It’s all go go go at Jaden headquarters right now. Over the last 2-3 weeks we have had an overwhelmingly great response from singers around Sydney – even including a male vocalist (which seems to be harder to find than a leprechaun making out with a four leaf clover).
By day, I have been busying myself meeting with prospectives and figuring out the best way to ration out the music. By night, I have been doing my best to keep the new music flowing so that I have a reason to meet people during the day, and so forth…
We are really excited to have connected with some amazing talent so far, and have this week added another track to the rapidly growing Jaden Music song catalogue (“Buckle Up” ft Cheyenne Kavanagh), soon to be uploaded for your aural pleasure.
Also coming to this space shortly – a new segment on our blog called “Musical Coincidences”. I can’t say any more about this for now, but I promise it will be worth coming back for. In fact, some of you may even feel a sudden, inexplicable urge to brush your teeth afterwards…
Speaking of which, I am off to do so right now. Laterz
…or for those of you word-play/automobile fanatics, perhaps it should be “love in a fast Ford!”
Jaden’s latest musical offering is a sweet but sexy ballad featuring the silky smooth vocals of our much-loved RNB diva, Miss Neha. Daniel and I wrote this track together in a single, short studio session several months back (sorry about the excessive SSSS alliteration, I assure you it was not intended).
One thing I love about slow jams is the license to let loose and fill the track with sweet and melodic grandeur -in this case taking on the form of bells, chimes, strings and harps.
Generally speaking, when involved in anything music-related I tend to take on my guitarist persona (guitar being my primary weapon of choice in the battlefield of music since first picking it up 6 years ago). Perhaps for this reason, I always like to facilitate a nice mix of live instruments and samples (the balance between order and chaos?). For Love in Fast Forward that would be the little acoustic guitar licks and arpeggios tucked away under the blanket, snuggled up comfortably in a bed of strings and keys. I think it brings a certain honesty and realness to the song.
In case you’re wondering what my favourite part of Love in F.Fwd is, I am definitely very attached to the little synthy-strings dancing and darting around the edges of the song in the chorus a.k.a the sound of love in fast forward according to Nic.
A special thanks to Cindy Clarissa for the amazing artwork (be sure to check her out here), and much love to Miss Neha Nelson for adopting our vision for the track and making it fly. Enough said. Enjoy the song, and please don’t be afraid to share your feedback with us on the BLOG or on Youtube!
These days I discover the majority of my new music through two sources; Word of Mouth and the Internet. The latter is my major vice when it comes to music and it shows a shift that the music industry is still working to adapt to. Radio is becoming less relevant and MTV is more of a ringtone superstore these days so the future of music clearly lies online.
Here is the progression which led to my discovery of Kid Cudi;
Us Placers YouTube Clip > Va$htie’s YouTube Page > Vashtie’s Blog > Strange short movie involving Va$htie, Cudi and a Gun > Kid Cudi Wiki Search > Typing ‘Kid Cudi’ on YouTube.
Cudi is Kanye’s first signing on G.O.O.D Music and I liked his style with the first track I heard at the time, Day N Night. I regularly checked back for new vids on his YouTube account in expectation of his Album release until recently when I saw this;
My dislike for Lady Gaga and everything she stands for is no secret but this track is pure heat. The sample works perfectly in the track and the production by Mr West is top class. What also really caught me was the quality of the video clip. Clearly big budget and Directed by Nez Khammal, the theme, colors and simplicity perfectly complement the track. Recently too many artists have missed the boat with the themes and quality of their video clips but this clip as along with Amerie’s ‘Why R U’ video have renewed my faith in Music Videos.
Maybe it’s just me but It feels like MTV is becoming less and less relevant due to their gimmicky shows and lack of quality new music. Single and Video launches online are becoming a regular promotional tool for music artists and the 260,000 + views in a week or so for Kid Cudi clearly demonstrates this as a strong strategy.
Im looking forward to Cudi’s album which is expected to drop sometime in September and if you haven’t heard Mr Cudi’s Music yet I urge to you do some investigating.
For those unfamiliar with music production ‘sampling’ is the process of taking an existing recording sample and reusing it as a sound or instrument in a new recording.
Sampling has been a staple in Hip-Hop and RnB music production for a long time but coming from a musicians background its not something I have ever experimented with. Even though its legal when cleared (the original artists are paid royalties) I used to pass it off as unoriginal/theft.
I was always of the opinion that if you conceptualize a sound, instrument or beat you should create it from scratch. I was aware that many major producers were big on sampling and that many hits included samples but for the most part I ignored this aspect of music production.
All it took to flip the switch was one track! I knew Mr West built his sound on sampling but I never really cared until ‘Graduation’ was released and i heard ‘Champion’. I had to find out where the sample came from. I found that it came from a short break in a Steely Dan track called ‘Kid Charlemange’.
Its interesting that opinion can be so easily swayed. It makes me think that the line between criticism and adoration is a fine one. Now i understand that it takes a fantastic ear and great vision to take a snippet of a song and recreate it in such a way. This particualar one is quite clear cut and has not been modified much but if your do a little more research on sampling you find some fanastic sampled ideas and beats. Its just another production technique that many people turn a blind eye to but one which takes a certain talent.
To be honest at the moment i don’t have the luxury of listening to hundreds of old school classics looking for those few seconds of inspiration but my opinion on the subject has changed. I look forward to experimenting with this one day. Here is another YouTube video featuring all of the samples Mr West has used to date. Enjoy!
My lovely photographer friend Cindy and I recently went on an evening expedition to Luna Park. For some reason I decided to call her out on the coldest night imaginable (and then spent most of the night complaining about it to her). Despite the icy conditions and gale force winds, there was some spectacular sights to see – and not to mention all the flashing coloured lights (definitely the best kind). I wont put up any of my pictures as they didn’t turn out too well, but here are a couple of Cindy’s amazing shots. Be sure to keep an eye out for more of Cindy’s work, including some of the artwork she has been generously doing for Jaden!
Joel and I have recently started to work with a new hip hop group by the name of Ace Mental – a couple of young but very keen rappers from Sydney. It has been a while since Jaden did anything serious in the hip hop arena, so I for one am enjoying the change of pace and the new challenges that come with working on something different.
Joel is definitely more adept at composing and arranging in this style than I am; it seems I was never exposed to much hip hop as a kid (I’m sure growing up in the north shore of Sydney played its part in this). For this reason, I’ve been happy to take the backseat a little bit during the recording and writing phases, and take notes (particularly on the new vocabulary I’ve been learning). Production and mixing has been a lot of fun so far, and you can be sure no-one has to ask me twice to make the kick “phat”.
You can check the first completed track “Jealousy” out below. If you like what you hear, stay tuned for more new tracks.
“Your Love” was the first track I recorded with Neha, and the also my first time experimenting outside the box with heavy syncopation in RnB music. At the time I wrote the track (around 3-4 years ago now), I was just starting to discover artists like Aaliyah and Brandy – and I was beginning to take a real interest in the likes of Timbaland and Darkchild. I was absolutely fascinated by their complementary (or perhaps opposing) use of cabasa and electronic hats, and the off-beat snare and kick work.
A year or two after completing the track, Neha and I were asked to play a charity benefit gig in Sydney. I jumped at the chance, and saw it particularly as an opportunity to re-arrange some of the harder, beat driven RnB tunes we had worked on just for acoustic guitar and a single vocal (as opposed to the layer upon layer of vocal harmonies that are typical of our songs, but also of RnB in general).
We performed Your Love and a number of other originals as acoustic tracks on the day, and the reception we received was so good that we quickly made the decision to record Your Love again, but this time as an acoustic track.
The intention for this track was to go for a really stripped back feel, and keep it very organic and live sounding. I promised Danny that we would take it easy on the harmonies for this version (this is always easier said than done for me – a self-proclaimed harmony lover), and I think I was more or less true to my word.
You can check out the finished product below, in all of its acoustic glory!
