Suggest an idea for a song by Matthew Carefully for AOA and win
Matthew. And balloons.
Update: Congrats to Arielle and Jackers -- we picked their ideas for the song.
The super short story: Matthew's going to write and record a song based on suggestions from the AOA crowd. Submit a suggestion in the comments and you could some win some stuff.
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Local musician/record label producer Matthew Carefully (that would be Matthew Loiacono) has a new album coming out soon. It's called Community Balloon -- and the songs are based on ideas submitted by people on his weekly mailing list. (He's playing a CD release show at Caffe Lena this Sunday.)
Continuing the collaborative spirit, Matthew has offered to write and record a song based on suggestions from the AOA crowd. And then we'll post it on AOA. Says Matthew of the suggestions:
As far as contributions go, I ask folks to send over "a phrase, a word, an idea, a memory, a moment" in the form of "lyric snippets, words, feelings, musical 'rules', sound samples, photos, or anything you'd like to hear translated into a song."
And, wait, there's more: the people who submit the two suggestions picked for the song will get the Community Balloon bundle, which includes:
+ immediate high-quality mp3 download of the album
+ Community Balloon CD
+ Community Balloon poster
+ Community Balloon 4-postcard set
+ Music to Fall Asleep To Vol. 1 CD - 50+ minutes of music intended for study, meditation or sleeping. This collection is brand new.
But, wait, there's even more: The AOA editors will be picking the suggestions for the song -- without input from Matthew. (It's kind of like a musical version of Chopped.)
Good suggestions will make this whole process more fun. So we asked Matthew for a little background on what made good suggestions for the album. That's after the jump.
Important: To be entered in the contest, suggestions must be submitted in the comments of this post by 11:59 pm Thursday May 6, 2010. A working email address (that you check) must submitted with the comment. The winners will be notified by 5 pm that Friday and must respond by 5 pm the following Monday. There will be two winners.
Here's more from Matthew on what makes good suggestions for the song:
As far as contributions go, I asked folks to send over "a phrase, a word, an idea, a memory, a moment" in the form of "lyric snippets, words, feelings, musical 'rules', sound samples, photos, or anything you'd like to hear translated into a song".
Specific contributions that made the album are best defined by the following email from list member Shannon, whose entry was the first I received. It became the first song I recorded in this series, entitled "Un-Tear" and also happens to be the first song on the album (embedded below):
"so when i read your prompt, if you will, i immediately thought: lots of drums and reading 'a painful case' (from Dubliners) and hating James Joyce for being able to precisely capture human emotion that is still directly relevant to your life a century after the story was written!
I think the drum thing is because i've been listening to a lot of the minutemen lately."
Obviously the song sounds nothing like the Minutemen, but I think I was able to translate Shannon's feelings well into the song. And there's certainly "lots of drums".
Beyond that, I received snippets of lyrics that I fleshed out into full songs and other songs were created from full lyrics by local poets/musicians/heroes Colie Collen, Alex Muro (Sgt. Dunbar & the Hobo Banned) and Ben Karis-Nix. One song was created by using a sent-in sound sample as a bed track. Another song was created by combining an idea from one person and adding lyric snippets from another.
photo: Sebastien Barre / Collar City Records
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Comments
There's a bridge on Fuller road, and on both sides are the words "I love Nicki" written in spray paint. I've always wondered who Nicki was, and what it is about them that would cause another person to declare their love by defacing public property. I'd love to hear Matt's interpretation of the events behind this. It's weird and romantic all at the same time.
... said Arielle on May 5, 2010 at 3:50 PM | link
in the first story of the book Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, a group of people in the very distant past make trips to the moon (which was much closer to the earth than it is now) by way of a ladder on a boat. When somebody makes it to the halfway point between the earth and the moon they float, drawn with equal gravitational force to both at once. When stuck in this space they have to "swim" to continue travelling in either direction. For the sake of brevity, there is a love triangle (more of a square) and the boat captains wife, who travels to the moon to be with another man, is left there by herself as the moon begins to drift away from the earth. The image of the woman trying and failing to overcome the gravity of the moon as she floats motionless upside-down above the earth is one that has always stuck in my mind.
... said Ryan on May 5, 2010 at 10:00 PM | link
Tuna Fish Sandwich
... said Brian on May 5, 2010 at 11:17 PM | link
Being in love, with 2 people at the same time - and they're married.
... said Lola on May 5, 2010 at 11:32 PM | link
The irrational fear that Wade Boggs and Don Mattingly are the same person.
... said Shaun on May 6, 2010 at 6:21 AM | link
The tweets of AOAOtto ( http://twitter.com/aoaotto ) or Bandit ( http://www.facebook.com/#!/BanditOfDogOwnedLife?ref=ts ) or Jack.
Dog thoughts.
... said Paul C. on May 6, 2010 at 8:06 AM | link
The Lark Tavern burning (mostly) down
... said Bryan on May 6, 2010 at 8:50 AM | link
How about a song about the Tulip Festival in Washington Park but incorporate sounds like they do in STOMP - using sweeping brooms and thumping broomsticks on wood floors but the challenge would be to have soft undertones. Maybe open the song with the sound of rain, since that seems to be the norm for the Festival. (Think cleaning of the streets ceremony and the crowning of the Tulip Queen, maybe go to the fest this weekend, walk around and record sounds for additional ideas) A theme song for the Tulip Fest would be great to play for radio bits and tv spots every year. Promote Albany and more.
... said Rich R. on May 6, 2010 at 9:36 AM | link
A dialogue between a motorist and a bicyclist. They make out at the end.
... said -S on May 6, 2010 at 10:19 AM | link
not sure how normal this experience is, but...Ever laying in bed in the morning, knowing you should get up and start your day. And you start imagining all the things you need to do to start your day, like "ok, I 'm going to get up, go over to the closet, pick out something to wear, like maybe my green shirt, then I got to brush my teeth, and get my bag, etc etc." But the thing is, since you're still laying in bed half awake it starts to morph into something like a lucid dream, were you actually think you are doing these things, and getting yourself almost ready to go. Then the inevitable happens, and you realize you're still and bed, haven't done a thing, and still need to do all the thing you thought you had already taken care of. It's usually a pretty big letdown at first, but then again it's like you've already had a dry run...
... said Jackers on May 6, 2010 at 10:34 AM | link
Jackers, I've never had that happen, but that's really depressing and I'm so, so sorry.
Arielle, I've wondered about that graffiti too.
-S's idea would be better if the car and the bike make out in the end.
... said B on May 6, 2010 at 11:39 AM | link
two twenty somethigs leaving behind their small town coffee shop for greener pastures in north carolina. Only to find themselves back working at that shop six months later.
... said greg milkdud on May 6, 2010 at 12:34 PM | link
Has a winner been selected for this contest? Very curious what was the decision.
... said Rich R. on May 10, 2010 at 9:44 AM | link