1-22-09

a video has been completed for the song LIFEBED from the OURS IS THE TIME album.  Editor Cuitla Huezo has done a fantastic job with footage shot on green screen months ago.  I finally managed to find the right guy to finish the job. I am very happy with the results which are simple but elegant and really communicate the emotional content of the song in a way I had hoped for.  Directed by Geoff Mark, I hope to make this video available soon.  Look for it on last.fm and myspace.com/
jscottbergman.  Also shot at the same time, other video material exists for the song NOTHING ELSE WILL DO and hopefully in the not too distant future, a completed work might appear for this song as well.  No promises at this point but I am working on it.  Thanks also to Joseph Umbro for his photographic images that were used for the new LIFEBED video.  The images were taken outside LACMA in Los Angeles at the light post street exhibit that you can see as you drive down Wilshire Blvd.  This turned out to be an ideal visual for the song and also was used for artwork for the OURS IS THE TIME CD.

9-16-08

A new project has been completed.  It is a live album that resulted from a meeting with producer Robin Danar at a club in Santa Monica.  He had just moved to Venice California from New York and was getting ready to release his own producer as artist covers project that included guest vocalists such as Pete Yorn and Gary Jules. We were introduced by a great guy and fellow singer songwriter named Eric Penny. That night we discussed the prospect of working together.  Soon enough, we were in his living room planning out a strategy that resulted in Re.versions, a stripped down live balls out exploration of favorite songs from my previous albums.  I really let Danar just do his thing, reluctantly at first of course. I am accustomed to doing it all myself and felt it was really time to hand over the controls.  For the most part I did, with a few withdrawals here and there that luckily were kept at bay.  Robin was the primary soundman at CBGB’s in NY for years so what better guy to do this particular job.  I know he really captured the essence in my performances in a way that I hoped he would. Without saying more, check it out when it hits itunes and other online distributors soon.

October 19th, 2007

After exactly one year of work, the new album OURS IS THE TIME is set for release on Halloween 2007.  This record was recorded in Los Angeles and San Diego and marks J Scott Bergman’s fifth release as a solo artist.  Ten new original songs, including the nine minute ‘Milton’s Offer’ were chosen from amongst eighteen contenders. The new music will be available in hard copy at ‘cdbaby.com’ and will be streamable at ‘last.fm.com’.  Some of these new songs can also be sampled at myspace.com/jscottbergman and ‘cdbaby.com’

Friday, December 15th, 2006

Tracking has begun on a new album with the working title “Lifebed”.  Embarking on this has taken some time but it has started off well with new drummer Ronnie Manaog. “We tracked nine of the ten songs including the epic nine minute “Milton’s Offer”, possible retitled “The Offer: Books One and Two”.  This song is structured almost like a medley of partial songs. On some level, it is probably inspired by late 90’s Radiohead and maybe the second side to The Beatles Abbey Road. Then there were the sessions with Beck bass guitarist Justin Meldal-Johnsen.  He channeled some wonderful tones through his vast collection of vintage bass’s including a 66 Fender Precision, perfectly suited for the title track “Lifebed”.  There is one song in there I love called “Icon” which is my ode to Bob Dylan fans over the years who over analyze his lyrics.  The song is written from Dylan’s fictional perspective, telling his fans to get a life and get off the over analysis. “I’m just a man, so stop your talking, I’m writing down your dreams”, the lyric says. “Furthermore, I have been spending quality time with my new acoustic guitars (two Gibson Jumbo100’s, one in natural, the other a custom built in red). They record wonderfully and almost all the songs have guitar recorded to some extent along with scratch and not so scratch vocal tracks.  All in all, I would say the template is set.  I look forward to the process of making the painting.  Next up is Zac Rae who will hopefully be playing a black grand piano next weekend on a number of the new songs. Zac did some fantastic work on Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine album and I look forward to his contribution.  “One song 

I am very excited about is titled “Never Be Complete”.  At present, it has a very “U2 on the rockier side” quality which I intend to offset by adding that grand piano and Hammond B3. One tune, titled “End Of The Year” is as close to a Christmas song as I am ever going to record (as far as I can tell).  I hope to include it on the album. It will probably be recorded two days before Christmas by coincidence.   One thing I vowed from the start of this project was to limit myself to only organic sounds.  No samples allowed.  I will adhere to this.  Everything else could change but this is my one steadfast resolution. I do intend on experimenting with electric guitar using a recently acquired Fender Thinline that will hopefully make it’s way into the sonic picture. That is all for now as it’s a bit early to be getting into details still tentative”.  Overall, a great start to a collection of songs that are very spiritual in their themes of ending stages, rebirth and peace of mind.  Dark and light but no longer gray.

On Monday April 10th, French producer Yves Dessca commenced recording the Czech Philharmonic in their facility in Prague on the songs Maybes Are Fading and The Wishing. Dessca took the existing master tracks from the Maybes Are Fading album and added an eighteen piece string arrangement to the two songs. 
 
Yves Dessca is a native of France who has collaborated with a vast number of French artists and crossed over to the American mainstream in the early eighties with his production and arrangement of the hit I Will Survive for Gloria Gainer. Not to be pigeonholed, he also collaborated on songs with writer Paul Anka and even wrote lyrics for Elvis Presley.  Later, Dessca would move on to film work including music for the recent The Bourne Identity and returning to pop songwriting with material for Celine Dion.  These artists are of course in a different world from Bergman but this is one of the reasons he found it appealing to take Yves up on the offer of creating new versions of the songs.  He liked Desscas ideas from the start and found him to be a kindred spirit of sorts.   The songs will be remixed in the states and both artist and producer are excited at the prospects. 
 
In other news, J Scott Bergman has completed writing songs for a possible new album that is still just in the think tank. The music is done and the shape and timeframe of the
recording is yet to be seen.  All I can say at this point is that I have the songs.  I feel very good about the strength of the new music and I will feel out when it is time to start the recording process.  Hopefully, it will happen at some point. In a way, it has begun in that acoustic demos exist and I am reviewing and sequencing and processing as I usually do at the start.  An incubation phase you could say. I almost want to release the demos as they do have a certain quality and these were done using great microphones in a professional environment, so they sound good.  But right now, I am excited about my work with Yves and then we will see what feels right.  I am happy to have a good batch of material to work with when the time comes.  Whether this music will be released independently or not is also an unknown at this point in time. Favorite song titles include the longest one to date, I WATCHED YOU WHISPER A FEW WORDS I WOULD NOT SAY.  Other songs are NOTHING ELSE WILL DO and ICON BY ROBERT ZIMMERMAN, a tune hypothetically written by Bob Dylan as a letter to his overzealous fans.

J Scott Bergman’s song “Wonderful Thing” from the album “Maybes Are Fading” has entered satellite radio XM52’s top 20 most played songs as of September 9 th. Cheers and thanks to those who requested to hear the artist’s music on the station and to Billy Zero and all at XM52.

“Maybes Are Fading”, the title track from the 2004 album, has been picked up by XM 52, the satellite radio station in the U.S. The song was introduced Friday September 2 nd at 9 p.m. on the radio show The Radar Report. This program regularly features XM’s most notable unsigned acts. Requests can be e-mailed at unsigned@xmradio.com.

J Scott Bergman's song "AM I" from the album "Maybes Are Fading" has been picked up by GotRadio.  GotRadio is an internet based radio network and has added the song to it's Adult Alternative playlist.