February What Ya Doin To Me

Maybe one of the reasons I've dived into/obligated myself to the 12/12 project even though I knew it will be challenging is because it may prove to be one of the few things I can turn to for consistency, something that will be constant in what threatens to be a very challenging year. Something I can escape into as long as I can find some little nook to record/make some noise somewhere, wherever it may be.

I have to confess I came so close to NOT jumping into this this project. I didn't feel that confident about it, but championed enthusiastically by Jarvis Cocker, Amanda Palmer, Tom Robinson, Gideon Coe, and many others, 'January Egg Race Dream' quickly received more UK radio plays than any single I've ever released, much to my surprise and delight.

Perhaps February's installment will spoil all that, as it's completely different. February's been rough. It began with a burst of incessant glass-rattling wind storms, this had yet to let up as I finished recording. Emotional situations among myself and my friends seemed strangely synchronous to this, challenged by uncertainties, somewhat unhinged. The result is a bit of a rocker. Possibly a return to the juvenile insanity of some of my former band days when I was an anxiety-fraught teen. Or maybe I still am an anxiety-fraught teen. Once again, it's a free download for a limited time.

Groundhog Day In Wowtown

WOWTOWN WINTER OFFICIALLY OVER

It was a distinctly overcast morning this Groundhog Day in Wowtown. As town mascot and talented Tuba playing groundhog Al Camus emerged sleepily from his hole he hardly even noticed that he cast no dreaded shadow that would have scared him right back down (which, as tradition would have it, would portend an extended winter in Wowtown). He was too distracted instead by the lively gathered throng of townsfolk and their celebratory roar.
It was quite a reception, and he made a grand entrance, putting on airs of nonchalance, stretching and yawning, and finally taking a few graceful bows. But unlike the enthusiastic gathered mob, he was secretly a little disappointed that spring would now officially start, as he'd been enjoying his lengthy and comfortable hibernation wrapped snugly in his soft electric blanket in the warm dark, dreaming endlessly about gorgeous groundhog girls.

January Egg Race Dream

Got back a bit later than I thought, but the interview with Bob Fischer at BBC tees on Friday went well enough. And in fact you can listen to it online for about a week (interview starts a little over half way through, just after Tiny Tim!)
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio/bbc_tees

But most importantly here's the track, hope you enjoy it:

New Year, New Project, New Blog

TWELVE TRACKS/TWELVE MONTHS

I've started a new project that I'm quite excited about, kind of a living, mutating album that will be composed and released at 12 intervals over 2011. I'm not certain exactly how the project will unfold, but tracks will be informed by any number of things: the vibe, feeling, texture, atmosphere of the changing seasons, the expanding and contracting lengths of days and nights, weather, news, dreams, personal or world events as they unfold. I expect (in my usual fashion) that successive tracks may be radically different. The goal is to write, record, and release each track within the span of each month.

This is a bit of a crazy goal as I already tend to bite off more than I can chew and tend to like to let songs develop and ferment over time, reworking and polishing them.  It's something I believe is healthy to let happen, since in this modern age we are constantly confronted by deadlines and seeming lack of time, and it's great to escape to a world where those constraints aren't imposed in which to create.  However, there's also something to be said for the way the time of year influences the atmosphere of a particular piece, and if I'm taking my sweet time finishing a song, say in January, that is evocative of January, but I don't finish and release it until July, well, it might not sit so well in July.

So I've self-imposed a time limit to work within the span of a month on each track, I like the immediacy of the concept. Maybe I wont be able to keep up, but I've dived off the board and finished January's installment a few days ago.   It'll be online this weekend and copies went out to a limited radio, and guess what: I'm now waiting for a phone call from Bob Fischer at BBC Tees. He loves the song and has invited me to go on his show for an interview, monthly, as each new track is finished, starting tonight!
I also received word just a while ago that Tom Robinson is going to preview the song on his BBC6 show tonight as well. Yay Tom!


There's the phone... back later.