It's probably been done before somewhere...It's probably been mocked as the loopiest idea since Leif Eriksen named an island of ice Greenland and a luscious land mass Iceland...It's probably going to take 3 times as long to complete... but I don't care. I'm excited about it - and it's going to be fun.
Yes indeed, my second album is going to be fun - and you can join me in it. I will be posting up the songs all through the process to www.reverbnation.com/theothermarkmiller - starting with the acoustic guitar/vocals scratch track. Then I will build the songs with new ideas and YOUR suggestions or even using instruments you send to me or let me borrow for a bit. So if you want to me to record myself sawing on a piece of wood in rhythm or using an African thumb piano - I'll try it - and post up that version. If it works out, it will be on the final album. And I think I'll do an accompanying CD with the versions that didn't quite make it too :)
You can email your suggestions to me at theothermarkmiller@gmail.com or comment here or on my reverbnation page. Sign up on the reverbnation page though, as thats where all the songs and new versions will be posted. This could be a total flop or creative genius - but either way - we're going to have the time of our lives making it!
Oh- and a special shout out to all my amazing new friends I met at the Cornerstone Music Festival! I look forward to seeing you again in the coming months!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
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2 comments:
This is Brian H.
Mark, I’m loving your take on the recording process, and I can’t wait to hear your album.
Here’s a thought on Brave Enough:
When I listen, I kind of see someone walking down a dirt path that was recently part of a battlefield. That theme on the guitar symbolizes for me the seemingly endless cycle of pain and retaliation that we subject ourselves to. The song already has a personal, intimate feel to it, which is that person standing there, remembering what happened. So add the memory of the battle to the song. Create a background of war. Not explosions and gunshots, though. Marching is what really came to my mind when I listened to the song. I think marching shows the social side of aggression. War seems very mechanical, but if you think of a mob of people marching in step to retaliate against others, that’s a much more human picture.
At “dust, mingled with blood marks the path…” percussion starts to create the impression of that one person on the battlefield. Could be real footsteps or just some drums. As the song goes on, more feet would join in (are they marching to war or against it? I don’t know) So essentially, you have a mass of steady percussion building up to the climax. I’m not sure of the specifics.
Because it’s in a triple meter, it would be hard to get a good tempo that really seems like footsteps. A 6/8 march feel, with steps on the 1 and 4, might be too slow. But it could be representative of two groups of people marching towards each other, one step at a time. On the other hand, a step on every beat might be too fast. But it could work.
What do you think?
great thoughts, Brian! Thanks for putting your time into it. I'll give your ideas a shot, and I think they have promise to be really cool. You'll hear the results once I get some work done on it!
-Mark
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