
Quiet Storm – Inspirations. (download)
July 23, 2010So it’s been 9 months since I released Quiet Storm, my most recent album, and I recently had the idea of compiling the songs that inspired the record so that you could hear some of the wonderful tracks that inspire me. Some you will know, some I hope will be new to you and can open up your ears to new songs and sounds 🙂
Putting together all the songs last night, I realised I have far too many to keep to one album’s worth, so treat this as Volume 1: these are the songs that directly influenced songs, production or lyrics on the album. Volume 2 will be more abstract, a mood piece which had songs that were instrumental when I was first creating the concept of the album. As I’m starting to get ready to think about my next record, something that I like to do is think about what I want to say, and what songs epitomise the sound and concept I am going for: a sonic mood board, if you will. Volume 2 will try to recreate the sonic mood board I had for Quiet Storm.
So keep a look out for that, but for now here is Quiet Storm – The Inspirations (Volume 1) (click). Enjoy! Liner notes are below 🙂
1. Mary J. Blige – Mary Jane – inspired the hook of “All Night Long”
2. Janet Jackson – Discipline – inspired the general feel of “All Night Long” – before I heard “Discipline”, “All Night Long” was my envisioning of how the track would sound.
3. Chris Brown – Take You Down – namechecked in the lyrics to “All Night Long”
4. The-Dream – Falsetto – inspired the general feel and production of “Hook Boy”
5. Beyoncé – Diva – inspired the hook in “Hook Boy”
6. Delta Goodrem – Believe Again – inspired the production and gradual build in “Secret”
7. Cassie – Nobody But You – sampled in “Touch Me”
8. Jennifer Lopez – Waiting For Tonight (Hex Hector Mix) – I was listening to this song when I started writing “Quiet Storm”
9. Danity Kane – Right Now – inspired the general feel and piano / bass lines in “Quiet Storm”
10. Lil Wayne – Got Money – namechecked in the bridge in “Quiet Storm”
11. Mariah Carey – H.A.T.E.U. – the full song had not come out, but I was obsessively listening to the LQ snippet of this song and it inspired the production and rewrite of “Jump Off (Part II)”.
12. Solid Harmonie – When We Kiss (Missing You) – sampled in “Kissing You”; important for the concept of Quiet Storm as a whole.
13. Mis-Teeq – It’s Beginning To Feel Like Love – sampled in “In Love”
14. Rihanna – Umbrella – inspired the vocal ad-libs towards the end of “Come Home To Me”
15. Janet Jackson – Take Care – inspired the backing vocals in “Come Home To Me”; again, another song that was instrumental in the concept of the album.
16. Paulina Rubio – Sexi Dance – sampled in “Last Chance”.
17. Ciara – Work – sampled in “Last Chance”; the song was originally inspired as a cross between this and…
18. Beyoncé – Get Me Bodied (Extended Mix) – …this! I loved the hard R&B feel that just made you want to dance, I enjoyed the fearlessness of having an extended mix and ending an album on an uptempo.
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There you have it! Keep an eye out for volume 2, and of course, if you haven’t yet heard my album Quiet Storm, you can download it here 🙂 Much love 🙂
Posted in Downloads, Music | Tagged abstract, ad libs, album, All Night Long, backing vocals, bass, Believe Again, Beyoncé, Cassie, Chris Brown, Ciara, Come Home To Me, concept, dance, Danity Kane, Delta Goodrem, Discipline, Diva, download, falsetto, fearless, Get Me Bodied, Got Money, H.A.T.E.U., Hook Boy, In Love, influence, inspiration, It's Beginning To Feel Like Love, Janet Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Jump Off (Part II), Kissing You, Last Chance, Lil' Wayne, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Mary Jane, megaupload, Mis-Teeq, mood, mood board, namecheck, Nobody But You, Paulina Rubio, piano, production, Quiet Storm, Quiet Storm - The Inspirations (Volume 1), Right Now, Rihanna, Secret, Sexi Dance, singing, snippet, Solid Harmonie, songs, Take Care, Take You Down, The-Dream, Touch Me, Umbrella, uptempo, Waiting For Tonight, When We Kiss (Missing You), work |
Thanks alot!