Hi everyone! My song, "The Open Door," has been nominated for a 2013 Independent Music Award! I hope you'll vote for me in the Vox Pop section of the contest. To hear "The Open Door" and see my Q&A video, go here: http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima/andy-robinson/
Then, click on the "Vote Now" link to get voting instructions.
Peace to you all!
Andy
Brace yourself. Here are my stream-of-consciousness-ramblings about MUSIC BUCKET: when you lower a metal bucket into a well, you never really know what you're going to pull up. Could be a cool, clear, drink of water, or, it could be a cool drink of water with a frog floating in it. Sometimes that's more fun. I have no middle name, and I've made a conscious decision never to fill in that particular blank. There's nothing wrong with nothing. I play the dulcimer, sometimes with my fingers, sometimes with a popsicle stick. I play the kalimba (some people in Africa play similar instruments to communicate with their ancestors. I keep waiting for that to happen, but it's always a wrong number.) I play mostly acoustic instruments, but I really love synthesizers, with their infinite sound-making potential. I drum, I play harmonica, I loop, I sample, I sing, but I don't sing actual words very often, though I've always wanted to write a song with a one-word lyric, and I finally did ("Yeah"). I've also always wanted the great Mike Keneally to play guitar on one of my songs, and he finally did - actually one song, and a songlet ("November" and "November Too"). I guess I'm supposed to be telling you what my music sounds like, but I've always liked that story about Robert Frost, who, when asked what a particular poem meant, said something like, "This is what it means," and then he read the poem aloud. Besides, that's why there are sound clips on CDBaby. I've always thought of musical instruments as "found objects" - like, hey, look at this thing - what does it do? And then I try to answer that question. Of course, by extension, anything you happen to find can be a musical instrument. I believe that. I love the music of the Beatles, I like quite a bit of Brian Eno's stuff, and sometimes when I play electric dulcimer, I pretend I'm Jeff Beck (not that he'd recognize himself - it's more of an attitudinal thing. Speaking of Jeff Beck, I hope some of you will appreciate my cover of "Still I'm Sad," a gloomy-but-beautiful tune that rode the AM airwaves, back in the 'Sixties. ). I like to roam San Diego's back country with a digital recorder, sampling stuff like a dried branch tapping out patterns on a dirt road, or fence post "xylophones," or a broken down piano, or a pile of pots and pans that have been left for dead. You can hear some of these things in "Cartoon," and "The Golden Feather." There is something that appeals to me about doing things the wrong way, like grabbing sounds that aren't necessarily meant to go together and introducing them to each other:. "Hey there, Acoustic Guitar, I'd like you to meet Rain Gutter!" Occasionally an entire song will surface on one of these little sound-hunting expeditions - "The Open Door" and "Cave Paintings" (both kalimba songs) - are based on ideas that came to me on hikes along the coast or on desert trips. I came up with the 5/4 time signature for "Tripletique" by counting my footsteps in odd meters during my morning run, and I think the song captures a certain exuberance as a result. Even the cover of the CD has sort of a "found object" theme - each letter in the title was taken from separate photographs I took of road signs. Usually, the results of my experimenting surprise me. And that, my friends - that element of surprise, (along with a singable melody and a groovy beat) is what I truly love in music. Throw in a smidgen of humor, mix it all up in a passionate froth, and , man - you've got me! I like to think that's what I've done on MUSIC BUCKET . See what you think. I look forward to hearing from you!
Andy
PS - in addition to Mike Keneally, MUSIC BUCKET features inspired and inspiring performances by some other fine guest musicians, including Carlos Olmeda, David Ryan Norgren, Dennis Caplinger, Tripp Sprague, Jamie White, PJ Bovee, Coco Brown, Chuck Elledge, Nicki Elledge, and Doug Robinson. I am deeply honored to have had these talented people help me with my music, They've all made excellent music of their own, so please check them out.
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