Category: Music
Man alive have we been busy. Not only are we in the process of trying to find some space to relocate [and fixing up the current space to sell], but also we are under a sudden and fast deadline to finish up some new downtempo tracks for the next release. I can't divulge certain details yet until things are finalized, but let's just say that our team is expanding and that's a great thing for getting the name Worldwide Groove Corporation out there.
It's funny, tonight we opened up all of the song files we have started, all at various stages of development. Some are practically finished, others are a 30 second snippet of an idea, and one so far exists only inside of my brain, but is fully complete nonetheless. So we are assessing which tracks we can possibly have finished within the next 2 weeks, and having to make some decisions accordingly.
Some of these decisions have to do with track names. We have a few instrumentals which, when Kurt opened the file and started programming them, quickly chose random names like "2AM", "Nectar", and "Daydream". But we need to think big picture and about the flavor of our project. So far we have "branded" our artist releases under the downtempo lounge category, reconstructing famous jazz standards into chillout tracks. So the cover titles are My Funny Valentine and Fever etc. We named our originals things like "Mimosa" and "Midnight in Venice". So if we want to thing of appropriate song titles, they need to seem to fit with that general mood, and also fit the song.
Another interesting thing is that on the first record, I personally had primarily begun the programming and production on the first 4 tracks, workshopping my ideas and giving Kurt a good sense of my vision until he was fully on board with the concept and interested in working more on it. But this time around, life is quite different. Not only do I have a preschooler to entertain all day long, but the gear has changed, and I'm not as equipped, nor do I have long stretches of time, to sit and noodle around with ideas. But this time, Kurt is the one beginning ideas on tracks, and I feel a bit awkward and out of control on things.
It's also been an interesting show to see the flavor of the tracks we have started. Kurt's tendency on these has been to go for the slow to mid tempo, plateau feeling, espionage sounding tracks. Which can be very cool on a project, however, we don't have a very strong representation of the more fun and quirky side of things, like we had with Tangerine and Fever [More Cowbell Remix] on the first project. Both of which were very much my influence. So, I'm lobbying for a greater swing over to the fun factor, and hoping to get some electro-kitsch elements happening.
The bottom line is, when we are working on a track, I ask myself "does this music make this room seem like a cooler place to be?" Or "would I enjoy having this as the back drop to a small social gathering?" If it doesn't lend itself to that emotionally, then we tweak it until it does. There's one track in particular that has some string parts on it, which are cool, but they are too tense and not emotionally consistent with our other tracks. It's those big picture perspectives that make a huge difference in a project.
OK, I need to try to get back to sleep. I just thought I'd take advantage of my insomnia tonight and blog a bit.
Ellen
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