I love Lana Del Rey, and her music. Her album Born to Die is so beautiful, so here is my rendition of both 'Video Games' and 'Off to the Races' below, with the tutorials. I have always imagined Lana Del Rey in a red dress, so for this artist I did a photoshoot with my favourite red dress to recreate the vision... These images are taken in Auckland city, and I felt like the classy buildings spoke for themselves, and added to the sophisticated ambience. (I'm not usually this sophisticated).
Enjoy the class while it lasts!
Lana Del Rey ♥
All images copyright Katherine Ann-Marie Tuenter, The Undefined Photography, 2014
I am in love with "Off to the Races" in fact, it is probably my favourite song on the album. Kanye West thinks so too cause he did a cover of it too. (Apparently). The chords and harmonies are mine, it sounds pretty this way! So much attitude. So much class. Lana Del Rey ♥
Hellooooo everyone. Okay so I have some time today and am giving all my links a major overhaul. Starting with Twitter, Tumblr, this BLOG and then next week I'll be finishing up all those tutorials that are overdue! I mostly do my videos on a Thursday each week (NZ Time) so that's the 7th next week.
Outfit for 'Figure 8' by Ellie Goulding .
So the video clip has loads of red! All about love and longing so the outfit has loads of red too.
Shoes - Hannahs/Pulp
Earrings - Diva
Bow - Diva
Lips - Maybelline
Jeans - Glassons
Shirt - Glassons
Belt - Jacqui-E
Keep you updated! Stay tuned for LOADS more fashion, photoshoots & music <3
I did a couple takes and my voice got husky at the end, I think I had the keyboard too loud! Oops. Oh well I'll remember for the next one. Got another song coming soon before next week too so keep an eye out.
I haven't gone anywhere, I am still around. Just practicing new stuff and studying at the moment as I have a huge number of assignments due, and they are all third year papers so unfortunately the time comes out of my otherwise music practicing time. In one week's time I will have new stuff up for you including Maroon 5, Christina Perri, and (maybe) Lana Del Ray.
So I have finally finished the tutorials for 'Buy the Stars' and 'Zero Gravity'
Check out my playlist 'Song Tutorials' to see them. 'Buy the Stars' is in two parts because it's such a long and complicated song and I wanted to make sure I explained it simply enough.
Now I am behind two weeks on our 'Acoustic' genre, namely John Mayer & a surprise artist. I was very sick! But more on that soon, I intend to do a few songs and a few tutorials this week, hopefully! On Thursday which is the usual day I record. Anyway got an awesome song for you that I'm into at the moment, and of which I have an AWESOME arrangement and tutorial coming very soon....
'Maroon 5 - One More Night'
I love this song! Damn it's so catchy. Anyway talk soon and hopefully I'll be up to date by the end of this week. More details coming soon.
Hey everyone! So we have covered the pop genre last month, and this week is the first week of the acoustic genre! Which means we will be covering and looking at artists that tend to be strongest when playing live or with minimal backing. Some of my favorite artists fit in this category, and they are often the best ones to cover as live music tends to work well with piano.
So here's a list of artists I will be covering this month:
John Mayer. My first love! Haha no this guy is seriously talented at guitar. Interesting fact- he says happily how he 'steals' Eric Clatpton's ideas for his music. Eric Clapton was his idol and inspiration growing up and there is even YouTube videos of them playing together:
'Crossroads' (From Mayer's album Battle Studies) with Eric Clapton.
John Mayer has released a number of albums now, but if you haven't already heard his stuff I suggest you listen to his album Continuum or recent release 'Born and Raised'. I have been a devoted fan since his first album release in early 2000's. He was best known for his song 'Your Body is a Wonderland'.
Regina Spektor. This girl is pure magic, she is actually a lot older than she looks too! 30-something. But she looks only 25. Regina has mostly got recognized from her song 'Fidelity'
'Fidelity' by Regina Spektor.
Anyway she plays piano like nobody's business, she started off her career playing in bars, and she is beautiful live! Very quirky and full of personality there is no one else quite like her. When I first heard 'Apres Moi' I couldn't help but cry, she is a beautiful composer, singer, and all round instrumentalist. She also is Russian and speaks multiple languages... very talented! Regina has recently released a new album 'What we saw from the cheap seats'. Every album just gets better and better. Look her up, well worth the listen.
Vanessa Carlton. Well anyone who has followed me knows how close Vanessa Carlton is to my heart as a musician. I followed her very closely in my early days and I will always be in love with both her first two albums. After that she went and experimented a bit, with hip-hop producer Irv Gotti to finally releasing her own indie album last year called 'Rabbits on the Run'. Which is very beautiful in both prose, style, production and musically.
'Carousel' by Vanessa Carlton
This is her most recent release, and was entirely self produced so good on her. I have a lot of respect for her doing her own thing despite commercial pressures. With 'A Thousand Miles' creating a lot of expectation , it's understandable she has always been searching for that one 'something' with her music since then. She is a true artist.
The final fourth artist I haven't yet entirely decided on, I'll keep it a surprise ^_^
Anyway these are just some of my influences, in the acoustic genre at least and there are plenty more to come! As usual I will feature a couple of covers and tutorials too for you lucky lucky people.
Gotta get back to writing more music for you. Love you all! Talk soon
Super excited to share this one with you! So if you guys like interesting artists with a unique sound you are gonna love Kerli!
This girl is amazing, she makes her own clothing and accessories for her video clips, she has an awesome sense of style, and her songwriting is pretty good too. Her newest song is more techno-dance than her older stuff which was similar to Bjork's works.
Anyway so this is her newest single! Check it out, and I am excited to show you my arrangement later this week ^_^
'Kerli- Zero Gravity'
Also have a look at her older song: 'Walking on Air' as it's probably the one she is best known for, that or 'Love is Dead', both pretty amazing songs and video clips.
After this we are on to the ACOUSTIC genre, which means all my fav artists that you guys will have seen me cover already... hope I haven't given too many clues XD
Hey guys! Was finally able to upload the Ellie Goulding 'Lights' tutorial, hope it's not too confusing, I explained it and left a bit of room for creative input on your part so you can improvise a bit but hopefully that doesn't make it too confusing. It's a bit longer as I explain the details and the main chords,
Okay, so I have been listening to J.M's album now for about a week on repeat... I have played through a couple of songs that I really like, and at this stage I'm not sure which song to cover!
At first 'Something like Olivia' was the song I really fell in love with, the beat is awesome, and the lyrics are so very John. In terms of the 'country' feel to his new music, I can understand the many objections to it, as I don't really think it's him either. Most likely the pressures of the commercial record industry and their expectations has led him to try different things and adopt different 'vibes' for his music over time. But underneath the random layers of harmonica and organ synth, the songs have a soul that is uniquely and genuinely his, and that's what still makes his music beautiful. Songs like 'Face to Call Home' resonated with me so much, likewise 'Born and Raised' was very profound, reminded me very much of 'Don't Stop this Train' and 'The Heart of Life'.
His song, 'The Age of Worry' also has echoes of his song 'Belief' from Continuum, it has a lovely lull, and this album he has really refined his craft. Lyrics are succinct, and cohesive, all sections of the song have a lot of thought and unlike his first two albums, every song has a unique vibe with a strong sense of clarity. Each song is different from the next, and like a great smorgasbord of thoughts and feelings he captures many elements within this album. It really is like a life narrative and it deserves a number of listens to appreciate all his songs.
I am still working on 'Whiskey, Whiskey, Whiskey' 'Speak for Me' and 'Shadow Days' as I feel they are a little diluted in terms of 'Soul' but I think it is just lost in translation. I don't approve of the production (although the vocals are superb in this album) but you can still hear John shine through, and who knows- the country theme might grow on me! ^_^
COMPETITION! Okay so I was thinking of doing a competition but then I realized most of you live overseas :\
So, I will have a think about this and get back to you when I have an idea!
Hope you all are liking the new songs/covers/vlog/ideas!
Definitely gonna do a cover of one of this soon. Listen. To. John. Mayer's. Album.
Recorded some new stuff today! Just got to edit them then they will be up shortly... including tutorials. I am really committed to the new YouTube vids. Got more for ya tomorrow too.
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