My Year In Sound: From Rejection to Success

Musical Attempt # 1: DJing

I thought that I would end the year with a little article on my own musical adventure over the past year. I started by DJing at a local club, Crash Course. This club is an indie, punk, electro, brit pop, and pretty much whatever the DJ feels like kinda place. I got the gig by telling the guy who was running the night, James, that I thought that the club had gone down hill since the last club DJ left.. Which was kind of rude, but I was just being honest. I offered to help out and although I had only ever DJed once before, he let me try. After a few attempts at spinning, I managed to convince him that I knew how to DJ. I also managed to convince myself, and I began to DJ at another club at the same venue, The Box. This is a very gothic club, with a fixed crowd and two dance floors. I managed to hold my own there for a while, but like all good things it had to end. I was booted from the booth for playing too much indie, or emo, or not wearing enough black, either way, this experience was the dark underside to my first attempt at DJing.

Musical Attempt # 2: Joining A Band

I began my exploration in Whysp, a band who sounded like a cross between an old Irish pub band, The Incredible String Band, and Sid Barret. They were a hometown favorite of mine, and when my friend Jeff Manson moved to Mexico, the orchestrator of the group, Josh Alper (of The Lowdown) agreed to let me play with them. I felt a little awkward in the group, because it seemed like some type of Tolken-esque adventure team of hardy lads and I was well, a girl. The songs were great, if you like psychedelic pub ballads. My favorite was Seedling which speaks of happily laughing plants and animals and floating people. I love the endearingly out of key "la, la, la" part and the harpsichord that flows throughout the track (both of which I got to perform, when I was in the band). Another epic ballad, Travels of Youth, has some of the "best" lyrics like "a promise of love to a maiden as fair as a dove" and "and the sun will rise a fair maiden," both of which I felt kind of funny singing for their obviously hokey (vaguely sexist) content. But the ridiculously long adventure ballad about getting trolls high and drinking mead in taverns won me over, and I found room in my heart for the song. My life in Whysp was cut short however, due to the longing the boys had for their former keyboard/melodica player and so I was cast out! I was set to travel the winding road alone, adventuring and searching for a new band of ruddy bards (with only 15 hit points left, and a small concealed dagger! )

Musical Attempt # 3: Starting A Band

When I thought all was over and I was never going to find any musical partners of like mind, I stumbled upon a little CD by The Magistrates. They turned out to have some pretty neat electro pop tracks. One of the motivating forces behind the band, Gabriel Gilder, and I began a musical affair, in no time we started talking about doing our own breed of music. Unlike my previous engagement, this collaboration makes room for theatrics, mistakes, bizarre costumes, and perfectionism masked by amateurism. I have no pretense of psychedelic mysticism which seems so popular these days with artists like Devendra Banhart, 6 Organs of Admittance, and Little WIngs to name a few. But I do feel like music is magical and magic is funny. Our collaborative work is called Cosmic Star and our first musical venture is a track inspired by the song poems I wrote of earlier. We actually wrote and recorded the song in one day, with the help of Robert Syrett. It is sort of strange, disjunct, and comical, just the way it ought to be. So, now I leave you with the virgin recording of Honest and Hard I wish everyone a magic filled new year. More to come!