// Analogue Pilot Music

from all of us here @ analogue pilot music- Merry Christmas!  we’re looking forward to all the things we have planned for 2009… keep checking back for updates on the “audiopacifier” project!    -josh

in case you didn’t know, the aircraft featured on this website is the lockheed f-104 starfighter. these are the logos i have crafted for analogue pilot music.

so why do i make music/ have an interest in music? you might ask. simple.

i believe that music is an intrinsic human emotion and that there are worlds within this emotion that have yet to be discovered. so far- i have only managed to begin to grasp what we already understand about music but i hope that someday soon i stumble onto something not yet understood. a rythmn. a note. a sound. a composition. a word.

i often wonder what handel heard that no one else did. or what stevie wonder can see that no one else can. where hans zimmer’s thought pattern takes him that no one else’s does. why charlie chaplin’s score to his silent film  “city lights” made me cry. if the oboes and offbeat string hits made buster keaton funnier in his movie “the general”.  why listening to sara bareilles’ “gravity” while watching a sunrise going 70 on the highway makes me feel like i’m at home. why people who never listen to rock music can sing every song from the musical “west side story”. why people need music on their cellphones. why no one can go without a radio in their car. why a couple about to break up are re-united when a song they first heard together plays again. why some kid in some school is absolutely convinced that the tuba is the greatest instrument of all time. why pop music is hated by as many people as people who love it. —my list of questions goes on.

there is a secret hidden within music that i would love to unlock. music binds nations yet incites riots; music protests war and also leads men into battle.

music… the final frontier? maybe. let’s find out…

herbie hancock’s “the tea leaf prophecy” from his album “river - the joni letters”

i’ll be honest, when i first heard back in january that herbie ( the genius behind one of the great jazz albums of all time “head hunters”) was making an album of joni mitchell songs- i was not too interested. i didnt sound like the greatest jazz album idea. but when “river” began to garner awards- i took notice and picked it up at my local iTunes store.

the first track “harlem in havana” caught me off guard. here was hancock- stripped of synthesizers and electronic devices, back to his roots, his hands showing their command of the ivories; backed by nothing more than a bare bones jazz band.

fast forward in the album to “the tea leaf prophecy”. after having norah jones and corinne bailey rae, both very expected and at the same time very welcome on a jazz album like this one, guest on a song; here comes none other than joni mitchell herself.

the track begins with a wonderful introspective groove, herbie holding back and spacing the notes out carefully, almost as if the song has a chord limit. he knows that joni’s lyrics need their space. a deftly constructed upright bass line easily leads the song on with the percussion adding in it’s sunshower of brushes. and then comes joni, her distinct midrange sliding in to paint the story. she should have been a jazz singer. that’s my first thought. her voice is a natural in this enviroment, her song all the more. the feel is akin to walking into a jazz club in new york on a cold winter evening to get warm and staying all night as the music lulls you into a warmth you wont get from a fireplace, a warmth from the story being told and the soundtrack that flickers behind it.

-josh conti   josh@contimedia.us

vanessa carlton’s “home” from her album “heroes and thieves”

raw and stripped- this song bleeds honesty and depth. my kind of track.  simple note lines follow into driving piano swirling with strings and clean drums that combine with well crafted and placed lyrics. she has written an anthem to her love, that with a second listen, one could easily sing out loud- too loud- in the car and mean every word. at the end of the track a spontaneous break out ensues with the drums chasing her piano through a musical playground. i recommend this one for sure.

i was with my wife this morning for her first ultrasound. i can’t think of anything to compare with seeing my child for the first time. according to the measurements- it could fit right into my palm with plenty of room to spare. being able to watch it move around and suck on its thumb, seeing its backbone and brain and belly… its tiny hands and feet… i am beside myself. i cant tell you how proud i am of my wife for taking on the journey of childbirth. our lives have changed forever! never before have i had as deep of a sense in God’s design and purpose as when i looked at the tiny human thriving inside my wife.

today has really cemeted the reality of my becoming a father into place. this is why i’m starting my audiopacifier project. i am among other things a musician and as i take being a father very seriously, i want to raise my children with an apprieciation for music. audipacifier is going to be the music my child listens to while he (or she!) sleeps and the soundtrack to the first year of his (or her) life. i mentioned previously that the tempo is centered around 75bpm. that is the average tempo of a 20-30 year old female. i am attempting to bridge the gap between daddy’s big world and baby’s womb world through the use of familiar tempos and regular instruments. my plan is to, by the end of next year, be able to release audiopacifier as an album anyone can buy.

i currently have 2 basic songs down and am working on more. i hope to have this project completed by april, when the baby is due…

more to follow!

-josh

the project coming together in my head and im currently working in reason right now on the first track ive titled “sleepy eyes”.  the base tempo for the entire album is going to be based on 75 bpm which is the normal heart rate of a female adult. this will make more sense as i (down the road) reveal the purpose for audiopacifier…   -josh

is the day i begin working on my new music project codenamed “audiopacifier”. i finally formulated my plan of attack (musically speaking) today whilst at work. its an entirely new direction in music for me and needless to say it’ll produce something really cool and worth listening to… stay tuned for updates  -josh conti      josh@contimedia.us