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I am starting this week a new project that will consist in writing and recording as much as possible until my Summer vacations (which should happen sometime in August). The purpose is to publish - for FREE - the new tracks right here at this blog. It will need a little self discipline but I am looking forward to this strange journey. The goal is to upload one song per week and, without further ado, the first one will be posted before the end of next week.
I’ve been quiet for a while so this is to keep you informed of what’s going on. I finished moving my home studio to another location in the house and during the process, replaced a few bits of equipment, including my migration to M-Audio ProjectMix I/O as the main working surface as well as monitoring through the lovely Yamaha’s HS50 monitors. Another great addition was my new Fender 60’s Jazz Bass which growls and thumps like nothing else I’ve pumped in my previous recordings.
Obviously, I’ve been recording a lot of different things - new stuff, forgotten stuff, stuff that didn’t make previous albums, spur of the moment ramblings and miscellaneous sounds that may end up on a new album this year. It is not set in stone as of yet but, I do plan to release at least one more record this year, and if everything works as planned, perhaps two.
As you know, promotion isn’t really my thing as I don’t seem to have the necessary stamina to search the outlets that would play my music - this is why I am searching someone to do it for me: are you determined to push my music to blogs, web and terrestrial based radio stations and the like? If so, drop me a note and we’ll try to figure out an arrangement.
Anyway, I’ll keep posting updates and notes concerning the recording process and I’ll try to post sound clips of the work I’m doing. Keep checking back or subscribe the RSS feed to follow this quest.
I’ll be writing several posts concerning my latest album Last Train To Wonderland (LTTW). I’ll talk about each song, its origins and the recording process. I should post about a different song each day, hopefully starting tomorrow as soon as possible. With each post, a full length preview of each song will be available so, if you haven’t purchased it yet, you’ll be able to preview it in full before actually doing it.
Officially, my latest album Last Train To Wonderland was released today. It is available at this website new digital store and during the following weeks should be available at your digital outlet of choice (iTunes, eMusic, you name it). The front sleeve photo is by Silvia de Luque (find her work at flickr) to whom I am extremely grateful.The tracklist is as follows:
VITOR CUNHA - LAST TRAIN TO WONDERLAND
1. Galician Sunset
2. Daisy Chain
3. Little Bird
4. Cardboard Dreams
5. Last Train To Wonderland
6. Angelina
7. Goodbye Dear Old Friend
8. Wrong Side Of Town
9. Day By Day
10. We’re Going Home
Written, produced, performed and mixed by Vitor Cunha.Recorded at “The Room”, Maia, PortugalMastered by Jack Dillon(c) 2008 Alta Frequência
I’m putting together a shop which should be running next week. You’ll be able to buy my music as digital files. It will, of course, feature the worldwide release of Last Train To Wonderland, my latest record.Any thoughts about it? Should it feature formats other than mp3? Maybe lossless files like FLAC? What do you think?Considering this will be my own outlet, I can set a different price than, for instance, iTunes. What do you think the price per track and per album should be? Would you pay differently for 128k and 256k mp3s or flac files?
The portuguese government, in tune with several other measures to decrease the public responsibility in essential social areas - first the public educational system, then the public health system - is now decided to disable the public integrated teaching of music and the regular first cycle programme (kids aged 6-9). To top it all, aside the major cities (Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra, Braga and Aveiro), public regional music academies are being shut down. The main argument is “the democratization of music teaching” but, as the portuguese so well know, this is a term used to mean nothing at all. Throw words like “democratic” around and people buy it. That’s the consequence of all these years under a dictatorship - nobody knows what democracy means anymore.If you want to help, sign this petition. Or even better, after signing, why don’t you send a short email to the minister office gme@me.gov.pt, the secretary of combined affairs and education office se.adj-educacao@me.gov.pt and the secretary of state of education see@me.gov.pt? Tell them to stop and avoid telling them to drop dead as they can’t really take an hint.
Very soon I will be launching several competitions to win a free digital copy of my newest album Last Train To Wonderland. In the meantime, I decided I could start one of those competitions. Create an iMix containing at least one song from my previous album Strangers At Dawn at your country iTunes Music Store. Send the iTunes iMix link here as a comment and you’ll get yourself a digital advance copy of my latest album Last Train To Wonderland. It’s easy to do, all it takes is a couple of minutes and completely free. This competition will run for about one week starting today. After that, it will be a little different.
Angelina was written in July’07 during the recording of Last Train To Wonderland. I had a little DADGAD (more on that below) rhythm and thought it requested a story about someone who has a dream, perhaps foolish, perhaps just innocent. Angelina wasn’t someone I knew but a lot of people I do know melted together.
As the name says, the acoustic guitar was tuned in DADGAD (low to high). The rhythm guitar I had was very expressive, very dynamic as, most of alternate tunings tend to sound. I recall something like the initial key being Ab but in the record it’s played in G (DADGAD capo’ed at the 5th fret). You can hear the DADGAD guitar at the right side of the stereo field. The acoustic guitar in the left is standard tuning playing open chords. This made an interesting contrast between the ringing drone-y chords in the right and the open standard chords in the left. Should you be strict, the right guitar plays: Dno3 - D/F# - G - A11. The alleged Bm chord in the chorus is actually G/B and the Em is Em7(add6).
I played a Washburn XB-400 bass, a Cort Earth 70E acoustic (both parts, different tunings) and the electric guitar is my sunburst Fender Telecaster played through a Fender Reverb amp.
I released a digital EP with the song Angelina, taken from the forthcoming Last Train To Wonderland album. It is available for free at Last.fm. The reason I want it to be available at Last.fm is the amazing power this services provides by linking together preferences from all kinds of users. The recommendation system works great provided the relevant listeners actually listen to the track.By “free” I mean free - you can download it, make mix tapes, include it in playlists and, overall, share it with friends that you think will enjoy it. To download the free Angelina EP click the cover art and you’ll be taken to the relevant Last.fm page.
I was asked what was turning right now in my turntable. Well, it is not a turntable, it is more of a Mac Mini connected to my TV displaying Front Row and acting as a saviour from all that space that the CDs used to steal. I still own the CDs though - no harm has been done to the delightful pieces. It’s either the Mac Mini or the iPod that is connected to my inner ear. Currently on heavy rotation is Amos Lee debut album