

Interview: Hilary Grist

Art-pop-torch-folk songwriter • producer • guitarist • vocalist • keyboardist

Tell me about a “happy accident” in one of your productions.

We recorded a couple of the songs for my most recent album, Imaginings, in our apartment. On the song, “Better” you can actually hear the sound of cars driving by outside the window on the wet, rainy pavement. That was definitely a “happy accident” because in one part of the lyrics it talks about hearing the cars driving outside my window as they go back and forth to work each day.

How autobiographical are your songs?

Almost always! My songs are usually about an experience I’ve been through or an emotion I’ve felt, but once in a while, I’m inspired to write a song about something a friend or family member has been through too. I’ve also written a couple of imagined ‘fictitious’ songs like “Horizon” just for fun. Often my songs sort of drop out of thin air though too, out of my subconscious I guess, and then I realize what they’re about later. It can be really interesting… ;)

What comes first, the words or the music?

For me, it’s mostly the music that comes first. I think that’s because I learned music first as a piano player and the first songs I made up as a kid were instrumentals. It all starts with an emotion or energy and and from there I usually get a piano figure or motive that comes married to a melody that I sing wordlessly out loud. My job after that is to catch the words I connect to as they fall out, and that’s usually when I discover what the song is about or at least what the theme is going to be. Often I’m inspired to write an entire lyric out of just one word, or phrase that speaks to me. It makes me feel like a star catcher. ;) Once in a while though, I get the words for part of a song first and I’m inspired to write the music from there. My songs “Save You For Last” and “Back in Town” happened like that.

How often do you write songs?

Not often enough! It really depends on if you mean finished songs or ideas. I’m always coming up with ideas or ‘bits’ as I like to call them. ;) It’s a real ebb and flow. I go through times where I’m completing lots of songs and times where I’m just coming up with lots of bits, and other times where I don’t write much at all because I’m busy with other music related stuff. I try and make it a goal to do a little bit of writing everyday when I’m home because some of my songs come fast and furiously, while others need to be stoked for a long time before they’re ready to come out and show their faces. Every song has it’s own process, it’s own unique character coming to life. I think that’s why I love songwriting so much though, it’s very mysterious.

Tell me how you wrote your featured song.

“Tall Buildings” came to me very intuitively. I came up with the piano pattern first. I was just sitting at the piano one day and the pattern appeared under my fingers and I got hooked to it right away. I have a mini recording setup at home, so I immediately started layering some claps and snaps. If you listen really close you can also hear some faint panting sounds, which I had added right away in the original demo as well, which really invoke the rat race of the city. I live in Vancouver, and I had been thinking a lot about and questioning the pressure to get a corporate job, get a fancy house and get in huge debt, so that’s where the lyrics come from I think – a cheeky skepticism of the urban way of life. ;)

You can see the music video we made for “Tall Buildings” here. We created and filmed the crazy cardboard piano city ourselves, with the help of our friends over two months in our apartment. :)

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase Imaginings here!

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December 2, 2011

Interview: Mike Langlie from Twink

Toy piano electronica songwriter • producer • engineer • arranger • keyboardist

Is there a certain type of person you write your songs for?

I’m my own primary audience first and foremost. This project is about getting the crazy music swirling through my head out into the real world, with varying levels of success.

It’s a surprise and delight when someone takes time to tell me they enjoy what I do. They’re usually non-cynical types who can see the world with a childlike wonder, or actual kids themselves. Beyond that I have no idea who my audience is. I think it requires a high tolerance for whimsy that many people don’t possess!

Who were your musical influences at an early age?

Some of my earliest influences still inspire me with every listen. Prince for his ability to breathe funky life into technology. Devo for crafting offbeat space-age nursery rhymes. Depeche Mode for proving that synth-pop can be emotional as well as stylistic. Descendents, Black Flag and Ramones for their no-frills bursts of sonic energy that never fail to deliver a hook. Einsturzende Neubauten and Throbbing Gristle for turning the rubble of dystopia into a (dangerous) musical playground.

Warner Brothers cartoons and old kids’ shows like The Little Rascals also influenced me heavily. It’s great that those soundtracks are finally recognized as masterworks worthy of their own attention.

What’s your writing process like?

Songs usually start as melodies plunked out on a toy piano or glockenspiel, captured with a Zoom handheld recorder or a mic plugged into my MacBook. Those parts get edited and arranged in Audacity, GarageBand and Reason. I have a ton of electronic and mechanical musical toys that I sample and mix with Reason’s built-in synths and drum machines as accompaniment.

Recently I’ve been having fun with gizmos like Korg’s Monotron and the Pocket Piano by Critter & Guitari. I’m also enjoying weird iPhone music apps like The Badlion’s Garage Synth and Tweakybeat, which is all over the new Twink album.

Where did you come up with the idea for your featured song, “Pigeon Walk?”

My wife has raised fancy pigeons for a few years as a hobby. They’re simple creatures that spend most of the day marching around constantly establishing pecking order. In addition to photographing and drawing them I wanted to try capturing their personalities as a musical sketch.

I sampled phrases using funny percussion, musical toys and household items. As much work went into building it up as removing unnecessary notes and parts to keep it focused. It’s still busy enough to suggest its subject without being as overly decorated as my songs tend to be.

Listen to the featured song!

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November 28, 2011

Pea Hix from Optiganally Yours

Lo-fi pop songwriter • producer • engineer • keyboardist

Have you ever put an “Easter egg” or obscure reference in a song that only few people might pick up? If so, could you share what it is?

I’ve done lots of these over the years, too many to remember. I’m a sucker for gimmicks. Off the top of my head: there’s a song on the still-as-yet-unfinished-but-I-promise-one-day-it’ll-get-done-no-really third Optiganally Yours album where, as usual, I made an initial sketch, sent it to Rob [Crow], and he sent back a vocal contribution. Again, as usual, I started adding melodic keyboard parts, and for some reason I heard the main theme of Stravinsky’s “Firebird” as a bassline in the chorus, so I played that in using a pipe organ sound. It was only after I’d done that that I actually listened to the lyrics Rob had written, which was all about a Phoenix flying too close to the sun…! So I dunno, maybe that connection makes the easter egg a bit more obvious, like I’d heard the lyrics and shoe-horned that melody in there to be clever, but that’s not actually how it happened.

What’s the biggest challenge for you in your writing?

Whenever I get a chance to talk to famous artists who I respect, I always ask the same question, which unfortunately I don’t have a succinct wording for. Basically, it’s the issue of, how do you take some vague ideas in your head – ideas that, not being in concrete form, are free to sort of swirl around, change shape, and remain mysterious – and start to pin them against the wall and set them in stone as a finished product without inevitably killing off a good deal of the mystery and potential of the original idea in so doing?

I have project ideas that have languished for years because on some level it’s more satisfying for me to leave them as abstract, undefined, hazy bits of aesthetic perfection swimming around in my head, rather than staple together crude mock-up versions that are, at best, a rough approximation of what I’d intended. The trade off, of course, is that I can share the concrete version with other people, but I also have to deal with the frustration of trying to explain that “this is only sort of what I meant…!”

I guess that’s why so many artists work with a fairly limited palette- it’s not that they’re making new pieces all the time, it’s more like they’re trying over and over again to get that one great idea right.

What’s the songwriting trick you wish you knew when you were starting out?

Well, I still don’t feel like I know how to write a song, but I guess one thing I’ve picked up over the years is the importance of simply getting down to work and just making stuff, and not being overly critical of everything you do. It’s OK if nine times out of ten your songs suck – it’s worth it to get that one good song. But you have to slog through the other nine songs just the same. It’s important to commit yourself just as much to finishing the bad songs as you do to the good songs.

Tell me about the track that’s featured.

This is an untitled instrumental demo that may or may not end up as a song with vocals on the upcoming Optiganally Yours album. In keeping with the production concept of the album, all the sounds were extracted from the Optigan master tapes. In this case, it’s all keyboard sounds except for the drum loops. This started out as a simple sketch I had put down using some other keyboard sounds, and while digging around one day, I came across it and thought it might work as the basis for an OY song. Rob hasn’t added anything to this yet, so if it does end up on the album, it’ll likely sound a bit different than this.

Listen to the featured song!

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(Photo credit: Chad Thompson)

November 25, 2011

Interview: Nadia Ackerman

Pop songwriter • vocalist • keyboardist

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I ever received was to never give up and to never expect anyone to do anything for you. EVER!!

Were either of your parents musical?

Both of my parents were musical. My father was extremely gifted with an incredible ear for harmony. He had music coming out of his pores. He was the kind of person who could pick up any instrument and just play it. He passed away 19 years ago.

My mother was a singer. A soprano opera singer. She has not opened her mouth for many, many years but I believe it is still in there somewhere!

Do you have to force yourself to write songs — that is, do you have to schedule a time to write, or do you wait for inspiration?

Luckily, I do not have to force myself to write. I go through different phases. More often than not there is a song a day just waiting to come out. Other times a week or two might go by with nothing but silence (what is actually happening though, is I am writing in my head). There is always something kicking around and it can get quite annoying! :)

Tell me about the track that’s featured.

The featured track is called “Mary Jane” and it is the first single off my new record “The Ocean Master” which will be released worldwide through Spectra Records March 6th, 2012. Without giving too much away, Mary Jane is actually a nursery rhyme I made up in kindergarten on my own that came back to me last year!

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase The Circus is Back in Town here!

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November 23, 2011

Interview: Michael Kentoff from The Caribbean

Pop songwriter • producer • engineer • guitarist • vocalist

What’s your favorite food?

Savory and sweet, alternating.

How much of your songs pull from your life, and how much of it is fictional?

Very little of the content in Caribbean songs is autobiographical. It seems enough to live my life; I don’t feel the need to exact it on our sweet listeners. Most of what happens in Caribbean songs involves intrigue, duplicity, and 1/4″ audio tape.

Do you have any advice for those who are just starting out with recording?

Less is more in every respect. One area this is important is gear. Buy a piece you’ll always use and don’t be afraid to blow your whole budget on it (within reason, of course). Better to have one mic or pre-amp you’ll use for twenty years from the start than four you’ll outgrow, have to sell at a loss, and upgrade later. Two benefits: one, your recordings won’t sound naff from the start and, two, you’ll get to know your equipment really well.

Where did you come up with the idea for your featured song, “The 65 Cent Dinner?”

A few years ago I read some of poetry by Weldon Kees and was somewhat stunned that, in the 40s and 50s, he was writing in a rhythm and style that seems like it could be happening now. Or tomorrow. And that he died in the mid-fifties, probably because it wasn’t now or tomorrow yet. With so much promise comes the potential for the Big Letdown.

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase Make the Day Out of Range here!

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(Photo: Dakota Fine)

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