Finding the music in the stillness

What a thrill. Fourth day in studio mode and we are on a roll. We've recorded everything for the songs "Silent Prophet", and "Stillness". We just need to finish vocals and keys for "Outside In" and "Bushwalk". I wrote "Bushwalk" in '95. Wow. So long ago. My ol' 4 track demo is so basic. But boy I had lots of ideas in it. Now as we flesh it out in the studio, it's coming to life. It's a song that is socially conscious and about change. Although I wrote it in my early 20s, the message is very now. With Obama coming into power, I feel this song is so right on. "Racial freedom, trapped in society, I'm losing my sobriety Momentary madness, can we cure it through psychiatry? Need for solutions. War, crime, culture, family struggle. Time for education, get back to our roots and unify this nation. Going on a Bushwalk, going on a walkabout, gonna feel alive, solve our problems we have inside. take control, energize our thoughts to solve and, cure the world, we can start right now". The word "Bushwalk" is a term we use in Australia to go on a really long hike in the bush. And walkabout is what Aboriginals like to do sometimes. They just up and go for long periods at a time, and get connected with their culture and their roots. (and themselves). It's a right of passage for them. We had Cara and Erin from Little Sista sing on the song (as well as The Stillness, and Silent Prophet). Wow, their voices are AMAZING. We had a fund day yesterday doing vocals. Surprisingly, I feel very connected with my voice right now. It seems to sing easily. I'm no longer second guessing myself, and needing to be perfect. I used to waste a lot of studio time trying to be perfect. I remember once I came in to do a 4 hour session to sing vocals (this is years ago) and I was so psychologically constricted and my voice was aweful that I had to end the session after only 20 minutes. It's so weird. I think our minds play tricks on us. But now, I just walk in, and am pretty much a one take wonder. We sometimes do 2 takes and then "comp" the tracks, which means choosing best parts from each track to make one great track. I like this approach because it allows the voice to be free and sing the song naturally all the way through, hearing the crescendos and decrescendos through the song. When producing vocals, though, with other artists, it can be a hit or miss. Sometimes I "comp" as above (and sometimes comping from 3 or 4 best takes), or I record their vocal part by part. We work on the song in parts. This can be useful for beginner singers. But I still like the first approach, to be as organic as possible. I love producing. I found some writings from back when I was recording the last album "extra Ordinary life". Here's what I wrote:

... it’s a welcome relief to be still in one place and surrender to the flow of creating new music. It’s a very Toltec process for me, connecting with my silent, mysterious and creative side.

This album certainly has more emphasis on social perspectives and world harmony. If we can heal ourselves, and be more connected with our inner self and our community, then the world pretty much takes care of itself. We live in an extraOrdinary world, but if we’re not careful we’ll destroy it. The environment is in severe crisis, with natural resources including water drying up, rainforests are being eliminated, beautiful animals are becoming extinct and treated inhumanly, racial and political issues are of course paramount and yet… I see this as a spiritual crisis more than an economical or political one. I avoid getting too political and I prefer to approach these issues with a more spiritual perspective, almost Toltec, using metaphors about relationships with the Self and those around us to heal the wider issues. That’s why I believe that even a song about romantic love can deliver powerful social and global messages. This album touches on a common theme: we all live extraOrdinary lives, and have the potential to be connected with an unspeakable and extraOrdinary force within us for ultimate, perfect harmony, balance and joy.

…Music production is a whole language in itself, beyond just being a musician. i've always been a communicator, what with being an artist, teacher and writer, but producing is like being a conductor, a messenger, a voyeur, and conducting the chatter from the Gods.

…Producing is not about ego, or personal subjectivity. I can only be the "translator" of what the song is calling out for… a conduit. Plus it’s almost like remembering… whenever I get the right feel or vibe for a particular part, I get this weird “ah ha” or “deja-vu” moment as if the song had once found that perfection, but forgot it. It's really, really exciting delving into the psychology of producing. We become slaves to the song and what it requires, and living on the edge like a spiritual thrill-seeker. It’s also about being rebellious. Being a rebel to the current times, to the past, to whatever anyone else is doing out there or what radio dishes out. It’s about being rebellious even to our own taste, and finding the freedom in creating something new and cutting edge, even if it means taking risks. I crave it! It’s better than an extreme sport (even though I love fast down-hill snow skiing at the best of times!)

So I would have to say that this new album which is called THE STILLNESS, continues to embody such social issues, about the world, about our consciousness as a human race. But it's very much a personal journey too. I am going inward more and more. One song, "Silent Prophet" is about the very fact that when we need true guidance, we can go within and find that, in our inner prophet. Our inner voice. Our intuition. It also talks of the notion that we have nothing to prove in life, but to "carry the water well", which is a lyric in the chorus, meaning to "just do our best". Speaking of which, I saw the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" last night, and i found it so timely for me. The themes were very much along the lines of my new album and where I'm at. There is one part where Brad Pitt's character travels to the Far East and India. There is a great voice over and i will endeavor to find that script because it was so powerful. It made be cry. The jist of it was this: In our lives we can be who we want to be, at any time. We can change our lives at any time, and pursue anything we choose to do. We have a choice. And if something doesn't work out,find the strength to start over, at the beginning again. Over and over again. We can be dancers, button makers, tug boat operators, anything. We can be it all. There's more to it, but it really touched me. In my album, I seek to express that where I am, I have done so much, and succeeded, and I have nothing to prove, but to express myself, and create and be ..... me. One song, "Be" will be on the album. I've had it as a download on my site for a while. This song is about living in the moment, and just "being". So many themes here. I'm excited to be recording and I will post more soon. xx gilli See the studio pics so far here.

recording a new album... it feels pretty sweet....

Well I’m in the studio again. After 3 years of personal music stagnation (except for everyone else’s albums I’ve been producing), I’m now back in the studio writing and producing my new album. It will be called THE STILLNESS.

It’s been an amazing journey promoting my last record, extraordinary life, and as I’ve been travelling, and changing as person, woman and artist, I’m ready for this new collection of material to unfold.

Like the title represents, this album speaks to the stillness in our lives, and our souls. I’ve been on a mega journey inward these past years, and it oozes out in my writing. Or non writing actually. Things have been still inside, creatively speaking for some time. On the outside I’ve been very businesslike, entrepreneurial and successful to be honest. My record company and artist development endeavors have brought me enormous satisfaction. I like working with other artists and their careers. But the balance needs to be present, in my life: and so… the studio is my solace,… recording my album, my songs, my stories. It’s very exciting.

It’s coming organically as all the other albums, but I think I’m doing it much faster. My chops are better, and also my perfection ranking is less: which is good. Let me tell you why – when I was younger I would second guess every move I made, hence delaying and wasting time in the studio doing things over and over. I was very much like that with recording my piano playing and singing. Now, I’m usually a one take wonder, and because I’ve been doing it for so many years, I reckon I’m better than ever.

We recorded drums and bass on Monday with Frank Musarra on drums and Andy Cat on bass. They did a fine job. I feel it always important to lay the ground work first, and with solid drums and bass, the song can then flourish. Mind you, this time around I fiddled with my protocols at home first and did all the scratch tracks (rough piano, vocal and a click) which acted as a guide for the boys in the studio, and also saved studio money by doing that part at home.

We’re back at MT Studios in Burbank. Matt Thorne is an awesome engineer and friend. This must be my 6^th album with him now.

Shawn Cunnane stepped it up on guitar on Tuesday and Wednesday. We’ve been using a Les Paul, a Strat and a Minarik. They all sound great on the songs. It’s now Wednesday evening and we’ve been holed up in the same room for 3 days. I’m getting ansy, but I’m loving the music. I just layed down piano and B3 on a couple of the songs. Tomorrow we have off and then back in on Friday for vocals and luscious soulful sounds from Little Sista, a couple of singers I adore, who will provide backing vocals for some of the tunes.

I’m going to post video up soon of the process. For now, keep posted on my blog at www.gillimoon.com/word, the home of all my writings.

Xxx

gilli This pic is with Matt Thorne, gilli moon & Shawn Cunnane

MORE PICTURES ON FLICKR

May you be inspired and be great in 2009

www.gillimoon.com Warrior Girl Music www.warriorgirlmusic.com www.myspace.com/gillimoon www.linkedin.com/in/gillimoon

Happy Holidays! And a little review about our 10 year anniversary to inspire your journey

REVIEW: We had a fantastic Songsalive! End of Year Xmas party and 10 year celebration at the Mint Los Angeles Mid December 08. www.socializr.com/event/gilli/songsalivexmas is the direct link of what it was about. I want to share with you how it went because I believe the success of such an event is an inspiration to us all who perform music, and deliver music content in this ever changing new music business. We celebrated it at The Mint in Los Angeles. It was STANDING ROOM only, and all the dinner tables were completely booked out in advance. We had a marathon of artists (22 singer-songwriters, 1 spoken word artist and a band so total 24) performing from 7.30pm till 12.30pm. Why was it a success? For several reasons. 1. All the artists came together to be part of it and many travelled from around the world to participate. They came and contributed their time because they knew it was for a common cause. 2. Everyone brought people. That's why it was a packed house. We all helped make it a full house so that everyone could entertain to lots of people. 3. The audience stayed for the whole evening because they were enraptured with the strong talent and the feeling that was created on the night. It was a rainy, windy, cold night in L.A, and The Mint was on fire. In the 10 years I've lived in L.A it can be a hard sell to get people out to a show, but I believe that because of the intentions we all had to "want" to make it a success, we ALL made it a success, together, as a united force. Artists who performed on the night were myself, gilli moon – J.Thomas - Christopher Barran (from Canada) - Charles William - Genevieve - Gary Fuges - John M - Melinda Ortner - Paulina Logan - The Conlons - David Babich - Wayne Storm - Amy Mathesius (from Colorado) - Bill Dobbins - Amy Raasch - Kaye Reznick - Linah Rocio (from Switzerland) - Chris Valenti – Ian Hopkinson (from Australia) – Steven McClintock & Cathy-Ann McClintock – Greg Dormani – Mike V. Plus spoken word artist J.Walker. And closing with the hottest star out from Great Britain, filled with rock, glam and pizzazz - Zoe Scott - and her 5 piece band Hosted by radio star Jennifer “JJ” Julian. Our Songsalive! showcases have always been great: with talent always exceeding expectations. Often small and intimate, this event last night was one of the few marathon type nights. All our artists are Songsalive! members, and also for last night. Some came from AROUND the world. Linah from Switzerland, Ian from Australia, and J.Thomas flew down from Sacramento JUST for the event, as well as Amy Mathesius from Colorado. The dedication of these artists to participate in it was fantastic. We gave away $1500 worth of prizes in our End of year raffle with two winners - of fantastic music business books and resources, vocal lessons, pampering gifts, Songsalive! membership and SO MUCH MORE. What I like the most is that we created a loving, creative and joyous space. People in the audience felt the energy. Brilliant. There was great harmony in the room. People came up to me and said how they loved the “energy” and camaraderie, and that the talent was superb. Yes it was. This was one of THE most successful shows we’ve had in our ten years, and what a way to celebrate our big birthday party and the holidays. I was very, very impressed with The Mint as a venue and we highly recommend it to perform at. Our Songsalive! team were fantastic, helping in every which way, at the merch booth, in the VIP room, on stage, off stage, promoting what we do and chatting with our guests. They gave their all, as did the amazing artists who contributed their talents for the wonderful night. I’m on a high. This is why Songsalive! exists. To build community and support for songwriters and musicians,…. To provide EXCELLENT entertainment looking for original music artists,…. To work with a venue that supports what we do,…. To provide a platform for talented artists,... WE achieved this last night. Songsalive! doesn’t exist without you. For Los Angeles residents: If you’re in L.A come to our workshop this Sunday (Fiona Kernaghan is our guest speaker, and Paul Moyer who moderates our workshops will kick your butt when it comes to your song you bring to present and get feedback). Our workshops are designed for our members to GATHER on a monthly basis, (3rd Sundays) share songs, learn, and just BE together as a community. Or perform or just turn up and support our Hallenbecks showcases First Fridays of the month. www.songsalive.org/losangeles for details. For worldwide residents: We have chapters all around the world www.songsalive.org/chapters for details. We provide critique workshops, performance showcases, and general "go-to" support with our coordinators who are all songwriters and volunteers who want to create community in their areas. Australia, our first Region, is run by co-founder Roxanne Kiely, and it's an unbelievable country for original music. Across the U.S we have chapters with hubs of songwriter communities who are all part of Songsalive! And now in Scandinavia we have a chapter and they did their first showcase in Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday. We are about to start in Papua New Guinea and South Africa. UNBELIEVABLE! This is all because of people who want to tap into our international umbrella, to feel connected WORLDWIDE. And our "social networking" type organization was like this BEFORE the Internet had social network sites. This is a HUMAN NETWORK. :) If you are a Member, log into our backstage portal and USE our site. We spend a lot of time making Songsalive! function online as well as in person -www.songsalive.org, log in. Apply to showcase at future events by logging into the portal directly here at www.songsalive.org/showcaseapp). Join as a member at www.songsalive.org/join GET INVOLVED in our non-profit 501)c)3) organization. It’s not expensive. And you get SO MUCH for the value. Not a songwriter? That’s fine. Join as an Associate member and support our organization and its members. And I’m ALWAYS here for you. Much love to all, Gilli

Show Review: A fabulous Females On Fire launch in L.A

I am ecstatic about last night's Females On Fire compilation CD 3 album launch ... so I'm writing a review on it, first hand.

The event has renewed my faith in the Los Angeles music scene, which I felt had been dying a slow death since 911. Ever since that time, I felt the L.A clubs were losing audiences, and the artists and bands in this town, losing faith in their ability to put on a good show, with less and less people supporting live music and opting for home video game/internet blogging instead (something I'm doing right now.. blogging J).

Last night, 9 female artists and 3 spoken word artists, plus their musicians (a total of 27 artists) rocked the house at THE MINT, on Pico Blvd in Los Angeles. It was truly a stellar night. Firstly, we SOLD out dinner seats in advance and only an hour into the show, the room was at capacity. A full house! (130 people, standing room only)

This is completely and utterly due to the diligence and team effort of the artists involved. Everyone made it a success because they all brought people – their fans and friends… who came to support the whole night. In L.A, it can be really hard to draw a crowd, but with combined efforts of all the girls, we DID IT!

Secondly, the artists were not only talented, more on that later, but very professional from beginning to end. They all came on time (early) and were ready, willing and able to ensure the schedule stayed on time (we even ran a little early!), that they didn't hog the stage, that they used the VIP lounge, they were courteous to all, including the Mint and their sound policies outside, and were just all a great COMMUNITY and TEAM together, supporting each other. All the artists stayed till the very end, and that's a feat in of itself as we started at 7pm and went till midnight.

Thirdly, People didn't want to leave. We passed the midnight hour and the crowd begged for more.

Fourthly, artists travelled from far and wide for this. In particular, Lori and Steve of Hide From Cleo from Michigan and Claire Wyndham, all the way from Australia!

The night was in aid of the launch of the new compilation CD (details at end), and in aid of CARE.org (CARE believe that the status of women in the developing world is the key to fighting and ending global poverty. With education, skills and basic resources, they can become catalysts for change. Women can help build a better world for all. Check out their website at http://www.care.org/). Warrior Girl Music is donating $1 of every CD sale to CARE.org and part of the proceeds from last night's door is also going to their charity.

The artists

First up was Amanda Abizaid, who also graciously lent her P80 Yamaha keyboard for the night. Solo artist, she was a great first act as she set the stage for the rest of the night. She was soulful, accomplished and eclectic. Very talented lass. Robbie Kaye came on after as a duo. Two blondes on stage. Really easy going and full of flavor. Loved her too. Spoken word artist Antoinette Valente gave us a story about her rabbit with higher meaning. It was very honest and heartfelt. Thank you Antoinette for sharing such depth.

Michelle Mangione and band came on stage and took us to a whole new level of energy. Really great stage performer, Michelle rocked us with her great accessible songs. The night was really coming alive around 8pm and people were filling the room with all dinner seats taken. Claire Wyndham came on stage solo and completely wowed us. From Australia, she caught laryngitus, but you couldn't tell. She was awesome. I might say that our 2 soloists of the evening, Claire and Amanda, were able to grasp the whole audience with awe and quiet. That's quite a talent! I took the stage with musicians Shawn Cunnane and Andy Cat, and it was really fun performing on a night I also coordinated. I could feel the electricity on stage, and am grateful to feel it both ends, on and off stage last night. I'm still on such a high.

Laura Bradley and her band then took the stage. She is tall, graceful and beautiful and her songs are deep and beautiful too. Awesome. J.Walker, spoken word artist, and also co-host of the evening, gave us some time to change bands over with his riviting spoken word pieces. No ordinary poems, his flow matched an imprompu jam session on stage with Nicole (drummer from Michelle's band), Andy and Shawn (Gilli's band). What a hoot, and we were left in a frenzy!

Time for Holly Light: soulful, bluesy, rock, pop, country, folk, all in one little person… and her band were hot, including Cara from Little Sista (also a Females On Fire artist). It was now 10pm and the room was full, to capacity, with people starting to dance under the euphoria. Some of the gals including me jumped up for the chorus of Red, White and Blues bringing the house down. Flint came up next as our third spoken word artist. She has performed for us before, and tonight her talent shined again.

All the way from Michigan, Hide From Cleo, as a duo, hopped up and duelled acoustic guitars. Sensitive songs, with a great American "I feel good" vibe, their performance was a perfect wedge between 2 bands, and they were very powerful in their own right. Zoe Scott, her sister Victoria and their band ignited the stage for the last segment at 11pm. We were running early… how amazing! Zoe is from London and she has this great British retro pop sound that delivers strong with her cool voice. Perfect time slot for this band, as Zoe melted all the men, and I'm sure some women, in the room in her little black mini. They were great.

We all got on stage for a bit of a jam at the end, because at midnight people didn't want to go home. Finally I had to put an end to it all. "People,… don't you have anywhere to go on this Tuesday night at midnight? Don't you have real jobs tomorrow???" Jeez J he he. I grabbed Holly Light back up on stage to end it with a graceful, easy, cruisy song to end the night.

WHAT A NIGHT! The Mint crew were great with food, drinks, door. Thanks to Rob the sound man, Deana on the door, all of the Mint people were fabulous. The artists were fabulous. The audience was fabulous. It will go down in our memories as one of the best Warrior Girl Music Presents nights.

Thanks everyone,

gilli moon

More of Females On Fire at http://www.femalesonfire.com/

about

The FEMALES ON FIRE [double] CD compilation series celebrates close to 100 talented female artists from around the world, delivering songs in a tapestry of different genres & styles of music dedicated to messages empowering femininity, human equality, love, communication and vitality. The third compilation showcases 36 female artists from the United States (many States including Hawaii), Canada, Australia, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Japan, The Netherlands, and The Ukraine.

THE CD's mission is to create, promote and manage unique artistic creations guided by the artist's vision and under the artist's direction; creations that transcend race, age or gender and embrace passion, love for music and life, personal excellence and global consciousness. The album is focused on 4 main elements, which the artists are asked to use as guidelines in their submission: 1. exposure of great talent and timeless songs. 2. a celebration of female fire and femininity. 3. following the CD's unique artistic creations mission 4. a highly creative and production-strong CD, competitive in the market place.

Now, with 100 female artists involved, producer Gilli Moon decided it was time to use the Females On Fire project as not just a way to promote the artists involved, but worthy world causes. CARE (http://www.care.org/) was chosen as an organization to donate part of our proceeds - ($1 per cd sold) - a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. They place special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty.

Access more information about the Females On Fire Cd Compilation, the Artists involved and to purchase, at http://www.femalesonfire.com/

Sponsored by: Groove House Records, Independent Mastering, Indiegrrl, Lawmf -- *peace, love and groovy music ----------------------------------------- www.gillimoon.com www.warriorgirlmusic.com www.femalesonfire.com www.artofmencd.com www.artistlivingroom.com

Networking and Touring for Songwriters... a Danish experience

This month J.Walker and I went to Denmark. Now, this country is not an ordinary hop skip and a jump for an Aussie girl who lives in Los Angeles, especially if one goes only for five days. That’s right, I ended up going for five incredible days, and the most fascinating part is I’d do it again 10 times over!

I was invited to come speak to the Songwriter Clubs of Denmark by Koda (the Ascap, BMI, Apra there), preceding the famous national Spot Festival that happened also on the weekend. The Songwriter Clubs, or Danske Sangskriverklubber, are a series of small but focused songwriter organizations around Denmark that support songwriters in their quest for exposure and learning. They are all independent, but the leaders all come together and meet, network and vote on various needs that Danish songwriters may need. I couldn’t understand their actual meeting component… it was all in Danish! But I spoke to the leaders (about 35) about an interesting topic to all of us artists really… how to network and tour… and specifically, how to network and tour overseas. My perspective was unique, yet very worthwhile for the Danish songwriters, as being Australian and going to the US to chase the bright lights of stardom, I knew I had kindred spirits in the room who see crossing shores as the way to “make it”.