My Girl

We were young. We had a 4-track, a room full of instruments, and several pots of coffee. We'd just learned how to mess with vocals by speeding them up or slowing them down. Things got weird.

Recorded about 10 years ago with my friend Dale, who was the drummer of my band at the time. He sings the low parts, I sing the high parts. Or maybe they're all high parts, it's all how you look at it.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by COBRA! (10 comments total)

I wanted the chorus to just explode into perfect 3 part harmony. Probably not going to happen after 10 years though. As it stands it is both catchy and really f'ing creepy at the same time. Good job..?
posted by dobie at 10:31 AM on July 11

Thanks... Yeah, it'd be way cooler if the chorus could be bigger, and there are lots of little things about the sound, artifacts from the 4-track, that kind of drive me nuts. Oh, well. That's cheapo 90s home recording technology for you...
posted by COBRA! at 11:47 AM on July 11

I think creepy nails it. Not that I don't like it; it's actually pretty cool. But definitely creepy. I actually really like the sound of the bass. As bad as cassette tapes sound, sometimes they deliver just the right tone to an instrument.
posted by uncleozzy at 12:30 PM on July 11

Interesting (and, yes, creepy) sounds here. This is what I imagine music would sound like if you were somehow in between stations on a digital radio.
posted by danb at 2:41 PM on July 11

Sounds like your drummer Dale drank most of those pots of coffee all on their own! Man, that's some Russian drumming if I ever heard it! You sure his name ain't Yevgeny or Boris?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:07 PM on July 11

I really love this. I also really miss 4 track recording and all of the weird stuff that occurs on it. And all the high parts. Did he actually sing that low or did you drop the speed (that's not a euphemism)? And I'm not hearing creepy really. I am in the mood to listen to some early Butthole Surfers now, though, so take it for what it's worth.

Thanks for posting this.
posted by sleepy pete at 10:14 PM on July 11

...did you drop the speed (that's not a euphemism)

Are you sure, sleepy?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:36 PM on July 11

At this point in my life, I'm not sure of anything.
posted by sleepy pete at 11:19 PM on July 11

Man, that's some Russian drumming if I ever heard it! You sure his name ain't Yevgeny or Boris?

Well, he does have one of those big fur hats... Actually, if I remember it right, we're both playing drums-- Dale's rocking a set of bongos and I'm playing a hi-hat. I remember that because I was really excited at finally being able to use the pedal on a hi-hat properly.

Did he actually sing that low or did you drop the speed (that's not a euphemism)?

I think we recorded all of the instrumental tracks at normal speed, and then sped the tape up when Dale did his vocal track and slowed it down for mine. We were pretty sure we were total recording-engineer wizards.

And yeah, I'm with you-- the end result of 4-tracking always sounded kind of thin, but I miss the you had to really work around the limitations. I dunno. Getting boxed in by technology can be kind of helpful as you try to fight against it...
posted by COBRA! at 6:05 AM on July 12

This is fantastically nuts and good. Man, I really can't let my crazy schedule get in the way of checking out MefiMusic because I can't be missing stuff like this. Very, very cool. It too made me think of the Butthole Surfers, and I also liked the bass and agree that that is some odd (but perfect) drumming, so, I'm not adding anything new, but I wanted to say I really liked it, nonetheless.
posted by micayetoca at 8:34 PM on July 12