June 23, 2009
Believe it or not progress has occurred. Been working on album art for the “Greatest Hits” (not that any of them were hits in any sense of the word) compilation, titled GHJK. Turns out those letters are all next to each other on the typewriter keyboard, so I’m going with that for the concept.
And in other news – I went through some notes of half finished songs from the past ten years and have compiled a few standouts – about six songs. Likewise, I dug up a few very old tapes that predate Darby & Joan – I don’t really recall what was on them or what the songs were. A few off these ancient scrolls will be re-recorded to make up the difference up to ten songs.
The other half of the puzzle is my recording approach. Eight will receive fuller production, and will be bookended by two bare-bones affairs (Sam Phillips style).
The title is yet to be determined but it will start with a “W.” Expect it to be complete around 2019.
January 3, 2009
For reasons to be revealed soon, I recently rifled through the entire back catalog and picked what I deem to be the best twelve best tracks. They are:
- Suburbia
- Indie Girl
- Commodity
- Ava
- Office Girls
- Options
- Ah, Simone
- Mess That I Am
- Shalom Harlow
- Revolving Door
- Care For You
- What Kind Of Love?
The first three albums are a bit under-represented. Benefit of hindsight and all that.
Tentatively this compilation is named “GHJK.”
March 23, 2008
It’s taken me longer than it should to feel “ready” to record again. I’m so out of practice musically, but I think I’m finally over the hump. I have a lot of decent ideas stored up from the past few months. I think I now just have to solidify them and come up with a schedule, and stick to it.
I’m still not sure if the pre-planning is the right approach. I have differing feelings about doing a lazy, stripped down set of recordings like Sam Phillips or go for something more polished but “electric”. I think I’m going for that latter.
I’m also tempted to buy a cheap acoustic guitar to help out. My Martin is still having issues with its top string.
September 17, 2007
Got the Cinematica album website more or less up – basically ten music videos from way back when, tossed into a Flash filmstrip site. It only took me about ten years to get all this stuff online.
August 26, 2007
Right now I have about five songs I consider decent. Admittedly, some are leftovers from earlier, aborted projects from the past few years.
Other than that I’m starting to set up my work area so I can record some stuff without too much difficulty. At this point I’ll just lay down a rhythm guitar track so I can build some drums around it.
Meanwhile my ears are distracted by other thoughts, such as the Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls soundtrack, the new Crowded House, and whatever Suzanne Vega is up to these days.
August 12, 2007
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been mulling over some ideas for the next batch of songs, and think I’ve settled on something easy to accomplish but also rather fun. I’ve been listening to Sam Phillips’ last two albums (A Boot And A Shoe and Fan Dance) which are very stripped down acoustic demos. But likewise, I’m considering returning to a standard rock band approach of guitar, bass, and drums but sort of retro like Big Star or Television.
So I’m thinking about doing both, but by recording the same five songs, each getting the opposing treatment. I might have the melodies be the same but with completely different verse lyrics.
Anyhow, it’s just an idea I’m mulling over.
August 4, 2007
Hey. So my name is Jason and I’ve been recording music I’ve written… ever since highschool. As of this writing, that was an awfully long time ago.
Anyhow, I have self-produced seven groups of music over the years – I guess the oldsters call them albums. I have a life goal to get up to nine. Therefore, I’m hoping to record one last group of ten songs, do a wimpy “greatest hits” thing… and then call it quits.
But I figure I should get some Internet-mileage out of my old material and my last musical project while it lasts – hence this site.
Through this musical blog I’ll be revisiting my favorite old tracks and also documenting new ones as they’re created. Hopefully it will be entertaining.
To start, please browse through the albums on this site.
Thanks for visiting!