My first EP will be live and available for purchase on Amazon in a few weeks! It has four songs, plus two bonus tracks, and you will love it. You possibly already do.
xo
Exciting news! Some friends of mine have a rad film podcast called Film101 and the latest episode features a few of my songs, including my latest!
The Film101 podcast is worth checking out in general-- the hosts are hilarious and insightful and they choose great topics to discuss. You can listen to the first five episodes on the Dane101 website or by searching for "Film101" in the iTunes store.
I've been away for far too long. It seems I can only devote myself to one creative outlet at a time and lately it's been prose. But the keyboard is there, looming.
This past week has been a blur of family, friends, and sunshine-- the best kind of blur. I was in Florida for purposes of pumpkin-pie-consumption and partying down at LK's film premiere. The premiere was a smashing success and the after party was the stuff that dreams are made of.
Pretty people and good music make for easy video, even on a four-year-old Canon Powershot. This video was made by yours truly:
Happy Thanksgiving, fellow dudes and ladies!
A lot has happened since last we spoke: the weather's turned cold, the economy's made a run for the border, and I've had my heart broken no less than three separate times. I may have broken a few myself. It's been a busy month.
But I'm cutting back down to one job, so hopefully my writing will begin taking place at the piano again. Not that I have anything against napkin scribbles and singing into my voicemail at crowded bus stops, but the novelty's wearing thin.
My excuses for the past month are the usual: sick, work, out of town. In reverse order of enthusiasm. My out of town adventure was to Chicago where I visited my dear friend M. Markets, museums, and thrift stores, oh my! To top off the weekend, we rediscovered Regina Spektor in M's colorful, mid-century kitchen while making eggplant-almond enchiladas. They've got them some fancy food in the big city!
But I didn't log in to tell you about eggplant-almond enchiladas (though they were delicious). I'm writing to tell you about a very special and exciting project I've been working on with Glenn Case.
A few months ago, Glenn got some folks together and asked us to collaborate on a tribute album. I'll let Glenn explain in his own words:
Several musicians from thesixtyone have come together to pay tribute to a specialguy, and a special band.
Supergrover is a very active listener on thesixtyone, and he's a very funny guy. In May of 2008, he was diagnosed with cancer. Even after the diagnosis, he has maintained a great sense of humor.
Supergrover has described For Squirrels as his "favorite band that no one has heard of." Two founding members of the band died in a car accident along with their tour manager on September 8th, 1995. They might have developed a much larger audience if tragedy hadn't struck so early in the band's career.
Every song [in this tribute] will be a cover version of a song that was originally recorded by For Squirrels.
From the folks who brought you February Album Writing Month:
Fourteen songs in twenty-eight days was one thing, but fifty songs in ninety days? That just seems masochistic.
And yet, here I am. Nearly a month late, I've got two full songs and a slew of half-written ditties and only 64 days to go. Better get crackin'.
Earlier this year, I participated in February Album Writing Month. FAWM is an annual event in which musicians from all over the world commit to writing a full album in the month of February: 14 songs in 28 days. It's ridiculously fun and inspiring.
One of the best things about FAWM is the Weekly Challenge. Each week, FAWM presents artists with a new challenge to inspire us and jog our creativity. One week this year, FAWM participants Nancy Rost, Tim Wille, and Paul Turrell got together and wrote the chords and lyrics to a song. The challenge for FAWM participants was to record our own version of the song before listening to anyone else's. It was called the "Explore the Core" Challenge and the intention was to prove that a song is much more than the sum of its lyrics and chords.
Each version of the song ended up so incredibly different from the next. My version (with John Argentiero on guitar) is embedded above and has a very sleepy/sultry feel to it. My friend Andrew did an awesome heavy metal version and I recall Phil Norman's version being particularly moving and beautiful. The album also includes a great version from my friend Tara Craig, who is a fantastic singer-songwriter in Austin. There are 18 versions of the song in all.
I think the producers will be lucky to even recoup the cost of production, but any and all profits will be donated to RIME (Renovation in Music Education), which is an organization dedicated to helping young people succeed through innovative music-partnership programs.
If you're interested in picking up a copy, you can do so here.
Exciting news today in MixtapeLand!
I've been interviewed on MaxBumps.net, which is a sweet music webzine. They asked me some great questions and I'm really excited about it!
Click here to learn all of my deepest, darkest secrets.
I dragged home a beat-up old keyboard from a junk shop last week and it's basically taking up my entire bedroom right now. I'm considering selling my bed to make more room for it.
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After a month-long hiatus from music-making, I finished a new song today. It's good to be back.
About this song:
I don't know when it happened, but I somehow slip-slided from "all of my friends are single woooooooo!" to "all of my friends are getting married whaaaaaaaat?"
And before I could fully settle into engagement rings and wedding showers, the conversation turned to teething rings and changing tables. I'm beginning to worry that I've missed some significant boat here.
My Roommate. How old are you?
Me. Twenty-six.
My Roommate. Oh, ok. When I was 26, all of my friends were getting married, too. Now I'm 28 and they're all getting divorced.
Oh, god.
Joking aside, I feel really fortunate to be surrounded by people who are in amazingly balanced, loving, healthy relationships. It inspires me and it gives me hope.
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Come Around
Change is comin' round
Something's up and I feel down
I don't want to stop
I just wanna slow it down
Mortgages and diamond rings
When did we learn about all these things
Life is long, or so I'm told
It's a shame we spend it growin' old
And I ain't comin' round
No, I ain't comin' round
So, if you want me
You will have to come on down
Come on down
There's a heaven for those who wait
But waiting's a big mistake
Or so I'm told
'Cause those big, old pearly gates
They won't open if you're too late
Or so I'm told
CHORUS
Wanna tell you
(Been wanting to tell you)
We've got so much time
So let's just slow it down
Toes in the grass
And watchin' the sunset
From the tallest tree
Sounds alright by me
We've got so much time
CHORUS
Life is short but that's ok
We just live it day by day
That's what I say
CHORUS
Been wanting to tell you
We've got so much time
I wanted to tell you that my latest song just hit #1 on the T61 homepage. I also wanted to tell you that it is my birthday. Those are the things that I wanted to tell you.
About this song:
Quarter-life crisis. Hi, nice to meet you.
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Smoke Signals
There was a time when it all seemed clear
I got a signal when I picked up the line
But lately I feel like I'm out of range
And I wish someone would give me a sign
I'm hearing doot doot doot
And deet deet deet
On my little radio
I'm hearing doot doot doot
And deet deet deet
I'm tapping out the signals
And I'm sending up the flares
But it seems that I'm lost out at sea
But everywhere I look from my little life raft
I see a thousand other drifters just like me
We're singing deet deet deet
And doot doot doot
On our little radios
Singing doot doot doot
And deet deet deet
CHORUS
But the sea is getting rocky
And I'm starting to get cold
And I'm wondering if I'm ever getting home
CHORUS
My friend Russell recently directed me to thesixtyone.com, which is a place for artists to post songs and for listeners to find new music. The site works like Digg except that listeners "bump" songs instead of articles. It's a genius idea and is incredibly addictive.
The website works like a game that rewards you for "discovering" awesome new music before it catches on with the masses. Bumping a song costs a certain number of points, so listeners generally only bump a song if they genuinely like it or think it will be successful. The earlier that you bump a song, the more points it costs you, but if the song ends up taking off, then you make a lot more points back.
Anyway, so I posted a few of my silly little songs a few days ago. My silly little songs that I recorded using the internal mic on my laptop and composed using software that came with my computer. And, today, one of those silly little songs hit the T61 homepage with (at the time of this posting) 206 bumps. It's currently #2 on the homepage, right under a Shout Out Louds song. One of my other songs is creeping up behind with 121 bumps!
Guys, that is NUTS.
This is all really funny/amazing to me because I do not in any way think of myself as a real musician. People keep asking if I want to collaborate or if I have an album they can buy and I'm like whattttt?
The internet is so silly and wonderful!
I can't believe I actually finished! A few of the final tracks were just half-formed ideas (one doesn't even have a demo yet), but I finished!
14 songs in 29 22 days (I started late)
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My first day volunteering at the local radio station, I had the opportunity to watch someone sort the mail. OH MY GOD THEY GET SO MUCH MAIL. This is just a teensy little community radio station in the Midwest, guys. This is not Clear Channel. This is not Sony BMG. This is not even Saddle Creek, but there were like ten zillion CDs and some of them had posters or cutesy little gifts and they were all very professional-looking and, dudes, with the exception of R.E.M., I had never heard of any of these people.
It felt kind of overwhelming-- all of these artists just floating out in the abyss, unheard; their labor of love dumped unceremoniously in a cardboard box in the storage room of some community radio station.
I mentioned recently that a friend of mine put one of my songs on a mix CD. My initial thought was: "You can do that?" As if music is only music if it's handed down by a record company with slick packaging and downloadable ringtones.
My experience with FAWM has only succeeded in broadening my views further-- I've discovered songs through that site that I love every bit as much as the newest Panda Bear or Cold War Kids. This is music, too, and it feels real and it feels accessible.
Anyway, these thoughts are a bit disjointed, but I just wanted to write something about that.
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