One Take Songs: Bon Iver - Flume

I’m not a fan of my falsetto, but I do love this song.

And I do love my mom.

I saw Bon Iver perform this song live on the very day my mother passed away.

(Tuolumne)

When I’m sometimes trying to explain what music means to me, and why, the words oftentimes fall short.

And I find myself quite wordless now as I’m trying to write this.

It is a place to where I can escape. Where the feelings are enhanced. It is the only place I feel comfortable in.

It doesn’t discriminate. Even if it is not your words, or your melodies, it is your very own experience, in which everything you are, what you have, is tied to.

I will never be able to do justice to the idea of it that I carry inside me.

But being able to try…

That is everything to me.

-Janne 12.5.2013

One Take Songs: John Mayer - Something Like Olivia

I know I promised that the next One Take Song would be out on Mother’s Day, but I just finished recording this one just for fun and decided to share it with you. You lucky devils, you!

This is probably the most untouched, if you will, recording of mine so far, at least regarding the vocals. It’s just me and my Fender Stratocaster this time. I was surprised how good sounds you can find on GarageBand for electric guitars, after playing around with it for a while, then decided to try and record Something Like Olivia, which I have been playing for weeks now and I think it turned out pretty good. Although I could have used a bit more power and punch on the vocals, I decided to give my neighbors a well deserved break from it.

I just love the careless and easy going rhythm of the song, the organic no nonsense feel that it has. It is based on John’s acoustic performance of the song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izkqPdVAdL4).

There’ll still be the one released this Sunday, on Mother’s Day.

-Janne 10.5.2013

You can find me and my thoughts about things on twitter @JVRecon

One Take Songs: Radiohead - Kid A

This time I’m covering Kid A by Radiohead! I heard the John Mayer cover (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmfZXZronW8), so it’s based on it for the most part. I really like the original and the feel of it, so covering this one in an almost totally different way is not easy.

I hope you like my take on it, and if you do, please feel free to share it with other people you know!

There’ll be another One Take Song on Mother’s day too, and it’s a very special one to me… I can’t wait to share it with you.

So, until next time.

Thank you.

-Janne 9.5.2013

You can also find me on twitter @JVRecon

One Take Songs: Bon Iver - Holocene

It took longer that I thought and it took more takes than it should have…

It’s not perfect, by no means, but the reason of One Take Songs is just that; to learn to accept the shortcomings and to be able to face them with less self loathing. I’m my own worst critic. And while there are some positive things about it, I won’t let things, especially my own mistakes, go easily. I never forget them, even though I know others will forget about them or might have never even noticed them in the first place, I’m still left trying to learn to laugh to most of them.

At once I knew I was not magnificent.

This song holds a special meaning to me, and maybe that’s one of the reasons it took me so long to be satisfied with it.

I sang it with almost whispering the lyrics, which is quite tough if you want to keep it in tune I noticed. So no, I didn’t use my falsetto in this one like Justin Vernon does (I, personally, don’t like my falsetto), one of the reasons being my apartment and its surprisingly subpar noise canceling walls. If I can hear my neighbors high pitched moans while they’re having sex, they’ll hear my voice when I’m alone singing sad songs with my falsetto.

But I do hope that you like my take of the song, and you’re free to share it with your friends if you like it.

I really appreciate that even some of you listens to my covers, and maybe in the near future I might share some of my own stuff with you… if I learn to like them first, of course.

Thank you.

- Janne 23.4.2013

One of the best and most important albums of the 90’s, a tribute to a lost friend that shines through the lyrics and melodies of the songs.

New like a baby
Lost like a prayer
The sky was your playground
But the cold ground was your bed

-Say Hello 2 Heaven

It is a powerful record, the first and last one that Temple Of The Dog gave to us. The band consisting of members of Mother Love Bone, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, the album preceding the success of Pearl Jam, you could say, defines a genre. The powerful vocal performances of both Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder gives the album it’s soul, the latter having a smaller role mostly in giving background vocals, but providing the leads in Hunger Strike, my own personal favorite from the album.

This album won’t leave you cold. It is also a very good album for your possible first experience to grunge music.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUb450Alpps

https://itunes.apple.com/fi/album/temple-of-the-dog/id13123665?l=fi

Album of the week every Friday. You can also find me on twitter @JVRecon

It’s not enough to listen to this album, you really need to hear this. Damien Rice eases you into the world of this album with 9 crimes and The Animals Were Gone, but you couldn’t say that the ambience of the former is the most soothing one, with the feel of despair in the lyrics and sadness in the melody flowing in by the delicate piano, almost weeping.

Don’t be fooled though. It is a powerful album. In some songs it is the lyrics that hits you, in some it is the melody that woos you. In many a case it’s both, with Elephant and Rootless Tree being two fine examples.

And she may rise, if I sing you down
And she may wisely cling to the ground
Cause I am lately, horny
So why would she take me horny?

-Elephant

But it’s the brilliance of Lisa Hannigan that truly takes the album in a totally different level. In some songs you feel a need to turn the music up, just to because of her soft, beautiful vocals in the background. The collaboration, you could even say the relationship, that these two musicians bring into the songs is something remarkable.

This is Damien’s latest album.

And it came out in 2006.

I have been waiting for almost seven years for the next chapter, and I am most certainly not the only one. To get more into the songs, which I hope you do, you should really check out some of his background before O, the story behind the music.

Because it is stories we want to hear, and these stories, these songs, should be shared. It is Damien who knows how to tell them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ph1nLK4QeIs

https://itunes.apple.com/fi/album//id203880553?l=fi

Album Of The Week Every Friday

You can find me on Twitter @JVRecon

The clue is in the title. This is rock, for a celebration. Or maybe the album is a celebration to rock music, and I’m down with that. It might not give new ideas or soundscapes to your average listener, but the massiveness of the simplicity in the soundscape that this album, quite frankly, throws in your face, just makes you feel good. Maybe even jump around.

At least it has that kind of an effect to me, personally. Sometimes it feels like everyone these days are so much trying to be different than the current meme, if you may, that they lose a bit of the soul in the effort. Because it so often turns in to that, an effort.

But this is all effortless. It doesn’t cut corners, and every song feels like a continuation of the last. The Night of Wine And Roses, which kickstarts the album, is an ode to having a good time without worry for the morrow.

Remember that night you were already in bed,
Said “fuck it”
Got up to drink with me instead.

-Younger Us

Exactly.

I can only imagine what this duo of a band can offer you live. The hammering of the drums. The heavily distorted ring of the guitar. All turned to the max. I bet there’s a lot of jumping involved. And smiling. I’m smiling while I’m writing this with the album playing in the background.

It’s not dramatic. It is not heavy handed or taking itself serious. It has one purpose. And that purpose is to make you feel good.

And celebrate.

https://itunes.apple.com/fi/album/celebration-rock/id520954121?l=fi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m6Ptx4CV6k

Album of the week every Friday

You could make the argument that maybe I should have picked up something ‘easier’ for the first album of the week than a jazz record. Or maybe I should start out with a bang, and throw a 90’s grunge album at your face and be done with it. But there’s time for all that later. I’d waited long enough for jazz to come in to my life, and boy, did this album bring it to me.

It is the first jazz album that I bought, and the first jazz album that I ever heard from beginning to end. While Fletcher Moss Park is quite short, running just under 40 minutes, it still truly manages to deliver many landscapes from the traditional smoky basement jazz club to that colorful blossoming cherry tree in a garden.

It introduces the listener to the theme of the album straight from the very first few chords, as Cherry Blossom eases in like an evening tide, flowing to shore carrying the last rays of the descending sun, the soft, pure sounds of Matthew Halsall’s trumpet, with it’s waves.

The album is very well phased, it does not lose it’s grip and every song has something new to offer to you. It is definitely an album to listen to in one go, being very well-thought-out, as nothing feels out of place.

A great album for that late night listen, when you just want to relax and drift away. You just might find yourself under that cherry tree.

https://itunes.apple.com/fi/album/fletcher-moss-park/id560390507?l=fi

Album of the week every Friday.

One Take Songs: (Small Step… It’s All Right)

I can’t believe I’m actually finally doing this. For too long I’ve been struggling to find it in me to share something this personal that I’m having a mixed bag of feelings while writing this.

The whole reason for Reconstruction was to create a place (a state of mind) to aspire, in a such way that I won’t go over my head with it. Being able to feel comfortable with the fact that I’ll never manage to reach that image that I have of myself inside my head. I realized that “not good enough” has little meaning, while doing your relative best is really all that you can do, if you get around trying first.

What Is One Take Songs?

One Take Songs (OTS from now on, yea, I think we’re past the formalities already) is probably a monthly kind of thing, where I share a song that I have covered, you guessed it, in one take with just me and my guitar. OTS has only one aim: To have an organic process. It’s less about “What if?” and more about “Why not?”. I have been battling with my inability to make music for so long, that getting something out of the system just feels rejuvenating. This is me. Just writing that down… I can’t find the word to describe this feeling.

This is the one thing that I love from all of my heart. And to finally have the courage, or what ever you might call it, to take that small step towards the idea that I had so many years ago, is exciting.

I really do hope that you enjoy it…

-Janne

18.3.2013

Sometimes it just feels so good to tackle some oldies from your shelf. Especially when there’s so much to learn from it.

Not many things get better than this…

You’ll hear from me again soon.

-Janne