Miss Me in the Morning

A second pretty much complete song for the RPM Challenge. Fancy ears will be able to pick out my attempt at learning to play the Cuatro that was hand-delivered to my front door from the awesome and amazing Micayetoca in Venezuela.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by chococat (40 comments total)

Hot track. This could be a hit!

I wish Micayetoca would hand-deliver me a cuatro, you lucky devil.
posted by ageispolis at 2:34 PM on February 23, 2007

That was a beauty choco, I'm rootin' for ya. And yea, mica is one cool cat.
posted by snsranch at 4:07 PM on February 23, 2007

Lovely. Did you do this all by yourself, or were other musicians involved?
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:28 PM on February 23, 2007

Thanks.

Just me, for better or worse.
posted by chococat at 8:35 PM on February 23, 2007

pretty much complete

Pretty much, huh? Had I recorded this song, at the stage it is now I wouldn't be able to believe how good it sounds. If there was the ability to post threads in MetaFilter Music I'd try to encourage you to post one on home recording. You get a really good sound. Do you use a multi-track studio or a computer?

That's for the recording, now, in terms of songwriting... what can I say, I'm a huge fan. I love the sort of 70s sound of this one. That and lot of other things. Oh, I could go on and on and on. But I'll leave space for the others. Great song man.
posted by micayetoca at 6:17 AM on February 24, 2007

Great stuff, chococat. You are a real talent.
posted by AgentRocket at 8:08 AM on February 24, 2007

It's a beautiful song and micayetoca is right: you've got an amazing production talent and it would be great to have a rundown of your gear and methods, if you ever have the time or inclination. The Cuatro sounds great -- and how great is it that this place and your music made you guys collaborators and good friends? Pretty great.

Thanks for posting the song and good luck wrapping up the RPM challenge, chococat.
posted by melissa may at 2:06 PM on February 24, 2007

Love it!
posted by nonmyopicdave at 9:23 PM on February 24, 2007

This is phenomenal.

The string work is beyond reproach. Technically solid, of course, but with a real feel to it. An emotive paintbrush of music and lyrics. I'm quite serious.

Speaking of collaboration, I think this track would be perfect to strip the percussion off, send to flapjax at midnite, and just let him go all central american on it.

If I heard this track rife with guiro and timbales it would be magical.
posted by Ynoxas at 9:40 AM on February 25, 2007

I love it! I downloaded it!
posted by frecklefaerie at 4:23 PM on February 25, 2007

Fantastic! I love it!
posted by sveskemus at 2:49 PM on February 28, 2007

Your shit is so good, I'm beginning to think you are some kind of hoax or scam. Can I buy a CD from you in any way?
posted by Rock Steady at 11:27 AM on March 1, 2007

Rock Steady, that made me laugh out loud.
I am a hoax.

My email's in the profile.

And thanks everyone.
posted by chococat at 2:07 PM on March 1, 2007

Man, how'd I miss this one! Fantastic stuff!
posted by TwoWordReview at 3:16 PM on March 1, 2007

Oh, will you stop writing songs that make me cry. actually, please don't :)
posted by By The Grace of God at 1:53 AM on March 2, 2007

That was most excellent. Great work!
posted by Effigy2000 at 2:29 PM on March 3, 2007

Dude, this is really fantastic. It should be in a David Lynch movie.
posted by ORthey at 10:58 AM on March 4, 2007

The arrangement is really nice. Great electric guitar part, great tune.
posted by ludwig_van at 8:53 AM on March 6, 2007

hey chococat, this is really great stuff, i love the all the string instruments/arrangements. It must be the cuatro that is providing that extra bit of magic... it's kind of like it's casually raining notes that just happen to be perfectly placed, yet there is no strain to be observed anywhere. micayetoca, do you build or sell cuatros...? Or what is the story about the acquisition of the instrument?
posted by edlundart at 3:46 PM on March 7, 2007

Oh man, I so want there to be JUST a bit of bass to some of the downbeats...

Incredible.
posted by disillusioned at 9:16 PM on March 7, 2007

edlundart:
After I helped micayetoca out on his song, he sent me an email asking for my address because he wanted to send me a small package with his friend who was coming to Toronto. (I made some dumb joke about drugs or weapons and a stranger bringing me a package from Venezeula.) So his friend shows up at my house with a cuatro in a nice little case, and in the pocket was 2CD's and a tuning and chord chart that he'd made. Great, eh?
As for the playing, it was anything but effortless, I don't even know how many takes that took, as I couldn't seem to keep it in tune after I finally learned how to play the right chords on it.

And thanks for all the niceness from everyone.
posted by chococat at 6:32 AM on March 8, 2007

Wow, that’s really cool. That’s some gift! Thanks for pointing me to “I Shine” too, it’s a beautiful track as well. I recommend it to anyone who missed it!
posted by edlundart at 9:20 AM on March 8, 2007

I love this.
posted by phrontist at 7:23 PM on March 11, 2007

Oh, I could totally go for some crazy surf-rock reverb playing on the electric guitar parts. There is a bit now, but I'd really play that up.
posted by phrontist at 7:25 PM on March 11, 2007

I've now had this song in my head intermitantly for the past three weeks, and today it is full on stuck, and I don't mind.

Brilliant work.
posted by frecklefaerie at 7:20 AM on March 15, 2007

All I want to do is play this for everyone I know. It's 1am and I'm actually considering waking people up. I think they'd understand, don't you?
posted by tihleigh at 11:20 PM on March 15, 2007

edlundart I didn't see your comment until today, and by now he answered. I'll just add a bit of color to the story. He says his joke was dumb, but it actually was closer to the actual plan. The original idea was my friend who took him the cuatro would kidnap him and smuggle him into Venezuela, where I could force him to be the vocalist of my band. We decided not to in the end, and judging from this song, it was the best decision.

All jokes aside, I don't make or sell cuatros, I only got it for him as a way of thanking him for his collaboration. He did save that song. It's sad to hear the cuatro is not working well, though. When I tried it at the store it used to go out of tune as well, but I thought it was the new-strings factor. I only had it for a day before my friend took it, so I didn't have a chance to notice the problem. Sorry about that.
posted by micayetoca at 7:11 AM on March 28, 2007

Hey, sometimes it's worth the extra work. I have a lap harp that goes out of tune if you breathe on it. But I'm convinced it will totally make a song one day.
posted by edlundart at 9:28 PM on April 2, 2007

Hope I didn't sound ungrateful mica, I love love love that you sent me a cuatro. I'm still figuring it out and don't really know what I'm doing is all.
posted by chococat at 6:43 PM on April 5, 2007

That was really nice
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:24 PM on April 28, 2007

hi chococat

good stuff, thanks
posted by nicolin at 10:46 AM on May 1, 2007

Amazing...
posted by SirStan at 6:59 PM on May 12, 2007

Another late one but damn, that was good, many thanks chococat!
posted by ceri richard at 3:59 AM on May 14, 2007

Just want you to know, I just am getting around to listening to the podcasts, and I ran right here to find this song. Love it.
posted by John Kenneth Fisher at 6:53 AM on May 17, 2007

Wow, this is fantastic! You sound like a polished professional to me. Beautiful acoustics, smoky voice...cool.

Hey, can I put the (appropriately credited and linked back to your website) track on my blog?
posted by misha at 10:16 AM on May 19, 2007

misha, I don't see an email or link to your site in your profile, so...
Generally, when I'm asked if someone can post my stuff I just want to see their site first, usually it's no problem. Of course I have absolutely no control over this, but I think it's fair to ask.
(And thanks.)
posted by chococat at 1:59 PM on May 23, 2007

Eminently pleasant to the ear. Thanks.
posted by spherical_perceptions at 1:52 PM on July 10, 2007

I was listening to my backlog of podcasts this morning and had to join mefi specifically to download this song. Good stuff.
posted by slightly ridiculous at 2:55 PM on April 3

Just flew in from the Thanks MetaTalk thread, glad I did. Favorited and playlisted. What a great story.
posted by haunted by Leonard Cohen at 5:50 PM on May 1

Same as above. This is the first song ever on MefiMusic I've heard, and holymolychristonacross i love it. I want to either dance or cry. Or both.
posted by Stewriffic at 8:16 PM on May 1