Apologies

... for being on hiatus.

I basically went into chill mode for the past few months and didn't accomplish much musically. Since I can't do anything about that now, I'll take away the positives and say it was good for a couple of reasons:

1) It allowed me a break from being engrossed in my own little world where my songs were a little too "precious." Through my first run of recording songs, I got pretty deep into tweaking them in an effort to get the sound I would want in an ideal world. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, but now that I've had some time to listen to the songs alongside a lot of new music I've gotten been into lately, I've come to feel strongly that all the tweaking in the world means nothing if a song is lacking at its heart.

I realized that the songs on which I spent more time writing are the ones that speak more to me. Coincidentally, these are the ones I want to share more readily, and whose production I seem to care about less. Funny how that works out.

I was talking about this with Rob and basically it's like a snake shedding skins. (Because it's always good to compare yourself to snakes). When I embarked on my first run through recording songs, I scrapped everything from my previous life save for two songs.

My first run netted some quality stuff, (I hope), as well as some drivel, so the takeaway is that I will probably keep maybe 8-10 of these songs for the next "stage" of my journey.

So, in sum, I'm no longer going to be trying to crank out songs for the sake of cranking them out. I think Nate pointed it out quite clearly early in the process when he said it seemed like I was writing songs just to write them and then move on to the next thing. Instead I'll focus on good ideas when they come and let the music flow.

2) Time away from the music gave me some time to think about my priorities...and I realize that I have to give music a full shot. I had a good talk with Sean about our current states as young human beings, and I finally verbalized the idea that I will regret nothing more in this life than to let myself grow old without giving music a full try.

I have been inactive (basically, not proactive) for too long, and it's time to get my act in gear.

I will start by purchasing that equipment I set out to buy oh so long ago...I want to have my own PA so that I can set up and play wherever.

Also, I will make a live demo of a few songs, just voice and guitar, so that I won't mislead any potential gig-givers with my cheesy studio mixes and faux band.

Then I will start hitting the road/working the phones. I think putting in face time will be my best shot at leaving an impression, (at least at the places I think I can play right now), so I'll make a promotional package to hand out and start busing around town.

I've gotta start somewhere right? My hope is that I can find some places to play throughout the OC and LBC. From there, we shall see.

If you are reading this, thanks! Hope you are all doing well.

Not That "Weekly" Thing Again!

I didn't intend for this to happen, but now my 3 most recent posts have all fallen on Wednesdays.

Anyhow, since my previous post I have posted two new songs on the facebook page. Oh yeah! Jamie had a great idea and suggested I have gregyee.com forward to my facebook page. The convo went something like this:

J: "myspace.com/gregyeemusic, I can remember. facebook.com/greg-yee/q3750ahnmn.,zn.e0961097024[z[pg[jf[jmfmtmtmtttjtjyjwiwiw03939555j ... not so much"

So yes, you may now use gregyee.com to find my musics!

The two new songs are, of course, "Miss Jones" and "Best of Me".

I'll share a little bit about these songs. First, MJ. I don't necessarily enjoy bursting the bubble on my songs, but I wrote "Miss Jones" in honor of Lolo Jones, a hurdler who just made the US Olympic team. She now joins Natalie as part of my "Favorite Americans Who Could Kick My Ass" team.

Really, I had the skeletal idea for the song long ago, but no real "shtick" for it. Along came Lolo and the rest is history. I figure the song can be about any guy chasing a girl who he just can't seem to catch. "Hey, I haven't heard that one before!"

I have been trying to get in touch with Lolo's people to see if they would put the song on her website, or better yet, adopt it as her theme song. I figure it's not everyday that you have a song written about you, even if you are famous. I will let you know if there are any updates in that arena.

Next came "Best of Me". As you know, I had been talking about getting in touch with my inner black man. I had actually been working "hard" on BoM when my reasonable deadline for a weekly song passed last week, so I decided to record MJ first. (That and I'm working with a short time window if the real Miss Jones is to adopt it as her theme song before the Olympics.) Anyhow, I wasn't quite satisfied with the lyrics for BoM and put it off til this week.

I got to try some things with this new song, such as looping a beat I created manually, as well as looping guitar parts. I had been listening to some hip hop / r&b to get an idea of what people do and I've learned that looping is integral to the art.

In my infinite quest for perfection, I'm guessing that looping actually took longer than it would have taken had I simply recorded tracks straight through. The reason for this, of course, is that I was aware that these chords/musical phrases would be repeated many times throughout the song. So, given that I would only need one final cut of each chord or sequence (to be heard 20-30 times in the song, of course), you can guess how many times I tried to record each sequence perfectly. Ladies and gentlemen, the gift and the curse of having complete creative/physical control of recording one's songs. (Just like Spidey)

Another thing I tried was layering the vocals. You might notice in other fast-melody songs that lyrical phrases weave into one another as if multiple people are singing the lines. Of course, there is only one vocalist, which can make it sound like a person has magically doubled, or is able to sing a long-assed line while taking in air at the same time. This is kind of a cool effect and I tried it with some degree of consistency throughout BoM.

As for other tidbits, I have been experimenting with the percussion parts. Any suggestions are always welcome. (Thanks Jeremy!)

Finally, I met Chris the drummer today. He's a pretty chill dude. He's been out of practice for a bit but keeps a good beat. He also happens to have some decent equipment that might come in handy if we decide to stick together and play.

Things outside of the music world are keeping me busy so I'm very, very glad that I have been able to record songs lately. I am convinced that I will keep adding songs to my "potential album" list and I will eventually end up with two full albums before I publish anything officially.

As always, I will be tweaking the songs and updates will magically appear. Until later, do take care!

Meeting the Pledge

I have thought about modifying my pledge for a song a week, but really I just need to keep my focus.

I know you've heard this before, but I'm very close on the next song I want to record. It is a fun song and I've been tweaking the lyrics for the past few days. Tomorrow I will sit down and do at least a rough draft with the electric and maybe some bass.

And oh yeah, vox.

Thanks for your patience!!!

Who's For Short & Sweet?

Staring at the song list again, I think it might actually be better to cut Give A Little. As it was, the last 4 tracks would all be slowish and I feel like 3 is enough to wind the energy level down.

GAL also was the longest and slowest track of all so I think with the 10 remaining tracks I can maintain a decent level of "Intensity."

The new, clean cut 10:

1) Believe (4:05)
2) Picturesque (3:23)
3) Stalker (3:53)
4) Bobby (5:37)
5) Beautiful (4:52)
6) Mr. Spam Man (4:31)
7) Too Cool For School (4:38)
8) Don't Leave Me Hangin' (5:44)
9) Surrender (4:49)
10) So Good To Know You (4:44)

"Old Man" very well might be more likable / better quality than a number of the songs included, but let's just save that for album #2 or the EP. Haha!

[OK damn, I just listened to "Old Man" again and I think it sounds pretty good. Almost too good to not include. But "Traffic" with drums also sounds much better....What to do!!!]

And that just leaves the matter of what to call this thing....

I've been rolling with "Believe" as of late.

P.S. The weekly song is progressing. Apologies for fibbing on my weekly deadlines...I assure you that this song will be worth the wait.

P.P.S. Remember that whole WeMix deal? Anyhow, I was informed that "Picturesque" made "Luda's Picks" so every once in awhile when you refresh the home page for wemix.com you'll see my goofy pic and a link to the song. Again, not sure how "useful-useful" this will be, but it's still cool!

P.P.P.S. I edited the middle section of "Mr. Spam Man" (right after the dueling guitars) and will post it again tomorrow. iLike!

When In Doubt, Blog

I've been sitting around the past few days working with some song ideas and I'm beginning to think I have a slight case of writer's block. It's not so much that I can't come up w/ anything, I'm just not satisfied with what I've come up w/ so far.

What to do, what to do....

I think at this point it's a matter of figuring out which type of song I want to do next. It will help once I commit to a certain song so that I can just finish it and get to recording it.

The R&Bish song seems like a good idea, so maybe I should get the story straight w/ that one. I have an idea for a "fun" song but I want to put in some more time hashing out the lyrics [i.e. make them a little more complex].

I wish I had something more exciting to say. Alas, I do not... Check out my newest music find, Justin Nozuka, here.

And I'll keep you posted w/ progress!

Quick Note + New Order

Adding drum parts has "upgraded" certain songs to higher levels of beat-ness.

For example, Too Cool For School (2C4S) has joined the Upbeat-ish crowd.

Mr. Spam Man now Might Make You Move.

Reminds me of how electrons jump levels...by .... gaining stuff. (Que horible!)

Valence? For some reason I remember that word.

Anyhow, I thought about having people (prospective buyers/fans) message/e-mail me to let me know which songs they wanted on a CD, but then I realized, how the heck would they be familiar with the pool of songs from which to pick?

So I might scrap that idea rather quickly.

If I were going to make the CD this minute, I'm afraid I will have to axe YRS for the time being b/c I'm not too happy w/ how it sounds with the dance beat.

The songs would be the following:

1) Believe
2) Picturesque
3) Stalker
4) Bobby
5) Beautiful
6) Mr. Spam Man
7) Too Cool For School
8) Don't Leave Me Hangin'
9) Give A Little
10) Surrender
11) So Good To Know You

I'm trying to capture something from each of my song groups. "Old Man" deserves to be in there, but I think I want to cap it at 11. If I were to axe a song in favor of Old Man, it would probably be Give A Little, but I like how GAL (different beat.... and the singing and clapping at the end) mixes things up a bit [see figure].

Consequently, I have a few choices for naming the album:

1) Self-titled - probably not the most original of ideas, but at least classy? [I doubt I will be doing this]

2) Named after one of the songs - "Believe" is good. "Stalker," probably not....though it would def. get people to listen to the song...haha

3) Named after a line from one of the songs - really I wouldn't even know where to begin with this one, but artists do this.

4) Named after something that seems unrelated, yet something that exists as a song in real life - "Yuppie Rock Star" without having YRS on the album? Regina did name her album "Begin to Hope".....

5) Named after something truly unrelated - endless possibility!

Anyhow, I'm leaning toward "Believe" right now b/c it seems appropriate. LMK if you have any thoughts on this subject. Or if you have strongly differing opinions of which songs belong on the album or how they should be ordered.

Til later, have a happy Tuesday!!

Didn't You Used To Be Funny?

Looking back at the songs I've recorded recently, I was having another conversation with myself and had to ask me, "What happened to the fun / funny stuff?"

All the weekly songs (Give A Little, Too Cool For School, Mr. Spam Man, This Side, Don't Leave Me Hangin') have been serious in some manner. Though from my writer's perspective, I thought it to be somewhat humorous to have a song addressed to the anonymous guy who floods our inboxes with spam.... And I also found the original observation that led me to Hangin' to be somewhat humorous (the inspiration was the thought of someone trying to give a high 5 to someone, but the other person either disses him or just doesn't see him. And oh yeah, when the speaker says, "You're my only way home," I kind of thought the song could encompass the whole idea of leaving someone hangin'... and literally the object of the song is the speaker's ride home. So obviously the speaker doesn't want the addressee to leave! Yes, I am completely random!)

I guess you could also say this observation that I haven't been living on the light side also came up when my sister told me, "You should write some funny songs." Direct hit!

I thought "Stalker" qualifies as funny, or at least darkly humorous....and "Picturesque" is fun enough. That being said, I do want to get back to the roots and write some more fun or funny songs. Of course the one I had been working on during the last week doesn't qualify, but I am always operating with at least 4 or 5 ideas at one time, and I guarantee at least 1 of them will turn into a fun / funny song!