I know I’m about a week late on giving an update for March, but it’s been a busy week!  First off, my basement / man cave / rock grotto finally got carpeted.  It’s just about as complete as could be without doing some final touch-ups here and there (video forthcoming).  I’m really proud of it since I designed and built most of it myself, and it’s a relief to finally have a room that feels new and finished where I can play music.

As for the album, it remains nameless.  However, I’ve finalized the track listing and most of the musical writing work.  I have 13 songs that I feel good about putting on the album.  They all feel different and it makes me hopeful that someone listening to the album front to back won’t find too many similarities between songs.  I was up to 14 songs at one point, but I sacrified a song that was coming off as too angry.  Since last month, new songs have emerged to take the places of previous, weaker songs.  There are a couple songs in particular that I feel are really strong.  I’m trying to make an impression here!

My goal for the next month is to finish all of the lyrical work.  There are a couple songs that still need to be refined, and some that are missing whole verses completely.  I also thought about doing videos of just random parts of the process, but I don’t want to seem like I’m stroking my own ego.  I want to connect with more people, but I’m not sure how to do it without coming off as self-centered.  All I want is to make music and spread it around, but good intentions can easily get lost on the internet.

Let me know if you have any suggestions.  How can I reach more people?  Youtube is a big untapped resource, but my aforementioned concerns make me doubtful.  I’ve also thought about a website, but I don’t even have enough fans on facebook (facebook.com/theryangilkay) to justify spending money to host a site.  Any thoughts tumblr people?  Peace!

It’s been a month since I released my album “The Moment”, an 8-song EP of material I’ve been working on for the last few years.  I’m glad that I was able to contribute something to musical world, and while it excites me to be able to share my music with the public, I haven’t received as much feedback as I’d hoped.  What little feedback I’ve been given has been generally positive, though minimally constructive, and so I struggle with where to go next.

I’ve already begun writing and recording for another album, but without knowing more about how the first album was received I fear I may fall into a Nickelback trap and end up writing the same music over and over.  I’ve written 13 songs so far, half of which I feel are good enough to make the cut for the next album.  I continue to write to try avoiding any uninteresting filler, but I have ambitious goals for the next album.  I’m shooting for a minimum of 12 songs, but if it ends up being more then so be it, as long as I feel all of the songs add value to the project.

For the next album, I’m really trying to draw on my experience from writing/recording “The Moment”.  I’ve added a keyboard to the mix and hope to utilize it to fill more space and strive for that full stadium-rock sound.  I’ve also been researching new artists in an attempt to broaden my horizons and bring interesting new elements to my songwriting.  My guitar equipment is better now than it was at the time “The Moment” was recorded, so I aim for more diverse tones and interesting guitar riffs.  Though it seems like I’m changing a lot, I don’t want to write something that isn’t true to what I love to hear, so the core experience won’t change.  Think of it as the same body wearing new clothes, and perhaps you’ll understand what I’m trying to accomplish.

I’m interested in working with other people on this project as well.  I thought of my last album as a proving ground to what I could accomplish on my own.  Now I’m looking to expand and perhaps include some other musicians on the album.  Though the writing process is still in the very early stages, I’m looking for opportunities to include female vocals, some rock-rapping (a la Linkin Park or Travis Barker), and maybe even guest instrumentalists.  This is all speculation for now, but you have to have goals, right?

Though some of things I’ve mentioned seem like quite an undertaking, the most aggressive goal is that I’m trying to complete this album by the end of 2012.  I have the time and technology, and the problems that delayed the last album have been solved.  As I said earlier, I’ve already begun writing AND recording.  I’ve scripted the drums for about six songs and have lyrics written for half of those.  I’ve recorded a few parts and started mixing the opening track of the album.  The ground has been broken and now that I’ve started, I’m obsessed and want it to be as full and entertaining as I can make it.  All I can ask is that you tell me what you want to hear, and I’ll promise to try and deliver.

To hear/buy the album: www.reverbnation.com/theryangilkay
To become a fan: www.facebook.com/theryangilkay