Charly Ray : November 2017

Thursday, November 30, 2017

One Woman Strong Podcast: Episode 3

Script

HI, I am Charly Ray a singer songwriter producer from San Diego California.

Thanks for joining me today for my podcast series.

This is Episode 3, where we will be discussing the composition "One Woman Strong”. Which is the 3^rd track from my album HOLY available now at charlyraymusic.com. This was the second song I released from HOLY and it was actually out before the album came out. It eventually became my first number one song on Reverbnation,. This was very exciting! You can find my album HOLY in multiple markets such as Itunes amazon us and UK google play, spotify shazam jango all on my website charlyraymusic.com, as I will be expanding my market reach in to deezer tidal anghami beatport digital emusic juno and 24/7 by summer of next year.

OK where to start with this one!!!

it only took one day to write and record this entire track. The recording on the album is actually the first full demo that I was recording as was writing it. This was the first time that I was actually composing the music along with writing the lyrics and then recording as I went along. It was very exciting because there were so many moving parts in alignment with my overflowing of inspiration, this was probably my favorite recording session from the album.

During this period of my life, I had a lot going on. For one, I was working full time in the studio and the monotony of daily routines were starting to get to me. Perhaps that is why I changed it up a bit with One Woman Strong, in terms of the process. Secondly, I had just had a massive falling out with my family over a really big mistake I made about airing our dirty laundry on Facebook. It was an incident that kept us from speaking for over 3 years.

As I mentioned in Epsode 1, I was writing and recording a lot of acoustic material during this time. and those pieces are very depressing and have my signature sad passive aggressive stamp.

This track, however, turned out to be a very strong piece about liberation and the quest for independence and freedom. I was watching a lot of Wonder Woman during this time, because that is my go to show when I am in a creative mood, and yes, it always has been...

When I was little I remember making magic bracelets and actual Wonder Woman garments out of those old 6 pack cardboard Pepsi cartons. I can't count the times I got in trouble for trying to convince everyone that my name was really “Diana Prince”. One time my parents got me a battery operated little Police motorcycle, This was back in the late 70's, I remember because we lived in the “Old Yellow House”, which is whole other podcast.... Back on track... OK.... so this motorcycle that they got me, I was very excited when I saw it.... I think they were excited that I was excited... I ran to my room and threw on my Wonder Woman beach towel, as a cape of course and I put on my Pepsi carton regalia and I jumped on my motorcycle and took off..... After a couple of hours, my dad said, “DO you like your new motorcycle” and I replied “This is no a motorcycle, this is my invisible jet” Needles to say, that was the end of the motorcycle or my invisible jet. I suppose that had hoped I would immolate Jon Andrew Baker from Chips, which was definitely an option, because even at like 4 or 5 years old, I remember thinking how handsome Ponch was and how I would love for him to ride me around on his motorcycle..... Glenn and I actually ran into Erick Estrada not too long ago at the airport and he seemed like a really nice, normal guy just traveling and saying hi to people and he even took a picture with a guy and was very happy to do so. When I saw him, I thought of this story and I got too embarrass to ask him for a kiss, I whoops, I meant a picture.

Anyway, we got off track here so let's find our way back to the music. The point of telling the Wonder Woman story, was to highlight he fact that this song was inspired my Wonder Woman, and that is why it is very motivational and inspiring unlike the acoustic pieces from this same time frame. And back to how this relates to my family, well, it was the absence of my Mom in my life that was the groundwork for the lyrics and she always knew my love of Wonder Woman, so it was a very easy song to write. I was feeling this swanky burlesque style guitar riff with a pulsing poetic melody, so that is what I created.

Those this song at a glance may seem to be a feminist anthem, it is more about motherism.

Which means....

prejudice or lack of respect towards women who stay at home to look after their children and do not go out to work.

My mom was a stay at home mom, and her job to say the least, has been a difficult one.

Growing up an an Atypical Southern home in the 70's and 80's I recognized at an early age, that my parents were not like other parents. I could never really put my finger on it, probably because I was so eccentric myself, or at least until I was in my mid teens. When I started to grow into my emotions and sensibility, I realized that my mom was actually oppressed. It just took me about 20 more years to realize shes not a victim but the product of self oppression. This is why the song focuses on self empowerment and about the natural power and stats that females have in nature, not just as people but as a multifaceted gender across all species and classes of life.

When it comes to writing about deeply personal issues such as family, sibling, relationships, or even Friends, for me, the songs come easy.... It's actually talking about them later that is the most difficult part. Since I have started this podcast, I have realized how much time I have invested in all of my work and how personal it is. Being able to talk about them and tell their stories has liberated them from the untold truths that make the each an empowered individual.

Which has become the theme of our Episode today... I hope you have enjoyed our time today and stayed tuned to future Episodes of my podcast highlighting all of the tracks from my album HOLY out now at charlyraymusic.com

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Shock Your Chakra Podcast: Episode 2

Episode 2: Script

HI, I am Charly Ray a singer songwriter producer from San Diego California.

Thanks for joining me today for my podcast series.

This is Episode 2, where we will be discussing the composition "Shock Your Chakra" which is track

2 on my album Holy, available now at charlyraymusic.com. In which you can find links to multiple markets such as Itunes amazon us and UK google play, spotify shazam jango and I will be expanding my market reach in to deezer tidal anghami beatport digital emusic juno and 24/7 in by summer of next year.

Shock your Chakra is the longest track on the album. Though I did not conceptualize the album in the early stages of it's birth, I did remain true to my creative processes in terms of how I compose individual pieces. I always have an idea about what it is I am going to write and how I want to get my point across, but I am not alwyas sure of what the end result is going to sound like.

People always ask if I write the music first or the lyrics first and at this point in my life, I write them both together so, in a sense, they have a sorta paralled life cycle interms of when they come into existance, like twins.

When I was younger, I would ususall write lyrics first, kind of in the structure of a poem but over time, I realized how much more depth I could cultivate if I was writing the music along with the lyrics. I have been writing this way, exclusively, for about 10 years now. It also helps me retain the song better and not forget any neuance that gives each piece a signature sound.

In terms of the music,

I really pushed myslef to be more experimental with melody canges as well with the vocal layering and overall ambience and nueance.

During the time I was composing the music and lyrics, I was listening to a lot of music from a band from Denmark called Quadron. We actually saw the lead singer named COCO perfrom in LA back then, and it was very inspirational. They actually have this Contemporary R&B sound that pulls from Michael Jackson and Diana Ross as well as Morcheeba and a group called Moloko which was fronted by the amazing Roisin Murphy. Which has been a huge inspiration on the whole of my work for the last six years or so.

I wanted this modern R&B or trip hop sound for this song, but I also wanted, not to have it sound too commercial as it began to grow, I realzied it was going to just keep going and going. Not really, but in a sense it ended up being a pretty lengthy song.

In terms of the length, it just felt right as it kept growing, and I was not able to edit it down into a place that felt whole. I did release a version on Jango that was a considerable shorter, and there will be a similar version at the end my commentary.

I want to take the rest of my spoken time and answer a few questions that have showed up on social media, or sometimes, people message me or email me questions, which is awesome be it often shed light on things I never think about because I am so focused on the production side of everthing I get a little lost at times. Alos, that very reason is why I decided to do the podcast series. I really helps take my mind off the intensity of composition and production which can become pretty exhausting.

One question I really love and lot's of people ask it, is ..... What skills or personal attributes does it take to be successful?

Most importantly, you need to be a good business person. There are so many talented artists out there, but not very many of them know how to make a living off of their talent. So the most important aspect of being an musician – an independent one – is knowing how to book shows, capitalize on opportunities, be assertive, and ascribe value to your work, so much so that people want to invest in what you have to offer.

You also need to be extremely flexible and have an easy time engaging with different groups and types of people.“…there is something very special about working from the ground up and building your career slowly so that it is strong and long-lasting in the future.”

You are definatley not going to get rich quick, however, if you explore all the opportunities out there for you, you can make a modest living at it. Also, people measure success across so many different planes of perception that what it means to be successfull to you is not what it means to me.

As for me, I want exposure for the work, not for myself, which are definately two separate entities. Maybe when I am older I will merge the two personas, however, as for now, I keep them separated. The thought of being famous actually makes my stomach hurt. That is also a perk of bing an independant artist..... you have total control over every aspect of your career as a musician. Therefore, if you have a good product and people are interested, just keep doing it and go as big or as small as you like. Resources are bountiful in the field no matter what skills or persoanl attributes you posess there is alwyas a niche for whatever it is you can do. This thing is to find a place where you can do what it is that you do, and never conform or let peopple try and change what you are doing to fit into a place where you are not 100% comfortable. Otherwise your creative processes may be somewhat compromised.

Well, thanks for tuning in for Episode 2, and here my song Socck Your Chakra available now at www.charlyraymusic.com

Holy Podcast: Episode 1

Episode 1 Script:

Hello, my name is Charly Ray and I am a singer songwriter producer from San Diego.

Today we are going to talk about my album HOLY as well as the tile track.

Stay tuned until the end of the commentary and have a listen....

Introduction to the album and the title song::

It's a 10 song album that was composed using all electronic and digital resources.

It is the opposite of a concept effort because I didn't realize I was making an album like this until

I had accumulated enough material over a couple of years to actually think about

pulling it all together into one entity.

It's also as close as I will ever come to an inspirational collection of songs.

I think the reason that it turned out that way is because I was writing and recording these songs

while I was working on a very emotional acoustic project entitled HUMAN which is volume 1 of THE HUMAN ANGHOLOGY PROJECT which I will talk more about on a future podcast

What inspired the album?

The inspiration for the album was basically "day to day" issues and living. As I mentioned before,

I never really thought about doing this album until it was finished so it was a very organic experience and as a collective, I love how it chronicles my life during that period of time ... It's a chronological audio diary of sorts...

How long did it take for me to record it?

It took about 3 years to finally gather enough material, and I have only published about half of it.

Release Date? I released it on August 8th, 2016

Markets? Itunes amazon us and uk google play, spotify shazam jango and I will be expanding my market reach in to deezer tidal anghami beatport digital emusic juno and 24/7 in by summer of next year.

Website? Right now you will be able to find everything at www.charlyraymusic.com

Title song inspiration? Holy ....... Initially it was about experimenting with different sounds and noise and I really didn't have a theme or a concept. We then visited Buenos Aries in Argentina and we went to the cemetery there where Eva Peron is now buried. I was taken off guard at how poor the city is and what a mega concentration of wealth that in contained in the walls of that cemetery.

It was quiet disturbing actually. I then began writing the lyrics to the sounds I had created and arranged everything appropriately and it began to take form. I was mostly inspired by the religious statues and the scenery on a whole while inside the cemetery..... Though

my experience was a bit macabre, the song turned out quiet positive and the themes of universal conscienceless formed out of the follies of greedy people

and how terrible the disrepair of what once was a beautiful city....

Some people refer to this song as an anthem for atheists but it's actual about universal love and acceptance no matter what you believe in.

The one thing we all need is peace and we definitely all need love. I am a very spiritual person myself, however I have never labeled or been on the bandwagon of any belief train. I think living in the most organic way possible in necessary path to be on no matter where you faith lies. I hope people from any religion or any belief will be able to pull the true message from the composition and not get caught up on labels or prejudice. After-all the song is about being united.

Thanks for listening to my podcast and here is my song Holy, the title track from my album HOLY out now.

Thursday, November 23, 2017

Song and Videos From HOLY

New Songs From Sentimentality, due out Summer of 2018

One Woman Strong

One Woman Strong

sing your song little bird

your story should be heard

by the whores and slaves among us

and by the men who have no boundaries

and a disregard of life

sing your song little bird

your courage so undisturbed

it's to hand ove

r to the voices in your head

that shall lift you up from under

this sad life of regret

cause you are

ONE WOMAN STRONG

you are an army within yourself

you are the sunlight to the flower

you love gives me the power

to recognize that with

ONE WOMAN STRONG

you can conquer anything

your grievance for admission

to return to paradise

has been qualified

sing your song little bird

turn your whispers

into words
it's you who has control
of the world on a whole
you need a better life
sing your song little bird
your courage
so undisturbed
it's time to hand things over
to the voices in your head
that shall lift you up from under
this sad life of regret
cause you are
ONE WOMAN STRONG
you are mother Babalon
you're a gift conjured by nature
that shall not be sacrificed
you need to testify
cause you are
ONE WOMAN STRONG
Aphrodite or Hestia
you turn our seed
into another
to every man you are the mother of eternal life