Seventeen Pencils

Posted on Tuesday, 15th September 2009 by Stephen

That’s what they tell me on YouTube. “They sure as !@#$ don’t write &#*$ like this anymore!” Or some such statement. Is it true? They also say that fairly new stuff like Oasis’s Don’t look back in Anger is genius. I know that’s not true – Noel Gallagher said so himself. So what gives? My conclusion here would be that YouTube users in general have no idea what makes music great. I’m a YouTube user too, so that sucks! Of course, since the advent of the internets, more and more artists are getting publicity (sweet!), which means the truly good artists stand out less (lame!). However, the whole concept of “popular” music is still relatively new, which gives me hope. Perhaps over time, people will feel the same about this decade as they do about the 60’s and 70’s. (The 80’s are not helping my theory.)
So to my modern musician friends: Write with soul. Sometimes exploring new territory can mean the loss of a solid melody. Not good! Be transparent, but look outside of yourself for inspiration, not inside.

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Posted on Wednesday, 26th August 2009 by Stephen

And stuff. So far it’s been ok, but it looks like I may not be learning a lot in my computer classes! What a shame. At least I get to chill with wannabe nerds. That in itself is worth the time, methinks. Getting started with Java took me like ten minutes… bleh. I was hoping to get a better OOP foundation, but I guess I’ll just have to learn the same stuff over again, or something like that.

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Posted on Saturday, 15th August 2009 by Stephen

It’s finally here! After lots of work, etc., I have finished my first album, If Music be the Food of Love. It will be on iTunes September 15, but you can download it right now at www.imbtfol.com, or right here at Seventeen Pencils. I’d like to thank Michael Golus, Joshua Mayfield, Caleb Sherer, and Joshua Davis for their help with everything from playing the piano to doing cartwheels, etc. Enjoy!

Stephen

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Posted on Tuesday, 4th August 2009 by Stephen

I’m coming down to the home stretch with my new album, If Music be the Food of Love. Something tells me that this could be exciting! I’m shooting for August 15, which is less than two weeks away. There’s a certain satisfaction to doing everything by yourself, but I definitely want to try a different approach next time. It just isn’t time-effective to write every single note of every instrument by hand. I hereby vow to reach out in a non-hermit-like manner, and join with other fabulous musicians to make a more beautiful sound! I have one more food song left to finish, so I should be good with my deadline. Oh wait, I’m releasing my album in India a week sooner… YIKES.

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Posted on Thursday, 23rd July 2009 by Stephen

One of the hardest things about music is actually feeling it. It’s too easy to just write what sounds decent, and not really put my heart into it. So when a song can really make me feel deep down, I’m intrigued. In my experience, the emotional quality of a song has to do with escaping the mundane, both lyrically and musically, and presenting to the listener a vast spectrum of sensations. Two of the main ways to do this are through long distances and long periods of time. That’s why I love Enya – she does an excellent job of spanning an incredible range of feelings. Her ethereal sound includes stark elements from the past and the present – fleshing out orchestral arrangements with electronic sounds. And her lyrics bring together years of circumstances, shrouding modern life in the expansive mystery of the past. Trains and Winter Rains I think shows her strengths the best of any of her songs.

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