will not prevent me from writing a song.
I dug up this song which I wrote probably a year back, made some changes to it and spent the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday slowly giving it a life.
I think it has a life; I think.
Horses Hoof
myspace
I prefer last.fm, though it only notes down last.fm listeners that have listened.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hey Wanna Buy A Seat?
It's about a month until exams, a week until SAT prep, and a new house move. The days will come in long AND hard.
I have an extended essay I need to get through, and some artists are just too busy to reply to my folk questions.
Besides all that, I worked on a new song. Probably when I should have been doing other things, but the powers of education need to give me a creative break. I cannot spit out words everyday without the need for something wider, more perplexing, terrifyingly eccentric! So I worked on a song.
Gosh, I don't need to explain myself anyway, this is not a fallacy, this is just a need for right-hemisphere brained work, what I am originally wired for, no doubt.
It's a song I have slowly been working on for the past couple of months. In February when I showed Priya my Birds song, she seemed somewhat eager for me to write a song about the Blagojevich scandal.
I thought it was random, Blagojevich? Until she coherently explained herself.
"But Helen, you're the one that recommended me Illinois."
Huh? OH, the Sufjan Stevens album. Okay, I get it, you want it to be a cheap rip off of his idea!
Well I hope it isn't cheap. It's somewhat Illinois-theme inspired sure, but firstly I don't sound like a 30 year old American male - hopefully - and Stevens has got way more talent than I could shake a stick at.
I'd say my song is in some ways extremely sarcastic. I wanted innocent cynicism with a touch of hand clapping, and coin dropping. Hopefully I got to that. But hey, it's probably my first try at something this musically multi-layered. Improvement can only move upwards?
Really this song is full on dedicated to Priya. Without her help, I'd never would have taken economics as a course, and tried to have somewhat of a more empathetic approach towards the economic side of things. Who knows, I could have been a crazy radical environmentalist by now.
Though it is sort of ironic I'd be dedicating this song to her.
Priya's wisdom conquers all of teen kind. She could run a country, she could be the voice for world peace. We'll have to see about that.
Here it is on last.fm. Mind the cheesy biography. It was compulsory to be in third-person.
Hey Wanna Buy A Seat?
I have an extended essay I need to get through, and some artists are just too busy to reply to my folk questions.
Besides all that, I worked on a new song. Probably when I should have been doing other things, but the powers of education need to give me a creative break. I cannot spit out words everyday without the need for something wider, more perplexing, terrifyingly eccentric! So I worked on a song.
Gosh, I don't need to explain myself anyway, this is not a fallacy, this is just a need for right-hemisphere brained work, what I am originally wired for, no doubt.
It's a song I have slowly been working on for the past couple of months. In February when I showed Priya my Birds song, she seemed somewhat eager for me to write a song about the Blagojevich scandal.
I thought it was random, Blagojevich? Until she coherently explained herself.
"But Helen, you're the one that recommended me Illinois."
Huh? OH, the Sufjan Stevens album. Okay, I get it, you want it to be a cheap rip off of his idea!
Well I hope it isn't cheap. It's somewhat Illinois-theme inspired sure, but firstly I don't sound like a 30 year old American male - hopefully - and Stevens has got way more talent than I could shake a stick at.
I'd say my song is in some ways extremely sarcastic. I wanted innocent cynicism with a touch of hand clapping, and coin dropping. Hopefully I got to that. But hey, it's probably my first try at something this musically multi-layered. Improvement can only move upwards?
Really this song is full on dedicated to Priya. Without her help, I'd never would have taken economics as a course, and tried to have somewhat of a more empathetic approach towards the economic side of things. Who knows, I could have been a crazy radical environmentalist by now.
Though it is sort of ironic I'd be dedicating this song to her.
Priya's wisdom conquers all of teen kind. She could run a country, she could be the voice for world peace. We'll have to see about that.
Here it is on last.fm. Mind the cheesy biography. It was compulsory to be in third-person.
Hey Wanna Buy A Seat?
Friday, February 20, 2009
Birds Of The Sea
YES, I finally got an audio interface and proper microphone.
So what did I do?
I finally got to finish one of my songs --
http://www.last.fm/music/Helen+Ganya+Brown
So what did I do?
I finally got to finish one of my songs --
http://www.last.fm/music/Helen+Ganya+Brown
Sunday, February 15, 2009
there's an alarm continuously ringing outside.
The weak barriers of power bind me to sanity, but floating around the crazy waters is the lure of insanity!
okay, it stopped.
okay, it stopped.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Stop! I Want That Painting!
Friday 30th January 2009, was the Black Tie Art Auction in our school and it went fantastically!
We think we've earned about $2,000 from the tickets, art, and wine sold, and it's all going to the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation in Vietnam. I think we're all pretty proud of ourselves. It's always a surreal emotion to know that you're doing something really important for other people our age who are far more disadvantaged.
I always try and make it a note to myself that my personal crises are extremely minor in comparison to many other people my age around the world. It's not worth making a big deal out of my complaints, other people should follow suit, and instead we should sing and parade down town to make that a permanent point. Get off your weary heads you well-off people! There are people who would give their lives for a plate of your food and yet you complain about the price of cabbage going up 10 cents.
Anyways, I will use this post to also show-off - come on, one must do it sometimes - the song I composed for the auction. I titled it "Stop! I Want That Painting" and costructed it to revolve around the thickset chords of the piano with the sweet sound of the flute.
I discovered that Dylan had been playing the flute for 3 years but had stopped for a year once moving to Singapore, so I figured it was my chance to get her to take it up again. She was worried that maybe she would not be good enough, but I tell you, she better make sure to keep playing that instrument because she makes it sound gorgeous.
I knew that the piece I had to compose would have to have some sort of relevance to the night. I couldn't just rock out post-rock mentality, or decide to go techno on everyone's sophisticated evening. So I thought the piano had to be the basis to bring a song to life. I had a long, isolated and quiet contemplation as to what exactly people's mindsets would be on the night. Art, bargains, food, wine. Ah! I know! They are going to be running into some fantastic pieces of art, they are going to fight over these fantastic pieces of art, and if not I will make them fight over the fantastic pieces of art. STOP! I Want That Painting! It hit me! It's unusual for a song title to come to me first before a song had been created, but it definitely did help.
I sat at my piano, in the wee hours of the night, and played around with it until I found a beautiful chord progression of A major to C major. Oh it felt so emotionally complex, like how you would feel if you really had interest in something or someone, but you just don't know when to jump in and grab it. Oh, but I needed a monumental chorus, one that lifted it, a G major! It all arrived so combined!
So I recorded what I had on Garageband and then used the piano to construct a flute melody - with the help of the synthesized pop flute!
I wanted full sounding piano chords but a sweet, windy sounding flute. The traveling eye of a human [flute] with the intricate emotions of need/want/a heavenly must have [piano].
And I had it!
So here's a video of us performing on the night. It's recorded on Tanya's phone so, forgive the darkness and low quality sound.
I did record a rough-ish version to send to Dylan to practice with the flute, you can find that on my last.fm page here
forgive the pretentious biography, the writing had to be in third person.
I also had the privilege of controlling the music on the night, here's the playlist :
Sufjan Steven's instrumentals that he adds in his State albums, in between longer songs, are extremely over-looked, as well as some of his Electronic stuff. Sigur Rós and Andrew Bird - both underrated artists. And do ignore Wham at the end, it was just in case the wine got to anybody.
So, the night went well, I was happy, people were happy and we've made a difference!
We think we've earned about $2,000 from the tickets, art, and wine sold, and it's all going to the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation in Vietnam. I think we're all pretty proud of ourselves. It's always a surreal emotion to know that you're doing something really important for other people our age who are far more disadvantaged.
I always try and make it a note to myself that my personal crises are extremely minor in comparison to many other people my age around the world. It's not worth making a big deal out of my complaints, other people should follow suit, and instead we should sing and parade down town to make that a permanent point. Get off your weary heads you well-off people! There are people who would give their lives for a plate of your food and yet you complain about the price of cabbage going up 10 cents.
Anyways, I will use this post to also show-off - come on, one must do it sometimes - the song I composed for the auction. I titled it "Stop! I Want That Painting" and costructed it to revolve around the thickset chords of the piano with the sweet sound of the flute.
I discovered that Dylan had been playing the flute for 3 years but had stopped for a year once moving to Singapore, so I figured it was my chance to get her to take it up again. She was worried that maybe she would not be good enough, but I tell you, she better make sure to keep playing that instrument because she makes it sound gorgeous.
I knew that the piece I had to compose would have to have some sort of relevance to the night. I couldn't just rock out post-rock mentality, or decide to go techno on everyone's sophisticated evening. So I thought the piano had to be the basis to bring a song to life. I had a long, isolated and quiet contemplation as to what exactly people's mindsets would be on the night. Art, bargains, food, wine. Ah! I know! They are going to be running into some fantastic pieces of art, they are going to fight over these fantastic pieces of art, and if not I will make them fight over the fantastic pieces of art. STOP! I Want That Painting! It hit me! It's unusual for a song title to come to me first before a song had been created, but it definitely did help.
I sat at my piano, in the wee hours of the night, and played around with it until I found a beautiful chord progression of A major to C major. Oh it felt so emotionally complex, like how you would feel if you really had interest in something or someone, but you just don't know when to jump in and grab it. Oh, but I needed a monumental chorus, one that lifted it, a G major! It all arrived so combined!
So I recorded what I had on Garageband and then used the piano to construct a flute melody - with the help of the synthesized pop flute!
I wanted full sounding piano chords but a sweet, windy sounding flute. The traveling eye of a human [flute] with the intricate emotions of need/want/a heavenly must have [piano].
And I had it!
So here's a video of us performing on the night. It's recorded on Tanya's phone so, forgive the darkness and low quality sound.
I did record a rough-ish version to send to Dylan to practice with the flute, you can find that on my last.fm page here
forgive the pretentious biography, the writing had to be in third person.
I also had the privilege of controlling the music on the night, here's the playlist :
- Bittersweet Symphony [instrumental] - The Verve
- Trainspotting - Primal Scream
- Christmas Song - Mogwai
- First Breath After Coma - Explosions In The Sky
- Last Ride In - Green Day
- Year Of The Ox - Sufjan Stevens
- Feeling Good - My Brightest Diamond
- Audrey's Dance - Angelo Badalamenti
- Year Of The Dog - Sufjan Stevens
- The Winner Is - Mychael Danna and DeVotchKa
- Redford (for Yia-Yia and Pappou) - Sufjan Stevens
- Twin Peaks Theme - Angelo Badalamenti
- Sé Lest - Sigur Rós
- Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Police And Loses His Slut Girlfriend - Mogwai
- Out Of Egypt, Into The Great Laugh Of Mankind, And I Shake The Dirt From My Sandals As I Run - Sufjan Stevens
- Dance Of The Dream Man - Angelo Badalamenti
- The Vivian Girls Are Visited In The Night By Saint Dargarius And His Squadron Of Benevolent Butterflies - Sufjan Stevens
- Stamping Ground - Moondog With Orchestra
- Seven Hours With A Backseat Driver - Gotye
- The Black Hawk War, Or, How To Demolish An Entire Civilization And Still Feel Good About Yourself In The Morning, Or, We Apologize For The Inconvenience But You're Going To Have To Leave Now, Or...- Sufjan Stevens
- Starálfur - Sigur Rós
- The Supine - Andrew Bird
- Prairie Fire That Wanders About - Sufjan Stevens
- 7:25 - Mogwai
- To The Workers Of The Rock River Valley Region, I Have An Idea Concerning Your Predicament - Sufjan Stevens
- Andvari - Sigur Rós
- The Undivided Self (For Eppie And Popo) - Sufjan Stevens
- The Eraser - Thom Yorke
- Year Of The Dragon - Sufjan Stevens
- Wake Me Up Before You Go Go - Wham!
Sufjan Steven's instrumentals that he adds in his State albums, in between longer songs, are extremely over-looked, as well as some of his Electronic stuff. Sigur Rós and Andrew Bird - both underrated artists. And do ignore Wham at the end, it was just in case the wine got to anybody.
So, the night went well, I was happy, people were happy and we've made a difference!
Monday, January 5, 2009
New artists of 2009
As it is 2009, I will be looking forward to many musicians appearing in spring time.
A biggie this year will be DM Stith's new album, released from Asthmatic Kitty.
I recently got his EP/Album (I'm awful at these distinguishing features) called Curtain Speech, and I really like it. It is so eerie and yet really intriguing at the same time.
His new album in March -Heavy Ghost, will be exciting.
Also, Andrew Bird's new album - Noble Beast, out on January 27, is going to be another exciting release that I am extremely looking forward to.
The Fray's self-titled second album-February 3, will mark a long time since there last album came out.
The Decemberists - Hazards Of Love -24th March, another biggie to look out for.
Others :
-Lily Allen, It's Not Me, It's You
-Morissey, Years of Refusal
exciting!
A biggie this year will be DM Stith's new album, released from Asthmatic Kitty.
I recently got his EP/Album (I'm awful at these distinguishing features) called Curtain Speech, and I really like it. It is so eerie and yet really intriguing at the same time.
His new album in March -Heavy Ghost, will be exciting.
Also, Andrew Bird's new album - Noble Beast, out on January 27, is going to be another exciting release that I am extremely looking forward to.
The Fray's self-titled second album-February 3, will mark a long time since there last album came out.
The Decemberists - Hazards Of Love -24th March, another biggie to look out for.
Others :
-Lily Allen, It's Not Me, It's You
-Morissey, Years of Refusal
exciting!
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