After hearing him interviewed on LyricFM this afternoon, I just had to investigate this guy more. I love how he talks about music and performance, and the value of music.
Here’s this afternoon’s interview:
[audio:http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-08021118min30seclyricbestpekka-pid0-1110072.mp3]
And a great video interview with Britten Sinfonia violinst Lizzie Ball where he “explains his unique outlook on music, performance and life in general.”
Both interviews are well worth spending the time listening to if you’re passionate about music – classical or not. There’s a great random impromptu hotel room fiddle session in the middle of that video above. Fantastic folk music and an absolute gem.
One little gem of advice that made me smile at the same time: “If you’re hungry, you should play more chamber music. If your television is broken, you should play more chamber music.”
This song was previously demo’d about a year ago, and even shoddier than this demo I’m posting today, but nonetheless, the song has come together more in my head, and I’ve a clearer idea of it now than I did 12 months ago. It’s a cute little pop song that kept popping into my head in different bits and pieces, that all came together on the piano at one point. It has a jauntiness that makes me smile, and although I think I really intended on making it quite a musically simple song, it hops back and forth between two keys instead. Oh well, that’s what I get for intentionally trying to write something simple and straight forward. It seems that when I try to write something more complex, I end up using two or three chords!
Nevertheless, I like this little tune. I fuck up the piano, as I’m wont to do, and I probably go off key too, which is my other little issue when I’m recording myself. I really hate recording myself. Just thought I’d put that out there.
But yeah, this song is about liking someone you should really like in that way at all, but you know, you can’t really help who you fall for sometimes can you? I kinda like the gender-fuck in the lyrics, and it was intentional.
I really love Thea Gilmore’s “Strange Communion” – it’s not only one of my favourite “holiday” albums, but it’s a really wonderful collection of songs, regardless of the winter/christmas themes.
I wanted to do some kind of little “seasons greetings” message of sorts, and the best way I know how is through music. This song has been in my head a lot this week, what with the solstice, full moon and lunar eclipse, and the snow and wintry weather here in Ireland for once. So, I decided to do a rough little cover of it on piano. This is Thea Gilmore’s “Midwinter Toast”:
Nollaig shona, agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir freisín.
(you can hear it on soundcloud too, and download it from there if you like too.)
I was going through all the stuff I’ve demo’d and seeing what needed improving, and did two re-demos of two songs last night. This is the first of them : “Galway Rain”, which I’ve written about before.
I have an awful habit of being really “free” in my approach to rhythm and keeping a steady tempo. It’s something that has always plagued my piano work even as a classical student. But the years of having to practice with a metronome filled me with an absolute distaste for them and click tracks. But it’s something I need to overcome as well as working on listening closer to my own internal sense of rhythm instead of abandoning my playing completely to emotional rubato.
That was one of the reasons I wanted to retake this demo – to get a tighter feel to the pulse, which I managed to mess up in the bridge again when I went to relisten to it. I guess I’ll have to take out my metronome again, or overcome my fear of click tracks.
Listening back to recordings of yourself is the most horrible, yet often essential learning.
Anyways, here’s the re-take of that demo, mistakes and all.
There’s music everywhere now. There’s saturation now. It’s become a career opportunity. A job. People go on The X Factor and say, “I just want a better life”. I wanted to change the world. When I started making music, I felt, naïvely or not, that I had something to tell the world. I had a mission statement. It’s great to buy your mum a house. It’s a lovely idea. But it shouldn’t be why you make music. When I hear that I think “you’re getting it all wrong”. My favourite type of music makes me want to burn down a building or makes me cry.
I agree with everything in this quote. It’s one of the best statements about the music industry and why some people just have to make music, and others just want to be famous. The whole article, an interview with Mark Ronson and Boy George together, is definitely worth reading. Boy George is a very interesting man, and I’ve a lot of respect for him after reading that interview. I never really read much about him, other than random news headlines, and I only really know his Culture Club singles.
There’s a wonderful moment at the end of the article, where Mark Ronson jokingly refers to Boy George as a “national treasure”, and the Boy responds:
Being a national treasure doesn’t pay the rent though. An 80s icon is nothing to be.
I used to watch a music show back in the late 90’s on TnaG (TG4 as it is now), and they’d have 20minute segments dedicated to an artist or a year or whatever, and I remember one time it was Culture Club. I knew the songs, but didn’t know the man, and even then it was an exhilarating experience to see someone so definitely “other” singing on my tv. The same show introduced me to Kate Bush, and developed my popular music history. Of course, I’m a sucker for choirs, so the Culture Club song that made the biggest impact is one that is probably not as well known (note the top hat. Even more awesome) :
Of course the reason for the interview with the two together is because of the Mark Ronson single “Somebody To Love Me” which has Boy George on vocals, along with Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow.
