Message in the Sand

This is a little instrumental number I made up. I'm trying to convince my bandmates to perform it. The guitar tone and the melodic simplicity may qualify it as Surf Music.

This is my first offering on MefiMusic. It's a brand new tune. It's getting good reviews here at home so I thought I'd share it with y'all. I hope you like it. I welcome your feedback.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by Jode (11 comments total)

Nice! This is really smooth and captivating.
posted by waxboy at 7:03 PM on August 11

That sax is smooooth. And beautiful. Is it a real sax? If it's programmed, it's the best programmed sax I've ever heard. I think this is a nice melody and can imagine it working well live. Here, it's almost too perfect! A band would lend it some grit and growl.
posted by edlundart at 8:35 PM on August 11

well done.

and that sax has to be real. no plugin can supply that sort of nuanced performance, now or ever.

_{check back with me on that in 18 months or so.}
posted by man vs sun at 8:59 PM on August 11

Thanks, folks. My home recordings tend to be programmed tracks with a sax or 4. Frequently, I create a setting for improvisation then blow -- though not this time.
MvS: Good luck.
posted by Jode at 5:19 AM on August 12

MvS: Good luck.

heh, I'm not working on that. That would render my not-as-good-as-you sax chops even more obsolete. Frankly, after running my own licks through an auto-tune plugin, I realized just how crazy and out-of-control my the sax sound truly is. Building a machine that sounds like this is a very tall order.
posted by man vs sun at 6:38 AM on August 12

MvS: I thought you were going to spend the next 18 months woodshedding to come back and knock off our collective sox.
posted by Jode at 8:31 AM on August 12

Oh yeah, not that either. I haven't practiced in 15 years and I'm not about to start now.
posted by man vs sun at 8:38 AM on August 12

Everyone needs a hobby...
posted by Jode at 9:20 AM on August 12

Really like it. Hope you can convince your band to play it.
posted by meta87 at 4:05 PM on August 15

This is great! Simple but enigmatic saxophone, judicious use of silence, and it reminds me of what some of my older friends describe their childhood memories of the 1980s to be like, if that makes any sense. My only suggestion would be to work on a better ending: nobody likes it when a driving, mysterious narrative, like what you've written here, fades away without some type of closure.
posted by MoreForMad at 5:15 PM on August 15

MFM: Thanks for the perspective. Live, we'll milk the spaces, leaving a nice long gap before the final iteration. I know it's kinda cheesy but if it works and gets a rise from the peoples I'll be suitably gratified.
As for the ending, I really hadn't considered it. But your suggestion has convinced me to leave it hanging on a wide mysterious chord. You'll get no closure from me...
posted by Jode at 7:07 AM on August 17