Johnette Napolitano - Sketchbook II

Johnette Napolitano has one of my all time favorite voices. Best known as the frontwoman for Concrete Blonde, she has also fronted a couple other projects, Vowel Movement and Pretty & Twisted. Johnette's latest release is her second limited edition solo project,Sketchbook 2.

I made it a limited edition. That’s what makes people want to have a record in the first place. I know this stuff will wind up all over the net for free, and I don’t mind that. I think that’s wonderful. People would have access to the music that otherwise might not have it. The internet is my friend. The cool thing is you can give stuff away and if people want to buy it and have it they can. They’re also getting something special, because when they’re gone, they’re gone. If I make 1000 or 1500 of them, I only need to sell 200 or 300 to break even. I can make a record every six months if I want to. I can take some risks. There’s nobody telling me what to play and I can record it myself and it doesn’t cost me anything and I get to constantly make music and do something with it.

So my concept was originally that the people who really wanted to collect my records, would, and then there are no more when they're gone. I may do a compilation three or four down…the best of each one but I'm not that far along yet. But I like the way that the people who want it, can get it, and then maybe it makes its way to digital. It keeps me making music. I can do another record if I want to and the way I want to. With this one, I was wondering, "Is this just your lack of commitment to making records?" I know it sounds like demos, but sometimes you just have a nice bottle of wine and you come up with a nice riff and that sounds cool. But if you try and beat it into a real song, with little finger quotes around it…I don't know….first of all, I don't care to do that in the first place and you don't have to sit through it all just to get a little sliver of something. With this one, it's a bit more lyrically oriented than the last one. The last one had quite a few instrumentals on it. Which is also good for me. I like to do that quite a lot.

New Orleans Ain't Been The Same (Since You've Been Gone)
Long Black Car
Before The Fall