War-N Harrison

Bastille Day with Yazoo

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:15:53 -0700

This past Monday (Bastille Day) we went to Chicago to see & hear one of my early influences (Yazoo) perform. The team of Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke have embarked on a "Reconnected" tour after disbanding 25 years ago (bloody hell). It was quite an historic event given Yazoo's short career of 2 years and the major influence on many bands that followed. Vince Clarke, of course, went on to form the hugely successful duo of Erasure. Although Erasure also had a large influence, in my opinion, their songs have never had the depth of Yazoo's material.

To make the concert even more special, my brother was there with me. He (David) and I had a synthpop duo (Studio II) during the late 80s/early 90s and it's fair to say that without Yazoo, we probably never would have existed. I think we covered nearly every Vince Clarke penned song at some point. So, it was major groovy to be sitting next to him as Yazoo took to the stage after all these years. Goosebumps-a-plenty! It has inspired me to seek out and digitize all of the Studio II material and get it online. History is too important to simply sit in boxes in the basement! Watch for synthpop goodness soon.

The concert was excellent and featured many "true to the original" versions of classic Yazoo tracks as well as a few updated (and up-tempo) versions. Alison's voice has never sounded better and she genuinely seemed to be having a great time. Vince Clarke was, well... Vince Clarke. I think I saw him smile once, but he's not the most animated of fellows! The packed house at the Chicago Theatre was extremely enthusiastic, prompting me to ask David, "Where were all these people when we were playing?". In his usual witty way, he responded, "Chicago". :)

Anyway, a fun time was had by all and a much needed boost to the creative juices followed. That is all.

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A Day in the Futuristic Space Car

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:19:21 -0700

Today (Sunday) was spent working on a new song (called “Just Imagine”) that started life as “Futurist Space Car”. We actually played bit of it on TWHL #102.

I spent today cleaning up the arrangement and we just recorded Christa’s final vocals about 30 minutes ago. The song started life as a little drum loop from Matilda (our affectionately named Alesis Micron) and a somber, yet spacey, synth pad. If memory serves correctly, Christa wrote lyrics on the spot for this one and we recorded scratch vocals right away. The lyrics and whole feel of the song speaks of life(?) after we are all gone for this world. Christa’s melody is really beautiful in contrast to the cold music bed. With this in mind, I decided that Christa’s lone voice should be the only real human element to the song. I added some very mechanically played electric piano… playing only the first and fifth of each chord. I’ve always liked the way fifths leave enough space in a chord progression for the melody to really dictate the tone. Is it major or minor? There is also a certain sterility to this method of harmonizing that lends itself well to this song. For a nice lift (but not too much) on the chorus I added some very stylistic TR-808 and CR-78 cymbals. Nothing screams early electronics like these percussive sounds. There’s a 8 bar break between verse and chorus that needed a little something. So I added a very cold sounding CS-80 synth (well, a virtual version of it). The song ends (quite dramatically I think) with just Christa’s voice and the ambient synth pads, so a nice crescendo is needed to build up to this. The crescendo still needs a bit of work. I’m thinking (and Christa agrees) that some strings might fit the bill here. That will add another human element besides the voice I suppose, but what are rules other than things to break?

Sorry if I’ve been a little too music theory/tech geek in my description here. I just wanted to document what we’ve been up to today… in the only language I know. All-in-all… a good day of creative work. It’s been along time since I’ve had such a productive and rewarding day, musically. So I wanted to share.

ShareThis

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Tea with Hungry Lucy #114 (Aloof, a Loofah and a Chalupa)

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:05:25 -0700

This week, the duo explain their most recent “Life with Hungry Lucy” episode about the new song called “Erase Her”. You may view said video at this link. In their travels of the week, vinyl is rediscovered in a glorious way and new OPM’s are found! CB’s new (but old) finding was Demis Roussos. A lovely large fella with a sweet voice, who (we are happy to learn) is still going strong. War-N’s OPM’s this week are Coldplay and their new free release “Violet Hill” and Clara Rockmore. Clara was THE theremin player of all theremin players! See for yourself down below.

Many other fine tidbits are mentioned. You’ll just have to listen for yourself! You can also go see what Christa Belle is thinking and how War-N is twittering.

Until next week, not everyone is Lily Allen!!

Why, or why not?

DOWNLOAD the episode #114 MP3
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Clara Rockmore - “The Swan” (Saint-Saëns) - Theremin performance

Theremin - Clara Rockmore play "The Swan" (Saint-Saëns)

Demis Roussos - “Forever and Ever”

Demis Roussos - Forever and ever

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Tea with Hungry Lucy #112 (The Evolution of Pajamas)

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 06:14:53 -0700

In this week's Tea with Hungry Lucy War-N & Christa share a preview of a new song (working title: Pajamas), likely title "The Best Day of Her Life". We get to hear the original noisy piano recording, and the newly arranged music.

Obscurity vs. Piracy

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 16:22:04 -0700

Time to return to my ongoing musings (or endless rant, depending on your viewpoint) on what I'll call "music freedom".

I came across a wonderful article by Andrew Dubber (via Derek Sivers) entitled "Should I Be Worried About Piracy?". Andrew thoughtfully and eloquently explained the point I've been trying to make for some while.

Instead of battling hard against this new consumer power to copy and share music...why not embrace it?

Hungry Lucy has been doing so now for about 1 year. Aside from my peace of mind (in which I place great value) we have seen greater interest in our music and, yes, a gradual but steady increase in paid (yes paid) downloads. Granted, I have no evidence as to what has caused this. I quite firmly believe, though, that our "please copy & share" attitude is at least partially to blame. Only time will tell. In the meantime, I don't worry about all those lost sales anymore, and that...is priceless. ;)

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The "Value" of Music

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:11:27 -0700

Lately I've been thinking and talking to others about the value of music. It's a topic that comes up a lot in the discussion of free music downloads. Many in the business of selling music argue that the act of allowing music to be freely downloaded (e.g. Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails) reduces the value of music. By establishing a set price for music, music sellers are saying, "This is how much the music is worth." By their argument, allowing people to download music for free is saying, "This is worth nothing".

I've always thought "value" is like "beauty" ... surely it is determined by the beholder or consumer. If I find a piece of music that enhances my mood in a manner that I find desirable, it has great value to me. If that same piece of music is offensive to you, and you would rather stick sharp objects in your ear than hear it again, it has no value to you. Value is subjective, as opposed to objective.

It's much easier (in my opinion) to find music that appeals to you these days. The vast "interweb" is awash with little corners of music that tickle your fancy. No longer do you have to rely on a marketing push from a handful of sources to learn about what's out there. You can go and find the music that is of value to you. Me thinks that it's the handful of sources that are freaking out about all this because what was once a large pot of gold being shared by a few is now being shared by many smaller sources. People are spending their money in places where the get the greatest value to them.

The fact is, the world is changing when it comes to making and selling music. Many parts of the old music distribution chain will not be necessary in the future. Some are already feeling he effects in a big, big way. I truly feel for the people (yes, they are people folks) running these parts of the chain. Many (but not all) are hugely passionate about music and have found a way to make a living doing what they love. I see nothing wrong with that at all. But, as the landscape changes they can dig in their heals and cry "foul" ... or rekindle that passion, get excited about the possibilities and adapt for the future.

As an artist, that is what I have tried to do ... adapt. As a listener, I'm excited about all that musical goodness just waiting for me to find it!

A quote that really struck me ... Michael Arrington of TechCrunch stated,

"Recorded music is nothing but marketing material to drive awareness of an artist."

I guess music has no value to Michael.

For the record: I am happy for people to freely download and share Hungry Lucy's music, videos and podcasts. Doing so allows for word-of-mouth discovery as well as letting people know we respect them. In return, I think people will respect us and ultimately support our music by buying it (if it has value to them). I have seen this to be true time and time again. That said, I trust that people respect the decision of other artists who do not grant such permission. I think they will come around eventually ... until that time ... please don't steal.

Peace.

- War-N

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Tea with Hungry Lucy #100 (Oh how I wondred, how they made it to one hundred)

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 01:23:13 -0800

The 100th episode of The with Hungry Lucy ... who would have thought such nonsense could last? This week, Christa and War-N slack off by letting everyone else run the show. We hear from fellow podcasters, musicians and all-around great people. We also hear the first version of a brand-new Hungry Lucy song called "Forever More" along with Christa and War-N's plans for polishing it up.

Thanks for continuing to listen ... 100 more podcasts (and songs) are coming your way. Any requests?

DOWNLOAD the episode #100 MP3
Subscribe:

Some of the folks we heard from this episode:
Bloodwire (checkout their new podcast)
Grant (of Three From Leith)
Neil and Laura Smith

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Tea with Hungry Lucy #99 (Hojo and Jungle Jim)

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:05:46 -0800

What did HL talk about this episode? Well, there was Howard Jones, Howard Jones and uh Howard Jones! Just back, literally, from the road on a trip to Pittsburgh, the duo settle back into a warm house with a nice little chat. Other than HoJo madness, CB mentions an unusual OPM (in this case Other People’s Market’s) in the form of Jungle Jim’s International Market. A mainstay in Christa’s culinary adventures, she just wanted to “shoutout” to the man in the cape for sticking with small business since 1974! Thanks, Jim!

What the SMEG is this? It’s beautiful, it’s functional and it’s in the kitchen! What Christa thought was Italian is actually British. Oops!

Also, a BIG thanks to Ellie for allowing two total strangers to sit front and center at the Howard Jones show at her table! It was lovely to meet you and hope you made it back to Wisconsin safely

You made the experience even that much cooler!

Hey…you should grab the original version of ‘Glo‘ while you still can. After this bunch runs out, the double-disc will no longer be available!! A single disc version will be put in its place. This is all in the hopes to draw more folks to the lovely songs on the album and make it more affordable for YOU! Oh yeah. Don’t forget we still have a bunch of t-shirts and hoodies available for your lovely body to wear!

See ya next week on the 100th episode of Tea with Hungry Lucy!! Thanks for listening all these episodes! You’ve made it great

DOWNLOAD the episode #99 MP3

Howard Jones then:

Howard Jones "What is Love"

Howard Jones now(ish):

Howard Jones Life in one Day LIVE Brisbane 2007

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Found on The YouTube: a stunning video for “A Girl Alone”

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:57:20 -0800

Carmen has assembled a beautiful video for our song “A Girl Alone” (from the “Before We Stand…” EP). I’m not sure of the source of all the imagery, but it’s really quite stunning.

~~~Alone~~~

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Brand new Hungry Lucy song, available exclusively at Hot Topic

nobody@vox.com(War-N) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 18:25:48 -0700

We are very pleased to announce the release of a brand new, exclusive Hungry Lucy song called "Hill" available exclusively at Hot Topic stores throughout the US. Asleep By Dawn Magazine Presents: DJ Ferret's Underground Club Mix #3 will be released on Oct 30th, 2007 and contains 2.5 hours of deliciously dark music in the form of a CD and DVD! Among the dozens of artists are Robert Smith (The Cure), Skinny Puppy, Information Society, Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, Lunascape, and many more. The 2 disc set will be available exclusively in every Hot Topic store in the country, right on the counter next to the cash register for only $6.98.

For complete track listing and addition information ... go here.

Read War-N's blog post about how "Hill" began it's life.

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