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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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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(Photo: Dakota Fine)

November 21, 2011

Interview: Linus Dotson from Linus of Hollywood

Pop songwriter • producer • multi-instrumentalist

Do you do anything special with how you voice your chords?

As a big Brian Wilson fan, I always loved how the bass notes on his piano parts would seldom be the root note of the chord. It was almost like the left hand was creating the melody and the right hand was just static chords. So when I play piano, I do that a lot. When I play guitar, I use my thumb a lot to reach over and play bass notes. When I was a kid, I was always yelled at by my guitar teacher for having my thumb hanging over, but I’m glad I didn’t listen to him because I use it all the time!

What do you think is one of your strongest productions, and why?

As far as my solo records, go, I always think the latest stuff is the best. I think sonically and production-wise, “Triangle” is my best record, but that was almost 6 years ago, so I’m very excited to do a new record this year and top it. As far as my productions for other artists, I’m very fond of the recent Bowling For Soup records I did, as well as the Palmdale EPs I did with Kay.

How did you learn to produce music?

It was an accident! I did my first solo album on an 8-track and didn’t expect anyone to like it. I self-released it on my own label (Franklin Castle) and all of the sudden I was getting overseas licensing deals and outselling my previous major label release (with Size 14). So after that, I was like “I need to make records for my friends!” So I produced a record for Kim Fox, who had just gotten dropped from Dreamworks, and made a fun record (Mello Cads) with some of the guys in Brian Wilson’s band and next thing you know, I’m getting calls from labels asking me to help develop their artists. I just learned by doing…and by listening to my favorite records with an analytical ear and trying to figure out how they did everything.

Where did you come up with the idea for your featured song, “A Girl that I Like?”

It’s a really simple love song that I wrote for my girlfriend when we first started falling in love. She texted me and asked “what are you doing?”…I responded “I’m texting with a girl that I like”…I thought that made a good song title so I wrote it in about 15 minutes and then played it for her when she arrived. It’s a super simple song, but one of my favorites. It just really captured a moment and a feeling.

Listen to the featured song!

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November 16, 2011

Interview: Helen Austin

Singer-songwriter songwriter • producer • multi-instrumentalist

What’s the one thing you’ll never understand?

sooooo many things :)

Don’t hate me for saying this… I don’t understand jazz. I mean I studied it, but don’t get it.

The Mama Mia Mania… I mean, I love ABBA but…

Celery.

My 9 year old son… his brain works in interesting and mysterious ways.

People who are not kind. I don’t understand it and don’t like it.

What do you look for when you’re writing lyrics?

I tend to just see what comes out of my mouth and brain while writing lyrics. They have to scan well with the melody which is why I tend to write that first and then hopefully the lyrics will flow. It’s sometimes surprising what I don’t know I’m thinking about.

I do like lyrics that sound like conversation and try not to write anything that I would speak, so to avoid too many cliches.

Are there any songs you regret releasing?

I don’t regret releasing anything because they have all brought me to the point where i am today and I love what I get to do everyday. It is a privilege to write and record for a living.

Saying that… my 2 older albums really don’t represent who I am today so, despite having boxes of those CDs in a cupboard, I would rather not sell them now. Is there a CD graveyard anywhere? :)

Can you explain the process you went through to create your featured song?

I was playing around on my ukelele after a long day in front of the computer and looking after kids and started singing ‘Take Me Away’ while strumming. This lead to a song about wanting a day to just do nothing. I think it applies to many mothers who rarely get time just to be themselves. We all love out kids, but the song is about it being ok to want your own time.

I quickly recorded it and had fun adding the percussion and all the other bells and whistles, especially the horns and the lalala-ing. It was fun to write and record.

Listen to the featured song!

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November 14, 2011

Interview: Spookey Ruben

Alternative power pop industrial songwriter • producer • guitarist • vocalist • keyboardist

Can you tell me about the first song you ever wrote?

The first song I ever wrote and recorded by myself was called “Trouble in the Sky” — I was either 12 or 13 years old. I had saved up all my money for a dual cassette player that had mic inputs on the front — and to my surprise it would allow me to record the live mic at the same time I’d be dubbing a cassette — so I had basically figured out my own multi-tracking system using this ‘practically defect’ machine. So first I’d record the drums i sequenced on my brother’s Yamaha PRS keyboard, I’d then have that tape running while I’d record the bass guitar onto a fresh new tape, and so on. Am I making sense? The song itself, lyrically/musically is pretty mature in a way — but also kinda funny: my voice hadn’t broken yet. Overall amusing! The verse started with, “I’ve been waiting for a dream, but listening to the wishes of the mean world, real world…” The chorus was “I can see trouble in your eyes / I can see trouble in the sky!” — gotta find that tape!

Are you the person who comes through in your songs, or are there aspects of yourself that you hold back?

I’ve always been most impressed by artists who take on different personas and go the distance theatrically in telling a story e.g Kate Bush, Prince. There is a German band called Spliff that had a huge influence on me — they were kind of like Germany’s answer to 10CC — they’ll go to great lengths to musically exaggerate a theme — playing with all genres of music. I wouldn’t say I’m holding back aspects of myself. I feel like music is the place actually where I’m often asking myself “Who am I?” It’s in my music that I’m able to express a lot of my fantasies — images, ideas, oddities that inspire me.

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

No. Often times I am faced with people saying things like “Do it for the fans!” My response is that I think my fans really just want me to “do what I do.” What excites me most when I’m writing a song is the feeling that I’m going somewhere I haven’t gone before — that’s what’s most important. I noticed a lot of artists’ process revolves around copying things they or other people have already mastered. That’s not my raison d’etre. I need to be travelling to a new exotic destination every single time. My newest ditty isn’t even written for a person. In fact, I wrote it for a dog called Gunnar who passed away a couple of months ago. It will most definitely be on my next album.

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

The featured song is called “I Care about You” and it’s from my latest EP called Shackleton. In the realm of “romantic” pop songs (even though I have many) I still always feel like I have merely touched the tip of the iceberg. Recently I’ve been totally fascinated with ballads in the Italo Pop genre — and here I feel like I’m taking that feeling and blending it with an American R&B flavour. Lyrically, I wrote the song because I love my woman. Sit back and enjoy!

Listen to the featured song!

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November 9, 2011

Interview: Probyn Gregory

Pop songwriter • multi-instrumentalist

What sort of kid were you?

Oldest of 6, I sorta had to keep it together, but I was painfully shy and a real nature bug, which wrought the genesis for my quasi-pantheism today. Autumn as portent of winter brought me to tears so often that it became an embarrassment. HIGHLY nostalgic and romantic until I burnt that circuit out by overuse by adolescence. Reading and music saved my psychic a**. The golden rule was easily visible in action to me from a young age. In my picture here, I am chasing my now-lost youth.

Do you feel that melody is as important as it once was?

Depends on what avenue you’re looking at. While I deride the ascendency of non-melodic movements in popular music like rap, hip hop and what passes for modern R&B, much good melody is being championed by modern composers over many ethnicities. The entire concept of melody seems to be morphing away from the populist everybody-singing-around-the-parlor-piano to a focus on fixed recordings and specific timbres as key to the song instead of being mere production choices, as once they were. Personally, I feel this can lead to laziness in creating a melody that can stand alone apart from these conceits. I predict that what will continue to stand the test of time is what people themselves can sing or whistle or play themselves on a given instrument, e.g. the melody alone– no lyrics, no particular sound. All that is icing– the core is the mere notes/rhythm.

When you are working on a song, how do you generate melodic ideas? Do you play chords on a piano?

Apart from the very best fertile ground (ideas vouchsafed from a dream or heard in my head while performing other tasks, which can and has included listening to other music radically different from the ideas I then heard), I play chords on whatever is the instrument of choice at the moment — generally piano or guitar. As many others have attested, the sound and feel of the instrument can itself lead to certain note choices. My true test of a harmonic idea is whether or not it can stand alone with just a bass line below it– if the auditor can fill in some of the missing notes of the implied chord him or herself. Every once in a great while I will begin with words, which dictate a certain rhythm and sometimes suggest an architecture of a melody– whether it goes up or down to fit the words best.

Tell me about the track that’s featured.

“I Send Up My Prayer” was a small dream idea that I honed staring out the window on the bus to work in 1986. I had gotten sick of hearing music in my head and not knowing what the chords were, so learned to decipher those over the past few years. When I did sit down to play what I had constructed in my head, the music came quickly (this was absolutely a keyboard song, with dense close voicings) and it can work with just melody and bass, which is how I do the first verse when I perform it. The words are still not quite to my liking despite months of dickering. This version was recorded in 2010 by a Dutch group, the Nick Vernier Band, who asked me to sing the lead vocal.

Listen to the featured song!

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November 7, 2011

Interview: Emily Rodgers

Alt rock songwriter • guitarist • vocalist

What’s the worst thing an artist could do?

I believe that the very worst an artist (in any medium) can do is to create art with a specific audience in mind. I worry that many artists cater to those they think will buy the work and tastemaker publications they think will write about it. One can’t possibly be authentic with this mindset, and I value authenticity very highly. I’d rather hear something rough and genuine than something polished and devoid of character.

In what ways does the place where you live or places you have lived affect the music that you create or your taste in music?

This is a tough question for me. I’m in my head so often that I fear I’m often oblivious to the physical reality of place. I find that nature writing is even difficult for me to read, not to mention write — my intellectual landscape is in many ways more real to me. For better or for worse, I prefer Sylvia Plath to Annie Dillard.

What’s your criteria for a great album?

Lyrics are of extreme importance to me. There is nothing that turns me off of a song or an album quicker than a cliche or a contrived metaphor. And a singular voice. I’m a voice enthusiast. My favorite vocalists are probably Kristin Hersh, Jason Molina, Chan Marshall, Michael Stipe, and Tony Dekker (Great Lake Swimmers). There is no way these voices can be mistaken for others, and it’s more than just timbre — their voices are unique because of their emotive and innovative phrasing.

Regarding your featured song (“Hurricane”) — what’s it about?

I was just talking about my process with a friend who is a novelist and poet, trying to figure out how to ask a question just like this. I use a lot of found phrases, loose lines that come to me, and then I tend to sit down with the lyrics I have and put something together. My songs are never about one thing specifically — I’ve never been much for linear story songs. An ex once compared me to William Burroughs and his “cut-up” poems, but the novelist friend I was talking to says my technique is more about loose connections and I think he’s right. (I’ve hardly told anyone this because it just hasn’t come up, but one of my favorites lines is in my song “Hell,” which is one of the first ones I wrote — around 2004. I lifted it from a piece of bathroom grafitti at a coffeeshop in Pittsburgh — “They say that God is whoever you perform for”).
The song isn’t told in a linear story form, but it’s autobiographical and is about depression, drinking and generally being adrift. Tess Kramer created a video for the song. (Tess is the daughter of Kramer, who produced the album. She was 16 when she made it, but since she’s entered film school at NYU and worked with Jesse Dylan — filmmaker and Bob’s son). I was really moved by the way that she used scenes of physical devastation (1930′s newsreel footage of the aftermath of a hurricane) to stand in for metaphorical/emotional/psychic disaster.

Listen to the featured song!

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November 4, 2011

Interview: Jen de la Osa from Aloud

Rock songwriter • guitarist • vocalist • keyboardist

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?

It’s kind of a combination of both really especially since I have a writing partner. However, it always starts with the inspiration bit. There might be something I can’t stop thinking about or an idea comes to me and I sit down with the guitar and I’ll know what to do. Those are the best moments. The song just comes right out. It’s better to wait for those sort of things. You’ve got a very clear idea of the thing before you’ve even sat down. Then I’ll sit down with Henry and polish it off, get his take, have him help me out with it. He’ll usually bring a different approach to my original idea that’s better than what I had.

What sort of kid were you?

I was shy, quiet as a child. I had my own world inside my head and lived there with music and cartoons. As a teenage I came out of the shyness a bit though I think naturally I’m still a shy person. I’m sure most people would look at me crazy with that one, but it’s true. At 13 I knew I wanted to be in a band, I wanted to write songs and I had to start right away. It was clear and I started writing songs every week on a catalog bought acoustic and my grandmother’s piano. I met Henry a little after this time as a sophmore in high school. He was doing the same thing and we thought we should do it together.

What do you do when you go through periods when you have no new ideas?

Number one, I do not attempt to write. Bad idea. I go off and read books and listen to music that I’ve loved forever. It helps me remember what I loved when I started this whole thing in the first place. I jump into other people’s art basically. Read books, listen to music and watch movies. Clearing your head with a good walk is also really refreshing. Idle time is important to creating. I used to take regular walks along the the Charles when I lived close by. Several melodies and songs were born out of those walks. Those were free days. I wasn’t working or going to school. I’d come home after a walk and write a song.

Can you explain the process you went through to create your featured song?

I’d been listening to a lot of Feist’s The Reminder. There’s a track called Honey that’s got some interesting intervals going on in the backing vocals. I started off trying to do something similar and picking it out on the piano. I wanted something sad sounding, but very, very simple. So the melody was born out of that. I’d been reading Reinaldo Arenas’ memoirs Before Night Falls. It was a time trying to figure out my family’s past (these folks are all Cuban exiles) and so the idea of this person walking around at night haunted by places that are no longer accessible kept running in my head. The words came out of that. I wanted it to sound stark. I wanted a dark, chilly place. Some place quite removed from the tropics. I think we got it. It’s one of my favorites of ours.

Listen to the featured song!

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Purchase Exile here!

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