1. "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes

The Fleet Foxes self-titled debut album was my favorite album of the year back in 2008, so I had high hopes for this release.  It exceeded expectations.  Fleet Foxes does something with their music that is not an easy feat to pull off.  On the surface it can sound like a retread of so many styles of music that are now decades behind us, and yet the songwriting is so good, so pure and fresh, that it feels vital and relevant to an entirely new generation.  This album is filled with beauty and craft that reminds us of what has gone before, and yet is not limited by those references.  This music is alive.  The songs are big and beautiful but never overblown.  There is a certain timelessness here.  This is music that people will still be enjoying in another 20 or 30 years.

2. "Bon Iver" by Bon Iver

Music, at its best, has the power to transport you to another place.  It can stir feelings, emotions, and thoughts within you that can be difficult to comprehend, let alone try to explain.  It can bring you to tears and yet leave you unsure if you are in fact sad, or just incredibly happy.  Just as all of the most important events in life, the best music is a poignant mixture of sorrow and joy.  

There are many moments on Bon Iver’s self-titled second album that strike that perfect balance between light and darkness, sorrow and  joy, happiness and despair.  Moments so breathtaking that any attempt to explain them in words only leaves the speaker frustrated and lacking.  This album is an incredible accomplishment.  Everyone needs to experience it.

3. "The King of Limbs" by Radiohead

Deemed a “lesser” Radiohead album by many, this is still something that 99.9% of humans couldn’t dream of producing.  It represents a left turn in a career full of left turns, and yet the second half is more straightforward and beautiful than they’ve sounded since...maybe ever.  At only 8 tracks, it feels like two very different short EPs that have somehow been  stuck together on one CD.  A fascinating listen.  Perhaps not the best album for newcomers to Radiohead, but a solid addition to their catalog.

4. "The Whole Love" by Wilco

Despite the widespread opinion of this album being some sort of “return to form” after a couple of lesser albums, this is really just business as usual for Wilco, who never really stray too far from “form” anyway.  Apart from the electric guitar freak out of the 7 minute opener and the unparalleled beauty of all 12 minutes of the closing track, there are not many other surprises to be found...just a bunch of completely solid Wilco songs.  And that’s never a bad thing.

5. "The Year of Hibernation" by Youth Lagoon

“Youth” being the key word here.  This album sounds like a 14 year old boy made it in his grandmothers basement.  In actuality songwriter Trevor Powers is a 22 year old who records in his bedroom at Boise State.  The production is muddy and overly saturated with reverb.  In a fragile, weak voice we hear of posters on bedroom walls, hunting for snakes, memories of simpler times...in a nutshell, being caught in the strange place between childhood and adulthood.  As unlikely as all of this sounds, somehow it all just works.  “When I was seventeen, my mother said to me, don’t stop imagining, the day that you do is the day that you die” Powers sings on “Seventeen”.  Lucky for us, this album never stops imagining.

6. "Burst Apart" by The Antlers

Unfortunately I didn’t discover The Antlers first album, Hospice (2009), until earlier this year.  That being a devastating and emotionally brutal concept of an album that completely draws every bit of feeling you could expect from it’s title, it could simultaneously rip you apart while at the same time trying to put you back together again.  I’ve never heard or felt anything quite like it.  It would definitely have been my top album of 2009, if only I’d known it existed.  

But alas, this review is not about that album.  Compared to Hospice, Burst Apart took a while to for me to really get into.  I think I’m beginning to realize the reason for that is because a lot of the music of Burst Apart is just a bunch really good musical ideas rather than “songs” in the traditional sense.  The beauty is in the subtleties that you often don’t notice until the 5th or 6th listen.  This may not pack the emotional wallop of their previous effort, but maybe that’s a good thing.

7. "The Unfazed" by Dolorean

Not to be confused with Spanish alternative dance band Delorean, mysteriously, this Portland band remains largely unknown in the United States, although I hear they have a much larger following on the other side of the Atlantic.  This is an interesting fact considering that their sound is definitively American.  Nothing complicated here.  Simple and beautifully well written songs of life and love gone wrong are set to lush americana soundscapes.

8. "Rome" - Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi

Have you ever sat down to watch an old classic 60’s western movie and been inspired by the music to say, “you know, someone should make an entire album of music like this, only with a modern twist”?  Well, neither have I, but that’s exactly what Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi have done with Rome.  And what a great idea it turned out to be.  For vocals they’ve enlisted the help of Jack White and Nora Jones, giving them each a different avenue in which to let their talents shine.  There may be just a couple too many instrumentals that sound maybe just a bit too much like the rest, but it is all of consistent quality. When you're in the right mood, this is an incredible listen.

9. "Tamer Animals" by Other Lives

If the second half of this album could keep the brilliance of the first half going, this would be my album of the year.  So many amazing things happen in that first handful of songs.  The latter half, while still interesting, feels more like a lesser band impersonating the first half.  But make no mistake, when this album is good, it is frighteningly so...magical even.  Other Lives are now on my bands to watch list.  Hopefully this is only the beginning and they someday get the chance to fully realize their potential.

10. "The King is Dead" by The Decemberists

“The King Is Dead” presents The Decemberists in a complete 180 turnabout from the conceptual ambitions of their previous album.  They’ve seemingly traded in the metal-tinged medieval fantasy leanings of 2009’s The Hazards of Love for a pair of cowboy boots, a harmonica and a fiddle.  This time around they’ve settled for good old fashioned SONGS rather than grandiose concepts.  While the latter certainly have their place, The King is Dead is a refreshing change of pace.  Not quite as many highlights as previous Decemberists albums (For my money, 2005’s Picaresque is the best thing they ever did) but a very listenable album right through.  If for some reason you were to attempt to get your mother into the Decemberists, this would be the album to start with.  That is meant neither as a compliment nor an insult but I suppose it could be both.

Favorite Albums of 2011

It's that time of year again when I like to reflect back on the music that meant something to me over the past 12 months.  And then I like to quantify and rank something that probably shouldn't be.  Putting two pieces of art up against each other and declaring one as "better" than the other is probably a futile exercise...and yet as humans it seems we love to do this.  And as it turns out, within the human race, I am no exception.  But rather than call this a "best" album list, lets just say these are the collections of music that meant the most to me personally.  Your mileage of course will vary, but I offer this as both a window into what inspires me as an artist and also a tool for anyone who's looking for some decent music.

This year I'll be distributing my list a little differently.  Starting tomorrow I'll post each day until the end of the year, counting down my top ten album choices.  This serves several purposes.  It drags the experience out for as long as possible and also allows for greater appreciation and exploration of each album that I post about.

So come back each day for the next 10 days to see how it's coming along.  Let me know if you've found something you like.  Or maybe you think I'm forgetting something.  Leave your thoughts in the comments.

See you tomorrow.

James

Update...5 Down, 3 to Go

7 months Later...

So...apparently I haven't blogged in a while.  Fortunately that doesn't mean that I haven't been working during all these months.  Sure, I can admit that this has taken longer than I thought it would...that I've seen self imposed deadlines come and go more than once.  Could I have been finished by now had I put in adequate time and effort?  Quite possibly.  But in reality life (and inspiration) just doesn't work that way.

Yes, there are times when I just don't have it in me to sit down at a computer at the end of a long day and pound out work on these same songs I've now heard hundreds of times.  That being said, I am still quite fond of this current batch of music and firmly believe this will easily be the best work I've ever done.  Creativity and motivation seem to come in spurts, and I try to get the most out of those periods before they disappear.

I'm now well past the halfway point.  5 of the 8 songs are finished.  4 of those have been listenable online for many months now.  If you haven't heard them in a while, it might be a good idea to go and check them out.  I've been quietly making changes and improvements to those online files.  Track #4, "You Can Never Go Home" has had the most substantial facelift compared to the first version I posted months ago.  I think it's really come together nicely.  In retrospect, I probably made it available for listening sooner than I should have.  Sometimes I just get too excited for people to hear new stuff.

I'm currently fighting the temptation to make some more music available for listening.  Track #5, "Save My Soul" could really be released today and I would be happy with it.  But my philosophy with this record has been one of "good is not good enough".  And so I find myself taking things that are good and trying to make them better.  As good as "Save My Soul" is right at this moment, I still have a couple of things I want to try that will improve it.  For example, at this point the song has no acoustic strumming whatsoever, and really I don't miss it that much and it may not need it...but I'd like to add it just to see how it sounds.  Also, the end of the song needs...I don't know...something.  I don't know what specifically, but I'll know it when I hear it.  And really it doesn't NEED it...it's really good as it is...but why not take that extra step toward greatness?

The remaining 3 songs are already recorded in very rough versions.  I could see them being finished very quickly but again, inspiration is fickle and comes and goes at her pleasure.  So really we're looking at early next year before it will all be ready for you to lovingly download onto you hard drive.  but I'll go ahead and say that I really believe that it's going to be something that people will enjoy and come back to.  Something worthy of your playlists.

Also, I'll try to keep the blog a little more current...in case there is anyone out there who actually cares and reads this.

Update...2 Down, 6 to Go

It is a great feeling to have two new songs completed and out there for all to hear. I am happy with the positive feedback I've received on "Never And Forever" and "Come And Gone". People seem to be enjoying them. If you are one of those people, please don't hesitate to share with friends. I would like as many people as possible to hear this music.

I know I've mentioned "So Far Gone" a few times before. Well, it is almost completed and ready to debut. This is the song that I feel people will connect with the most. I mentioned in my last post that the song sounds a bit "samey"...meaning that it was interesting and beautiful but it kind of repeats itself and goes on without any real changes...not necessarily a bad thing, but could get monotonous. I've made some changes that I feel have taken this song to the next level. It has gone from being merely pretty great to mesmerizing and heart-rending...and it was all done with the addition of one simple guitar figure that embellishes the chorus.

I know what I like in music and this is it. And can't speak for the rest of you, but this new part completely makes this song into greatness for me personally. I hope when you hear it that it makes you feel the same way. I hesitate sometimes to talk up my own work because music is so subjective and I don't want to build too much expectation for what is essentially a very simple song. I'd rather just release it and have others talk it up for me ;-) . Of course that's not going to happen if something is not genuinely great. Anyway, I will upload it for all to hear once I get the mix sounding exactly as it should. Probably over the weekend.

As for the rest of the songs, they are in various stages of completion. "You Can Never Go Home" is probably the most complete, while "This Time" has not even been fully written yet (hence no lyrics online).

If you're reading this, thanks for paying attention. I'm grateful that people enjoy what I do.

James

Progress on "So Far Gone"

Been working on finishing track #2 from Never And Forever, titled "So Far Gone"...(not to be confused with "Come And Gone"). Added some additional harmony vocals for the verses. The mix is sounding really nice. Great song, but a bit samey. Needs some kind of catchy, standout guitar performance for the chorus, as well as a short solo and outro. I have a few ideas in my head but I am curious to see what happens once I plug in and start recording. The songs is actually quite passable as it is...but "good enough" is not good enough this time. We're going for greatness here. We'll see how that turns out.

Too busy tonight to get any recording done...but soon enough.

New Song - "Come And Gone"

In my last post I mentioned that I would have the title track online soon. That was the plan...and it is still very close to completion. But yesterday I decided to work on "Come And Gone" instead.

"Come And Gone" has been all but finished for over a month now, but there were a few problems that I didn't know if I could fix without re-recording some parts. Low and behold, with maybe an hour or so of mixing, I was able to fix everything that had been bugging me. I was so excited that it was finished that I immediately posted it.

Title track "Never And Forever" is still in need of a couple of backing vocal tracks. It is very good as it stands, but I need it to sound like I hear it in my head before it can go out to the world. It may take a few more days before I can get the recording done. Look for it to be out soon.

Never And Forever...It's About Time

If you follow my Facebook fan page you may have noticed a while back that I posted the Never And Forever artwork. It is a an image of a clock face that I found while searching the internet for ideas on how to visually represent the concept of "time". I was subsequently able to contact the photographer and receive permission to use the image for my album art. I have not altered the color at all. That is exactly as the original. My wife says it's a bit too much green, but I really like it. And so a special thanks goes out to photographer Katherine Gray, wherever and whoever she may be.

Over the past months, I've recognized a theme running through all of these songs...that being the passage of time...how it changes situations, individuals...for the better or for the worse. How it continues on and we are powerless to stop it, nor can we turn it back. Each of these songs deals with this subject in a different way. The past, regrets, things left undone, things that should have been left undone, things to do differently in the future...all of these ideas are touched upon through various stories and experiences both personal and/or observed in the lives of others.

I have re-designed my bandcamp page and created a page for the new album. There is no audio up just yet, but you can read through the lyrics if you're into that sort of thing. I hope to have the opening title track up in the coming days. It is very nearly finished, as are several other songs. Stay tuned for more info and audio as it becomes available.

Also, if you haven't done so yet, while your on my page, why not go and download the rest of my music in preparation for this new release. They are free if you want them to be, or you can pay what you want. I am completely fine with either amount.

Thanks for listening,

James

New Sounds from New Songs

I've decided that even though a song is not "finished" I can still let you listen to parts of it. I've isolated several pieces of "Never And Forever" and uploaded them for your curiosity and pleasure.

NAF Pre-Verse Sounds by James Gillice

NAF Outro Guitar by James Gillice

NAF Slide Solo by James Gillice

IMO...

My opinion on my latest project...

Work is progressing at a steady rate on LP4 (a.k.a. "Never And Forever"). There are 2 aspects of this album that have me really excited.

1. The songs. I really feel like this is a strong collection of songs. Each one offers something special. They are very emotionally personal but touch on many universal themes that I think people will relate to.
2. The album itself. This collection of songs works well together. There are similar themes, moods, and styles throughout. Whereas on "Making It Right Again" (LP2) and "Never And Forever" (LP3) you had a wide variety of song types and moods and feelings, "Never And Forever" picks a single mood and works within slight variations on it. Also the production styles of each song are similar, creating a unified and coherent work. There is also a continuous narrative that progresses a storyline throughout. While it falls shy of the "concept album" title and all the baggage that goes with that, there is a story that is being told here. It starts a little dark and tragic and slowly works through the tragedy and all that is entailed in that and finds some hope and resolution by the end of it. This is supposed to be an uplifting album, but you will have to listen to it all the way through to get that from it.

So those are my thoughts and feelings at this point. The most frustrating aspect (as always) is getting the mixes sounding just right. No matter how good a song may be, if the mix is bad then it will drive me crazy.

Here is the supposed tracklist again. Only 8 tracks. Short and sweet. The first 4 track are pretty much set in stone. The back half could change a bit depending on how "This Time" and "Save My Soul" turn out when finished. Thematically, "This Time" might be a better closer, while musically "Time Takes Time" is better. I think when all is said and done the answers will be obvious. But for now...

1. Never And Forever
2. So Far Gone
3. Come And Gone
4. You Can't Go Home
5. Save My Soul
6. Anything At All
7. This Time
8. Time Takes Time

"Never And Forever"...

...is the working title for my next musical project. It's coming along much faster than I could have hoped. A little bit darker, a little more mellow, a little more moody and emotionally engaging, and easily some of the best music I've ever created. This 7 or 8 track album is going to be very consistent in mood and texture. Hopefully it will play out like a nice little journey of sorts for the listener. It will be a great little album to sit down and listen to as one entire piece of work. I can't wait to release it to the world. It is definitely a step in a slightly new direction. That direction being mainly up, top bigger and better things.

Here are the tracks that are slated for inclusion along with a brief description:

Never And Forever - Fast with a driving beat and a fantastic chord progression. No real chorus. Doesn't really need one.

So Far Gone - New sounds and textures. Slightly reminiscent of "This Moment". A little darker maybe, and yet it has a bubbly light quality to it as well. This would be the single.

Come And Gone - Quite epic in both sound and sadness. Built around a steady and beautiful guitar figure that builds upon itself. Crescendos quite nicely into the bridge before stripping it back down to the lone guitar before one short final burst at the end.

You Can't Go Home - A simple acoustic folksy number? At first it might seem so. By the end it gets quite dramatic and beautiful.

Save My Soul - This is the song that is the LEAST complete right now. Hard to know how this will sound when it is finished. A fantastic song structurally and lyrically. I can't imagine it NOT being excellent when finished.

Anything At All - A dark descending guitar introduces the verses and is repeated in the chorus. There is also a pre-chorus that picks up the pace and lightens things up a bit before going back into the guitar again. An intensely building outro changes the second half of the song completely. A string section spirals upwards continually and is joined by guitars that build to a glorious climax.

Time Takes Time - A perfectly mellow closer that ends the album on an uplifting note. A song of hope for the future. "I'll be just fine, but time takes time"

And there you have it..."Never And Forever"...coming soon to a computer near you.

Watch this space.

Happy Accidents

Songwriting = 25% Inspiration, 25% Hard Work...and 50% Luck.

Sometimes when you are writing songs things just go ridiculously well.

There is an old song called "Anything At All" that's been kicking around for years as a semi recorded instrumental version. It had this sad descending guitar thing happening in the verses that I really liked but I could never get the chorus to come together in a satisfying way. The lyrics of the chorus were pretty much finished, but musically it just wasn't working...

So there it sat on my hard drive for years and years while I moved on with other, less difficult songs....

Fast Forward to January 2011...

I'm sitting in my bedroom listening to a few new musical ideas that I had quickly recorded to my phone in recent months (I record like that when I am in a hurry, so as not to forget things...I lose more good ideas by simply forgetting them than I care to think about). As I'm listening I notice that one of my new ideas has a descending melody that is similar to the guitar line from this older song, but it is laid over a completely different (and more upbeat) chord sequence. So of course when I realize this I start getting excited. It turns out that this new piece fits together perfectly with the old song and creates an exciting new chorus that changes the entire mood of the song. And the old lyrics fit in perfectly as well. Add in a nice verse to chorus tempo change and we've got ourselves an exciting new direction for this song.

And if that's not exciting enough, I also came up with an extended outro the comes in after the second chorus. It started out as an idea for a bridge, but it was so good that I just wanted it to keep building and building to an epic finale. And it does sound quite epic. It's almost like an entirely different song tacked on at the end...but it works. And the total song length is still under 5 minutes, which is good.

Anyway, the stars have aligned and a great song has been born. Now let's hope I can find the magic in the studio to create the sounds I hear in my head.

And for those keeping score at home...

1 month into 2011 and already 3 songs completely written and mostly recorded.

The Return to Songwriting

The past few years have been so focused on recording and mixing music that I have had less time to actually write it. Of course there were songs here and there that would pop up, but I never felt like I could or should take the time to finish them until I had released the ones I was already working on.

That's all changed now. I can finally focus on creating songs...not embellishing, not tweaking, not recording...just writing the very basic elements of songs. I think I must have a lot of pent up music that is just waiting to be released. Over the weekend I had the house to myself and was able to spend a lot of uninterrupted time just writing and recording. In just a day and a half I was able to able to lay down all the main components of a song ("Come And Gone") that until now had only existed on paper. I am very happy with the results. It's a great song. The recording sounds pretty awesome. There are still things I would like to add and clean up, but it is pretty much a complete song. It just needs to be finished and mixed.

When I had gotten to a good stopping point on that song, I had to figure out what to work on next. With so many pieces of music in my head and lyrical ideas floating around, there are a million places where I could jump in and start working. So I went back and listened to a series of short low quality audio clips of song ideas that I had recorded into my phone and random times over the past year or so. One particular clip stuck out to me as a simple yet poignant little chord progression with a nice melody. So I pulled out the acoustic and started strumming. The idea for the theme of the song came very quickly and the lyrics followed. Soon I had a completed song. It is a very simple song and did not take long at all to record. It's called "You Can't Go Home" and I am loving it. It sounds great as it is, but will benefit from a better mix as well as a few embellishments such as a slide guitar solo and some backing harmonies.

All in all I am very excited about these songs and I can't wait for people to hear them. It is hard to be patient and wait until they are finished.

But it just feels so good to be writing songs again. And what makes it better is that I think I might be writing the best songs I've ever written.