The Basement Recordings

The Basement Recordings
Demo album by Alexz & Brendan Johnson
Released	August 26, 2011[1]
Recorded	2005–09
Genre	Pop, world, folk-pop, alternative, pop rock
Length	55:28
Label	Striker James Studios
Producer	Brendan Johnson
Alexz Johnson demo chronology
Reloaded (2011) The Basement Recordings (2011) Skipping Stone (2012)
Brendan Johnson chronology
The Basement Recordings (2011) The Basement Recordings II (2012)

The Basement Recordings is a demo release by Canadian singer-songwriter Alexz Johnson and her brother, Brendan Johnson. It was digitally released on August 26, 2011.

Writing and development

The Basement Recordings consists of Johnson's early recordings, some of which were later re-recorded and to be included on her cancelled 2008 debut album by Epic Records, Weight. On www.thebasementrecordings.com there is the following statement by Alexz Johnson: "My brother Brendan and I have decided to release to you the beginnings of it all. To us, these songs challenged our songwriting abilities, they came to find their own sound, they landed us record deals and they still feel like shadows of our growth as artists. The only thing they didn't get was a proper release. It's time to let them go."^[2] Track previews were gradually made available on the official website for the EP.

Track listing

Songs included on the album are mainly written by Alexz and Brendan. Three of the tracks ("That Girl", "Skin", "I Just Wanted Your Love") were written for Alexz's previous show Instant Star; three were re-recorded for Alexz's first studio album Voodoo ("Taker", "The Affair (Mr. Jones)", "L.A. Made Me") and later remixed by the Demolition Crew and re-released on Reloaded; "Spin" is an unreleased track previously leaked on the web in low quality; the other seven tracks were demos of songs that were to be included in Alexz's unreleased first album by Epic Records. The bonus track "Running Back" was added to the official track list on August 16, 2011; it has been partially leaked to the web years ago. The track listing for the album is the following:

1. "That Girl"
2. "Skin"
3. "Chicago"
4. "Running with the Devil"
5. "Taker"
6. "Swallowed"
7. "Saving the Train"
8. "Lost & Found"
9. "The Affair (Mr. Jones)"
10. "Easy Ain't Sleazy"
11. "Spin"
12. "I Just Wanted Your Love"
13. "L.A. Made Me"
14. "Weight"
15. "Running Back" (bonus track)

Sequel

On Christmas Day 2011 Alexz Johnson confirmed via her Twitter account that there would be a sequel to The Basement Recordings, entitled The Basement Recordings II and that it will probably contain a track called "Shianne".^[3] The album was released on May 1, 2012.

References