Monday

New Album release – It’s Already Started

December 27, 2010

With great pleasure and little fanfare I’m happy to announce the release of It’s Already Started. Arriving on Dec. 27, it’s the third Martin Blasick album of 2010.

It’s Already Started on bandcamp.com. Enjoy full song listens.

It’s Already Started started out as a song a week project inspired by internet sensation Jonathan Coulton. I posted these songs weekly and had a great time exploring internet promotions for the first time.

But to be true to myself I kept going back to the recordings and adding little nuances. The backbone of the album is my Samick Greg Bennett Royale guitar and bass. Being endorsed by them has been really great

The Omnichord became the main source of what would usually be keyboard sounds. I’d learned of it being used on some Bowie recordings. The time and ability to really explore meant the world to me. This is my first one man band album, playing real drums and the rest of the instruments myself.

The lyrics flowed without being pushed in any direction. Writing on the weekly schedule got me into what I call having the the open door to creativity. Without pushing any agenda the words capture where I was at that moment.

Also it was the chance to work with some of the greatest lyricists of all time, the great English romantic poets, Lord Byron, John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley. I set a poem of each of them to my own brand of songwriting. Every time I sing one of these poetry based songs I get a new meaning from the words. Something to explore further in the future to be sure.

I’m looking forward to taking these songs to the stage. House concerts and streaming internet broadcasts are venues I’m eager to perform in.

Monday

High Desert

October 6, 2008

Spent about 5 days in the high desert near Palmdale, CA while Natasha was shooting nights on a movie. I took time to experiment with my new camera, the Sanyo Xacti HD1010.

This song is called “Your Grace” You might not be able to hear the words so well because of the wind. But it was fun to shoot in the middle of nowhere. I used the 320×240 “web” setting.

Monday

Long Beach Marathon

October 6, 2008

It’s gig time!! I’m jamming on Sunday, Oct 12 from 9am til 1pm on the path of the Long Beach Marathon. My job is to keep the runners energized. It’s up in the air who’s going to be playing bass and drums. Just like Sarah Palin says “I’ll hafta get back to ya on that one” 🙂

It’s going to be an early load in – 5am – because the roads get closed off for the marathon. The day will be a good one. I’ll try and shoot some video or audio. The runners will be running and I’ll be melting in the sun. Time for this vampire to get to the beach.

Monday

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Wednesday’s Song the movie

June 23, 2008

I’m indulging my filmmaker side again. Indeed, the script has begun. I can’t help but think of story ideas. It must be because of doing so many songs for picture over the years.

I love recording the songs. But I’m longing to put together a bigger puzzle. Now I’m not talking about a multi-million dollar affair. More like the micro budget indie type of movie. I love that stuff. Always have. My friends have made indies over the years and I’ve participated to varying degrees. The thing is it all comes down to the writing. Not so different than music in that respect. I’ve written some scripts but something always keeps me from pulling the trigger on going into production. Story problem. Unreliable people problem. Not following through so the momentum is lost. Though usually it’s something about the story that keeps me from directing my first movie.

There’s more constraints for the microbudgets. No airplanes, nuclear explosions, or even normal looking locations with 40 extras. You gotta write with what you have. And it’s gotta feel like spending 45 minutes in a coffeehouse is the most natural thing in the world, not cause you couldn’t get any more locations.

In my case I gotta wrap a story around a middle age guy that includes my music. In a natural way. And I’d like to officially introduce my wife, Natasha, to Wednesday’s Song. She’s an actress. You guessed it. She’s in the movie, too with her darling, slight eastern European accent. She’s an ingenue type. That’s sounds like a natural doesn’t it? Well, I think I’ve got my brain working on a good scenario. I wrote 21 pages since last week. I’ve been stewing on the idea for quite a while but there was a moment driving around where I met the characters. More to come on that.

As of now, Wednesday’s Song, is about the movie inspired by the songs.

Monday

She Walks In Beauty – live

April 21, 2008

I’m still rocking in the real world, too. As promised, here’s a tune from the gig at Nocturnal at the start of March. I suck cause I didn’t practice. But Anna Rosales on bass and Alexa Brinkschulte on drums are really rocking ladies. Just in case you didn’t read the earlier post, they learned the set by listening to mp3 from this site. We met at the club just as it was time to play. Quick setup. Countoff 1…2…3….4…. Rock on. My new band is awesome. I was so focused on the Durango Songwriters Workshop I didn’t really practice. This recording will prove it 😀

Nocturnal_SheWalks.mp3

Monday

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Durango Songwriters Expo

March 3, 2008

It was a fun three days in Santa Ynez at the Durango Songwriters Expo. Several folks I already know were there which made it even more cool. I’ve got a coupl new contacts for my future songwriting success. There wasn’t much brain juice left after listening to at least a hundred songs and networking all day.  I joined Songsalive. It’s a non-profit that’s for songwriters to network and develop better songs. gillimeclose.jpg Here’s me with Songsalive co-founder Gilli Moon.

Monday

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Homebound

February 11, 2008

I’m all set up at home with a little home rig. The studio is in a 10×10 storage unit. Man, I’m just glidin’ along. It’s the first time I haven’t had to worry about a studio since 1991. I can’t work this way for too long. But for now it’s a blast being at home.  I’m finally trying a demo of Amplitube. Pretty darn cool. I’m going to have to take a pic of my new rig and post it!  

Monday

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Studio Coma

December 3, 2007

It’s a good feeling knowing the next song is in the can. Last night I stayed up pretty late and finished a couple of days early. Yay!

House concerts are on my mind. I wanna play ’em. I listened to the cdbaby podcast about them and thought that sounds really fun. Maybe I’ll start making some acoustic Wednesday’s Songs so it sounds a little closer to that vibe. Idle thoughts. That’s what happens when you spend too much time in a room with no windows. I call it the studio coma.

Monday

English Poets

November 12, 2007

It’s going to be another poetry setting for the upcoming WS. It’s already set to music. Lots of fun these Englsh poets. Early rock stars, I believe.

It’s a Monday. I was sure to catch up on all things undone. But then there was the voiceover session I forgot about. And getting a really cool job doing a Christmas song for a network. All the old stuff didn’t even get looked at. Time management is my Achilles Heel. 😳 Anyone else have that same kind of problem or are you all up to date on the details and sitting there at perfectly clean desks?

Monday

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