StrawBerry Attic

Well, I'm back to working on the Vacant Sky Parlor album 'Octopus Zoo', and it feels good to do so. Part of the reason I did 'Hype!' was to take a break from 'Octopus Zoo' for a bit and get some of the silly song ideas out of my head. I still haven't finished the final work on those song, so I'll just release them one song every friday for the next couple months. It's the process of arranging the vocals and mixing/master that I don't like doing. 'Hype!' is expected to be a little rough, but I still want it to sound fairly decent.

For 'Octopus Zoo', I finally admitted to myself that I do NOT like the song 'In The Dust', and I have scrapped it completely. Instead, I'll be writing music for some lyrics I wrote, which will become the song 'Eyelids Blossom Tulips'. It's going to be a rather weird trippy song, I think.. and probaby short, not sure. Whatever happens, I expect it to be awash in reverb and something strange. We'll see what happens there. Theoretically, it'd be the first song on Side 2, if it was a record. But it's a cd, so it's not.

Also, the artwork is done and in, and I'm going to start working on the cover design.

From 1996 - 2000, I was musician half of JellyGirl, the vocalist/lyricist half was Jimmy Kisor. Up until a year or two ago, he fronted, noise-rock heroes, Kid Panda Hands, and is now the singer for the more black metal, The Goodbye Goats. We were doing music that reminds people of 90s era Ween and Beck. In 1998, we recorded little over 50 songs.. 13 of which ended up on our local cd release 'ShoeString Pop' in 1999. Here's another collection of 6 songs from back in the Day! Two of these songs were on the 'ShoeString Pop' cd, 'Voice in Me' and 'DaySeas Ankh Lovers'. 'Voice in Me' is a particularly memorable song, with one section being rather unforgettable. People seem to delight in making other people listen to it. 'DaySeas Ankh Lovers' was the first song on the cd. The title comes from my stage name during the earlier days of JellyGirl.. when I went by Daisy Clover, and Jimmy was Joey Angel. 'Hug the Snowman' is runs a little long, and is sort of a cartoony monster dirge thing. 'A Tree By KeVin's' is a goofy piece, and 'Paco's Friend' is also a joke of a song, which is actually about a friend of our's at the time who actually shares no qualities with any of the characters in the song. PC-minded folks may find 'Paco's Friend' offensive, so they might want to leave it alone. 'Thumbnail Rabbit' was one of my faves of our songs, and I wish we had re-recorded it to sound better. We never re-recorded anything, and looking back.. that's a bit of a shame.

JellyGirl : ShoeString BubblePack (vol 3)

1. Hug the SnowMan (6.3MB)
2. Voice in Me (7.3MB)
3. ThumbNail Rabbit (5.2MB)
4. A Tree By Kevin's (4.4MB)
5. Paco's Friend (3.8MB)
6. Day Seas Ankh Lovers (4.8MB)

Well, I was getting ready to finish up the songs for 'hype!', fixing a healthy breakfast of Ramen noodles and oat milk at 4:30 am, with some music playing on iTunes. 'Every Time it Rains' by Randy Newman began to play. Now, first.. let me tell you that this is one of my favorite songs by him. And then, like when you turn on the shower and you get that first startling blast of cold water, the whole concept and idea for 'Crossing the Upsidown Bridge' washed over me.

You see, I've had the title all along, and that it was going to be the last song on 'hype!' and that it was going to be the longest song. But that's all I had. And I was taking a somewhat easy way out with that 'Auld Lang Syne' idea. Now I am swiftly running out of time to complete 'hype!' because I intend to have all the songs available for download on October 9th.

That french horn has showed up in 'Crossing the Upsidown Bridge' and it sounds wonderful. It's like a distant melody of a forlorn bittersweet warm wind coming over the hills. I'm going to be creating a flute instrument to add in as well. It's a good thing all the other songs are written (though I still have to record the vocals, and do the mixing/mastering) because this one is going to take some time to complete.

Oh my that deadline is rushing fast.

I've just about completed writing all the music for hype! There's a few things here and there to touch up and add to. Remember, where Octopus Zoo is some sort of aural psychedelic bag of candy.. hype! is just some cotton candy, and sort of a fun distraction from the work on Octopus Zoo for a bit. With that said, let me add that 'ToolBox', which started off as just a silly joke, is forming into quite the feast of percussion and groove. I'm so excited about it. The whole album is sort of goofy, but it's fun and entertaining.

Work on the vocals starts today, and I'll be recording them throughout the next couple weeks. The whole thing will be available for download on October 9th. And then it's back to 'Octopus Zoo'!

I plan to offer a full song for download next Tuesday.. perhaps the new version of 'Day-Glo Sugar', maybe something completely different. So stay tuned for that. I've got the rest of the year packed with stuff for you all to listen to. Really, it's all planned out, which is crazy. Keep your ear to the wax!

I've been putting some mad work into songs for 'hype!' the past few days over the weekend. I dropped my drafting class, which I didn't need anyway, so I'll have fridays free to spend time with my son and work on music as well. Also, I've got a good start on all my homework in other classes, so this Tue and Wed night I may be able to get some of the songs finished. 'hype!' is going to be a blast of noise pop and joy apocalypse for the crazier folks out there. It's not as complicated or polished as Octopus Zoo will be.. but it'll be a whole lot of fun.

I've just about got Mama Lujo done, and you can't believe how insane it is.. short too. Indelible Pop is turning into a feast of fun too. Kiernan and I were working on the vocals walking back from the play ground today.

I've started work on the music and lyrics for two new songs destined for the interim collection 'hype!' which will be released in its entirety in October. The first song is the already mentioned 'White Table Dreams', which is turning out to be a bit more melodic than I had originally intentioned. I might noise it up a bit more as it progresses. The other song is the naughty 'ToolBox', which is just a mixture of cheese and sleaze that may tickle the adults but may be safe for the kids.. though a bit embarrassing for parents.