It's not, that was last year (Happy belated Antonio Sabato Jr please realign with yourself, you're a damn mess, sir) I wanted to take this (second) opportunity to kvell because I finally found my first album “Basement Songs” of which I only made 50-100 physical copies (it's all I could afford at the time) not only did I find it but I found a way to share a few songs on this site. You can find them in the Music section.
I'm particularly proud of this album because it feels like a time capsule for me. It lets me know where I was at vocally, musically and mentally at that time in my life. I must have been about 25 years old. I was listening to a lot of Jewel, Oasis (of course) Fiona Apple, India Arie, The Cranberries, Michelle Branch, Skunk Anansie, Garbage, Lauryn Hill. Sarah McLachlan and I was looking to the female musicians and songwriters who lead the era to show me how to write and to be comfortable expressing my deepest thoughts and fears. I was definitely in the cut-your-heart-out-on-a-slab- era of songwriting.
I'm also incredibly proud listening back to Traitor knowing I played 3 separate guitar parts that I had written and it was not easy for me. Similarly in Beautiful to Try it's the first (and last unfortunately) guitar soloing I ever did. I remember I was in a guitar class at the time and pretty much sleeping with or near my guitar, Baby Jane, every night and I felt very close to her.
- ASIDE - I have two guitars, one is a blonde named Blondie aka Baby Jane, she's an acoustic Norman guitar made in Montreal, purchased for me by my family and has a beautiful tone, she's extra special to me because my entire family chipped in. My second guitar is a red APX-3 Yamaha named Ludwig Amadeus, named after Beethoven and Mozart and purchased after I became obsessed with Uncle Herb's little black Yamaha since I played it so often at his jam, this one has a built in pick-up and volume controls which are incredibly useful. -ASIDE END-
It's really cool to have an audio time capsule of your life and to be able to pinpoint it so particularly. Oh 25/26 years old? I was writing and recording Basement Songs. It's a nice touchstone to look back on and I'm so very grateful I kept a copy lying around to listen to, one of the only times being a bit of a packrat pays off. There is an element of witchiness to the album as well,
Listening to Basement Song feels like a spell and The Gift, a Christmas Carol, feels very angelic. It's something else when the Muse or the Source, or God or the Universe or however you describe it, sprinkles a little something in you to make music or art. It's a kind of magic that is almost unbelievable. Anyway there are 4 songs from the album up for your perusal and I managed to find the two songs from my Trip-hop era as well and one errant song from my recordings with Jamie Matsukubo, a live-off-the-floor version of Dark Days Ahead. How prophetic.
Well I've verbally meandered enough, if you can find the means to enjoy your week please do so but do keep those in mind that cannot. The world needs your spells, prayers, creativity and magic more than ever now.
Joy
Basement Songs Album Art
