blogging, bon iver

i think recently (like in the past few months) i've kind of slacked off on blogging. I only post videos and pictures... which are interesting, but that's like lazy blogging. that's like doing research on wikipedia (which i think is actually more legit than many other websites that professors would accept as sources)

anyway...

I've recently gotten really into bon iver. I've had his music and admired him for awhile now, but it wasn't until a couple months ago that I really started listening to it a lot. And as a result, I'm getting excited about writing and recording new music again. Basically there are two ways that songs get recorded... You either write a song before you record it, or you write it as you record it. Although "great songs" are probably written before recording... like great "songwriter songs"... classic stuff with amazing lyrics and melodies (i'm thinking mccartney and lennon, paul simon, don mcclean, nina simone, whatever... even new artists like damien rice or colin meloy)
Having said that, there is something that is really exciting about writing songs as you record them. This method allows you to think of things that you might not think to do whilst sitting at a piano or behind a guitar. You can find inspiration in the sounds that you've already recorded... especially if you're an individual who is layering different parts. And I guess that's why Bon Iver has become a new source of inspiration for me... his rich overdubbing. He overdubs himself shamelessly, in a way that you normally only hear in "demo versions" of songs. I like Bon Iver because Justin doesn't care if his songs don't have a typical, professionally-engineered sound, or professionally-produced composition form.

So I'm really hoping to do some writing/recording over the summer. I have a bunch of songs that are pretty much finished, but I'm not super happy with them. and i don't know why.

In Viet Nam war terminology, if someone was "in the shit" they were in the middle of a firefight... they saw the worst of it. Well... as far as this semester goes, right now I'm in the shit. I can't wait for classes to be finished. Tonight's the third consecutive night that i've caffeinated myself to get work done. duuuuuuuuude.