Tag: songs

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creative life music uncategorized

home, sick

Been home sick for the past few days. Last night i finally went to see a doctor (at the local Urgent Care) and got a couple of prescriptions. Apparently, i’ve got a real crappy sinus infection that’s spreading to my lungs. I let it happen by not going to the doctor, but i honestly just thought it was the result of all the plaster i’d been breathing in lately. I figured it would just work itself out of my system, and that would be that. Well, it wasn’t.

Speaking of which, the ceiling guy (the old guy) did finally patch up our ceiling. In the process, he and his daughter managed to cover everything with yet another fine layer of plaster silt. They’re supposed to be painting the ceiling soon. They fucking better bring more drop cloths this time. Paint is impossible to get out of electronics compared to fine dust.

So i’ve been working on music in my downtime. The good news is that “Like We Are” is coming along rather nicely. The weird part is that it’s somehow morphed from an Afghan Whigs mope-n-dope dirge into a funky piano ballad. I’m not sure how it happened, but the refrain has managed to resolve itself into a syncopated shuffle. I guess that’s okay, but i have yet to toss the guitar part in. That was the first part i wrote, about ten years ago now. I’m just not sure how or if it’s going to fit. I can’t compromise my original vision for this song. Although it’s taking me down some unexpected paths – which i do find myself quite enjoying – i will not let this one stray yet again from being recorded as i have always heard it in my head. So we’ll see. Hopefully it will work out well enough that i won’t have to scrap everything and start over from scratch.

I promise to have some audio up soon.

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creative music podcasts songs uncategorized

Downside, an upside

Finally, after three or four days of nearly agonizingly languishing meditation on the fate of my latest song, comes the breakthrough I’ve been lusting after: I had gotten up to go to bed, and the moment took me completely by surprise. And at first, I did not even know that it was the missing piece that I sought.

Rising from my chair and extinguishing one of my last cigarette butts in my desk ashtray, I found that I had a melody already in my head, complete with an accompaniment of washing, ethereal rhythm guitar. It was nothing more than background noise; the blips and bleeps that randomly orchestrate themselves into patterns of thought or waves of sound. The type that usually functions merely as a filter through which to perceive the void in front and behind you as the world, as reality, often taking on the arduous task of giving you a rhythm with which to shuffle your feet forward.

And then it struck me: I had a bit of an interesting thing going on… I wondered if I should take a moment to figure out the melody and the chords underneath, so as not to forget it when I awake, seven hours later and a completely newborn human being all over again.

As I considered how best to record this thing without having to actually turn on my digital multitrack recorder, it hit me once more, as if to carry the point home: what if it goes with the thumping, driving, slow groove I’ve already got? Yet again was I assaulted with more forceful, intuitive instruction from within: Turn the fucking recorder on, you idiot! Do not lose this! It is perfect!

I turned on the recorder, hastily gathered together a few effects pedals (after trying to figure out how best to save the current patches onboard the VS-880EX recorder for the drums, without losing the careful nuances I’d already fine-tuned), plugged in an electric guitar, and ran it through.

It fit. Perfectly. The rising melody, like a siren calling from a forgotten time; the cascading, echoed rhythm guitar burbling underneath like waves upon the ocean; the bass, thumping along like exhausted, yet somehow furiously driven oars hitting the water with a great, unified FLONGT.

[SHIFT]+[STORE]. Save Current? Y.

Must leave, go to bed, reboot, so as not to ruin it with overthinking things. Tomorrow, I will begin again.

Poweroff/Restart? 0.

Thomphsss, sleep now.

Downside (working title), sample 1

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creative life music uncategorized

Downside

Lately i’ve been working, taking as much care of Holly as I can humanly manage (and managing to piss her off once in a while, too – oops), trying, frankly desperately, to keep my head above water financially, and trying – my god, I’m trying – to manage my creative life. Primarily at the moment I’m working hard on a brand new song. This one’s heavy, with a low, funky “Those Shoes” kind of vibe. The working title is “Downside,” and lyrically, it’s about the hear/see/speak-no-evil attitude of rich people when dealing with those of us on the Other Side of town. The Battle of the Haves vs. the Have Nots. That could always change, as these things do, when the lyrics start getting downright sophomoric. Low bass, some common and twisted chord changes, and chaotic, mind-bending guitar, with a Soundgardenesque vocal melody. Probably been done before, but this one’s mine.

Over time, I plan on posting a sort of mini-log of how it’s going. If possible, i’d love to post a running mix as it develops; however, my creative time is severely limited, so this might take a longer time than I’d like. For anyone who might read this who’s a home-recording nut, this one’s for you. DIY, baby.

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internets

Pink Floyd’s “Echoes”/2001 A Space Odyssey

Pink Floyd Echoes Music Video with 2001 A Space Odyssey – Google Video

Very cool.

Categories
creative web design

new items

Spiffed up the navigation menu a little bit to have submenus, via Suckerfish. Added some poems, grouped mainly by the volume of work from which they spawned.

At least one is a song i’ve been working on for many years, which may soon see the light of day, finally…

Have a lot of catching up to do in many areas. Off to bed with me!

Categories
creative memories music podcasts songs

ain’t got time for The Shins

here’s an old track from the early 90s. i recorded this on a Fostex X-26 4-track cassette recorder with a Dixon Les Paul copy and a Radio Shack mic. enjoy the (badly done) faux Robert Plant-isms.
[audio:https://transmothra.com/audio/sins.mp3]