You may have noticed that I haven’t posted a song or drawing for a couple weeks. There is a reason for this. (Side note: I always talk to “you” as though I have an audience. Why do I do that?)

I’ve decided to put those two goals on pause for the time being because, one, they were taking up more time than I had available due to my poor prediction of how long it would take and how much free time I have; two, it only took about a month before it started feeling more like an obligation than something I wanted to do, and these goals are about me getting things done that I want; and three, other things have come into my peripheral that may be taking up more of my time in the near future. Those things will be announced if and when they start happening.

This isn’t giving up. It’s more that I learned that drawing and songwriting are not things I enjoy when I force myself to do them. That said, when the occasion calls, I’ll now look to those two things as more valid forms of expression to get things out of my head than I did before. If training myself to think that way was the intent (it partially was), it has been met. So you may still hear the occasional song from me when I need to say or emote something and you may still see the occasional comic when I have a funny tidbit of conversation from Amy to share or drawing when I see something beautiful in my head.

Due to the lateness of getting this done, I did the vocals quickly. And then I realized that I’m using a really cheap vocal microphone, so this isn’t going to get much better, other than me hitting the rhythm better and not missing as many notes, until I get a new mic. But still, it’s painful for me to listen to myself from the moment I open my mouth. But I’m practicing not being a perfectionist, so this is what you get.

I worked really hard on the melody and lyrics for this one, though. I’m actually pretty happy with those, save a line or two.

Josh Mock - Room For Joy

There was some major inspiration from Bright Eyes and Once/Glen Hansard/The Frames, in case that isn’t blatantly obvious. I’ve been listening to both a lot over the past few weeks.

Oh, and if you ever wonder why people drown stuff in reverb like I did there, it’s to cover up the mistakes. That’s the same reason why bad guitarists love distortion. Audio effects are lifesavers and yet far too often a crutch.

As always, the comments are there for you to criticize my work. That’s a big part of why I’m doing this. I can’t get better if I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.

I get to be the funny one in this one. Weeee. Also, Amy said she didn’t want to wear a smock any more, and she wanted… uh… more evident lady parts.

(Click image for full size)

Other than the fact that I accidentally gave her black lipstick in the second frame and that I seemed to have trouble drawing myself consistently, I think it turned out decent enough.

Yes, I really am posting at 1:23 am. I was just so excited to bring you my third song of the year, hot off the presses or whatever it is you create music entities with! As I had mentioned, my lack of hearing in one ear makes it a bit tough to sing, so this week I bring you the very first remix I’ve ever made! (Okay, so maybe the reason I’m up late is that I’m using the demo version of Ableton Live which wouldn’t let me save my work, so I had to do this all in one shot and hope my computer didn’t die.)

Anyway, I bring you an original Josh Mock remix of Interpol’s Pioneer to the Falls. Mmm Interpol.

I actually started out working with the instrumental track from M.I.A.’s Paper Planes, but then when deciding what to mash it up with, I realized it was better for samples anyway. So I sampled out some of the beats and gunshot sounds and MIDIed my way to a decent beat. Then I added some glitchy sounds to the Interpol track, and there you have it.

I know it doesn’t seem like much, but you would be surprised how long that took me. If it sounds awesome (riiiight) you can only imagine what a full version of Ableton, some accompanying hardware and a little practice could do for me. Guys! I have potential to be a remix master! Sponsor me or something!

I’m going to bed.

I’m on a roll. Once again, this was an actual conversation, barely edited so it would fit into comic form, and clearly not censored whatsoever. That’s how I like it. And I’m posting it without running it by Amy first because she’s gone all weekend. Whoops.

(Click for full size)

I tried drawing it bigger this time, which meant it took two pages to get it done. It made the job easier, but this whole scanning, cropping, cutting, pasting thing isn’t very fun. Other than screwing up the proportions of Amy’s head on the third frame, I think I did a decent job. I’m finally starting to get comfortable drawing the characters, which helps a lot.

My second song is only a week late. I’ll just blame my dad for showing up last weekend for that one. I can’t be mad at the guy, though. He’s a pretty cool guy.

So here’s the song, mentally prepared, just like the last one, to be ripped to shreds.

Josh Mock - The Idea

The vocals are a little better this time around (not including the part where the volume peaked when pronouncing a “p”) and this one even includes a wonderful half-assed guitar solo if you can make it to the end. Pretty awesome.

As far as the lyrics go, I was basing them off a quote, trying to relate it to my own life. And it turned out kind of emo. I swear that wasn’t the point, but I was running out of time so I wasn’t going to sweat it. Anyway, here’s the quote:

Those who believe they believe in God, but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times despair, believe only in the idea of God, and not in God himself.

Thanks to Miguel de Unamuno (by way of Madeleine L’Engle) for that wonderful quote.

Now it’s back to work because I’m supposed to have a drawing done by today too. Criticize the song in the comments, please.

Last year I did the RPM Challenge and it was well worth the huge amount of energy I put into it. Not only did I get more familiar with the cheap recording gear I’d had sitting around all but unused for several years, but I learned a lot about the best way for me to go about the creative process.

I won’t be participating this year, due to my bi-weekly songwriting/recording goal for 2008, but if you’ve ever wondered about writing music, the RPM Challenge is great way to get a kick start at it with some great accountability and resources available only to RPM Challenge participants.

Do it. You won’t regret it. And because of the leap year you actually get a day more to do it than I did.

Drawing number two is done. I feel kind of guilty about scrawling out some rudimentary cartoon characters and calling it a “drawing.” But whatever. I’ll draw something legit at some point. Maybe.

(Click for the full size)

For the record, all these comics will be heavily based on actual conversations with Amy. So if they don’t make sense, that’s why.

I decided to pen over the pencil on this one, then erase for a cleaner drawing with more contrast. In the process I smeared the ink and had to clean it up. Then the scanner made a really uneven scan so I had to digitally alter the image to clean it up.

Heyyy. Only half a week late on reaching the first milestone of one of my more high-reaching goals for the year. I’ve listened to a lot of Ryan Adams and Ray LaMontagne over the last year (the influence is pretty obvious, I think), and a song that is oh-so-creatively titled “Oh Mama” has now been released into the wild to be torn apart by vultures via stream or download:

Josh Mock - Oh Mama

Please do criticize. That’s the point, after all. I kind of hate the song myself, so you’re not alone if you do too. I kind of sound like Gillian Welch on steroids. If nothing else, check it out for that.

Aside from crappy songwriting in general, I apologize for not cleaning up the recording. Leveling, EQing and adding a little reverb to soften the blow was about all I had time for. None of that mastering business (as if I even knew how).

My, my, I am very self-deprecating tonight, aren’t I? Enjoy, folks. Come back again soon for drawing #2. Probably another comic.

As promised, here is the first of what will hopefully be 26 drawings that I’ll be doing this year:

(Click the image for the full size.)

A year or two ago my good friend Amy and I said we would start a web comic of our conversations because we are the funniest people ever. Or at least she is. So this is my first try at that. I’ve got plenty more material for these so this may not be the last you’ll see of Josh and Amy comics.

I’m open to criticism and comments on anything about this drawing, so go right ahead. I’ll even beat you to the punch and say that clearly I have problems with consistency between panels. Hopefully that will go away over time as I get more comfortable with the characters.