Updates
11-28-23
Maybe some slide guitar, right in the vicinity of that crazy banjitar. We're going to LaLa Land.
So … I don't know how much traffic this site gets, just now, but it's worth mentioning that Denny Laine has been sick in the U.S., for months, now. Stuck without insurance. Yes, living the dream. Go track him down, on Facebook and Instagram, for news on benefit concerts, auctions, and crowdfunding.
Childhood hero of mine. I learned how to play by listening to Wings Over America on vinyl. If you've listened to the clip in progress, you may have picked up on the influence. (I even asked the barber to cut my hair like his, when I was a boy. Let's get him flying again.)
11-19-23
A few stitches left to cover, but here's a little teaser on the up and coming. About a minute into the song. Enjoy. This is a new version of Hush-a-Bye, for Cicadidi. Recently upgraded the studio and the plugins are just red hot, now. Another monitor check ought to do it. I'll update as it improves, and probably make an official preview, as bass and vocals begin to appear.
10-10-23
Onion Creek, WA
So, a few different things happened as I began to get my bearings, with these recordings. First off, I realized I didn't like the idea of backing off of the homespun Cicadidi template, were I to add another entry to the original project -- even though that template actually evolved from these initial outings. The thing is that I was so spun from everything that had happened between the Spring of 2019 and when I left Onion Creek, to when I finally came back to stay indefinitely. So spun that everything we had ever discussed, musically, was now coming at me in a total fog. I knew I had to just start strumming and writing lyrics in order to jog it all back, so I began buying new gear and doing just that. Then, one day, out of the blue, I had Kristin's voice, literally at my fingertips -- as if she were a little faery, trapped inside of a Mason jar. She was leading the band, posthumously. Good God. Had something like this ever been done before? You know, and I had been simultaneously resurrecting my own fascination with the guitar when I realized I needed a better one for soloing in standard tuning. I decided on a Classic 50s Fender Stratocaster, made in Mexico, in the 1990s, that looked like the El Cheapo imitation I had been playing in the Winter of 2018, when my musical discussions with Kristin began perking up, again. (It's a really nice Strat. The best I've ever owned.) And, I suddenly remembered how those discussions might sound, put to music. Kristin wanted me to sing for her, but I was slowly coaxing her into the idea of recording something with me, and she was actually beginning to dig the idea. However, she had a mind get back in school, first, so I just kept noodling and recording, spontaneously, as I helped her to prepare. And, that's where Cicadidi came from. I had finally reeled in our own collaboration, and she had once again raised the bar.
I've been in school, up until just recently, and still have more or less permanent access to a couple primo musical academic resources. So, the sky is the limit, now that I can actually focus on making music with nothing really lacking. And, now that I'm at this point, it's very difficult for me to imagine going backward, musically. That was the official reasoning behind finishing those three songs, anyway; a sort of rewind. There are musical elements just now surfacing, that I actually wrote with a 12-string guitar, on the beach, back in the early 90s. But, I could barely record one, let alone my voice, until now. And, I rather like the idea of the overall sound being dominated by a guitar that actually sounds like a guitar, a drum that actually sounds like a drum, and so forth. It has its own set of quirks, but nothing so ridiculous as trying to stuff an entire trap set in with all of those heavy guitars. It drives me a bit crazy, to be honest. Anyway, the three-year rewind produced something unique and rather miraculous, all things considered. So, here is what's going to go down: I'm going to re-label these initial recording sessions as "Early Takes". There are others which technically fall under that heading as well. And, they may all wind up together, here, or on another site completely, one day. But, I'll leave these ones here, for now. Then, I'm going to finish recording the follow-up to "Over," which is actually a more acoustic based rendition of "Hush-a-Bye" and "Krypton," rolled into one song. Currently recording a banjo track, for it. Very pleased with the sound, this time around. Then, I'm going to come back to this project and re-record the very last song Kristin ever heard me sing. It was originally intended to be the first and second official tracks of this collection, with the first being an original, instrumental, acoustic blues. Comes in three parts, in fact. But, now that I'm officially "on track," as it were, I'm going to follow and precede those tunes a little differently. A little more shiny ... a little more like we had planned. There are a couple of others on the docket, that she was also familiar with. Very important that I finish both core projects while there is still time. Like with Cicadidi, the tracks won't be numbered. There are a few key pieces which will decide how the rest fall together, but you can probably expect some extended guitar ambience in between lyrical numbers. With the sound of the waves stitching it all together, that leaves a pretty wide open space for further interpretation. People can pick and choose which tracks they like, from either project, land to sea and back ... and mix their own playlists without having to adjust their EQs. Additionally, I have a more artistically sound idea for bringing Kristin's vocal in with my own, as well as more time in which to focus the broad effort. Soon, the TeleGretsch will be a baritone. So, with all of these groovy, new shoegaze pedals to plug into ... it's just a better ball of wax, altogether. A more balanced collaboration, if I dare say so. I'm fresh again, and consider it progress.
That's the news. Be back soon. Thanks for stopping by.
KK
