Featuring unreleased music

Every musician has them. Tracks that they worked really hard on, but for one reason or another, they didn’t make it on an album. I’m not unlike other musicians and have several unreleased tracks. Bright one morning, the brilliant thought came to me; Why not share those unreleased tracks with everyone who has signed up for my newsletter? I have enough to probably change up the featured download for the rest of the year!

So just as promised, there is a new download only for the special people who have joined my mailing list. I think you’ll be very pleased with the new download. The track is a collaboration with Irish friend Micky D and English friend Failed Muso. They were both terrific to work with and very patient with me (though Rob might disagree with that one!) The song is called “Where are you now?” and has a very strong 80’s feel to it. Please join my mailing list and download the track. It’s a gift to all of you from us three.

Here is a direct link to join my mailing list from my ReverbNation page:

Keep an eye out for new featured downloads throughout the months, all previously unreleased tracks and remixes.

Thanks for all of your support! And please, spread the word.

Lori

Randomness

Just because I feel like it, here are some random facts about me, my music, and album. These are questions that I find answering a lot so I thought it would be fun to do a random blog post.

Randomness facts:

• I am married, have been for eleven years now.
• We have three boys and are expecting our fourth in May.
• I have a BA in Vocal Performance.
• My voice type is what is called a light lyrical soprano.

General randomness facts about my album “Unseen”:

• This album took 2 years to complete.
• It is a complete internet album, meaning that everything about this album from the music clear down to the pressing of it, was done over the internet. No one involved with the album was local to me.
• The ONLY person I have met who had anything do with the album is Catherine Sulskis, my photographer and graphic design artist. It’s kind of hard to have a photo shoot without actually being in the same place as the photographer! She had to travel about 4 hours for the photo shoot.
• There is only two live instruments used and recorded in the entire album: my voice (duh) and the guitar on “Inside”. Everything else is electronic.
• I took the cover picture myself. Completely, totally by myself. At my kitchen table of all places! It was one of those “hold up your arm holding the camera and take it” kind of pictures. It is still to this date the best picture I have ever had taken of myself. Cathy did some magic to it, making it very appropriate and perfect for the cover.

Specific randomness facts about my album “Unseen”:

• About half of the tracks are collaborations and the names of the tracks are: Reflections, Everytime, Empty Well, Tears of a Rose, Return, Without You, and Empty Well [Overflow Mix].
• Adam Amos did the percussion on two of my solo tracks – “Solarity” and “Inside”.
• Speaking of Adam, we enjoyed working together so much for this album, we are working on an entire project called Emeria. You can visit our website HERE.
• I sang the chorus for “Without You” the very first time I was listening to the ideas Adam Amos sent me. The final chorus is exactly what I sang that first time, words and all. That was a pretty magical moment there. That’s when I knew I had found a great working relationship!
• High School friend Sam Benham sent me an idea for a guitar track for the track “Inside” out of nowhere. I loved it so much that we worked together and made it just right!
• I recorded the vocals for “Reflections” in only two takes; one for the high part, one for the low. I didn’t really have a set idea going into that recording session of what I was going to do either. It was almost completely improvisation.
• The song “Silver Threads” was inspired by the book series “The Dragon riders of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey.
• “Empty Well” was by far the hardest song to mix in the vocals right, and I’m still not 100% pleased with them. That one gave me the MOST grief!
• My favorite songs off the album would have to be “Silver Threads”, “Solarity”, and “Without You”.
• Most of the lyrics from this album come from personal experiences.
• “Into Absolution” is the basis of the first full track recording I ever did. The final version is a bit different than what it started out to be, but it’s enough of the same to call it my first track!

Randomness music facts:

• I have done so many collaborations, ALL internet collaborations, I have totally lost count.
• I am featured on two other albums that have been pressed and are in print – Jennifer Thomas and Carolyn Southworth’s “The Lullaby Album” and Tigerforest’s “Daybreak” album. There is another album I have sung on, but for some reason the artist didn’t give me a single linear note credit so it’s pointless for me to put that on my discography. I’m also on a few digital albums, but I have only included pressed albums in my discography.
• No one locally taught me how to record/engineer. Everything I learned was from trial and error and internet friends.
• When is the Emeria album going to be finished? Uh… good question! LOL
• I have the hardest time being creative and finding the energy to do anything musical while pregnant. Pair that with the most difficult pregnancy to date for me, that equals NO music being made since September.
• I am a very scheduled person and have found the time to make music during nap times/school times.
• Many artists and different musical genres have inspired me. It’s extremely hard to only name a few, but the top ones on the list would have to be Imogen Heap, Delerium, Blue Stone, and others along those lines. I really enjoy a lot of independent artists as well.

If there’s anything else you would like to know, ask them and I’ll answer as honestly as I can! This has been fun!

Defining Annoying

At what point does promoting become annoying? I’m constantly afraid of becoming annoying to my friends and fans on different sites of crossing that very fuzzy line.

One online site that crosses my mind where artists have crossed over to the dark side – the annoying side – is MySpace. Anyone who is still on there knows exactly what I’m talking about! There hardly goes a day without receiving spam friend requests, messages, or comments. That’s one of the main reasons why I’m not active on MySpace anymore. I know it’s hard to get noticed out there with so many Indie artists trying to do the same thing, but being extremely pushy is NOT the way to do it!

Then there’s the way that I have been doing it, with only a couple of monthly reminders of my album or CD monthly contests. With so few reminders and with such little promotion, my meager attempts are falling through the cracks. I’m too afraid of getting the FaceBook boot from fans that it seems like I’m not trying hard enough! Having someone tell me these two words keeps me awake at night in a cold sweat!

(I’m kidding, of course.)

What is the answer? How does an artist in this day and age somehow rise above the noise and find loyal friends and fans, ones who will participate in the fun things the artist has planned? When does someone cross that line of promoting and officially become annoying and PUSHY.

There are good kinds of pushy, like these two pictures. (Aren’t they sweet?)

Then there’s the bad kind of pushy, the kind that I’m afraid of being.

I would love a discussion on this because, well, after last month’s free CD contest somewhat flopped, I obviously need to some help! LOL!

CD Giveaway – February

Is it February already? Wow… The time is just speeding by! This month’s contest is pretty fun and you can get creative with it. I’m looking for fan art this month to share on my website, blog, facebook, and myspace page. I would love to feature YOU this month! Without all of you, my music wouldn’t be worth it. I’m not sure if you can post pictures in comments on this blog, so if you can’t, please attach them in an email to lori@loricmusic.com. That might be the best option anyway so I can have a high quality jpeg file.

Here is what I’m looking for:

• Photographs
• Drawings
• Graphic artwork
• Or anything else you can think of for me to post!

It can be anything that my music inspired or reminds you of my music. I’m so excited to see what people think of!

A really good example of what I’m thinking of is on fellow musician Cybo’s FaceBook fan page. If you haven’t heard Cybo’s music, it is well worth it! She is amazing!

• Cybo’s Facebook Fan Artwork

I’m not exactly sure how I’ll pick a winner for this month. Maybe it will be my favorite, or the one I feel is the most creative. I just don’t know. I do have a feeling that I’ll know the winner when I see it though.

Good luck and BE CREATIVE! Feel free to share whatever you come up with online yourself. Word of mouth is always welcome.

Winners for the last two weeks

Uh… well… I kind of dropped the ball on this one and promoting so … yeah … there are no winners. I take responsibility on this one. It’s such a fine line between promoting and spamming. I’m so worried about annoying people that I think I went the other direction and didn’t remind people enough. So therefore, no one commented these last two weeks. Oh well! Live and learn, right? On to the next contest!!!

New review of “Unseen”

This is a wonderful review of “Unseen” on Angelic Voices.You can find the review HERE.

“Unseen” is the impressive debut from singer-songwriter Lori Cunningham. This release combines dreamy, electronic arrangements with deep, introspective lyrical prose to create a moving listening experience for the Angelic Voices audience.

The album begins strong with “Reflections”, a primarily instrumental track laced with beguiling vocal work. It prepares the listener for an enchanting, contemplative experience. The remaining compositions ebb and flow from sweeping, ethereal tracks to infectious, upbeat tunes that issue a challenge to pursue dreams and love without restraint.

“Silver Threads”, “Inside”, and “Without You” are prime examples showcasing Lori’s passion for creating songs that examine the soul. In addition to eleven original compositions, the CD also features a dance/trance remix version of “Empty Well”, and an instrumental version of the title track “Unseen”. While it has universal appeal, fans of ambient greats such as Delerium and Sleepthief will thoroughly enjoy this emotionally charged experience. Even the CD artwork beautifully portrays the esoteric vision within.

As a classically trained vocalist, Lori made a conscious decision to follow her dream of creating music the way she wanted rather than performing as instructed by her professors. I applaud the risk she has taken as her obvious vocal range and depth is explored throughout this release. I hope to see this exhibited to an even greater extent in the future, therefore I am looking forward to her continuing collaboration with Adam Amos (also featured on on 3 tracks on “Unseen”) on the project “Emeria”, to follow her progression as an artist and vocalist. -Jess Hanna

A vow of silence

A vow of silence doesn’t mean you can’t “sing”.

I had to share!

Winners for week 2 – January

Happy second week for this month’s free CD contest! Again, I would like to thank everyone who took the time to comment. The winners for the second week of January’s contest are:

1. Everytime Promo Video – bandred1
2. Reflections Promo Video – repash

Now, you may have noticed that there’s only 2 winners. Well, that’s because no one commented on the Return video or the Emeria video! That’s 2 Cd’s that could have been given away but now are no longer available. How sad. Let’s not let this happen again! Just because you didn’t win that first week, that doesn’t mean you don’t have another chance. Just get back on YouTube and make a quick comment on the videos again. You will be entered for that week’s contest. And if you haven’t had the chance or have forgotten to comment, it’s not too late!

To refresh your memory, here are the rules of the contest. All you need to do is write a comment on one or all of these four YouTube videos to enter.

• Everytime Promo Video
• Return Promo Video
• Reflections Promo Video
• Emeria Album Teaser Video Roll

The contest starts over each week, so if you didn’t win one week, leave another comment and you’ll be entered for that week! Everyone gets a clean slate every single week. I will not be picking winners from previous comments – only ones that were written during that week are valid.

The weeks run as such -

1. Week 3 – Monday, January 18th – Sunday the 24th
2. Week 4 – Monday, January 25th – Sunday the 31st

This week’s contest has already started so get posting!!!

Winners for week one – January

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to comment on a video and therefore were entered for a free copy of my debut album, “Unseen”. I wrote everyone’s name down on pieces of paper and blindly chose the winners. If these people could email me at lori@loricmusic with a full name, address, and if they would like their CD autographed, I’ll get them in the mail! The random winners for the first week of January’s CD Giveaway are:

1. Emeria Teaser video – KevOzDotCom
2. Everytime Promo video – 70mattes
3. Return Promo video – ThePassionateMind
4. Reflections Promo video – aileenonscene

Remember, it’s not too late to enter. There are still three weeks left in this contest with new winners picked every week. To recap, all you need to do is write a comment on one or all of these four YouTube videos to enter.

• Everytime Promo Video
• Return Promo Video
• Reflections Promo Video
• Emeria Album Teaser Video Roll

The contest starts over each week, so if you didn’t win one week, leave another comment and you’ll be entered for that week! Everyone gets a clean slate every single week. I will not be picking winners from previous comments – only ones that were written during that week are valid. (I hope that makes sense!)

The weeks run as such -

1. Week 2 – Monday, January 11th – Sunday the 17th
2. Week 3 – Monday, January 18th – Sunday the 24th
3. Week 4 – Monday, January 25th – Sunday the 31st

I will be picking the new winners every Monday. The only reason why I didn’t post this yesterday was because we didn’t have the internet due to switching providers.

Update on me and baby #4

As promised, here is a quick blog updating on my health and how I’m doing. I am happy to report that I’m actually doing pretty good! I was so incredibly sick due to an infection at the beginning of this pregnancy, almost losing the baby, and terrible morning sickness on top of it. I’m now feeling better and only get sick to my stomach about once a day, which is so much better than feeling like I was about ready to lose everything every waking moment. The baby is totally thriving and is starting to move and kick – A LOT! I am able to keep the pain of the cyst to a manageable level, thanks to pain narcotics. I really try not to take very many. I’m still not totally comfortable taking it though my doctors assure me that it’s completely safe for the baby. So what I try to do instead is restrict my activity level because the more active I am, the more the cyst hurts. And then at night before bed, I take 1/2-1, depending on how much I’m hurting. For some reason, taking that right before bed helps the absolute most. I’ve tried several times to skip it, and I wake up in a lot of pain that gets more intense as the day progresses.

I’m feeling good enough and in the right frame of mind to start working on music again! Like I said in my previous post, my goal is to finish the vocals for one Emeria song every month for the next four months. That should finish the music for the album. I don’t know exactly what life is going to be like after this little one is born, but I do know that I will have even less time to work on music for a while, especially with four children to take care of.

And now the video I’ve been promising! This is when we told our three boys what gender the new baby is going to be. It’s Christmas morning. I had no clue my husband was taking this video until almost the very end. I thought he had his camera ready to take pictures of our kid’s reactions! You also get to see me in my non-made up pajama glory. I’m like that a lot lately.