music, noises and other stuff
news
FAWM – Write an album in 28 days
Jan 8th
I recently (while hanging out on Reddit) discovered a really cool project that’s taking place in February this year: February Album Writing Month, or FAWM for short. The idea is to attempt to write 14 songs in 28 days – 1 new song every 2 days.
That’s an incredibly hectic pace of writing, and doesn’t allow much room for deep thought – but that’s the point. Under such hectic time pressure, you really can’t afford to vanish into your navel, or waste months of your life trying to perfect things. With FAWM, no matter how raw it is, get it done and move on.
An interesting aspect of FAWM is that unlike similar projects like RPM, the focus is on the songwriting itself, not the recording or the performance. You don’t even have to submit a recorded demo if you don’t want to (although it obviously helps) – the lyrics are enough.
The aim here is really less about competition and more about helping you kickstart or restart your stagnant writing skills. That’s a really attractive idea for me. I’ve done so much work for other people in the last couple of years, I really haven’t had the time, discipline or inclination to write anything for myself. My hard drive has these folders, sorted by year, that contain little fragments of started things that I’ve never revisited.
So I signed up for FAWM 2011 – and so should you. My failing as a songwriter is that I tend to get lost in the groove, and then over-think the lyrics to the point where I decide they’re too shit to do anything with. I’m hoping that the pace of FAWM will help me snap out of this behaviour: get it done, today. Who cares if it sucks?
You see, not everything you write has to be a masterpiece. We all have great songs in us, and a lot of rubbish ones too. By writing more, and by being involved in that process, we make space for the good songs to appear.
So, I’ll be creating a FAWM page on this site, and you’re welcome to track my progress. If you’re at all interested in songwriting, I challenge you to come and join me and the (as of this writing) 4,000+ others from around the world who are taking part this year.
Good at lyrics but suck at music? Write great tunes but can’t find the words? No problem – FAWM has a vibrant forum with lots of people looking to collaborate.
Aylos – single released
Jul 18th
Well, Guffy gave us the go ahead, so it is with great pride that we present the first of what we intend to be many “CD singles” sold through Amie Street. The album art is the work of my frighteningly talented brother Christopher.
The term “CD single” is of course redundant in this day and age – it’s a digital download of 3 different mixes of Aylos’s track “I’m Beautiful,” all completely DRM free. If you want to burn it to CD, be my guest.
I posted a version of this track a few weeks ago, so for variation find below a much harder, much clubbier, much more radio friendly version.
Dig it:
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
If you like it, play it again 
If you feel like owning it, pop over to Amie Street, where it is available free for a limited period.
Mr Ray
Apr 16th
This week I had the great pleasure of recording an old friend, Ray Connell. His act is mind blowing: he plays acoustic guitar, he sings, and he beatboxes. All at the same time.
Ray laid down six tracks as casually as you or I make a cup of coffee, which you can listen to here.
This guy is seriously talented. His demo was recorded live, but I pulled him back in to lay down separates. In the coming weeks I’m going to be working on some produced-up versions of some of his songs, but it presents a real dilemma.
You see, Ray is smoking hot live – that’s where he lives. So I find myself reluctant to add anything that can’t be reproduced in a live situation. But on the other hand, Ray’s songs have integrity outside of his method of delivery.
Watch this space.