Hi everyone!

This blog is going to be about what I plan to do over the next few weeks rather than what I have been doing since I last wrote a blog, as I’ve done very little unfortunately. 

I’ve finally finished college!
I have mixed emotions about finishing, but finishing college does mean that I’ll have loads of time to work on my music before I start university.

Over the next few weeks I plan to…

• Finish producing Sense Of Morality
• Develop synth sounds and record them on the five EP songs
• Record vocals for each of the five songs 
• Mix the songs
• Finish the acoustic version of Flame In Your Eyes

I plan to release the acoustic version of Flame In Your Eyes for free download very soon! 
Then shortly after, a digital download single from the EP should be released.
I may work on a B-Side for the single as well! 
A produced version of Flame In Your Eyes will appear on the EP and both versions of the song feature guest vocals from my sister, just like Learn To Fly does!

All of the recording is done for the acoustic version of Flame In Your Eyes, except for my vocals.
I’ve recorded a demo vocal, but my performance isn’t as good as it could be so I plan to re-record parts.  

In my last few blogs, I’ve briefly mentioned a project that I’ve been working on, but I haven’t said anything else about it. 

The project I’ve been working on is a collaboration with a really great artist called Posh Boy.
His music is a combination of 1980’s styled synthpop and disco, I compare him to really great 80’s electronic groups like Pet Shop Boys, Visage and Erasure.
I absolutely adore a song of his called We Always Want What We Cant Have, you should definitely look it up! 

Anyway, Chris (Posh Boy) sent me an instrumental that he produced and I wrote the lyrics, recorded vocals and even played a bit of piano on it.
The song is called Here With Me and we’re both incredibly excited about it! 
It’s very pop, and I think the music Chris produced is so catchy!
Everything for the song is has been recorded, and Chris is currently mixing and mastering it.
So once that is complete, the song will be released on SoundCloud for free download.
I’ll post a link to the track on here as soon as it’s released!

You should definitely check out Posh Boy’s music, we share a lot of the same influences.

CLICK HERE to listen Posh Boy’s music!!! 

Speaking of projects, I’ll end this blog by telling you that I’m working on another project that I’m going to keep a secret for now.
This project is still in the very early stages, so I don’t want to say too much about just yet.
All I will say is that it’s incredibly different to my usual style and I’m really excited about it!

Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to read the other “My Music” blogs and to check out my songs if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

• CLICK HERE for links to my websites!
• CLICK HERE for my “My Music” blogs!

Hi everyone!

This blog certainly has been a long time coming!
I can’t really remember what I’ve already written about, so please forgive me if I tell you something that I’ve already mentioned in another blog.

All of the songs on EP 1 are complete, except for Sense Of Morality.  
I have only three weeks left at college, so right now I’m working on putting all of the finishing touches on the instrumentals to the songs. 
I plan to get the instrumentals for the four complete songs done within the next three weeks so that I can focus on vocals and finishing Sense Of Morality when I finish college. 

The instrumental for Are We Right Or Wrong? is complete!
All that I need to do with that now is record the vocals.
The song sounds really beautiful and it’s even better than I expected it to be, I really can’t wait for you to hear it.
It’s a lot more “avant-garde” than anything I’ve released so far, so please listen to it with an open mind. 

This EP should hopefully be released in the summer, I’m hoping for a July or August release.
I’m planning to release both EPs that I’m currently working on as digital downloads, but if that doesn’t work out I’ll find another way to release them. 

As I have pushed the release of EP 1 back a bit, I’ve decided to record an acoustic version of The Flame In Your Eyes. 
I’m currently finishing up vocals for this version.  
I’ll put this version up for free download and I’ll hopefully release it within the next few weeks!

I recently wrote two songs that should be include on EP 2.
These songs are called Army Of Hypocrisy and Life In Fear. 
Army Of Hypocrisy is a song about a person who turns their back on all of their morals. 
Life In Fear is an incredibly personal song, which I don’t really want to discuss the depths of just yet, but I will say that it is a song about revenge. 

I really love both songs, but both of them are just piano/voice demos right now so I can’t wait to begin working on them!

I also recently completed my half of a project that I’ve been working on with a friend. I don’t want to say too much about it just yet, but I’m really excited about it!
I’ll let you know more about it soon.

Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to read the other “My Music” blogs and to check out my songs if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

• CLICK HERE for links to my websites!
• CLICK HERE for my “My Music” blogs!

Hi everyone!

I’m sorry that I haven’t written one of these in quite a while, I’ve been really busy over the past couple of weeks.

In my last blog I mentioned that all five songs for EP 1 have been written and demoed, except for “eyes” which is only half complete. Well, I’ve spent these past few weeks working on them.

I’m struggling with “Sense Of Morality”, I currently have four totally different demo versions of the song. Usually, whenever I write a song, I record one rough demo, then the final version. The final mix is never too different from the demo.
I’ve heard of many songwriters/producers who record many different versions of the same song, but I’ve never had to work that way before.

So far, this is what each version is like

• Piano version
• Piano Version with electronic drum beats and synth noises
• Synthpop version
• Minimalistic “drone” inspired version

I really can’t decide which version works best.
I’ll continue to work on each version of the song, and if I still can’t make up my own mind then I may put up portions of each version online and let you choose the best one. 

Also, in regards to the EP, I’ve decided to switch “I’m Quite Happy Here” for a song called “Stars”, which I think I’ve mentioned in a previous blog.
”I’m Quite Happy Here” has a kind-of cabaret feel, which didn’t really fit in with the rest of the songs.   

Recently, I’ve been working on a little side collaboration with a friend, I don’t want to say too much about it yet, but I’m really excited about it!

I recently bought a Kaoss Pad Quad, which is this really cool effects processor.
I haven’t used it on any recordings yet, but I have many plans for it!

As it was my birthday on Sunday, my Uncle bought me a set of cards called “Oblique Strategies” for my studio. 
For those of you who my not know what they are, they’re cards that were created by Brian Eno (one of my favourite musicians and producers) that are designed to help people make decisions when faced with a dilemma whilst working. 
Apparently, many professional music studios have them, and people like David Bowie have used them in the studio, so I can’t wait to start using them!

 Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to check out the other “My Music” blogs and to listen to my songs if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :) 

• CLICK HERE for links to my websites!
• CLICK HERE for my “My Music” blogs!

Hi everyone!

It seems like forever since I wrote one of these, I’ve had way too much going on lately. 

I’VE GOT MY FIVE SONGS FOR EP NUMBER 1!!!!! 

The working titles and working track list of these songs is…

1. Are we right or wrong?
2. eyes
3. Sense of morality
4. Waiting on the park bench
5. I’m quite happy here

All of these songs have been written and demoed, but I may change some of the lyrics in Waiting On The Park Bench and I’m contemplating writing an extra verse to Glass Eyes.

Glass Eyes is a song I wrote the lyrics to recently, whilst sat on a bench by a pond  in a park. I find that quite strange since I wrote the song Waiting On The Park Bench in my bedroom, yet Glass Eyes was actually written whilst waiting on a park bench but the songs have no connection.
Anyway, Glass Eyes is quite an ambiguous song. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what caused me to write the song and I’m not too sure what it’s exactly about. I think it’s about being physically attracted to someone, but hating who they are personally. I could be wrong, so I’ll leave it open to interpretation.
I’m really excited about this song, and I can imagine it’ll be the first song I release from the EP. The only problem is that it’s a bit shorter than I’d hoped it would be, which is why I’m contemplating an extra verse.

I’ve written a second song for EP 2, which has the working title of My Life Is Not Easy. 
I’m really excited about this song, it has a kind of bluesy feel to the melody and it’s very different to my usual stuff.
Both songs are still in the early stages, so I’ll let you know how the progress.

I’m sort of keeping to the schedule I set at the beginning of the year.
It’s unlikely that I’ll be able to have EP 1 out by May like I’d hoped, but I’m confident that it will be out by summertime.
EP 2 is coming along slightly ahead of schedule so I’m hoping that’s a good thing.

I haven’t decided on a name for either EP just yet.
I’m thinking of calling EP1 Morality,as that is a running theme throughout the five songs, but I’m not too sure about that yet.
I also have an idea for the EP artwork, but I’ll discuss that further another time

Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to check out the other “My Music” blogs and to listen to my songs if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :) 

• CLICK HERE for links to my websites!
• CLICK HERE for my “My Music” blogs!

Hi everybody!

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working on a couple of new songs.

Last week I wrote this instrumental piece, which has the working title of “Apart”. 
I’m really excited for it, it’s kind of a hypnotic electronic dance track with a chord progression that I really love. The structure of it is different to most of my other stuff, as it’s mainly centred around three verses. Most of my songs have a standard verse, chorus, verse, chorus structure. However, I’ve had no ideas for lyrics yet.

I’ve been feeling very frustrated with my self over these past few weeks as I’ve had very little ideas for lyrics. Usually I write lyrics very regularly, at least one song every couple of days, but lately I’ve been lucky if I can write one song in a month!
I usually write my lyrics based on feelings and situations I’ve experienced, but nothing really seems to have happened lately that I’ve thought would make a good topic for a song.
I hope I can write something soon, as I really can’t wait to hear this song when it’s finished.
I’m going to try and fit it in with the theme of my upcoming EP so it can be included on that.

I mentioned very briefly in my last blog that theme of my EP will be Morality.
I’ve always been very interested in the reasons behind why people do the things they do. Whenever we’re placed in a situation which requires us to choose the way we act towards it, we almost always seem to think that we’ve done the right thing and we often don’t realise that our choice was a mistake until a long time after the event. I’ve always been curious about why that is and why we choose the morals we have. The main focus of the EP will the way we act towards other people.

So far I have written two songs for the EP. One of them is called “Sense Of Morality” which will be the centrepiece of the record, and the other is called “Waiting On The Park Bench”. “Waiting On The Park Bench” is already complete, but it may not be included on the EP as the style of the song is quite different to my other ideas. I’ll let you know what happens with that, but if I choose not to include it then it will be released for free download.

If you have liked my Facebook page then you may have seen that yesterday was the one year anniversary of the release of my songs!
I just want to say thank you so much to everybody who has listened to and downloaded my music, and anybody who has followed these blogs and kept up to date with everything that I’m doing.
Thank you all so much for the support!!!
It really means the world to me!

That’s all I’ve got to say this week, thank you for reading this blog.
Please be sure to read the other “my music” blogs and to check out my music if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

Sorry about that!

I’ve had heaps of work to do for college this week, so I haven’t really found the time to do anything new with my music.

Please feel free to check out my stuff if you haven’t already done so!

Hi everybody!

This week I wrote a new song, which right now has the working title of “Morph”.
I’m not too sure if I like that title just yet, so it’s possible that I will change the title in the future.

The song can have a number of different meanings, it depends on how you choose to look at it.
Overall, the basic theme of the song is insecurities. The song is about somebody who is trying to be something they’re not.
I’d say that it’s definitely one of my favourite set of lyrics, out of that I’ve written so far.
The lyrics contain lots of metaphors which allow the song to convey a variety of different messages.

I’ve produced a demo of the song, and musically it has a pulsing chord rhythm against a club beat.
It’s quite easy to dance to it, but I wouldn’t necessarily describe it as a dance song.
I really like it, and I can’t wait for you to hear it.

I haven’t really had time to do anything else this week with my music, due to the large amount of coursework I’ve had.
I have two days off from college this week, on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Hopefully I’ll find some time to work on my music then.

Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to check out the other “my music” blogs and my music if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

Hi everybody!

I’ve spent the majority of this week working on a song I wrote a while ago called “New Life”.

The song is probably one of my favourite songs out of everything I’ve written so far.
When I originally wrote it, I played a very early demo for my sister and she seemed to really love it.

On Friday I produced a demo of the track on Pro Tools, and I think it’ll sound really great when it’s complete.
The song to me sounds very simple, yet very complex at the same time.
I think the music is really beautiful, I particularly like the drum beat as it has a “marching band” feel to it.

However, I recorded demo vocals for the track today and listening back to it made me realise that I needed to make a few changes to the lyrics.
The song originally was about rebellion, in the case of my point of view I was rebelling against people who believe that they can push other people around.
Like I have done with some of my other songs, I wrote it in an ambiguous style so that the listener to interpret the songs to reflect what they are feeling at that time.
I was aware when I wrote it that the record could easily be seen as being a political song, which was fine by me, I love songs that discuss political views.
The problem that came with “New Life” was that I realised that, if the song were to be looked at in a political sense, then the song seemed to be promoting a political stance that I don’t personally believe in.
So because of this I didn’t not feel it was write to sing some of the lyrics in the song as I believe that it’s important that I always sing about things I believe in.

I have re-written parts of the song, it is now a song that supports activism for peace. I think it sounds much better now, I feel much more comfortable singing it and I cannot wait for you all to hear it!

That’s all I have to say this week, thank you so much for reading this blog!
Please be sure to check out my music and to read the “my music” blogs if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

Hi everybody!

Just so you know, I’m feeling a lot better now and I’ve been well enough to do some music work! However, I’ve had loads of coursework this week all due in for the same day so I haven’t had time to do too much.

First of all, I’d like to remind you all that my “Time Of My Life” remix is still available to listen to, please create a SoundCloud account and favourite my track so I hopefully get closer to winning the competition.

CLICK HERE to hear the remix!!!

This week I sequenced “I Caught You Staring At Me” and “Learn To Fly” into Pro Tools, they sound great!
All that is left for me to do is convert the midi instruments to my real synths and record vocals for each of the songs.

Both songs are quite short and sparse, so I don’t think it will take me very long as soon as I find the time.

“I Caught You Staring At Me” is my first track to feature a tempo change, it’s starts off quite slowly but then becomes very upbeat towards the end.
“Learn To Fly” is rather different from the demo I created. Along with my voice, the demo had a lot more instrumentation as it featured strings, piano, synths and drums.
The final version will just be vocals, piano and one arppegiated synth. It’s a lot more mellow than the demo which I think is a far better representation of the song!
I love that there is a contrast between that song and “So-Called Angel”.
“lSo-Called Angel” is a very large production filled with instruments and effects, where as “Learn To Fly” is very relaxed and minimalistic.

I cannot wait for you to hear all three songs!!!
I know I said something similar to that when I released “I Can’t Stop Writing Songs About You” and “Couple On Show”, but I don’t think I’ve ever felt more confidence with the free download songs than I have with these three!

This week I also started working on a new idea for a song, which has the working title of “The Fall”. This song has very pretty chords and a relaxed mood, though it builds up into a huge upbeat production!
I love songs that do that song sort of thing, and I cannot wait to see how this track turns out.

That’s all I’ve got to say this week, please check out my music, listen to my competition remix that I mentioned earlier and check out the other “my music” blogs if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks for reading this blog,

Josh :)

Hi everyone!

Sorry that I didn’t post this yesterday. I had some coursework to do for college, which I didn’t think would take very long, but it ended up taking a lot more time than expected.

This week I finally got around to recording the instruments for “So-Called Angel”. I currently have a finished instrumental of it and it sounds amazing! I must admit that it’s definitely my favourite out of all the free download songs that I have.

It has a similar kind of energy to “Save Me From My Secrets”, though lyrically it has a completely different theme and the lyrics are not as ambiguous.
I feel that this song is much better than “Save Me…” in terms of production.
I hadn’t had much experience when I did that song, but I’ve studied music production a lot since then and I think I know what I’m doing now.
I’ve also added a synth lead, which wasn’t in the demo, and used a “talkbox” effect plug-in which makes the lead sound really cool!

I plan to record vocals for the track either Wednesday afternoon (as I finish college early that day) or at the weekend.
I’m not sure when it will be released, as I would like to release a second free download song along side it, though I hope it will be soon.
The song is quite short compared to my other stuff, it’s roughly two and a half minutes, so I want to give you a bit more to listen to when I release it as I haven’t released anything for a while.

Over the weekend I bought a copy of “Drums Between The Bells” by Brian Eno, which features poems written by Rick Holland.
It’s first Eno record I’ve bought, excluding several albums I’ve bought that produced by him, and I absolutely love it!
The reason why I’m telling you this is because, after listening to it, I felt rather inspired and decided to have a go at writing my own poem.
I’ve also been reading poetry by people such as Yoko Ono and Patti Smith lately, so I admit that they have also inspired me to try out poetry.
I wrote a short poem called “We Sink Our Teeth” and I rather like it!
I’ve never tried to write poetry before, but I don’t think this poem is too bad for a first attempt.

Similary to the style of the record, I’ve had the idea of recording a piece of music and then speaking or singing (I haven’t decided yet) the poem over the top.
I demoed a piece of music earlier, so I’ll let you know how that goes!

That’s all I have to say this week, thanks for reading!
Please be sure to check out the other “My Music” and to check out my music if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

P.S.
If any Brian Eno fans are reading this, could you please leave a message in my “Ask” box recommending some albums please?
I really want to buy some more of his records, but I’m not sure which to get, please let me know what you’d say is his best work?

Thanks again! :)

Hi everybody!

If any of you follow me on twitter or have liked my facebook fan page, you may have seen that I’m going to enter a competition which is being held by Patrick Wolf, who is one of my favourite artists and a big influence on my music.
If you’re a fan of him then probably be aware of this already, but he’s holding a competition for people to remix his single “Time Of My Life”.
Patrick then listens to all of the remixes that have been submitted and then his top three favourite get featured on his website and he will perform the winner’s remix during his live shows!

I’ve never done a remix of anything before, but it’s always been something that I’ve wanted to try so I thought I’d give it a go. I haven’t quite finished my remix but so far I’m rather impressed with myself! My remix is a dance/synthpop version of the song which is quite different from the original.
When it’s done, I’ll submit it to the competition and hopefully it will go far!

I’ve spent the majority of this week working on that remix, though I have done some other things.
I started working on a a new track which has the working title of “Far too perfect”. I can’t say too much about it just yet, as it’s still in the very early stages, but it’s kind of a follow-up to “I can’t stop writing songs about you”.
If any of you have heard that song, you’ll know that one of the lines is “definitely far too perfect”.
I can imagine the song will be a free download track, along with “So-Called Angel”.
I’m going to try and release two free download songs at a time from now on.

That’s all I’ve done this week, I go back to college for my third year tomorrow.
I’m really looking forward to seeing all of my friends again, though I really wish I had some more time off!

Also, earlier today I reached 50 “likes” on my Facebook fan page!
I just want to say thank you so much to everybody who has supported me, words cannot describe how much I appreciate it!

Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to check out the other “my music” blogs and to check out my music if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

Hi everybody!

I’ve been trying to avoid the use of this next sentence recently, as my uncle pointed out that I went through a long phase of beginning every one of the blogs with it (haha!), but I’m afraid that I have no choice but to use it yet again. I haven’t really done much this week unfortunately (shock horror!!!).
I’m not too sure why to be honest, because I haven’t really been busy with other things. I guess I just felt pretty “uninspired” this week.

Anyway, I did do a few things, I haven’t done absolutely nothing! :)

This week I re-recorded vocals for a song I wrote a long time ago called “kicks”. This is the second time I’ve recorded vocals for that song. I’m still not sure if I’m 100% happy with it. I’ll have to decide soon and let you know.

I also started working on a new song called “Fantasy Love”, which is unfinished and is still in the very early stages, but I have very high hopes for it. It’s got quite a “dancey” feel to it.

Since this blog is so short, I thought I’d explain the EP situation as I don’t think I’ve made it very clear.
I’ve been writing songs, lyrics mainly, for about five years; though I never wrote anything I felt particularly good until about two and a half/three years ago.
Around that time, I also bought my first computer music sequencer and started to write a bunch of songs which eventually formed together to create (what will be) my debut EP.

The writing process was fairly quick, though I did not have any facilities to record vocals for any of the tracks. (If you search back to the very first few “my music blogs, you’ll find I was writing about coming to the end of writing the EP)
I eventually bought a microphone and other gear to record the songs, so I started to work on them. I didn’t find much time to record, as at the time my “studio” was in my bedroom (so I had to try to not be too noisy so I wouldn’t disturb my family) and I was just finishing high school and starting college. 

I managed to demo all of the tracks and record what I planned to be final vocal recordings for some. Though as time progressed, I bought new equipment such as new mics, recording gear and sequencers, I also learnt more skills about music production, then recorded the rest of the tracks with the new equipment.
I then found, because I did this, that the audio/recording/mixing qualities between the various songs did not match. So I’m having to re-record all the tracks I did a while back, to ensure that all of the songs are up to the same standard.

I never intended for this EP to take so long, and I really annoyed that it has as it means that there is a difference between my style and skills as a song writer have developed since then. The free download songs, excluding “Save Me From My Secrets”, “Couple On Show” and “I Can’t Stop Writing Songs About You”, were written around the same time as I started writing this EP.(Though “Save Me…” and the other three free download songs I released at that time were recorded using older equipment.)

I have also briefly mentioned EP number two, that EP something I started working on very recently and it contains new songs.

Thank you so much for reading this blog, please be sure to read the other “My Music” blogs and to check out my music if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)

Hi everybody!

This week I wrote a brand new song, which is called “So-Called Angel”. I mentioned last week that I demoed and instrumental, which for some reason I named “bed”, well that track is new “So-Called Angel”.

The song is an upbeat dance track that has dark moments, similarly to “Save Me From My Secrets”. However, the message behind the song is fairly straight forward.
In a nutshell, it’s about a person (a female in the case of the song) who is very manipulative and controlling. The girl has the ability to make everybody like her and the people in the song cannot see that she actually has very cruel intentions. In the song, I can see her for what she really is and I warn other people to make sure they do not fall for her charms.
I’m thinking about recording the sound of a fire burning to play at the end of the track, the reason for that sound will make sense when you hear the lyrics.
I’m sure many of you may have met a person, of any gender, who is similar to the girl in the song and that person may have put you in a similar situation. I hope you can relate to the song.
I really love the song, I cannot wait for you to hear it and I hope you all enjoy.
The song is just a demo at the moment, though I plan to record it properly very soon!

Today I also started working on two instrumental demos. One of them has the working title of “Lift” and the other is called “Oh”.
”Lift” is a happy, cheery synthpop track. The song is still in the very early stages, but I particularly like the drum beat. The drum beat is generally built around toms, rather then the standard Kick & Snare drum beats I use in most of my songs. I’ll let you know when I’ve developed the track further.

“Oh” is a short experimental, sort of ambient track that I did earlier today which I adore!
It’s mainly built around piano and strings, then drums, vocals and synths are added later. Each instrument plays a short 8 bar loop which does not change throughout the song. Instruments gradually build in layers.
The only instrument that has minor changes in melody is my vocals. However, there are no real lyrics to the song. I just sing the word “oh” along to a short melody. I personally really like the song, it reflects more of my “experimental” approach to song writing, which hasn’t really been heard yet in most of my other stuff. I’m not sure what to do with the track yet, it’s just a demo right now so hopefully I will record it soon!

Thank you for reading this blog, please be sure to read the other “My music” blogs and to check out my music if you haven’t already done so!

Thanks,

Josh :)