Album Update #5 ……the end is near!!! :)

Hello!  Before I get into my post, please take a minute to watch my new music video!  It is for a contest.  Each view gives me a point and helps me rank higher in the contest.  So, you’re welcomed to watch as much as you’d like and do share!  The contest ends Nov.9th and finalist will then compete to win a chance to make a professionally produced EP w/Don Was (wha? 🙂 ).  Hope you like it, it is a very personal song for me.

http://songwriter.revimage.com/channels/Monica+Dockery

Now, to the ALBUM UPDATE.  If you’ve been following me on here, you may have read about the album I’ve been working on for a few months now.  GREAT NEWS!!!!!  I’m nearly 100% finished!  Just tightening up the mix/master on each song.  It will be ready to launch October 15, 2013.  So excited to share these songs :)!  Finally.  Since the end is near, I thought I’d give a sneak peek at the song list for the album ( not necessarily in order).  Here it is:

Audiobiography (bullet)                                                

Sweet Cali

UI

The One

Two Shades

Smile                                             

Anything But        

Christine Alice                                 

Dollar N a Dime

Sam I am 

John Henry

In the Mood

Purple                                                                            

Dreamin A Way

Moving away

One Inch

New Day

There is a Light 

Two Moons

Dadi da da

Birthday

Keep checking in!  And leave a comment to let me know what you thought about the video.  Would love to hear your thoughts! 🙂  Thanks.  Have a great weekend all!

Help me win the Guitar Center Contest!

Helloooo!

I’ve been M.I.A. for a while on this blog, but for a good reason. I am nearly finished with my album!! It will be available October 15th! So excited. Now…..

I have also been busy trying to gain support for my entry into the Guitar Center Singer Songwriter Contest 3 w/ Don Was. The more online activity on our contest page, the better our chances. So, it would be WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, AWESOME, if you took some time to watch my two videos that are up on my page. Note: the link only works from a desktop, no mobile devices. By you simply watching my videos on the contest page, you will be helping me come that much closer to a dream! Please show your support, watch and share with as many friends as you can. You can even view it multiple times for multiple votes. Thanks so much! Can’t wait to share more of my project with you soon! And btw, the contest ends Nov.9th, so please keep checking back on the site as I will be uploading at least one more music video there before the release of my album. Cheers everyone! And, thank you so much in advance.

New Youtube Video/Song: Two Moons

Helloooooo!  Here is a new song I wrote.  It may turn into a collaboration with another  male SoundCloud Hero.  I haven’t really done a duet yet, so I’m glad about that.  It won’t be for a while, but be on the look out.  Here it is (the lyrics are below):

Is it me or you that is pulling us apart?
or am I pushing you out of orbit
floating far from my heart
oh the space is wide, but not quite wide
enough, I fear
for two moons to live together
too much pull on the atmosphere
so let’s drift apart

can’t you feel the orbits shifting
and the weight pulling down?
wish that I could stop this feelin’
make our love rebound
but the pull is strong and
harder still, to ignore
and I know the time has come
can’t keep pretending anymore

so let’s drift apart
let’s drift apart
let’s drift apart
let’s drift apart

though I loved the light you shined
though it felt good on my soul
though I loved the light you shined
though it hurts me to say so

let’s drift apart
let’s drift apart

Hope you enjoy!  Have a wonderful week everyone!

Featured Artist…and SoundCloud contest submission

Meet this week’s featured artist (a producer)…

He goes by the moniker of ..Lesson and is a 16 year old producer from Basel, Switzerland.  Do not let the young age fool you now….he is an incredibly talented producer/beat maker.  He’s got a million tracks on his SoundCloud account and so far I haven’t heard one that I didn’t think was bananas.  He is 100% self-taught and already has quite a following.  Look out for this guy, he seems to be on a mission.

I was introduced to his music after he became a follower on my SoundCloud account.  I went to check out his tracks and was blown away.  I loved what I heard.  One track, in particular, got to me and it just so happens to be the one that he is using for a contest.  I can tell the guy is smart because of the way he went about the whole thing.  He’s trying to find singers/rappers for his tracks and what better way than to appeal to people’s competitive drives and make it a contest.  So, everyone who is interested has this short, excerpt of a track to do vocals/rap to.  They record their best down on the track and submit it.  Then, on July 1st the contest ends and he announces who “gets” to do the collaboration with him on that track and possibly several others of his.  I think it is absolutely brilliant of him because it makes it fun for those people submitting while at the same time it gives him an opportunity to hear his track done soooo many different ways.  He can find the “perfect fit” without having to go and seek out talent individually.  Brilliant!

So, that is the contest.  I’m not sure how I’ll do because he did tell me that I was the first person to SING on the track.  I guess the other submissions have been from rappers.  It must have been quite a surprise to hear my version after all those :).  I haven’t heard any of the others, but I know there are several for him to chose from.  Either way, I just loved the track!  I thought it was so naturally meant to be done as a positive, feel-good, let’s get away and dance-your-worry-away kind of song.  So, that’s what I put down on it.  Let me know if you think it is a good fit!….and be sure to check out his tracks on his page …I’m telling you…bananas!

Here are the links and the lyrics are down below…

http://soundcloud.com/monicadockery/alright/s-zp9NV

http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F50153764%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-zp9NV&show_artwork=true&secret_url=true

Ooh, it’s gonna be alright

it’s gonna be alright

Yes, it’s gonna be alright

it’s gonna be alright

 

Why do you have your head down

oh, why do you look so sad

I know it’s rough here in this town

but there can be good with the bad

there is a fire inside you burnin’

and all it needs is release

let’s use the heat to dance the night away

tonight you’re comin’ with me

yeah yeah
Oooh, it’s gonna be alright

it’s gonna be alright

Yes, we’re gonna dance tonight

it’s gonna be alright

A Fighter’s Anthem (Don’t Give Up) ….feat. track by H2H and guitar solo from Sandman07

Young, female, Syrian protestor…

Helloooo! The songs keep coming! This time, it is yet another collaboration with the guys from Hitch-Hiking 2 Hawaii. This time, Sandman07 put his touch on the song with a nice, gritty guitar solo. How the song came about…

I had been interested in doing more bluesy-type songs, trying something a little different but still very close to my heart. I mentioned that somewhere and they saw it and it just so happens that they had just made a bluesy-type track intended for a female vocalists at the very same time. So, they sent it to me and immediately this song came out. Something about the vibe of it pulled something out of me that I have only tapped into a few times before. I know that part is in me…this fiery, sassy, risk taker…but, I rarely let her out. That part of me kind of scares me, to be honest. She is a little less tame, is impulsive, unpredictable. I would like to find a way to take the best of her and my usual calm, mellow self and allow them to co-habitate. I think music might be one of the ways I can accomplish that goal. It is through music–and writing– that I am able to delve deep and show all the little nooks and crannies of who I am. Not only to show them but to discover them myself. Yes, there are things in me that I am still discovering…that I wasn’t all the way aware of before. I think that is part of the journey of life….not becoming the people we will be, but discovering the people that we are. To strip down to our bare selves….taking off the constraints of our community, the misunderstandings of early experiences, the expectations of others. There is that pure soul in there, that person we are when no one is looking, when we don’t have to wear any of our hundred masks that we wear throughout any given day. If we can tap into THAT…..that’s why we do this. That’s why there is music, why there is poetry….it is the search for that raw, unprocessed being. Whoa, I just went somewhere I didn’t mean to…. I was supposed to be talking about the song.

Anyway, the song….I love it. I think it may be one of my best works yet, simply because it did pull from somewhere deeper inside of me…and because, vocally, it is one of my more solid recordings. The key that the song is in, I think, was in what some might call “the sweet spot” for my vocal range…where there is tension, but just the right amount. And, I just think the guys I’m working with are two solid characters…funny and genuine. So, I’ve enjoyed the collaborative relationship we’ve established. Thanks, guys, for being open to my suggestions and for sharing your music with me……here’s a link to their page http://soundcloud.com/hitch-hiking2hawaii check them out! There are more songs we have in the works, so we’ll see what comes of them soon. Keep checking in! Here’s the link to the new song (inspired by the turmoil in Syria)….called A Fighter’s Anthem (Don’t Give Up)…

http://soundcloud.com/monicadockery/a-fighters-anthem-dontgiveup-1/s-Tazyo

http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F49729494%3Fsecret_token%3Ds-Tazyo&show_artwork=true&secret_url=true

THESE DREAMS – new song, collaboration w/Beatz275

Helloooooo!  Hope everyone is having a great weekend!  I just wanted to do a quick post on the new song I just finished with a guy from the UK who goes by the name of Beatz 275.  He was absolutely great to work with.  We had a lot of issues to work out, a lot of going back and forth, mostly because of the fact that we are working in different time zones and trying to communicate solely over e-mail.  Throughout all the going back and forth, though, he was so kind and so enthusiastic and so it turned out to be another great collaborating experience.

As for the content, the lyrics are very basic and repetitive – again.  That is on purpose.  I think having it be repetitive adds to the idea of the song — our dreams that keep “haunting us” — they keep coming back.  The track, though, is very complex.  So, I think putting the two together worked out nicely and helped to bring balance.  But, that’s just my opinion, – what do you think?  Give it a listen and if you have the time, leave a comment on his page www.soundcloud.com/beatz275 or my own www.soundcloud.com/monicadockery  — be it good or bad, both help us to improve and hear our music through another’s ears.  Here it is — THESE DREAMS….

http://soundcloud.com/monicadockery/these-dreams-collab-w-beatz275

http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F49114196&show_artwork=true

He’s Just a Shadow – new song/collaboration

Helloooo!  Well, I am happy to share that one of the collaborations that I had mentioned before is now – seemingly – complete (I say seemingly because I always want to go back and re-do things and make them better).  Anyway, this time the collaboration was with a duo called Hitch-Hiking 2 Hawaii.  They are like me in some ways in that they try out all different sounds and are open to collaborating with people who come from varying backgrounds and tastes in music.  As such, it would be hard for me to categorize their music and say they are this or that.  Best thing is to just check them out for yourselves and decide for yourself.  They can be found at www.soundcloud.com/hitch-hiking2hawaii.

As for the song itself, it is a ballad (at least I think it is) and is a beautiful acoustic track.  They did a great job making it and  you can tell they were thinking of the person that might be coming in and singing on it because they put distinct cues and pauses for the various parts into the track.  It made it easier for me to write and sing to. I am also quite glad that they were open to letting me take the song wherever I wanted to (btw, all the other collaborations thus far have been the same — all very cool, open minded people).  It was written to be taken as more of a metaphor than an actual story, but the story is definitely there as well.  Sometimes when I am listening to a track, I get images of a movie in my head.  The images provoke a certain sentiment and then the words follow.  That is what happened in this case.

I had the image of a woman in her room at night looking at the edge of her bed where her husband used to sit and talk to her at night.  When they first met, he gave her a jacket to keep her warm as they walked around the city.  She wanted to give it back to him when they reached her door, but he insisted she keep it.  That was the beginning of a long love story between the two.  One day, he had to go away (I’ll leave that to your imagination) and something happened to him (I’ll leave that to your imagination), and he never came back.  Before he left, he told her not to worry and that when he returned he would want his jacket back — his way of promising.  But, he never came back and so she sleeps with the jacket at the end of the bed and imagines him still sitting there.

The song doesn’t really have to be about a literal loss of life.  Sometimes people get lost in life….they lose their way, become people they weren’t.  When that happens, sometimes you catch glimpses of the people they were before (a shadow of their old selves), but they are forever changed by something.  That was what I was really trying to get to in the song too.  (some people feel they shouldn’t explain their songs, the song should speak for itself — it does, but sometimes, I like to share where it came from just like the movies give special features to let people in on the process).

Anyway, enough “talking” — the song….hope it means something.

http://soundcloud.com/monicadockery/hes-just-a-shadow-collab-w

The SoundCloud Collaboration with Alfie J — yay!

So, today I woke up and checked my soundcloud account and found a lovely surprise from this guy…

This is Alfie J (Hilton) all the way from Bristol, UK. He was the soundclouder that I had been emailing back and forth about a collaboration that I wasn’t sure would go through. Well, he finally had the time to work on the production of the song and sent it to me! I am very happy with it. He did change it just a bit here and there, but I actually like it better this way and that is what collaborating is about – a give and take. I am so thankful that there is a way to work with people from all over the world and share ideas and music. So great! Anyway, here it is…the finished version of “No Place for the Poet” which has now become “They come and they go” because I made a mistake on posting the title, but I thought I’d leave the new title since it is a bit more enigmatic. Again, I’ll post it in two versions — regular (click on the red label below) and on the soundcloud player to ensure access to people who may or may not have compatible devices.

they come and they go…

Also, please stop by Alfie J’s SoundCloud page! He is a drummer/producer and his tracks are bananas!!!! (that’s a good thing, by the way). I particularly like the “Nasty Nine” …since I love dancing and it’s perfect for that. Also, leave a comment on his or my page or both for this collaborated effort so that we can both get feedback on what we did. It is much appreciated. I, too, am hoping to do another collaboration again…not sure with whom yet, but it is good exercise for trying new sounds and playing with different genres. Anyway, cheers to you all! Have a great Monday…as great as Mondays can be:).