What About The Length Of An Album

I've got albums from my favorite band that are barely 40 minutes long.  I don't care, I love it...I just always wonder what convinces people to make albums of a certain length.  Is this something that people arrive at because they think the album is done, or is the number of tracks and their relative length part of some divine formula.  Just wondering...

In other news, writing in the middle of the night really helps.  I have some great tracks ready to go, and I just need to decide what is going to accompany them.  How simple or complex they will be.  But this thing is coming together in a way where I can spend mid-April to mid-May recording and see if I can release this puppy on June 1 on basically all forms of media :)

No One Knows For Sure, But That Time You Know

That time that you know that you wrote something truly brilliant.  I mean, you will be happy with all the things that you write and record, but sometimes they are things that you like personally.  They are not necessarily things that everyone is going to stand up and say "That's fucking brilliant."  However, there are those few times when you write something that you know is utterly brilliant, that's a good feeling.  It's an even better feeling when you wrote that song at 2 in the morning and it's about somebody you care about.  Yeah, that's a good feeling.  I cannot wait to really finish this work and put these songs on tape.

How Does One Shred When One Does Not Have A Studio In Which To Shred?

How do you record in your home,  shred , and not blowout the mic you're using... Any thoughts?

Instinctual Lyrics?

I wrote almost all my songs as the music first and the words second.  The music just come naturally, and I can edit it to fit in words that work well, but I have not written a whole song and then tried to write music to fit it.  There is something about instinctually putting words to the music I already have that I find oddly satisfying.  I know that people edit their songs all the time, but how often do they edit them?  I feel like the music happens and then some lyrics happen when I am ready...anyone else want to share their process?

All Songs Written

Well, I technically did not write two of them, but I have decided how I'm going to play them since they were over 200 years ago.  The other songs are totally written, and I need to decide on the setting for record straight solo much, that is in the pop format, that feels like something smooth and indieish.  Yes, I know.  That's some serious shit.  I'm tempted to record them on my phone or tablet from across the room.

Anyways, I want it to sound like it was recorded in a garage because those are some of the roots of indie music.  Things that do not fit the mold (like Bass Clarinet pop songs that have no sung words) and things that are not going to hit the Billboard 100 on their first release.  I much prefer to be on the outside of the box...now to make it sound that way.

Songs With No Words? Sort Of...

I have just constructed five songs that have words, but they don't.  I'm also going to use two very old favorites from the classical literature that people would recognize, but they are going to have their own spin.  However, these five songs that have words, they won't be sung on the tracks.  The words have meaning, they determine the titles of the songs, but they are like poetry that accompanies the tracks.

I can imagine, in a perfect world, that people at shows would sing the words along while I play, but I don't think that the words need to be present on the tracks.  I'm a bass clarinetist, not a singer.  I'm like Santana...I'd rather not sing.  However, I'm not making Supernatural.  I'm not trying to crack open the Billboard hot 100.

I think the songs will really speak to people because they have deep emotional meaning.  They are very personal, but I don't see the need to throw the words up when I know I can't sing them.

So, what say you to words that exist but are not sung?  I don't think I'm living a pipe dream that people would sing them at a show, but I don't want people to think I'm crazy.  A poem that fully matches the song someone's listening to...it almost begs them to interpret the song even more, and that is what is going to make it all worthwhile.

The Heights Of Cross Promotion

I am going to be doing a lot of releases over the course of the year.  There will be a YouTube channel with mood music on it that has lovely backgrounds.  There will some indie rockish type stuff coming out in the summer and fall, and there will be several releases through the CD Baby free market.  You would have to pay for the tracks, but they don't charge me much to list on their market.  As I said, the heights of cross promotion.  If you have never been to the CD Baby website, you go visit them because there are MANY more people besides me who also want and deserve your business.  Links will be coming as soon as the first album comes out.  This is sort of an unholy combination of storytelling moody jazz that could pass for indie rock if I changed the structure and added some words.  Yeah, something like that.