D-E-M-Ohhhhhh!

Oh my goodness, it's finally here. Demo #2.

http://soundcloud.com/loriandandy/again-and-again

HUGE shout-out to Jon Evans and Nick Matiasz, who helped me record it, and to Scott Schoen on drums. Thanks, guys!

Recording and a pseudo photo shoot

Rehearsal 3 and Pseudo-Shoot from Lori and Andy on Vimeo.

Some more fun times from Landy. Anri? Lorndy?

We really need a new band name.

DEMO NUMBAH ONE!!

Here's a link to our FIRST DEMO: "The Letter"! Yowza!

http://soundcloud.com/loriandandy/the-letter-demo

I found out about SoundCloud when Imogen Heap released her newest album, Ellipse. She put the entire album up there before it was officially released, and I was glued to my computer for about a week listening to it on repeat. Blogger doesn't really have a good way of letting users attach music to their blogs, so we're basically outsourcing that task to SoundCloud, which lets us stream our music for free (and the quality's great!).

No, they're not paying me to say that.

Second Rehearsal

Rehearsal 2 from Lori and Andy on Vimeo.

Rehearsal the Second!

Rehearsal 1!

Some fun times from our first rehearsal ever.

Song 1: The Letter

The first time we played a song the whole way through. It's called "The Letter," and I wrote it after we decided that we wanted to take our music in an indie-soul sort of direction. Bringing the song to Andy and having him actually think it wasn't totally awful was pretty flippin' sweet. I'm still new at the whole songwriting thing and Andy... isn't. So it's nice being able to bounce ideas off of him. And, you know, he's fat. So things bounce off of him reeeeal easy.

Where I'M Coming From (Andy)

So, Lori shared her top records/songs/artists of all time with a few surprises (BBmack, waoh!) along the way.

I figure it's only fair to do the same (with short explanations on each pick!). In the alphabetical order of my iTunes, here goes nothing:

Al Green - Lay It Down: ?uestlove + Al Green = Pure Sex.

Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning Single: My favorite single of the past year...

Athlete - Vehicles and Animals: Quirky indie/britpop/casiorock. One of my favorite records ever.

The Beatles - Abbey Road: The bridge of Something is one of the greatest 30 seconds of music ever written.

Better Than Ezra - How Does Your Garden Grow?: They shot themselves in the foot with this pop-ode to OK Computer, but it was so worth it...

Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago: Hyped music that is actually worth the hype. All about the vocal layering.

Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run: "Tramps like us baby we were booooorrn." How can you not love it?

D'angelo - Voodoo: BEST RECORD EVER MADE. And that is that.

Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets: I am secure enough with my "musicgeeky-ness" to defend this record to the grave.

Doves - Some Cities: They were doing Coldplay five years before Coldplay was doing Coldplay.

Frank Sinatra - In The Wee Small Hours: I will not admit where this music recommendation came from, but it is heartbreak in aural form.

Jeff Buckley - Grace: Puts me in a different place and time.

John Legend - Once Again: One of the best pop artists of the past 20 years.

The Killers - Hot Fuss: The last rock stars?

The Kooks - Inside In/Inside Out: In another life I was British, smoked cigarettes, and listened to the Kooks on repeat.

Lettuce - RAGE: Bring THE FUNK!

Marvin Gaye - What's Going On: Enough said.

My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges: Iced coffee and the summer of '08.

Oasis - (What's The Story) Morning Glory?: One of the first CD's I bought and still one of my favorites.

Radiohead - KID A: Hard to describe my infatuation with this record, but it's just so "round." Pyschedelic eh?

The Roots - Things Fall Apart: The next mooooovment.

Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: My current obsession.

There it is.

-AM

"Influences" or, "Music You'll Judge Me For Liking"

In no particular order, here are some artists, albums, and songs I love, grew up with, and am now sharing with Andy so he can get an idea of where I'm coming from. These are whole albums I know every word to (one album per artist--very difficult to narrow down), and my favorite songs from each. The ones in bold are the albums I really, really love.

1. Sarah McLachlan, Afterglow (Dirty Little Secret)
2. Celine Dion, Falling Into You (River Deep, Mountain High)
3. Adele, 19 (Hometown Glory)
4. Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill (Not The Doctor)
5. Alison Krauss, Best Of (Oh, Atlanta)
6. BBMak, Sooner or Later (Unpredictable)
7. Bryan Adams, On A Day Like Today (When You're Gone)
8. Coldplay, A Rush Of Blood To The Head (God Put A Smile Upon Your Face)
9. Dashboard Confessional (Standard Lines)
10. Dixie Chicks, Home (Top Of The World)
11. A Fine Frenzy, One Cell In The Sea (You Picked Me)
12. Foo Fighters, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace (Let It Die)
13. Gavin DeGraw, Chariot (Chariot)
14. Imogen Heap, Speak For Yourself (Have You Got It In You?)
15. Jamie Cullum, Catching Tales (My Yard)
16. Jason Mraz, Waiting For My Rocket To Come (Too Much Food)
17. Jet, Get Born (Cold Hard Bitch)
18. Jewel, Spirit (Barcelona)
19. John Mayer, Continuum (Vultures)
20. Liz Phair, self-titled (My Bionic Eyes)
21. Marc Broussard, Carencro (Home)
22. Maroon 5, Songs About Jane (The Sun)
23. Matchbox Twenty, Mad Season (You Won't Be Mine)
24. Nickel Creek, Why Should The Fire Die? (Doubting Thomas)
25. OK Go, self-titled (The Fix Is In)
26. Paramore, Riot! (Hallelujah)
27. Rooney, self-titled (Blue Side)
28. Sara Bareilles, Little Voice (Come Round Soon)
29. Sheryl Crow, self-titled (Home)
30. Sister Hazel, Fortress (Champagne High)
31. Switchfoot, The Beautiful Letdown (More Than Fine)
32. Vertical Horizon, Everything You Want (Best I Ever Had)
33. The Weepies, Hideaway (Antarctica)

Web + Log = Weblog - We = Blog?!?

I figure there's no better way to enter the Blogosphere than blogging about my exploits as a musician. For those of you just tuning in, Andrew Q. Mead and Loretta M. (IV) Allen have teamed up and have every intention of imposing their music upon the world (or, at least, upon anyone who will listen).

Surely there is no finer form of entertainment than the witnessing of the decomposition of a friendship through well-intended collaboration. Tune in next week for: "Andy and Lori Fake A Record" or; "Andy and Lori Kill Each Other In The Process."

L

Hello There!

This is the spot where we will be posting our progress in making a record for our senior communications project.

We will be posting audio/video clips, nerdy tech recording stuff, cool music we are listening to, random music etc....

Much more to follow! Woooo.

--Andy