1/21/08 - I love you, you're crazy

A outburst of energy and amour at night :)

Play "I love you, you're crazy"


Download, Remix, Reuse, Cut & Run the sample at CCMixter

1/20/08 - Nostalgie Air

I was recording a catchy little sample for a friend's project, and that made me think about what makes a sample catchy. Not sure if I have an answer yet, but here's a plaintive nostalgic melodic fragment. Remix it in good health.

Play "Nostalgie Air"


Download, Remix, Reuse, Cut & Run the sample at CCMixter

1/19/08 - Nane Tsoha

Today we played at Golden Fest, the annual Eastern-European music bonanza in New York (a photo from Romashka's set pictured here, photo by Kelly Marshall). There are lots of Roma songs I could record a capella (and maybe I will record some for this project), but for now, this melody from the famous Roma song "Nane Tsoha" was tugging at me, so here it is.

Play "Nane Tsoha melody"


Download, Remix, Reuse, Cut & Run the sample at CCMixter

1/18/08: You Wear Jeans

A bluesy bittersweet tune. Not sure how it came about - I was looking at LZ's jeans, and something about the way they were wallowing in the living room, shapeless and sallow made me sing this little verse. Not sure where this Billie Holiday-like vibe comes from - I don't even listen too much to her these days, but her recordings linger on, and I feel her air every time I start singing (in English, that is).

Play "You Wear Jeans"


Download, Remix, Reuse, Cut & Run the sample at CCMixter

1/17/08 - Tagine

Here's some Morrocan flavor for y'all, a little Mediterranean-like dittie. I'm picturing a steamy desert dance track or a hookah lounge chill-out. I tried for a slightly longer piece yesterday to create more possibilities.

Play "Tagine"


I'm a bit puzzled how this track came out of me - I spent the day listening to Classical music of 20th and 21st century (first on Pandora, and then a Wordless Music Series concert featuring minimalist sublime pieces by Gavin Bryars, John Adams, and Johnny Greenwood. Then some all-Americana cover band at a post-concert bash at a bar. And then I get home, open my mouth to record something gypsy-like, and this comes out. Tomorrow I will try to record earlier in the day, so I can sing louder and think through it more.

1/16/08 - Get me to a monastery

Having spent much of the day listening to Charles Ives, Gabriel Fauré, and Leoš Janáček , I wanted to record something that sounded pure, classical, but with a certain devilish magnetic pull that those composers' music has on me. The result wasn't perfect, but I relished the chance to improvize on what I was hearing in my ear and struggling to channel my voice in the right direction.

LZ said that I sound like a chaste Catholic school girl. Well, at least it's different from what I did yesterday, and surely different from what I'll record tomorrow.

Play "Pure Airy Chant"


Download, Remix, Reuse, Cut & Run the sample at CCMixter

UPDATE:once again, LZ weighs in on Vox365 as thesoupasonic

1/15/08 - Bouncy Pa-Ra-Pam

Here's a quick & lighthearted sample from our brewery - day 2 of Vox365! I'd like to hear this sample on a groovy Latin tune... or a somber lounge track that needs some sunshine... or a burnt-out rocker ballad for a shot of caffeine.

I recorded this minutes after we broke yet another French Press coffee maker (our third one, but who's counting...) So that had to mean good luck.

I posted this sample on ccMixter under Attribution license. ccMixter is a site for sharing samples and collaborating, and my first posting there, an a cappella recording of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child" was remixed at least 13 times (Minimal_aRT's remix is one of my favorites).

Play "Bouncy Pa-Ra-Pam"


Download, Remix, Reuse, Cut & Run the sample at CCMixter