barton's music blog

There's no stopping it now...

barton@netspheres.net — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 08:00:00 GMT

The past couple of weeks have been an absolute whirlwind of activity for me. It is an irony that in the release of Don’t Stop it feels to me as if more obstacles have come up in its release than any other. I am keenly aware that I was perhaps the greatest obstacle and I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to the amazing and supportive team of collaborators & music industry people who have worked tirelessly to help move this project forward to its ultimate release to you, the world-at-large. I always want everything to be so perfect, and this song has been a great lesson in letting go (a lesson I am constantly learning). I am so lucky to work with such talented people - the remix artists on this release are all so different and each has something unique to say in their interpretation of Don’t Stop. Jaimy, Josh Harris, and Manny Ward - thank you for working with me.

We shot our video in two days and Charlie did an amazing job both directing and editing the video over a single weekend. Our dear friend Kurt assisted at the shoot and it was really a wonderful experience, as we have become a family of sorts. I am deeply grateful for the talent and artistry that the people who have helped me to project an image I feel represents the music we are expressing: Emily Kern, Gino Norris, and Melinda Cazarez. I knew something shifted when, at the end of the second day of shooting, both Charlie and Kurt congratulated me on my performance. The experience was an analog to something I felt years ago in my vocal recording process where I could feel the feeling of my words going onto the recording medium. I experienced that same feeling in the performance for this video. It was real, natural, unrehearsed...just a natural expression of what the song feels like inside of me. I venture to say that it means more to me than anything to create something that has both feeling and meaning, and with this release, I can feel that I have crossed over to a new place in my artistic expression.

More than anything, I am just filled with an intense sense of gratitude for a life where I get to do so many different things, music and performance among them. As self-produced artists who do this entire thing on our own, I feel great pride in our work, what we are representing, and look forward to what is to come.

Hide and Seek – Imogen Heap

barton@netspheres.net — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Some songs are deeply personal and yet address experiences we all go through, creating an environment for the listener to experience their own feelings intensely. Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” is one of these. It is a song about a person involved in a moment in time where she becomes aware that someone else is breaking up with her, apparently brought on by a decision from the other person.

We start in Imogen’s head asking “Where are we?”, as if waking from a dream, hearing her voice in a mixed with a vocoder, with thoughts of disorientation and the key line “sinking feeling”. Whether we heard all of the words or not, if we heard that phrase, it is something we can all identify with.

Her incredible sense of description, blending metaphors of movement with a sense of awareness that something completely personal is happening within a larger world where this one event is completely invisible. There is also a beautiful reference to the way we makes things, like “trains and sewing machines” more important than our “blood and tears”, but ultimately recognize that it is the latter which is the source of our experience.

The transition toward the end where she is actually speaking to the other person who is rejecting her is even more powerful. When she acknowledges to the other person that they “only meant well”, giving the benefit of the doubt, so beautifully reveals a lovely character of grace while simultaneously showing an anger and powerful assertiveness, reminding the other person that they “decided this” along with an increased tempo and slightly different melody than the rest of the song, bringing it to a climax. We then retreat back into Imogen’s head, where she is clearly hurt, where she makes an assortment of observations that whatever the other person is saying is of little value and that they “don’t care a bit”.

Most listeners will not take the time or trouble to look at the song in this depth, but instead will simply enjoy the way in which the simple vocal presentation with ever-present vocoding adds an element of emotional context, as if the melodic portion of the vocoder is simply an emotional extension of her own words.

Few songs give me goosebumps and cause tears well up in my eyes. What a beautiful work of art this is.

Closer To Me

barton@netspheres.net — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:00:00 GMT

I wanted to begin sharing some of my perceptions about music that I have been listening to recently that has been particularly inspiring to me.

One track that never fails to compel me is Chab's "Closer To Me (Alex Neri Vocal Mix)". Note the vocals are by JD Davis, not Alex Neri. The track's slow build and highly syncopated rhythmic intro gives the listener so many choices in the dance moves they might choose to act upon, a choice I feel is basic to a good dance track. There is a sense of mechanism and power that emerges with the arpeggiated synth that cuts through at about 1 1/2 minutes and carries the entire song with its melodic line. The line itself is the hook of the song, threatening to veer downward in its melodic line but ultimately rising to the higher octave. It comes across as a statement of ultimate persistence and optimism to me. It's how I feel when I am unstoppable - I know that all I need to do it keep going, relentlessly, into what may appear to be darkness because what I know that what I will eventually find there is light.

The vocal elements are clear and to the point, layered in double-octave format, similar to the way we do our vocals. We took the cue on this from Eurythmics, whose layered vocal approach strongly inform our work. JD's higher octave vocal is lower in the first repetition of the verse, only to gain strength and intensity in the second, again, bringing home the point of ultimate release. All he wants is to be with this other person. It is his single desire.

The choruses abate into a gentle pad/organ-like rolling swirl or stereo-tremoloed that gently lowers the listeners intensity without being disturbed in any way. As the beat subsides, around 5 1/2 minutes, the gentle swirls are left in the clear, only to introduce another higher-register arpeggiation that is much more cyclical in nature, adding great tension when the original arpeggiated bassline comes back in, again, underscoring the cyclical nature of our experience.

The song, like our own "Don't Stop", explores that range of feeling which borders on obsession, that feeling of intense power and pleasure that emerges from an intense physical and emotional connection where the experiencer wants nothing but the object of its desire.

To close, the chorus is repeated once again in two repetitions, with the second repetition revealing JD's yearning just as before, with the arpeggiated bassline once again taking control and fading away back into the beat we started with.

It is no accident that many parts of this track sound like the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack to "American Gigolo". The arpeggiated bassline and rolling swirls were central to the production style between Morodor, Harold Faltermeyer, and Keith Forsey, but have been beautifully reintroduced into a more modern arrangement. Works like this thrill me because they underscore the fact that many of the foundational elements of disco, while over 30 years old, are still fundamental to cutting-edge dance music today. It also gives artists like me greater latitude to spread their disco-wings.

We're looking for a good record company

barton@netspheres.net — Mon, 21 May 2007 08:00:00 GMT

We've decided to wait on the release of our next project "Don't Stop" in order to find a record company to work with who can help us with the marketing and promotion of our work.

"Don't Stop" is a great song and we really want it to reach a much broader audience than our previous singles so have taken the decision to wait on the release.

It has been really amazing to do all of this ourselves for the past four years, but the time has come to take things to a new level. Charlie has some great video ideas, and if we are going to shoot a video, I want to know with certainty that it will be seen. Sometimes you have to hold off in life for the things you want for them to come to you. This is one of those times.

Letting Go

barton@netspheres.net — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 08:00:00 GMT

Our next single, entitled “Don’t Stop” is just about ready to be released. We have some great mixes by Josh Harris, Jaimy, Manny Ward, and ourselves. The only real thing now between us and a release is the video, which we have not shot yet.

This release has been somewhat of a departure for me in terms of how I manage it. Normally, control freak that I am, I try to plan out every aspect. Instead, with this release I have been much more allowing and relaxed about the whole thing. I am so confident in the song and the mixes that I know the song will do well. There is a lot of passion in this one and I think that is something people pick up on in the music.

A big step for me in this “letting go” process was our decision not to attend the Winter Music Conference in Miami this year. Instead, the artists who worked with us on remixes this time: Josh Harris, Jaimy, and Manny Ward, who did attend, as well as our beloved promoter Sergio Goncalves, gave out the first wave of promos. The feedback we have gotten back so far is amazing.

Charlie and I will be planning out the video later this week and I am sure that what we end up producing will be a perfect match to our fourth single.

The Perfectionist

barton@netspheres.net — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 08:00:00 GMT

I have wanted to write a blog entry for several months now, but each time I move toward actually doing it, this voice inside of me holds me back. I guess I am not really a very good blogger as I don’t have a particularly strong desire to share a lot of information with people. I read many other people’s blogs and find it so interesting that many people want to share so much, so often. I suppose I am focused more in other areas.

This year has been a particularly powerful year in terms of achievement and challenges for me personally. I have been very hesitant to break the veil that I am so comfortable with, projecting my eternal optimism into the world. While much of the lyrical content I produce has to do with themes of personal empowerment and a positive attitude, this past year I have experienced much less of the experience that I write about than I care to admit.

I often remark to my musical partner Charlie how ironic it is to me that I am capable of writing a song like TONIGHT, whose lyrical content is all about deciding in your own mind how you want your life to be, creating that, experiencing that and being that – yet, in my own personal life, I struggle to live up to the ideal of my own idea. Sometimes I think that the song came through me to teach me about its meaning. I am still learning.

Yes, I guess that it is the issue. I have visions in my mind about everything, from the way a song should sound to the way my life should be working out. When my experience does not meet up with the vision, I often feel dissatisfied. And in this year, where we have achieved our first national radio #1, produced a great video for which we continue to receive constant praise for and I have completed my master’s degree in interdisciplinary computer science, I have somehow found myself at what I think is the most miserable I have ever been in my life.

Neither achieving a number 1 has nor earning my master’s has degree created exactly what I had in mind. But, as with most things, one day, maybe 6 weeks ago, something clicked and I realized how amazingly lucky I truly am to be able to simultaneously pursue so many things in this life and actually produce results that are acknowledged by others. I have started to open myself to the idea that maybe; just maybe, my idea of what things should look like is not the right one. Maybe the way things are is perfect for me and my growth. Even if I am wrong, I can tell you this is certainly a much better mental perspective from which to mine the opportunities that will form my future.

I am very lucky to have such good friends and family in my life to support me as I have faced my own perfectionist this year. I am happy to report that I have come to a point where I now recognize that I am right where I wanted to be in my life. No, it is not as easy as I might have imagined, but when I really think about it, I know I did not want it to be easy. I am not the kind of person who enjoys being catered to but instead enjoys the experience of creating things myself. As I write this sentence now, I can once again feel the force of TONIGHT in me, running through me, reminding me that I can (and do) make up my mind about what I want to see.

What's new? Our first (national) radio interview, Amsterdam, Manny's new single...

barton@netspheres.net — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 07:00:00 GMT

Our first radio interview airs this week on SIRIUS radio this weekend. Charlie and Manny and I flew to New York recently where we were interviewed about all sorts of things, including how we make music together. It still seems very surreal to me, but I am very happy we have been given these opportunities to present who we are as artists to the world in a broader fashion.

Then next week we head off to Amsterdam for the Amsterdam Dance Music Event, Europe's largest dance music conference. We have a very full schedule and are very excited about being able to go to this conference. In Europe, the dance market is seen as much more important than it is in this country, so we are very excited about the opportunities we will be presented with there. It is also an interesting coincidence that I really started making music in 1992 in Amsterdam, living there for about 3 months. It is a very special city to me, and I am so happy to be able to go and visit again.

In addition to our material, we will also be bringing promo copies of Manny's new single, entitled "The Cycle", which features vocals by Danny "Buddha" Morales. We did one of the mixes for Manny and I am very proud of the work. It is very nice to work on something other than our own material and see what happens when we apply ourselves to someone else's music. I am looking forward to more opportunities in that area.

Becoming Who We Are

barton@netspheres.net — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:00:00 GMT

I was driving yesterday around the park and it occurred to me that we rarely notice transformations until they have already happened. That magical moment where seed sprouts into flower is not as much a moment as it is a phase - there are actually an accumulation of changes when moving from seed to flower.

It has taken us four releases to chart in the Billboard top 20 and receive the accompanying chart and press successes associated with the release of To Call My Own. One of the things that has always held me back in life is my impatience, however, I can honestly say that persistence seems to be the missing link that makes the difference between failure and success when it comes to living your dreams.

I often tell people that after writing Tonight, Charlie would often remind me, as I would sink into frustration or mild depression because my life had not yet arrived where I thought it should be, that I need to reread the lyrics to that song. How funny and odd that I would write a song so powerful and uplifting and positive, that I would live with that song, bring it to life, watch it succeed, and yet still doubt my own ability. That is how pervasive self-doubt has been for me.

One of my goals in life has been to the become the person I see inside myself, in my mind's eye - the highest vision of what I could become. I am not talking about material success here, but instead referring to the notion of becoming the best possible person that I could imagine from the inside out. My musical work is invaluable in this process and I am writing this blog today to document and acknowledge that I do see myself moving forward in my goal of becoming who I am. I also see Charlie on a similar path.

As I drove past the beautiful San Francsican park, it occurred to me that as the world begins to become aware of BARTON and what our music represents that there is also a lovely synchronicity in both Charlie's and my personal lives as we continue to become who we are. We are becoming who we are...

A Life of its Own

barton@netspheres.net — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Charlie and I were speaking earlier today about the success To Call My Own is enjoying on the public arena and what we realized in our discussion is that like any child, there comes a time to let go and allow the child to be in the world, making its own way. To Call My Own has reached that stage for us.

After so many months of work, producing our remixes, working in new ways with other producers and remixers, shooting and editing our own video and launching this, our third independent single, we are so incredibly proud to have acheived the exposure that has been given to us. When we look at our colleagues on the chart Depeche Mode, Madonna, and Paris Hilton, it is rather amazing to us that we are able to acheive this level of exposure without the weight of a major record label behind us. In the end, we believe the music always speaks for itself

Our fundamental goal was to have our music heard and to be able to put out songs that really mean something in some eternal way and that people will look back on in years and experience as part of the fabric of their own lives.

Now that we are acheiving these and many other goals that we never even expected to acheive, it is sometimes difficult not to get caught up in some other motivation. For me, making music is a way of giving something good to the world. As intangible as a song may be, there are so many songs that have touched me, carried me through periods of my life, and brought me to new levels of understanding. Of course I want our work to be commercially successful - but it will only be fulfilling if that comes along with a deeper sense of connection to the world around me.

Charlie and I will begin planning our live show on my return to San Francisco in early July and I am really excited about that because I know that when we start to perform in a format that really reflects what we are trying to do, I know now beyond any doubt that there is an audience for what we do. I hope you will be a part of this journey with me.

Ask and it is Given

barton@netspheres.net — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 08:00:00 GMT

Today happens to be my birthday and I am having a really relaxing and enjoyable day. Earlier this week Charlie and I spoke about what we would like to have happen in this last week running up to the release of To Call My Own. We agreed it would be a solid sign that the song was doing well if we were on the Billboard chart before release date. When we spoke about how we should go about making this happen, we decided we would simply ask the universe to take care of it.

Asking the universe to take care of something on your behalf is a bit strange if you are not used to it. I found myself getting nervous and a bit scared yesterday about the future success of this single but then I realized that I was not trusting or putting faith into my desires. I did the work of focusing on how proud I would be when I could tell my Mother that we were on the chart and shifted my emotions about this.

It is ironic - as an artist I have no problems writing what I know to be the absolute truth about life - but to put it into practice for myself in my personal life is quite another task. The artist within me is my greatest teacher: I am so enjoying learning all of the secrets it holds in store for me. I cannot tell you how often I listen to our song Tonight and wonder at its wisdom that I still strive to feel I live 100% of the time.

This morning, my birthday, we received notification that the we are officially on the Billboard Hot Dance / Club Play chart that came out today, entering the chart at number 48. This is the first time we have ever been on the chart before a recording is released and marks significant milestones for both our growth as professional recording artists and our increasing ability to trust in the universe and all its possibilities.