Harmonica Odyssey

Take a trip through clinical depression with this spicy new single from the Jimmy "Pharmacy" Walgreen Jazz Happening, featuring Dr. Herbert Grosowitz and his Passive-Aggressive Harmonica. (Thanks, SongSmith!)

Bonus recordings:

- Matthewchen is Sucking
- Punk Rock Hurl
- More Like Rick Asstley Amirite
- You Are My Techno

The SongSmith demo lets you play with it for six hours for free, and at this point I'm having trouble imagining lasting that long. To be fair, I don't think I'm the target demographic, and there is some actual merit to the guts of this thing—it compares favorably, at least, to some aspects of the Band In A Box software I played with ten years ago in college—but I'm having a hard time imaging a broad set of circumstances in which someone would be both (a) willing to bother to and (b) competent to manage to produce anything of quality with it.

I certainly failed on the being-bothered-to-try front. Things got silly fast and didn't get better before I gave up.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by cortex (17 comments total)

Songsmith got it really wrong with that Astley one.
posted by bluishorange at 12:31 PM on January 9

Just between you and me, I think SongSmith may have a drinking problem.
posted by cortex at 12:43 PM on January 9 [6 favorites has favorites]

Wow, only 1:26 and I bailed out halfway through. Impressive, SongSmith! Have one on me!
posted by languagehat at 1:07 PM on January 9

Oh, man. You missed the nice noirish turn it takes toward the third act.
posted by cortex at 1:14 PM on January 9

I made it through the whole thing, but I was writhing in pain / convulsing with laughter by the end.
posted by jedicus at 2:26 PM on January 9

I think I'm going to set this site as my homepage.
posted by spiderskull at 2:51 PM on January 9 [1 favorite has favorites]

Mr. F just looked over and said "Ard, what are you doing to that poor animal."
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 3:23 PM on January 9

This is surprisingly not-so-terrible, if a little random. But then, not as random as one might expect.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 3:45 PM on January 9

I read the FPP, went to the site, heard this song . . . I still don't know what the hell is going on.
posted by arcanecrowbar at 4:45 PM on January 9

In short- everything except cortex's voice (or harmonica in this case) is computer generated. As in it made up a beat to roughly match the sounds it recorded. Soundsmith tries to generate the backup band to go with whatever vocals you provide it.
posted by mrzarquon at 6:00 PM on January 9

oh hell no.. I listened to the song before watching the video, and was expecting a video of some drunken beach bum with a mike.. or a reject American idol clip.
posted by xorry at 8:01 PM on January 9

Ah.. wrong thread.. oh dear.
posted by xorry at 8:02 PM on January 9

I laughed so hard I freaked my cat out and he leaped from my lap leaving bloody gouges in my leg.
posted by odinsdream at 6:13 AM on January 10

1:26, and I'm laughing my ass off! Holy crap!
posted by snsranch at 1:35 PM on January 12

I kinda like the Rick Roll one. I feel like it should have an Elvis remix-esque music videos to go with.

Mircosoft VideoSmith?
posted by niles at 3:15 PM on January 13

More: Kill Me Now, Queen.
posted by cortex at 11:07 AM on January 19

I almost fell off my chair laughing at the harmonica. I really, really did. Sweet tapdancing moses. Hit me with another belly-blast, Dr. Herbie!
posted by bicyclefish at 11:44 AM on January 19