Doing it again (but not)

In terms of music it's been a very quiet (har har) year overall. I wrote a few pieces for my friends new project but other than that things have been pretty uneventful until a couple of weeks ago when I saw a twitter notification pop-up informing me that SpinTunes was on again this year!

Great! Then I completely forgot about it and only remembered that I actually had to send an e-mail to confirm I wanted to be part of the competition the day before sign-ups ended. I composed my message, sent it on it's merry way and went to bed assuming there had been no issues.

The next day, however, upon discovering my profile had not joined those posted on the SpinTunes blog, I realized something had gone horribly wrong. I checked my sent box and confirmed my worst fears, the e-mail just hadn't gone through at all and I felt the pangs of disappointment.

I e-mailed Travis to see if he could make an exception, explaining my situation but alas, rules are rules and if your e-mail never came through, you don't get to be in the running. Luckily for me the people at SpinTunes are super-nice people and you can still write songs based on their challenge requirements, submit them and they will even include it on the album for that challenge even if you didn't get a chance to sign up!

I already knew this was an option and had threatened to do so last time around when I failed to make it through to round 2. Unfortunately this never happened and I didn't even manage to follow the challenge as closely as I did with SpinTunes 3 due to me being busy with University and things. Even if I had made it through, the plausibility of me writing more songs with my tight schedule was questionable so it was probably for the best I was voted out.

anyway I wanted to talk a little bit about the song I submitted just yesterday and go over things I like and what I think judges are/aren't going to like.

For me, this is probably one of my best songs that I've written in a while. It's got a meaning, a purpose and a pretty strong theme running through it which ties it all up nicely (although credit for that really goes to the brains behind SpinTunes!). I like the melody and the verse kind of has shades of "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne though this was totally unintentional and I only realized this was the case after listening back to the whole thing. Not really a problem (at least not for me anyway) it's catchy and upbeat and I like the quieter verse/louder chorus dynamic I've worked out for the song. I've kind of tried this in a song before but it didn't work out as well as it has here.

Things I think judges are going to pick up on: I've amped up the bass so that you can actually hear it this time around but it's not a real bass guitar as my bass is not with me right now so I just had to make do. Also the line "I don't wanna get out of bed" is kind of dumb and phoned in but I really couldn't think of anything better and I wanted the last line of that verse to be a rhyming one. The other options open to me were to change it and it probably would have sounded even more stupid/phoned in if I had.

It's also entirely possible that it will be written off as an uncreative rock/pop song that doesn't fit the subject matter. I have kind of stuck with what I know works best this time around as last time I tried to deviate from my usual style and learned the hard way that experimenting with a new style in a contest is probably not the best thing to do at all. Plus I would defend it by saying the character in the song is supposed to be rebelling so it makes sense to use a rocky and loud style to back that up!

Also this is the first time I've really tried to break up a drum loop and have it drop out and come back in to a song. I achieved this by making it so that the symbols counted back into the chorus but the first time around doesn't work out as well as the second time.

Anyway, as with last time, I'm sure that the things that I think people will find fault with will not actually be what they criticize at all. It's a possibility but I'm 100% certain they will find faults with the song that I haven't even thought about!

I just hope that no-one compares my vocal stylings to that of a Muppet this time around (not bitter about that at all. NOPE.)

I shall be posting the song on here and links to the album it will be a part of here and on Twitter so look forward to the incessant @SpinTunes spam!

peace!

- Dex01

SpinTunes

So, I did a crazy thing a couple of days ago and signed up to the SpinTunes songwriting contest. I followed it pretty closely last year after finding out about it from somewhere (though I don't rightly recall exactly where) and made a mental note to sign up for the next years contest.

I signed up because it looked like a really fun thing I could get into though now that I have officially sent in my credentials (see:none) and been added to the list of people competing, I am, shockingly, nervous and apprehensive.

The contest is designed to push you outside of your comfort zone which is something I know I need to happen. The problem is once I get out there I've no idea what's going to come out of it. I'm hoping for something good and I have the support of my friends who are backing me and assuring me that I do write good material. I am very likely worrying about nothing and will be most likely able to meet the first challenge with no problem. What I'm dreading is "write a song that is based on [insert musical style I know nothing about]" I really, REALLY hope that does not happen.

Writing the first song and making it to round 2 are two entirely different things of course. Mostly I'm just hoping for some good feedback from the judges even if I don't make it past round 1. I'm fairly confident that there's at least some chance of me making it to round 2. round 3 though, well, I guess we'll see what happens.

Other than all this competition shenanigans I have come into the possession of a professional microphone and it is the best thing I have ever owned ever. Soon (basically whenever the competition ends/I get voted out/I have time away from university things) I will begin re-recording my songs and make them sound good! maybe even write some NEW ones!

Yes, things are kind of crazy in terms of music things right now. It's going to be a very interesting journey for this creative endeavor.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year! let's hope the world doesn't end!

- Dex01

Review: Artifical Heart

Review:

Artificial Heart by

Jonathan Coulton

Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I have an unhealthy obsession with Jonathan Coulton. Having stumbled upon what I’m sure Coulton fans agree to be the equivalent of Radiohead’s “Creep” at the end of the Videogame “Portal”. Any Coulton fan/gamer worth his (or her) salt knows exactly what I’m talking about, the musical piece that brought joy to all those who finished "Portal" known as “Still Alive”.

And while his devout fans who have been following him since his songs were originally posted on Slashdot back when Coulton under went the self-imposed insanity that was “Thing-A-Week” would probably tell me I am not worthy to lick his shoes, “Still Alive” had the effect of making me want more of this mans brilliant song writing.

One compilation album and a live show later and here I am reviewing his new album “Artificial Heart”. I have to say, I really like this album. I bought three other albums the same week “Artificial Heart” was released, including Red Hot Chili Peppers’ new album “I’m With You” and this is by far my favorite one.

The album has a surprising “old rock” feel to it. Especially in the case of the albums opener “Sticking It To Myself”. The song even borders on ska-rock what with its upbeat tempo and brass section. It’s definitely not something that I would expect to hear on a Coulton record but then again his producer, John Flansburg of The Might Be Giants, pushed him outside of many of his comfort zones. For example: Simple chord progressions played on an acoustic guitar are near non-existent on this album.

The album definitely benefits from this and it makes me wonder if it would be as good as what we hear today if Coulton had produced it by himself ala “Thing-A-Week”

After listening to “Sticking It To My Self” a few times (it is highly infectious, I fell in love with this track instantly) I can’t help but wonder; Is this the autobiographical song about Coulton quitting his day job? Everyone assumed that “Code Monkey” was that song but he confirmed on several occasions that it wasn’t about him and was only semi-autobiographical.

Is this then the song about him quitting in search of greener e-pastures containing songs about the future and sea monsters? It certainly appears that way as Coulton sings

“Makes me feel
Like I'd do anything it takes to be
A fucking winner now”

This is highly speculative of course but when you examine all the evidence, you can see why people would assume that. Especially in the case of the chorus

“See all the accolades

Sitting up on my shelf

I’m the man now

And I’m sticking it to myself”

Who knows, maybe the Code Monkey got tired and finally quit his job. It could be any number of things, and, as with all music it’s open to interpretation especially in the case of this album but we’ll get to that later.

Following on from there we have the title track “Artificial Heart”. In this song, Coutlon embraces something I often wish more bands would experiment with: Piano Rock. That’s not to say that there aren’t bands that are entirely piano based I just wish that more conventional artists would break out the piano every once in a while just to shake things up a bit.

It certainly works for Coulton as his vocals begin in an almost haunting fashion unsupported by anything except a simple percussive beat. The piano in this song was about as unexpected as the brass section in the previous song. The fact that a guitar does not then join it is something I applaud Coulton for as I can imagine how much he would have struggled to not add something more to the song. I can imagine how he may have had cause for concern and feel as if the song was too “empty” but the drums and bass do an excellent job of filling the space.The song is again very catchy. Another easily sing-able and memorable lyric that will not soon leave your head. Here is a small spoiler for you; the vast majority of the songs here are also like this.

So, we move on to the third track “Nemeses”. The first track released as a preview back in July. It’s the first track from “Artificial Heart” that features guest vocals and it’s a really great one. It’s the first, what I am going to call, very Coulton-esque track from this album. One you can imagine him being very comfortable with.

Is this the reason why he had John Roderick of The Long Winters on vocals for this track? It would definitely make sense for him to see how very much “in his style” this song is and so having a different singer changes things up a little. It definitely works although Roderick upon first listen could very easily be mistaken for Coulton.

The other thing that definitely makes this a trademark Coulton song is the subject matter. A song from the point of view of someone who has a nemesis and all of his insecurities about having said nemesis would be a difficult thing for anyone to pull of but Coulton being highly trained in the ways of Song Fu ™ probably didn’t even break a sweat.

In all seriousness this song is a staple of just how well Coulton deals with subject matters like this one. The ability to take the hero/villain situation and then psychoanalyze the villain is one thing. Turning it into a song is a whole other beast that would make even seasoned songwriters (myself included) cry.

Moving along swiftly to track number four is a neat little number “The World Belongs To You”, a song about being God, or, perhaps any kind of omnipotent deity. This song reminds me a lot of “Just As Long As Me” probably because of how simplistic and folk based both songs are although “The World Belongs To You” is actually a lot less complex containing only a guitar and a ukulele and not much else.

It’s a definite sign of his growth as a musician that he has a song that is similar to one he’s already written and rather than adding to it and making it more complicated he strips it down to make it much more simplistic.

And then we have the absolute heart breaker of the album. With a song title like “Today With Your Wife” you’d be forgiven for thinking of various different things that this song could be about. The truth is it’s an extremely moving piano ballad about a man who takes his friends place by the side of his family after he has passed away. The subject is handled extremely delicately as Coulton slowly reveals the reality of the relationship you’re getting the privilege of seeing.

It’s not often you see a really great twist on a song about mourning the loss of a dear friend but this is a brilliant way of doing it. I certainly didn’t know what to expect from this song but what I was presented with exceeded my expectations and made me feel bad for thinking it would be a cheap song about adultery.

Next up is “Sucker Punch”. A great rock based song about a situation in a bar that goes sour and turns into a fight. It reminds me a lot of songs by Sugarcult if only because of the vocal part in the chorus. It’s maybe a little generic musically in terms of the rest of the album but it’s not bad by any means.

“Glasses”, previously known to Coulton fans as “Untitled Song About Marriage”, is about just that. Being married and having kids and how you deal with it. It’s a brilliant little insight into the world of the wedded and how your world seemingly falls apart as time flies by faster than you care to notice.

This song is another catchy number and is almost presented as an accompaniment to “Sucker Punch” when you listen to the tracks one after the other. They don’t fade into each other but the way the drums stop and pick up again almost seems like that’s what’s being suggested.

Then we have “Je Suis Rick Springfield”. Which is possibly the silliest song on the whole album. A song entirely in French about a Frenchman trying to convince some ladies in a bar (are the guys from Sucker Punch and this French dude at the same bar!?) that he is indeed Rick Springfield. That’s the entire explanation given by Coulton himself at PAX the first time he played it. Musically, the song holds up well in it’s own right. It is, yet again, very catchy though it may take some a while to learn the lyrics what with it being in French.

“Alone At Home” is a song that appears to have gone through quite a drastic change since it’s conception. What was once quite a slow and passive-aggressive song about shopping has been sped up and rocked out and turned into an aggressive rock number...about shopping. It makes sense that Coulton would do this as his characters almost always take a passive-aggressive stance in his songs and he breaks that norm by speeding the song up. It definitely makes sense though I can’t make my mind up whether or not I prefer this version or the slower one. I’m sure it will grow on me in time.

“Fraud” is an odd beast. This sort of acoustic riff is accompanied with this crazy muted synth bass line. It’s really cool and odd at the same time. The part that was really weird about this track was the part where the song slows down and we get clips of Coulton singing that sound like they were pasted together with no effort to make them blend well together. Almost like Coulton had broken out his Zendrum mid-song.

As for what it’s about? I guess it could be a commentary about the TV and various other platforms trying to sell a bunch of stuff with using baseless claims but then the chorus doesn’t really make much sense in that context:

“Sharp teeth, test your skin

Too late, you let an angel in”

I really am not sure. It really is a very strange song, even stranger than one about falling in love with Big Foot.

“Good Morning Tucson” was the second song released as a preview earlier this month and is yet another “Coulton Staple” song. One about those guys who have to get up and go to the TV studio to do the early early morning news. This is another song where you can tell that Coulton is in his element. Songs like this one were what made the vast majority of his “Thing-A-Week” project but even so you can hear how much better Coulton is at songwriting.

The song is a great insight in to just how soul-crushing sitting in front of a camera this early in the morning every day really is and just how odd it would be to see your face plastered onto billboards across town.

“Now I Am an Arsonist” sounds like a hilarious song but in reality it’s a cool little folk duet between Coulton and Suzanne Vega. Coulton stated when he first played the song on Joco Cruise Crazy “This is one of those impressionistic songs which even I don’t understand” so it could really be about anything.

From what I’ve taken from it, it could be about the modern day Icarus when you examine the last portion of the lyrics:

Now I am an arsonist, seven miles high
Burning through the air I breathe, thunder in the sky
My engine sings as it melts this pair of wings
That only I can see

Touch the sun, my eyes wide open unbelieving
Catch a breath, the only one who's left is leaving

Now I am an arsonist

Others speculate that it could be about the Columbia or Challenger space shuttle disasters from the point of view of the ship itself. Either idea could work equally well and it is totally up for anyone to interpret.

“Down Today” is probably the best “breaking up and getting over it” song I have ever heard. Mostly because of how happy sounding it is. Just the way it starts out on the Ukulele and slowly builds up from there is great. It’s also highly infectious. Seriously, if you hate having songs stuck in your head, avoid this whole album.This song could easily lift the spirits of even someone who isn’t going through a break-up.

“Dissolve” is yet another song that could be about anything. “This song is about a mysterious box. Mysterious, even to me, the writer of the song” Coulton says before playing the song live in Northampton MA the year previous. All that we know is that the contents of said box is “something bad” which isn’t a lot to go on.

It starts out with this awesome funk riff and goes into an almost rock-ballad type chorus. Once again, highly infectious. I didn’t know it was possible to get the majority of an album stuck in your head before this one existed.

Nearing the end portion of the album we have “Nobody Loves You Like Me” which I had the great pleasure of seeing performed live for the first time. The song hasn’t changed much from then either, it’s almost identical to it’s live counter-part.

It’s quite haunting as you hear Coulton sing accompanied by his digitally produced harmonies. We’re once again back inside a bar (obviously with the guys from “Sucker Punch” and “Je Suis Rick Springfield”) as a lonely man laments being invisible to the world around him.

Returning one last time to one of his most popular songs Coulton re-works “Still Alive” complete with a Theremin intro featuring guest vocalist Sara Quinn. It’s a refreshing re-visit and the song and is definitely different enough to make it stand out against its original counter-part.

My favorite part of this particular track is just after Quinn sings:

So I’m glad I got burned

Think of all the things we learned

For the people who are Still Alive

The songs tone just changes drastically and it settles back into familiar territory with ease. This alone warrants a do-over of this particular song and I again applaud Coulton because going back and re-working fan-favorites is a risky business.

Directly following that is “Want You Gone” which is not all that different from the original version bar it being Coulton signing and the drums are much more pronounced in this version. Hearing Coulton do lead falsetto vocals is also pretty cool.

Rounding everything off is the very first song that Coulton ever mentioned from this album “The Stache” which is a song about…having a moustache. It’s very silly, very catchy and…well do I even need to say any more?

Overall this album manages to feel like it has a theme whilst being different enough to hold your interest and keep you guessing. The sense of wondering what some songs are about is also a nice little touch which I doubt is intentional for the most part.

Hearing new music from Coulton is always a joy for me and it’s great to see a musician who’s stuck it out and not gone with a record label do so well and have a reasonably large following.

Above all, the album seems to be about the lamentation of things that can’t be changed. We will always grow old and hit forty, we will always have jobs we hate, we will always have to go shopping, and we will always grow a moustache.

I’ve been looking forward to this album all year and can safely say it did not disappoint at all. I’m sure that his style is not for everyone but everyone should at least give Coulton’s music a try. Chances are if, like me, you like Still Alive and Want You Gone then you’re going to like his other stuff.

Highly entertaining, extremely well put together and produced. If I hadn’t all ready shaken this mans hand and told him he was awesome, I would.

Two new songs, and holy crap theres an album there.

New Songs: Till The End Of Time and Better Dreams

So, yeah. There's now an albums worth of content that you can listen to in full and download from my Last.FM page. I'll update the Soundcloud at a later date.

As I said before, it's far from finished and it will be a while before I consider it finished properly but it will definitely be worth it once It's done. You can go ahead and listen to all of it now but some of it is very rough around the edges. If you don't mind then that's cool with me.

It's pretty cool to listen back to it as a whole and realize that I did it all flying solo. Definitely something I'm quite proud of. I like pretty much all of the tracks too. There isn't a track where I think that a song could benefit from more writing or being stripped back to be more simplistic. As they are they're all pretty good. Just need a bit of polish.

I remember that I said that song Number 12 would stay off the album. Well truth is song Number 12 doesn't appear on this album but there are 12 songs there. That's because song 11 is a totally new song and number 12 was the intended 11th song.

It's a bonus track and I have no idea if bonus tracks count or not. It ended up being a bonus track because I didn't like it as much as the other song and it sounds a bit too much like "Where It Starts And Where We Are" for my liking but I like the lyrics and melody enough to not scrap it completely.

So what about the 11th addition then? well I wanted to do something simple with the acoustic guitar. I had this little melody that I've been playing over and over and not knowing what to do with and I finally found an effective way to use it. I really like the way this builds up and I really like the piano on the track too. I didn't intend to include strings and piano, in fact I wanted to keep it as simple as it can get with just the guitar and me singing but then I decided to make it a bit more interesting by adding more in and it worked out great.

and uh, yeah, that makes love song number 2. my apologies.

So, now comes the quite daunting task of going through the songs with a fine tooth comb. some I may even re-record in their entirety. It will be a long process with probably a lot of frustrations along the way but it will make the album just that bit better.

Until next time

- Dex01

One Down....

New Song: Help Me Off This Shelf

Only one song to go until I have successfully written, recorded and released a whole albums worth of songs, although some are really a lot like rough ideas. Especially "Get Up And Go" which was just me and the acoustic guitar and was really supposed to serve as a reminder so that I wouldn't forget the song idea but I ended up adding harmonies and a little bit of extra guitar work and I figured I hadn't put anything out in a while so, why not.

So, about this song then. I've had the concept for this one in my head for a while. Originally it was totally different, There was a pre-verse bit that was a bit more complex than is usual when it comes to my guitar work. The verse was pretty much lifted from the pre-chorus of the Foo Fighters "I Should Have Known" and the chorus was simpler than it is in the finished song but contains the same essential chords.

So what happened to that version? Well I found that I just couldn't pull off the fiddly little pre-verse bit I had written for myself. I tired and tried and tried but I just couldn't get it to sound right.I tired approaching it in a variety of different ways but it just wasn't working. I do have a really rough recording of what it would sound like and I might post that at some point so people can get an idea of what it was going to sound like.

As you can imagine I was pretty down about the fact I couldn't perform what I had written for myself and I sulked for a couple of days. I went back and tried to see if I could re-work the song in some way. So I started messing around with the chorus bit and found a riff that was much simpler but really sounded good. This is the riff you can hear in the chorus which is reminiscent of "Enough Space" by the Foo Fighters.......well damn one band in particular seems to have had a lot of influence on me this time around.

As for the rest, it's essentially just the chorus chords but in a different order but it gets the job done and sounds pretty good. The little sort of orchestral bit at the end I thought up at around the same time as the rest of the song. I thought it would be a good way to end the song and because it sounds like it does I have placed it in between "Five Long Years" because that's very rock based and "Where It Starts And Where We Are" because that's more light and floaty like the end of this one.

Of course the important part of any song is the lyrics. And. Well. It's a love song. Not in a conventional sense though. It's not a ballad or an acoustic song, I described it to my friend as "a love song hiding underneath a rock song" which is pretty much exactly what it is and the ending pretty much backs that one up. And this kind of love song has been done before. "Always" by Sum 41 was quite close to what I was aiming for.

Was it difficult to write? Um, yes. I have been agonizing for close to over a year about this song. I always knew I was going to write a love song I just had no idea how I would go about it. Eventually I just stuck to the old writers adage "write what you know" so I decided to write how I felt. Then I realized I felt a bunch of different ways. One moment I could feel really strongly, the next I could sort of just feel contented and happy. And I kind of just worked those two together. This reflects more of the high energy feelings and then kind of just settles down which honestly is pretty much spot on.

When I wrote "This Doesn't Concern You" I thought about a lot of things from the past that either hurt or made me angry. When I wrote the line "you put me on a shelf" I was thinking mostly about my last relationship. Not that she just up and left without a word it was a mutual thing but she definitely left a big hole. So I thought "what better way to describe how I feel than to explain that all the past wrongs had been undone" And that is where "Help Me Off This Shelf" comes from.

Yes it's all soppy emotional stuff this time around and I do apologize for it but hey, this stuff happens and I really wanted to get this one done because it was an idea that has been bothering me for quite a while now so it's great to have that finished.

Only one song left now until all my bigger song ideas are done. Even though I have to go back through them I'm quite keen to hear how the more polished versions will sound.

Until then

- Dex01

Another hair-brained scheme

Before I launch into what will probably be the most long winded blog-post ever, I should probably introduce myself for those of you who have no clue who I am. Real name is Alex. but everyone calls me Dex.

It was my online screen name that one friend got so used to that he started using it in the real world and then it caught on. before I know what's going on I have a girlfriend who knows me by a name I never had. It gets confusing sometimes but I like to keep the name as a reminder of my past, uh, I guess trials and tribulations.

As a person, I guess I'm sort of difficult to figure out. sort of an introverted extrovert. Quiet with a lot to say for myself. Shy but want to be seen. Sometimes I can be hesitant to talk to new people but I want to perform in front of strangers. my brain is wired all wrong.

I'm into all kinds of different things. I love video games, films, animation and, unsurprisingly, music. I'm studying film at the moment and the music stuff kind of fits in between when I have time for it.

As for WHAT music I like it's really mostly rock but there's a bit of everything in there. everything from AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Radiohead, Weezer, Motley Crue a bunch of stuff. There's a bunch of orchestrated video game music in there too along with what the kids call "chiptunes" because I am naturally a huge nerd.

What inspired me to try and get myself "out there" as a musician was a man called Jonathan Coulton who you MAY have heard of as he wrote the ending songs for the video game Portal and it's sequel. Here's the best part: Coulton quit his day job to write music. THAT is inspiration if ever I saw it!

So, what's up with the shelf thing? well, when I started this project, I didn't know it was going to be a project until song idea numbers 2 & 3 popped up. originally I just wanted to see if I could write a song and it turned out that I could! (in my opinion at any rate) so I took my first stab at writing lyrics in a very long time (I don't remember if I ever wrote good lyrics before) and the very first verse read:

I live for no one else
I am all by my self
I think I need some help
and you put me on a shelf

not terribly inventive but not terrible either. When I wrote this song, I think I was on a real "I am my own person and you can't tell me what to do" kick. It was that way for a lot of these songs. I had quite a lot of lyrics about being myself and not being false.

When song number 2 rolled around, I figured I would just put both of these out and that would be the end of that. Then song number 3 happened and I figured I would just write two more and call it an EP. taking what I felt was the most "poignant" line from the songs I had so far I titled the EP "You Put Me On A Shelf" and did indeed write two more subsequent songs.

Did the ideas stop there? nope. Apparently my brain misunderstood what I wanted and turned the number 5 into 11 and so a full album project is born. I knew I was in trouble when song number 6 arrived. I had a moment where I said "okay I'll just put that with the other ones" and then there was 7, 8, 9, & 10 and then that's too many for an EP so may as well call it an album.

This album isn't even finished yet and I already have ideas for my next TWO albums. Having lots of ideas is great but it gets to a point where you (somehow) think "WHEN WILL IT END?" There could potentially be a song number 12 on the current album but I think I'm going to leave that idea in the vault for now. I don't think it'll be there for long at any rate.

What's the album about? good question. my best answer: Everything. It's a jumbled mess because it wasn't planned as an album and I had no reference for a starting point and it just kind of "grew" naturally. It's cool to hear me get steadily better at songwriting as the album goes on but it suffers because the album has no context or central themes.

Is it a long album? not really. the first five songs that were meant to be the EP were only one to two minutes in length. that's why it was going to be an EP. then three four minute songs happened and that idea went out of the window. at present it's about 25 minutes long, unfinished songs not included ,so that's subject to change. final run-time will probably be something like 35 minutes

The album will be "finished" soon but it will be a while before I consider it done as in completed. some songs are not really "mixed" right e.g. Some vocals are too loud, that harmony doesn't work, that part is slightly off beat etc etc there are a bunch of problems that need to be fixed before it's passable as a proper album and I do want to get it to that stage. I could just leave it and feign ignorance but I would only end up going back to those songs later anyway (and cause more ideas).I'll leave everything as it is on Soundcloud but I will delete old versions and replace them with newer ones on Last.FM

You Put Me On A Shelf by Dex01
(Note: not all songs have been uploaded to Soundcloud. Last.FM stays updated most regularly)

Only two songs left until the, I suppose, "beta" version of the album is done. one song is pretty much finished, just needs to be tweaked. second one I know where I'm headed with which is not always the case and I kind of merged two ideas for songs together into this one. looking forward to getting those done soon.

As for the next two projects I want to work on, I have some idea of what I want to do. The next album I won't consider a continuation of this one because I want to work with lots of different people. I'm basically going to invite anyone who wants to participate to write song lyrics for me. Lyrics can be about anything from why you love toast to how much you hate fire I really don't mind. Doesn't have to be a whole song either can be a verse or a chorus or even just a first line. It's a project that I just want to have some fun with and collaborate with people and hopefully maybe get a bit more noticed. maybe. It's probably going to be quite fun and I'm sure there are many people out there that are better lyricists than I am.

So will there ever be a You Put Me On A Shelf:A Storage Unit Compendium II? Yes. Eventually. It won't be called that. (probably). Now that I'm nearing the pseudo finish-line with the current album I'm having thoughts about how I would go back and re-do this one if I knew it was going to become a full album. It would probably be a lot more personal and tackle a few more sensitive issues that I don't touch on in here. most of this album is "bad person did bad thing to me and I am mad" and that's okay when it's backed up with some good sounding music but there's definitely a few things I haven't tackled that I would be quite tempted to at least take a stab at in round 2.

Will it be as serious? I haven't decided yet. I got inspired and wrote a song called "Working Man's Lament" on a whim. A song about average Office-Working-Joe having a bad day but with humorous lyrics. Ended up being something I'm quite proud of and prompted the collaboration idea. So it would probably be a mixture of songs like that and others that are more serious which is much more my style. This is all one huge learning curve for me and I'm just mostly shrugging and following the path I'm setting up for myself. Now I'm looking back at said path and realizing I've missed bits. Or some bits are a bit off. analogies!

I hope that every poor soul who decides to read all this and has been bored to death now understands my thought process a bit more. Maybe one day you will see a blog post about HOW I COME UP WITH IDEAS. don't worry it will only be 1,000 pages long!

Until then.

- Dex.