|
|
A kind review from Industry legend Mr Sam Cutler (http://samcutler.com)
"...a complex and original singer with a vocal palette of exceptional range and intensity, from the purist sophisticated falsetto to the most plaintive heart-rending tones. He has a truly amazing voice. New York and then America will discover him I am sure..."
I've been staring at a a page... then staring at my laptop... then looking at my phone...
Between everything that's been going on in the early part of this year (wedding, recording with Emma Dean, moving to New York and getting myself somewhat set up) I really have had barely any time to finish writing any songs in months and I feel like I'm out of the habit of it, I just can't take any of the dozen or so ideas I have to any amount of fruition.
I can see why you hear stories of people like Bob Dylan or Elton John sitting down and writing a song every da. There's a real mind set you get yourself into, which I think I bludgeoned myself into during the Tiny Crooked Orchestra project last year, in which songs just seem to tumble out of you. It's a real addiction too, I was almost having twitching fits earlier in the year from the withdrawal of not having time to write.
Well at any rate, despite my small failure today, I'm very excited about some of the unfinished ideas that I have, which I think have the potential to be among some of my best I'm living in a new and inspirational city where the highs and lows of people's lives are as pronouned and eratic as the seasons (Boston we weep for you), I have a shiny new guitar and an over-abundance of general enthusiasm.
So lets just try again tomorrow xx
|
| Here's a photographic summary of our first month in New York. The Big Apple crushed through our phone cameras then strained through Instagram (the world through digital-vintage-emulation coloured glasses) xx |
Check out all the songs of the FRONZ ARP IS A TINY CROOKED ORCHESTRA
project here:
FRONZ ARP IS A TINY CROOKED ORCHESTRA (MARCH, 2013)
 |
BUY FROM BANDCAMP
BUY FROM ITUNES
 |
PRESS RELEASE
After a prolific 2012, in which he wrote, produced in his home studio, created artwork for (on the left, except for Fire and Death of TV by Steve Munro) and released a new single every 2 weeks throughout the year, Fronz Arp has released 12 of the resulting 27 songs on his latest album FRONZ ARP IS A TINY CROOKED ORCHESTRA (and the remaining 15 on VOLUME 2)
The 2012 project saw the songwriter/producer Arp pushing the boundaries of his technical and creative skills to get the most out of his limited time and equipment. Not only that, he found himself exploring and battling with the limitations of current social media and digital release mediums that are, despite the appearance of flexibility and progress, most prominently still geared toward the traditional album or EP release scenario. The project evolved until the 27th and final track was finally released in the last week of December, 2012.
"It’s easy to figure out where the David Bowie comparisons come from after hearing just a few notes from Fronz Arp. The poppy sound and catchy beats certainly bring to mind one of Britain’s finest" - The Indie Mine (Apr 01, 2013)
"These guys are weird. I think I'm in love" - Hoss the Boss (2012) |
The Man-Cave has been slowly restablished into a more mobile beast of late, in preparation for a move of uncertain duration to New York. And I'm geekishly proud to have gotten it into working order.
I followed Avid specs to the letter and have myself a Dell M4400, which I picked up for $200. The only problem is my Mbox 3 pro is firewire and, though it works OK mostly with the M4400, firewire isn't "recommended" and does tend to cause the odd problem, so I'm considering swapping to a USB device. Plus there's an esata drive dock just out of shot. You can also see on the table there an API Lunchbox with 2 Joe Malone built preamps (JLM Dual 99v and JLM TG) which sounds amazing. All of my releases from last year were recorded using a Beta58 through these and even I was amazed it all. The only irregular addition her is the Neumann M147 which I have on loan from my friends at the Independent Music Academy (check them out) for recording the upcoming releases for the supremely talented Emma Dean (check her out too).
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what the bold new era of music is all about. Sure, it doesn't sound like a million dollar studio. But it can sounds pretty damn amazing and I can sit in my loungeroom and produce as much music as I want (housemate annoyance pending) without worrying about budget or where my lounge room happens to be in the world. I do love this shit :)
|
Something strange happened to me in 2012. Something wildly radical. I committed to writing as much music as i could. I committed to releasing a track every two weeks and at the end of the year, when it was done, I looked back and said "well holy shit..." and i was proud.
The endless spiralling towards the undefined, constantly metamorphisising ceiling that is music industry success took a back seat. The search for new melodies and words and inspirations was all encombassing. Every spare moment in between life, love and paying rent and taxes was filled. And now I look back at that year and I don't think how fast it disappeared, or how disappointing it is I'm not a huge star. I look and think, "well that's a pretty serious amount of work".
And I'm proud
It may be the best I've felt about being a musician in some time. There's a lesson here somewhere |
| |
 |
|
Release 23: Nov 09, 2012
MONSTERS INSIDE
|
| |
OR PAY WHAT YOU WANT AT
|
| |
|
I have been a slack blogger recently, shame on me, but work and life has risen to battle and I've barely been scraping my releases out (am running a week behind now) let alone all the stuff I need to do around the releases. I hope they've still been getting out to as many people as they can at least. The trials of the independent musician...
This release, MONSTERS INSIDE, my 23rd release for the TINY CROOKED ORCHESTRA project (yay), was one where I tried to string together 'hooky' melodies ONLY, onstructing it all in my studio rather then having a song pre-written. Kind of in the Beatles/George Martin style of doing things, though in this case I am all four Beatles and extended production team rolled into a tall awkward man and a clickety clack PC.
Was I successful? The result is certainly a bit different to my usual 'genre' of songs I suppose, a little more indie rock I suppose. And it was fun playing with some samples. The clanging/snare sound, for example, is a now firmly dented bin lid that I compressed quite hard physically and in an audio processing sense. For those of you that have heard, I've also had drum tracks in a couple of previous releases lately (On My Side and Love in Animation) and they're all based on samples too (from previous recording sessions I've done), though there is something very enjoyable about beating on a tin can to produce a sound.
Thanks for sticking around y'all. Many apologies for my horrible blog silence (forgive me net-isphere, for I have sinned in my lack of constant communication), I'll try and be a better y-gen xx
|
