14 Juillet, Aux armes les enfants de la Patrie!!!

Hiya friends, enemies & neutrals,

So it's time for a quick update. In a nutshell, I've been in Paris recording with my long-term musical idol Ken Stringfellow. And it's been going well so far. I didn't know what to expect, because, well, how can you know these things in advance? I can't, I'm not a clairvoyant even tho I've had just a few promising moments of clairvoyance over the past times, enough to make me believe that such a thing might be possible to exist. However, I didn't know what to expect from meeting someone who is a musical genius, like, I always had a good vibe about him via emails etc. but to actually meet a genius - are geniuses psychos, narcists, or... what I mean is, if someone is a true genius, what kind of a person are they to work with? I can imagine van Gogh might have been a difficult person to work with although it's hard to say what is cause and what is effect - anyone with van Gogh's genius and NO acknowledgement from anyone apart from one's own brother would probably make anyone go slightly insane, to say the least. However Ken Stringfellow has had some serious acknowledgement for his work, although nowhere near enough, in the sense that, you know, everyone in the world should be aware of this guy's work instead of... Cheryl Cole's, for instance. If it was for musical quality. Or if I want to be more provocative, I would replace Cheryl Cole with Joni Mitchell. Tho that's not fair cos Joni's done a lot for a female of her era, being one of the first real singer-songwriters of her gender so I'm actually being a bit unfair here. Maybe I should say Bob Dylan... All the forecoming death threats will be received at liisa(at)liisamusic.com.

However, Ken seems like one of the most grounded people I've ever met. Which makes me think of the seeming etymological similarity between the words 'genius' and 'genuine'. Also génial in French is so close to 'genuine'. So it's been a positive week sociability-wise, as I also stayed at my friends Miska & Emilie and they are very grounded & genuine people also, something that is harder to come across than one would imagine at first glance. I haven't been so prone to humming "I hate everyone equally" recently, which is nice.

About the music - well, I'll write something about it another time as I always prefer people to hear the results as opposed to hearing about the results... Who was it who famously said that talking about music is like dancing about architecture?

Also, I had some massive sinus pain every day for the past months, and that finally pushed me to become vegan, which had reduced my sinus pain attacks to once-a-week; clearly there's still something to work on sinus-wise but I can't tell you how relieved I am about this considerable reduction of physical pain in my life.

Life was very kind to me in the sense that my friends who I was staying with, live in the 12th arrondissement of Paris which coincidentally is THE area of organic 'bio' shops - there was an amazing amount of great-tasting easy-to-cook vegan food, and I never imagined that becoming vegan would be anywhere near THIS easy. So far so good... here in England (came back yesterday; going to Paris again on Sunday) they don't quite have that many options, especially when it comes to vegan cheese - here it tastes of rubber, but in France...it was as good as the best animal-derived cheeses.

Now I'm working on 'stuff, you know' (no you don't, but feel free to ask), and spending quality time with my Fiancé and our Son-shine. And catching up on the missed episodes of Desperate Housewives.
All the best,
Liisa w/2 I's


18th of June, Ascot Day, England Match Day

The Best Revenge Songs Ever And Why They Work

Here's a sample of a Mika interview:

"Revenge is good, isn't it?," he grins. Reminiscent of Prince's funk, it's aimed squarely at the record companies he'd previously worked with who wanted to bludgeon him into a Stepford poppet. Sample lyric? 'Should I be dirty/ Should I be flirty?... Just to be put on the shelf?' "
( http://www.citylife.co.uk/music/news/5117_by_gum__mika_goes_into_orbit )

My current top 10 of vengeful tunes, in no particular order:

- Grace Kelly by Mika
- Prescious Things by Tori Amos
- Shit Song by Kate Nash
- Telephone by Lady Gaga
- Smile by Lily Allen
- ...the most obvious choice...You oughta know by Alanis M.
- Silent All These Years by Tori Amos
- Just by Radiohead
- Train in Vain by The Clash
- The Headmaster Ritual by The Smiths


There's quite many others by Mrs Tori such as Waitress; Father Lucifer; Professional Widow...

I always quite like revenge songs, they seem to have that edginess and genuinity that pop songs often otherwise lack. So, when someone said that pop songs have to be written with the market in mind, in my opinion got it wrong, unless they exclude me & other fans of the above songs from 'the market'. There can be no communication without content, and putting the emphasis on 'communication' (as in 'trying to please the audience') before actual content predictably leads to shallow, superficial songs, that don't even have the appeal of being true, honest communication.
I've been thinking of this when I realized that at least 4 out of 5 tracks on my new EP were born out of some kind of therapeutical need for revenge, yes, the Lady gaga cover was one of them. It's kinda good way to release the anger, listening to the tunes above or making your own. I strongly recommend it. Better than beating the shit out of them, at least if you don't want any legal hassle.

You can also download the aforementioned E.P. called The SHH E.P. for FREE without any legal hassle while I can still be arsed to give it away for free,
so why not go to www.liisamusic.com and get yourself 5 happy, dancey and also satisfyingly vindictive tunes right now 'while the stocks last'. This requires joining my mailing list which is a rather nice stress-free and spam-free thingy with a nice once-a-week update about whose ass i wanna kick next..or no, actually it's about my music...even tho these two things are often the same.

Have a great end-of-June.
Lots of love
Liisaxx


4th of June 2010
Hiiiii

I haven't written a blog for ages 'cos there's been too much going on, and I mean waaayyy too much. Which is why I observed myself making some unexpected moves such as...dropping out of uni...there's only so much one can take and as much as I've loved the ICMP vocal degree it has been a balancing act with the making of my EP (out soon! maybe in a week, fingers crossed) and of course my little boy (he's 2,5 years now). I might re-sit in August but I'll just see where life takes me. At the moment i refuse to be practical about having an education; there's only so many hours in a day and I would really have to put my music career on hold to be able to get the best out of uni, and I really can't do that anymore, when it's finally getting somewhere!

Where it's been getting recently: PunkyFish (which makes, in general, the best clothes in the UK) is giving 2 free downloads of my music to all customers 'while the offers last' or how you want to put it. Apparently they've got posters of me on their walls... Also there's some new stuff at the Secrets department of this website so go there if you want to hear the amazing mixed version of 100 Years of Celibacy (dedicated to all women who have ever felt that the one they have fallen is a single-sex-minded bastard) and me doing a cover of Lady Gaga's Telephone...it was real therapy, the songs came straight from the heart.

What else? We had a video shoot at Trafalgar Square, go to the pics section for photos, and the video will still take a while to be finished as it's to be filmed in other locations too so that's that. And I'm now trying my best to prepare for the sessions in Paris in July with my favourite singer-songwriter-musical-genius-producer Ken Stringfellow.

I found out that someone had landed on my website after a google search of "how to get out of an existential crisis rut" so here's to that person:
I know exactly how you feel. Sorry that I probably have no advice to give, because, that's what an existential crisis is, questioning the sense and meaning of everything, so well, I can say it helped me to realize there's others who go thru it as well. I went to a tarot reader and took random advice from people who haven't even met me (via their partner who has met me) so that seemed to put things into focus. Shakti Gawain's Living in the Light seems to be a good book, I only got my hands on it this week, and also my all-time favourite The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. As art and spirituality are so much intertwined that it's uncanny, I can't even start telling you, but I suppose you have some idea.

I have been listening to Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster so much recently, it's totally the diary of my life, which is also uncanny.

I'll come back with some other random thoughts soon enough, now it's time for music...

Liisaxxx

21st of April 2010

Hi guys!

16th of March - A few updates

I have a few delightful pieces of news. Firstly, the genius musical talent of Ken Stringfellow is going to be producing my debut album. The compulsory name-dropping bit is that he's been the founding member of The Posies, guitarist for REM and lead person in the rock band The DiSCiPLiNES. Which is all great and amazing. However, the most important thing for me has been his solo albums Soft Commands & Touched which are just closest to TRULY DIVINE music I've ever heard along with my other two divine favourites Tori Amos and Neil Finn. I'm hoping our collaboration goes well as this guy's an amazing producer as well. His album Soft Commands is like the best-produced album I've ever heard. It also is a songwriting masterpiece and if you know me, which you might not - then you'd know that I hardly ever use those kind of words. To me there's always been only a handful of Truly Special musicians...I mean I enjoy a lot of music, and appreciate even more of it, but there's this extra amazing level where music can be taken to, and I'm so grateful whenever I discover musical works like that.
I'd really want my album to reach those heights, but I know how hard it is. At least maybe with the expertise of Ken Stringfellow it might actually be possible...I'm hoping for the best, and working hard.
Speaking of working hard, last night we (me & Tristan) managed to get new song ''100 Years of Celibacy'' into a nice, albeit not the final, shape. It would be on the upcoming EP so you can have a pre-listen on this site if you want. I really like it, especially the Fleetwood mac-ish guitar ending. This song has been a long work in progress (it still is, but at least it's pretty solid now) and it's a major relief to get it off my chest.
As for other happenings, this morning I went to buy a mobile topup and was eating a banana while queuing at the newsagent's. There were two men standing there and the other one said: ''Did you know bananas are actually the cure for AIDS?'' The other man was like: ''No sure they can't be'' and I was thinking, surely this is meant to be a joke, thought about it and suddenly realised what the first man might have meant by it, and said: ''That's really rude'', smiling awkwardly, and couldn't help but repeat myself. What an incredibly rude joke. Definitely the rudest I'd ever heard at a newsagent's.
The actual punch line of the joke comes in when I'm having a late lunch & reading The Sun, and stumble upon this article about how scientists believe bananas could be the cure for AIDS with all the special nutrients they contain.

Pre-Mums’ Day in England, March 13

Yesterday it dawned on me: why it is so difficult, sometimes torturous, being in the music business.
On Thursdays I take my Son to this dancing class for 2-to-4 year olds . For the past 3 weeks we’ve had 2 instructors instead of one., because the second lady is a new one learning to be a proper instructor. If there is such a thing as a proper instructor for a kiddies’ movement class, is debatable, - at least if you compare it to music industry standards.
The thing is, those instructors can get their dance moves wrong but it won’t matter. They can sing out of tune but it won’t matter. The only thing that matters is that the kids & their ”grown-ups” (as we’re PC-ly called), and the instructors themselves, have fun. We’re very forgiving. And why shouldn’t we be? These lovely ladies go out of their way to arrange a nice weekly activity that gets us out of the house and that our kids most probably benefit from. So, it doesn’t have to be ’professional’ in any sense of the artistic content. Being a happy toddler instructor is a great skill in its own right, and utterly admirable.
So the next day, Friday, I went to the studio in Hackney where I last was a month ago finishing the track Stop Shh-ing. Once again, it was great working with Tristan and we’re getting somewhere, most probably some crazy and unsensible place with this current dancey, attitudey track that contains the word ’feminism’ and gives references to 2 classic books (100 years of Solitude; A Room Of One’s Own).
However at some point we ended up talking about the music biz and suddenly it all made sense: I realised that THERE IS NO FUCKING SYMPATHY IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. If you make a bad/lame work of art, at least according to a critic, you’re treated worse than a murderer. What normal people would call abuse, a starting-out artist has to swallow as a general rule. Everybody hates you for trying, and the more original you are, the more they hate you. And hate is not an exaggeration here: just pick up a copy of any music mag, go to the reviews’ section and note how they verbally batter everybody whose art is not ’cool’ in their eyes to some degree. Not to mention the fascist machines known as major labels. Anything in the industry is based on the code of conduct that if you’re unknown, a nobody, you can be treated like SHIT. And I mean SHIT. Worthless, unattractive by-product. The only difference is that nobody ever bothers to turn around and verbally abuse the fecal matter.
It’s rather heartbreaking that there’s no sympathy in the industry, as if you’re a true artist, you are by necessity VERY SENSITIVE and it just doesn’t go together that the most sensitive people get the most abuse. Ori t SHOULDN’t go together. But it does.
At least for the most part. If you’re lucky, you might come across someone who sees the goodness in you tho you’re not a carbon-copy of Pixie Lott (who herself is a Britney carbon-copy) and tho you don’t have some fucking famous pair of parents. (Oh, soz, do I sound bitter?) Like I was lucky when I met Asko from 22-PP which is a legendary Finnish band. He actually is a truly genuine guy and proved to me that it IS possible to find empathy in music.
But what interests everybody is the fucking namedropping. Funny how just the name of a collaborator can turn everybody’s opinions around, or at least make them give your stuff a listen and a thought or two without judging it. Too much to ask in most cases, but the magic words, magic names, open the doors.
What does this all mean? It means there’s a lot of serious idiots out there who think they’re cool. And my new track is a form of therapy, a fantasy about kicking their asses, and bashing cakes at them.

19th of Feb 2010

I can't believe the track's finished.
I feel quite majorly relieved. For those who didn't know, I've been recording this track since the early November in the Noughties, and it was initially supposed to come out so much sooner than now that I'm embarrassed to say that! We (me and the talented sound engineer - co-producer Paddy) finished the track around New Year's time, but guess what. I was not happy with it, I got this sudden realization that I could do much better. I battled within myself and my small record label whether it would be worth the extra funds but, hey, the solution was pretty clear - if it's not the best you can do, why release it at all?

So I went back to the studio, albeit a different studio, 'cos Paddy was overbooked (he's busy becoming a rockstar with his 4 Wheel Drive) and I was very lucky to come across this guy Tristan who had a nice, comfy recording studio in Hackney, and things seemed to fall into place this time around, not least because I had spent shh-loads of time practising, re-writing, re-arranging and feeling the vibes of the song we were about to record. Also, it helped that there were beautiful painted walls all around me - the new background of this site is one of them - and most importantly, a great little cosy coffee shop downstairs, not even a bloody chain!

Coffee shops make all the difference. Good coffee shops have always changed my life, and continue to do so. There's nothing as great as hanging out in a coffee shop, either in good company or alone with the journal, the Sun or a good book. The Sun - I know I know, but I got into the habit of reading it when it was the most horrible Baby P case and I'm still naively grateful to the Sun for their petition to sack those numb-brained social workers totally incapable of their jobs...Oh well, I wanted to write something happy and went straight into the most horrible & touching case I've ever heard of...

Oh well, just support the NSPCC, at least they're trying to do something, and also Baby Peter has his own fund here: http://www.thebabyptributefund.co.uk/ .

Love, Liisa



6th Feb 2010

This is my new blog. It's called Stop Shh-ing because that's the title of a song that I've been working on for quite some time. It's going to be my official debut single, haha, but only if it ends up sounding like I want it to. As you can read in the bio, I started to put that song together years ago; eventually I forgot about it and every now and again I would remember it and think that it's worth working on, but it took a long time for the vision to get clear enough in order to record it.

Me & a talented guitarist-producer called Paddy (from the London band 4 Wheel Drive) started to record it in November, and it was a massive learning curve for me. It took us 2 months to finish the track, mostly because I was so f***ing (Sh***ing) tense when doing the vocals, I just couldn't get the right vibe. Paddy did the best he could to record & encourage me! When the song was finally finished, I wasn't happy but I thought I must go ahead with it because, well, we have made arrangements to release the single there and then.

One morning I got up to make coffee and it suddenly became clear to me that there's only one right thing to do and it is to record it again. Because if I know I can do it better, there's no point releasing something I can't give 100% backing. So there it was, a solution from the Gods. I'm not a commercial product, I'm an artist and this kinda things can happen. You work and work until you get your vision right, and if you don't ever get it right, there's no point releasing it. It's all in the hands of spirits now as I've definitely been doing my homework - arranging, re-writing, re-composing and most of all, finding my voice (again).

I've been in the studio this week and it sounds quite promising but I still want to do many things, an exciting/uplifting synth line in the chorus, wooden whacks (bought a table for a fiver for that purpose) and other things. I've realised that all great songs are like films in their own right, despite their length (shortness). They take you on a journey over and over again. A few songs spring to mind - Mew's album Frengers, because the guys said something similar and studied film making. This is what I hope to achieve because that just would be so amazing.

Okay, time for a Saturday treat - CHOCOLATE!!! Have a good weekend.

P.S. I've got a new myspace - myspace.com/liisamusicofficial.

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