Presently working on this release one song at a time. You can hear the demos for what is supposed to be included on this release by checking out "The Afghan Tapes Chapter 1: Dusk" below.
This is the first installment of a collection of demos written and recorded under combat situations in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2010. Mastered by Mark Fuller Mastering.
A BEAUTIFUL CURSE is the visionary brainchild of freelance musician and producer Kenny James. As much a concept as it is a project, the music of A BEAUTIFUL CURSE has a distinctively ethereal, hauntingly alluring, ambient quality that is a perfectly obscure collision of dramatic rock, downtempo-electronica and groove persuasions. Impossible to define, A BEAUTIFUL CURSE does not conform to one mode in any given piece, much less a firm overall genre. Put simply, A BEAUTIFUL CURSE is where mood and groove collide. While James is the driving creative contributor to A BEAUTIFUL CURSE, he also loves to collaborate. Once he has developed the concept, written the lyrics and composed the initial melodies, James enlists the talent of other musicians to record the enhanced instrumental effects with him. His library of gifted artists is vast and James does not hesitate to add their flair and panache to his repertoire. James’ consummate perfectionism is apparent in the final product of these collective efforts – every deliberate note and nuance is laid down in precise and impeccable form. The sound is delivered through finely layered vocals, instrumentals and electronics, which are molded into subtle modulations and steely rhythms. A BEAUTIFUL CURSE is an intricate collage of divergent instrumentalists and styles, resulting in a completely unique and intensely mesmerizing sound.
-Written by Victoria Lee
AS IT SHOULD BE
The album “As It Should Be” was the premiere 2009 release for A BEAUTIFUL CURSE. The music is soft, but deep, enhanced by passionate electronics and instrumentals. “As It Should Be” is a two- disk CD pack which includes the songs titled: On The Other Side, The Soul Divine, A Lot Like Diamonds, A Mind Of Its Own, Tastes Like It Should, This is My House, Delicate, Forever and Everything Is Changing.
Singles from “As It Should Be” have been featured in a number of television and cable shows worldwide. Most recently, A Lot Like Diamonds was played in two episodes of a reality show called “Brew Masters” on The Discovery Channel. As A BEAUTIFUL CURSE was originally semi-intended to be a project of cinema/television background music, James is very pleased with this inadvertent development.
“The Scar Diaries” is a behind-the-scenes video collection created by James' own "Screen Dream Productions" that chronicles the recording and production process of the next two-disc release, tentatively titled “A Scar Is Born”. The studio footage is issued periodically as pivotal points in development are accomplished – the complete set of all chapters will accompany the official album release. “The Scar Diaries” captures the more miniscule facets of the process and provide both momentum and a sense of expectancy for the final product. The ‘official’ release is scheduled for 2013.
Taking A BEAUTIFUL CURSE to the road, “The Afghan Tapes” are the result of James’s travels to Afghanistan. The “Tapes” are a collection of demos, or songs-in-progress, that James conceived, wrote and recorded while there, his meditative senses inspired by the atmosphere. Always in creative-mode, his impressions naturally resonated into song. He simultaneously recorded video of his outings ‘about town’ of the people and places that spoke to his sensitivities and perceptions. This project journals the more profound ruminations and insights of James’s Afghanistan experience.
“The Afghan Tapes” will ultimately be broken down into three chapters: “Dusk”, “Twilight” and “Dawn”. The demos for each of the chapters, along with a few other songs by A BEAUTIFUL CURSE, are expected to develop into the aforementioned release of “A Scar Is Born”. At present, “Dusk” has been completed as a four-track album download. It includes the songs This Kiss, It’s Come To This, In Another World and Purity.
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ABC Pics (coming soon)
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March 31, 2012
It probably looks like nothing's going on from your vantage point but believe me, things are rollin' and it feels extremely good right now. It's actually amazing watching and hearing the songs come to life and to feel the growth of ABC's songwriting compared to "As It Should Be". Not so scared to experiment with other vibes and move forward like that. I'll tell ya too that this growth couldn't have happened without the talents of the amazing people that we're working with so far: Haylar Garcia (The Decibel Garden is his place and he let's me come in whenever I can and mess his stuff up), Andrew Nast (the ultimate engineer), Elizabeth Rose, Greg Pasquariello, Josh Skelton, Heather Larrabee, Marvin Brown, Brian Handlos, Al Laughlin, Joe Gamble, Bob Tiernan, and Marc Grabowski (and that's the list of folks SO FAR. We're still young in this recording so I know more folks are gonna show up).
To give you a creative update: the tentative title for the upcoming release is "A SCAR IS BORN" and so far, we've fully tracked the songs "This Kiss" and "To Live Again". Next week we're back in The Garden to track "It's Come To This", "Startin' Over", and hopefully the title track "A Scar Is Born". Planning on 13 songs for the release but if all goes well, there may be more for a special edition version. Oh, and video footage is being shot while work on the release is being done. Check out our in-progress vids "The Scar Diaries" to get a glimpse.
For now that's all to report but I hope to have more to share in the next few weeks or so.
Well, well. Here we are...
...looking at a pretty empty website. If all goes well though, that should change as time goes on. Actually there are some things that are happening but I'm going to wait until I can figure out how to post examples of the new stuff here on the site. As I'm not a technical guy, it ain't gonna be pretty and will probably take a little bit of time but my mantra as far as this site goes is simple: baby steps. So, I pray that you stay patient with me as I work my butt off trying to fill up this thing. Until next time... be well and play nice (at least on the surface).
