February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

Dorylini (@gummunq)

progress: 16

winner!
joined: January 31 2010
location: China
website: mj.mkwan.com/extras.php?slide=29
influences: bach, mozart, chopin, debussy, joplin, pink floyd, david bowie, weezer, ladytron, regina spektor, the social insects (and more)

Bio

Hello. My name is MJ.

This is my FAWM #3! I'm from Austin, Texas but am FAWMing from Beijing again. The Great Firewall of China is giving me hell as I try to upload anything, but hopefully I'll have a chance before the end of February to mass-upload.

Last year was a fail... so this year my strategy is spend no energy writing lyrics. However I'd be personally a little dissatisfied with 14 plain instrumentals, thus, I am extremely available for collab!

I am equipped with piano, guitar, cello, a voice, and a tiny tiny theremin (!). I feel a little disabled without my synth....

I like to set music to lyrics that are
nonsense/cryptic
silly
drab
fantastical/allegorical
foreign!
but by no means do I want to limit myself to the above.

My former bandmate is @antlion on FAWM.

I'm counting on yall for lyrics this year!!!!! And any of my lyric-less music is up for grabs.

----------------------

this is my 2nd time hitting 14 but i still dont feel like i won. i always feel like i've cheated a little. this time, 2 of my collabs are based on one of my songs, and i'm in another collab for like 5 seconds... haha. well whatever. there's always next fawm.

seeee yaalll next year!!!

2012 Songs

1	Preludium	12 comments // 3 months ago
2	Untitled (add lyrics)	8 comments // 3 months ago
3	Untitled (add lyrics) - power cello	13 comments // 3 months ago
4	Gate	6 comments // 3 months ago
5	死而不僵 (Si Er Bu Jiang)	10 comments // 3 months ago
6	The Opposites (with ianuarius)	9 comments // 3 months ago
7	Lament	2 comments // 3 months ago
8	Power Cello (Never wanted for nothing) (with rayboneor)	5 comments // 3 months ago
9	Strange Sense I'm Dying (with roydesmet)	9 comments // 2 months ago
10	Diva (with leslie)	12 comments // 2 months ago
11	Relativity	5 comments // 2 months ago
12	Olive Oil and Worcestershire	5 comments // 2 months ago
13	Sad Polka	2 comments // 2 months ago
14	Pay No Attention	1 comment // 2 months ago
15	Venetian Boat Song	4 comments // 2 months ago
16	Rare Stone	1 comment // 2 months ago

Soundboard

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mattblick 2 months ago

Thanks for your cool comments!
bong 2 months ago

Hey! I love your comment, yes, we should make "LEAVE TEH FAMW ALONE!!!" t-shirts. Congrats on completing FAWM across the electronic borders.
gordon 2 months ago

Thanks for your very kind words on a couple of my songs. Much appreciated.
iocanepower 2 months ago

Thanks for dropping by and listening to us this month, MJ! And of course my piano playing sounds cute to you. You're a classical player!
skullcrush 2 months ago

Heyy, thanks for the comment on our Pokésong. I'm doing 50/90 this year; we could collab if you wanna sing in Finnish!

Ooh, and congrats for winning FAWM!
leslie 2 months ago

Cool article, MJ! Hahaha.. Oh boy! She's a Valley Girl, a Diva, and now a Trendsetter! Like, wow?
thetau 2 months ago

I know what you mean. These last days are way passed hectic. But I'm still around doing things after FAWM. I'm glad to see that you are too.
adforperu 2 months ago

Really sorry but I've not really had much suitable for cello unless you fancy having a go at my latest track? (Leave us be here).. I realise you don't have much time, although it's already up so technically you've got til around December I'll be listening to all your tracks shorty too
thetau 2 months ago

Hey Sweet Heart ... I'm still looking for a cello. I know that one you got is magic

signed
Your synth
leslie 2 months ago

It's up! Hope you like it. Or at least laugh.
leslie 2 months ago

*snicker* Um, so this song's gonna be called "Diva" for reasons that will soon become apparent. You listed 'silly' above, as well as 'allegorical,' right? I'm simultaneously playing the diva and ruthlessly mocking her. Hope you like it! Should be up tonight.
leslie 2 months ago

Ok, MJ. I'm doing something vocal with power cello tomorrow. Should be up tomorrow night!
simonwaldram 2 months ago

Thanks for your reply. I'm not going to have any more songs done before the end of FAWM, but I would still really, really like to work with you. My email is SimonWaldram@hotmail.com
rayboneor 2 months ago

Thanks . Tenuous grasp on melody left me feeling vulnerable. Glad month almost over
groundhog591 3 months ago

Hey. Thanks for the comment on my song. And yes, it is definitely up for grabs.
rayboneor 3 months ago

Sorry to be tedious and vacillating, but scratch that previous post. Halfway Home is calling for cello. I'm still super excited. --Danny
rayboneor 3 months ago

Thanks for the kind words and the promise of cello. I'm super excited. I have a brand new song that works that C/F drone thing pretty hard. It's really the same song, but in a dance mode--super fun I think. Maybe you'd prefer to do that one: http://fawm.org/songs/28689/

I'd love to have a go at that power cello piece (since I'm officially a winner!)--but I would need a bit of guidance. If I were playing that on the guitar, what chords would those be? (Yeah, my lack of musical knowledge is kind of embarrassing, but I'm getting it done.)
leslie 3 months ago

Update: I am getting to that killer power cello track of yours this week, now that the Princess Bride project is nearly over. Can't wait!
simonwaldram 3 months ago

I'm working on a song that needs some cello. Would you be interested?
$Elyon\'s mitten - anonymouse$ anonymouse 3 months ago

lol. don't tell anyone,
but one of my old fawm names was argentinian ant
juhol 3 months ago

I spotted you on Collab forum and wondered would you like to play cello on one song?
thedustcollector 3 months ago

hallooo! yes, yes I am . if I can, that is! will let you know when it turns up...

I see you are capable of reading and writing Chinese, speaking Mandarin, and also playing many instruments! I am incapable of all these things . you are thoroughly impressive. (a theramin, for grief's sake.)
prsrose 3 months ago

<--- new fan. Watchlisted. Love your work. I'm not a singer, nor have I ever really sung anything, but your work has me wanting to hum some melodies...
downburst 3 months ago

Great! OK, I'll pull it together. There is absolutely no rush, since I don't have any lyrics yet anyway (well, I have one line), and lots of other stuff to work on. I'll be interested to hear what you think. Thanks!
downburst 3 months ago

Hey, I have a half-finished song (well, finished except the lyrics, on which I am profoundly stuck) that has a cello part. I've recorded it with a synth cello, but a real cello would be much better, of course. Interested? I have the part written out...of course, since I just programmed it, it might go too high or low for a real cello, but I don't *think* so.
leslie 3 months ago

Um, how about both? I love that power cello (I am drooling/aching/giddy to sing over that track), but I would love to try harp and violin together, too. What's easier for you: starting with the cello, or adding cello to the harp?
adforperu 3 months ago

Hello, sorry for the late comment, but I saw your reply on the forum about maybe offering some strings.. that'd be great if you don't mind! Should have a song by the start of next week, will that be ok if I sent something over for it?
leslie 3 months ago

Abandon was actually composed on the fly. I sat down at the piano, thought "A minor," turned on the mic, and played. I do this a lot. I've tried to reproduce it since but it's a royal pain in the ass because I have to *learn* it now.
rayboneor 3 months ago

I knocked out some ideas for a potential new Ocean song: http://fawm.org/songs/25795/ This demo is very quick and dirty, even by my low standards.

Everything I do sounds like I'm trying to write a Hank Williams song. In my mind I hear something slow, rolling, repetitive, with arpeggio. If there's anything you want to appropriate, go for it. I don't know how to start a collab tag, but that would be cool. I'm not much of a musician, just a guy trying to do my own thing and have some fun.
johnq 3 months ago

Thanks for stopping by! Love your influences...and your cello playing! Now, if only I could hear some tiny, tiny theremin...
ianuarius 3 months ago

Awesome! Can't wait to see wht you come up with.
rayboneor 3 months ago

I feel that it would require a ridiculous amount of presumption for a newbie songwriter like myself to offer up some lyrics--and I have a hard time understanding how to hang words on your lovely piece, but here's my free-association, before my critic kicks in:

Pikes Place Market in the afternoon
if these wall could talk, you'll wish you'd bought the book

nothing tastes like the rain
and the doleful supermodels rest their languorous gaze
on the beaches
where the Pharaohs brook delay

for they know the difference between the ocean and the sea
(between) where we're going and where we need to be

nothing hurts like the rain
and the doleful specters launch their exquisite complaints
into the half-light and
to their mothers explain that
they know the difference between the ocean and the sea
between Bob Marley and the Wailers
between where we are and where we need to be

Pikes Place Market in the afternoon
if these wall could talk you'll wish you'd brought a book
melindadimaio 3 months ago

Hey MJ
Thanks for your sweet comments. I sent you a link to your Email address for a possible collaboration Melinda
ianuarius 3 months ago

Hi! You asked in the forum if anyone wanted to collab and I'd love a cello in one of my pieces. I'm doing one just now and it's gonna be a bit crazy proggy track, but if you could play something there, I'd be honored.

I exported the part of the song where I could use some cello. Here's a solo example I played with guitar (just some ideas of my own, if you come up with something more awesome, please change it):
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/59633503/06%20Ravens%20solo.mp3
And here's the backing track:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/59633503/06%20Ravens%20backing.mp3
So it's 124 BPM in 7/8 and in A-minor.

If you feel like this is maybe not your stuff then please just tell me to **** off! If you wanna collab then I might add some other parts in the song too!
wolfkier 3 months ago

Thank you for your lovely comment on my song.
hee hee.... made my day.
Maybe eventually we will do something together. Let's see.
wolf.
robynmackenzie 3 months ago

Cats and theremins were made for each other.

I think a duet is certainly in order.
robynmackenzie 3 months ago

CELLO???

I'm definitely going to need it at some point. And possibly tiny theremin.
leslie 3 months ago

I agree with @Errol on both counts, except the bit about the wife. The cello is the soul of the orchestra. My favourite instrument. And, to my mind, the most beautiful sound to pair with the piano. I hope you're planning to play it during FAWM. I'd love to hear it!
errol 3 months ago

*LAUGH* No pressure, @gummunq! You will be swamped with requests so I don't want to bother you. I just like cello. So does my wife.
errol 3 months ago

A cellist!!! So awesome. I don't suppose you could write something for me to sing over?

Alllllo! My name is Errol, btw.
nancyrost 3 months ago

Thanks for offering cello! I hope to take you up on that soon.
sophielynette 3 months ago

Thank you for your comment. Yes the song was a single improvised recording. I'd fooled a little with the piano before starting but the words just came on their own. Sometimes it turns out great but a lot of times it's junk
mojo 3 months ago

Mrrooow! *purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr*
shay 3 months ago

Thank you SO much for your post about my lyrics! I hope you get the chance to 'musicify' something of mine too. (Is that a word? lol)
antlion 3 months ago

q-tip k-mart
johncrossman 3 months ago

You're on the (random) list!

http://fawm.org/forums/thread/2707/