Indie Album Round-up for 2009

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Dec 302009

So the calendar turns it’s way to the end of another year and as we usually do we look back and see where we’ve been and then look forward to where we’re going. Resolutions be damned!!! Musically it’s always a good thing to look back so we can pat ourselves on the back and say – We done some pretty good work there, man!

So let me throw some titles out there that caught my ear and the ears of a few of my musical friends. These are some selections from 2009 that are great examples of independent songwriting and producing. I look forward to hearing what 2010 has to offer.

These CDs are listed in no particular order, they’re ALL damned good! Please click on the album art and visit the artists’ websites and buy the music. Support Independent Music!

Happy New Year,
~Darryl

Thanks to Cameron Mizell, Steve Lawson, Cindy Smith D’Adamo for their suggestions.

“Old Man Dreamin’” by, John Batdorf
Track – ‘What D’ya Got?’

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“Happinesss + Victory” by Donna Fullman
Track – ‘Stone’

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“Solitary Songs” by, Miriam Jones
Track – ‘Helicopter’

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“On Your Back Porch” by, Lauren Zettler
Track – ‘Shapes’

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“Moonlight and Theremin” by, Karen Ramos
Track – ‘Raincoat’

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“Bony Jars” by, The Bootz Orchestra
Track – ‘Our Daughters’

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“Vinyl” by, D’Haene Band
Track – ‘Wouldn’t You Like To Know’

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“Chase You” by, Mike Stocksdale
Track – ‘The Old Band’

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“Uncovered” by, Coco & Lafe
Track – ‘Introduce Myself To You’

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The Challenge of Singing Cover Songs

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Oct 242009

I have had two successive discussions about doing cover songs recently. The first was with my songwriter’s circle and the second was with myself as I listened to Roseanne Cash talk about her new CD “The List” on NPR’s Fresh Air. Each time I have been confronted with how difficult it is to do a cover song right. There are a lot of bands/performers that cover a song just to have it in their songbook as filler for their second set and then there are artists that cover songs because they want to perform a great song.

The discussion I had with my Songwriter’s Circle was centered around how we can take a cover and transform it. The song that we were tossing about was AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”. That hard rockin’ song is difficult to do on acoustic guitar and have it sound like AC/DC. Well then, that’s the point: don’t allow it to sound like AC/DC. So we played it slower and with a bluegrass edge to it and man did it sound great! All of a sudden I started to really hear the lyrics and feel the intent of the song.

The discussion I had with myself as I listened to Roseanne Cash involved honesty and soul. If you’re going to sing classic country songs that everyone knows, then you had better understand your reason for singing it. How are you, the singer, going to make an audience hear this song differently from the way we are used to hearing it? Do you really understand the lyrics and can you convey the meaning to an audience that may understand them a totally different way.

I have a few covers in my working songbook that I take out every once in a while. The latest song I’ve added is “One” by U2 and I am struggling with it. First of all how do I make it mine? How do I change it up with out ruining a beautiful melody and lyric? And how do I make it travel from the first line to the last line like Bono does? And – how do I create atmosphere with my acoustic guitar the way The Edge does with his electric and a lot of delay?

In my head I had a picture of Tom Waits doing this song. What would he do? Slow it down? Be more accusatory in his tone? Speak some of the lines? I tried to approach it from this angle. I also have a lower voice than Bono does so I couldn’t do the vocal calisthenics that he does and that gave me another indication that I should think of Waits.

The more times I sung the lyrics the more I felt the real anger that was hidden between the lines. Even though Bono sings this in a ballad style, I felt that there needed to be some punch to a few of the lines so that the person being sung to (and about) really gets hit in the face with the words.

I’m still working on this One, but check out the video of me and let me know what you think. I take the covers I do very seriously and I try to find a balance between original interpretation and keeping true to the writer’s intent.

Peace

~Darryl

(You can check out the video to this cover at The Weekly Drip – my creativity blog)

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How I Use Virtual Drum Samplers

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Sep 302009

~ faking them out with fake sounds

There was a time when I referred to myself as a drum purist. I hated the sound of processed drums and electronic drums and I especially harbored great disdain for the “Drum Loop”. I could smell them a mile away when I heard songs on the radio and I looked down my nose thinking that the engineer/producer either didn’t have the time or talent to add a live/real drum track to the song. Well I’ve changed my tune recently and I’ll tell you why. Continue reading »

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Underground Changes

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Mar 102009

I am in the process of re-thinking the format of this podcast. I realized that I really like to do interviews and I think that listeners enjoy the interviews as well as I have gotten a lot of great comments on the shows with interviews and my interviewing style.

I will not be accepting any new CD submissions at this time and I will be instituting a new submission policy.

So stay tuned for new shows in the coming weeks.

~DG

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Posted by Darryl at 8:32 am

CD Package Design

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Dec 262008

thoughts about good designs
~ David Cole Wheeler

There is an ongoing discussion in the design world regarding the importance of CD package design as we move forward into an age of music free of physical media. The halcyon days of album art are behind us; the foot-by-foot square canvas that gave Roger Huyssen and Gerard Huerta space to create some of the best-loved album art in history is gone forever, in its place the barely 5 inch square package of various configurations. There are opportunities here for interesting design solutions, however and there’s no reason to despair.

Until all music is sold on USB Flash sticks, that is. Continue reading »

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Posted by Darryl at 10:25 am Tagged with: , ,

Press Clips

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Aug 102008

How to get a good one
Should a review be free or should you pay?

In the scramble to get your press kit completed you want to have several essential things included: a good head-shot or picture of the band, a snappy description of your album, a short bio and some press clips. Ah the press clips. Where do they come from and how do you go about enticing some unknown author to write something nice and constructive about your tracks? Can just anybody write something about your work? Does it matter if the byline of the author is Rolling Stone or Podunk Weekly? And, should a review be free or should you pay? Continue reading »

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Posted by Darryl at 9:56 pm

Web Finds ~ Aug. ’08

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Aug 102008

Here are some interesting items I’ve run across on the web recently.

Derek Sivers’ new Blog
· Anyone who has any interest in the indie-music business should subscribe to this blog. Derek is the founder of CDBaby.com and not ony does this blog cover music, but it also talks about the business mindset and how to approach your music as a business. Must reading! More on what Derek is up to…

Facebook Tackles Music, Movies
· Do you use Facebook? This is an interesting article concerning those Musician Pages you’ve probably put up and the new Facebook templates.

ReverbNation
· It seems there is a new platform for digital distribution all the time. But so far it doesn’t seem that one site has everything a band needs to keep in contact, have a webpage, send emails, locate venues and create a general web-presence. It seems that ReverbNation has created something close. Try it, it’s free… See my RN page…

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Posted by Darryl at 9:53 pm

Web Finds ~ May ’08

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May 082008

Here are some things I’ve found that might be of interest to y’all:

- Measure for Measure blog
As a subscriber to the NY Times, I noticed this blog and got hooked right away. The posts from Roseann Cash are heartbreaking.
With music now available with a single, offhand click, it’s easy to forget that songs are not born whole, polished and ready to play. They are created by artists who draw on some combination of craft, skill and inspiration. In the coming weeks, the contributors to this blog — all accomplished songwriters — will pull back the curtain on the creative process as they write about their work on a songs in the making.
- Digital Cafe Tour
I found this to be an interesting new development in the ever expanding frontier of web-exposure. For those of you lookng to produce a high quality video, this may be of interest. Check it out.
- Rode University
This site apealed to me because I own a studio, but as I looked over the site I thought that this might be a great resource for an atist that doesn’t know a lot about the recording process. The tutorials are very “Recording 101″, but they’re good for the person that is going into the studio for the first time. You can get an idea of how to mic your instruments, what types of mics they might use and where they might be placed. Of course Rode is trying to sell their mics, but hey, it’s still a cheap and informative course. Check it out.

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Posted by Darryl at 11:08 am

Singing in Tune

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May 082008

I just recently had the opportunity to use my pitch correction software for the very first time. I was always of the mindset that the singer should sing the part right. Hey, don’t ask me if I have the software to correct your voice before you even try to sing – just sing in tune! I really never even thought about the software until I got a call from a client that said the background vocals on a track he recorded with me were slightly out of tune in a few places and they couldn’t get back to the studio and needed the mix now. I started to sweat because I didn’t know how to use the software, but as it turned out it was easy, too easy. Continue reading »

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Posted by Darryl at 11:06 am

Web-Finds ~ March, ’08

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Mar 172008

Here are some things I’ve found that might be of interest to y’all:

  • The John Lennon Songwriting Contest is up and running for another year. $30 to submit a song – Have some confidence in your songs and see where it can take you… you never know
  • This is something I picked up from Sonic Bids about Creative Common Licensing. Continue reading »
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Posted by Darryl at 7:58 pm
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