I thought this month's "Summer Song" challenge would be a slam dunk -- breezy, fluffy bubblegum! I can do that! I regret to report that Things Did Not Go As Planned. [more inside]

posted by Karlos the Jackal at 10:50 PM PST - 9 comments

just screwing around, really [more inside]

posted by pyramid termite at 10:38 PM PST - 1 comments

My first attempt bringing live instrumentation to my Garageband exodus. I have messed with making it louder, but it makes it sound way too flat, so my apologies to you and your music knobs. Either way, this is a song about a tomb. Not necessarily death, as the metaphors mix if you look too much for the meaning. Rock music does these sorts of things. [more inside]

posted by SamuraiCarChase at 9:24 PM PST - 4 comments

Electronic silliness featuring Agent Smith's human beings are a virus speech. [more inside]

posted by Babblesort at 7:01 PM PST - 1 comments

When Roxette recorded this song in 1988, they commented that they were trying to create that "overblown American FM-rock sound." In 2010, I bring it back to America with the overblown American hip-hop/club sound, complete with ferocious auto-tune lines and an all-stops-pulled, everything-and-the-kitchen-sink-and-808-kick-and-crash beat. I hope you like it!

posted by dacre at 4:28 PM PST - 5 comments

An open invitation to collaborate on a semi finished song. [more inside] posted by micayetoca at 1:16 PM PST - 8 comments

Subtlety doesn't come easy when you're all insane. [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 10:48 PM PST - 2 comments

A song from Lucy Jane about a girl who's not very happy. [more inside]

posted by peterkins at 8:36 PM PST - 7 comments

If you happened to read this comment, you'll know that I am stepping down from my position as Unofficial Mod for the MeFi Music Challenge. This post is just to say thank you to all the wonderful people here who've sent suggestions for the Challenge, and to thank you all for putting up with my evil and wicked ways over the past, um... however long it's been. It's been a pleasure to do this, and I'm hoping someone else will step up and take this gig over. I'd also like to apologize to anyone whose idea didn't get put into motion. This was sometimes due to my own feeling that it might not have been the greatest idea, or more often that there were too-similar ideas that had already been used, or were in line to be used. Well, I did my humble best. Anyway, thanks again to everyone. [more inside] posted by flapjax at midnite at 5:44 PM PST - 15 comments

I must have recorded hundreds of demos over the years. Some of them I've totally forgotten. And when I hear them it's as if it was the first time I've heard the track. That kind of accidental rediscovery is generally uncomfortably embarrassing...but sometimes, rather wonderfully, it's quite the opposite...(more background inside). Wish I could remember how I got such a warm sound.... [more inside]

posted by MajorDundee at 4:59 PM PST - 3 comments

Millimeters of Mercury (me!) returns with this acoustic-piano-pop-electronic (haha) "fusion" of live piano (played by himself), some live drumming (by a friend), some drum-machine/looped drumming, and vocals performed while playing the piano but were later chopped and processed to make things more coherent. :) The result is saccharine beyond all get out. Think of it as a morally bankrupt part-time drug addict's profession of love to someone who accepts them for who they are. I hope you enjoy. [more inside]

posted by dacre at 12:28 AM PST - 0 comments

This sort of nonsense should be kept under wraps. [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 4:17 PM PST - 5 comments

for when the salt sprouts legs and walks away

posted by at the crossroads at 2:27 AM PST - 1 comments

Mashing up a handful of 45's and an LP track for a summer BBQ! [more inside]

posted by bonefish at 12:31 AM PST - 0 comments

I wasn't at all happy with the first version of this challenge track that I posted. So I redid it, and now it makes me feel all sunshiney inside. [more inside]

posted by unSane at 11:47 AM PST - 3 comments

music.metafilter meetup/jam/performance? [more inside] posted by unSane at 7:53 PM PST - 19 comments

A long time ago, cortex asked for versions of this iconic Elliot Smith song. [more inside]

posted by chococat at 11:33 PM PST - 8 comments

Listening to Ring My Bell: Tango made me wonder: could we have a MeFi Music challenge for songs to burlesque to? [more inside] posted by divabat at 8:46 PM PST - 30 comments

Summer means remembering summers. [more inside]

posted by bonefish at 1:22 AM PST - 4 comments

This is my first post to MeFi music. I look forward to hearing a lot of great music. This is one of my more upbeat tunes despite the title. [more inside]

posted by tunewell at 12:44 AM PST - 5 comments

ecstatic punk_metal love song with stereo distorted bass, country inflected vocals, and a few stolen lyrics. Kinda a follow up to this song. [more inside]

posted by es_de_bah at 3:07 PM PST - 5 comments

My take on mid-60s frat rock. [more inside]

posted by l2p at 12:27 AM PST - 3 comments

The basis point of insanity, as explained by a mad violist, so concludes An Evening With... [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:46 PM PST - 0 comments

This is the second of two summersongs... this one is my attempt to shake off the summertime blues and write something genuinely hopeful, complete with a spoken intro and healthy helpings of cheese and bubblegum all round. [more inside]

posted by unSane at 6:50 PM PST - 6 comments

My attempt at a "summer song" for this month's challenge. [more inside]

posted by chococat at 4:31 PM PST - 21 comments

A gamelan-inspired bit of canned synth fun.

posted by ageispolis at 10:44 AM PST - 1 comments

It's my mom's birthday today. She's awesome and she puts up with a lot from me in terms of my being a random, vagrant son who doesn't call home enough. Happy Birthday Mom! Miss you, Love you - B

posted by CarrotAdventure at 7:15 AM PST - 1 comments

An Evening With... 4.6 [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 6:39 AM PST - 2 comments

Track #3 from Volume #4 (aka Demons of Gyrophonia's album #7) of An Evening With... [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 9:08 PM PST - 0 comments

One-man band with a specific instrumental need: looping of multiple synth melodies in multiple keys, with foot activation. [more inside] posted by davejay at 7:41 PM PST - 5 comments

So, I've been experimenting with writing and recording pop music - currently in my bedroom with garageband. I'm an amateur. I may have gotten a little effect happy on this one. But hey, it's a start. [more inside]

posted by Lutoslawski at 3:23 PM PST - 8 comments

My girlfriend was having a bad day, so in about an hour, I wrote and recorded a song in an attempt to cheer her up. Why not share it?

posted by SamuraiCarChase at 12:07 PM PST - 2 comments

I write a dumb song in a day about once a month for my dumb blog (not a songwriter; not a musician; sometimes singer). [more inside]

posted by johndavi at 9:56 AM PST - 5 comments

It was sorbet. [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 6:24 AM PST - 0 comments

! [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 8:03 PM PST - 1 comments

In an effort to become a better singer/songwriter, I need to start posting my work. My sense of embarrassment on mediocre songs will hopefully kick in and force me to start doing a better job to redeem myself. That's the idea, at least. No instruments, as well. This was done entirely with vocals running through a Shure SM-58, then heavily processed and mixed in Garageband. (headphones recommended)

posted by SamuraiCarChase at 11:27 AM PST - 2 comments

At no point do I claim to be able to play cello. [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 6:17 AM PST - 2 comments

Derived from Tagalog from the word ilang, meaning "wilderness", this song is secretly about pants. [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 7:13 PM PST - 2 comments

I read this post and immediately thought a loud crappy punk song with that title had to exist. And now it does! [more inside]

posted by cortex at 4:57 PM PST - 15 comments

Another older piece I composed, in 2006. It uses a sort of minimalist, pseudo-metric modulation that, even though the tempo stays the same throughout, creates a kind of time-warpy impression. [more inside]

posted by Lutoslawski at 2:57 PM PST - 11 comments

A little bit of crazy to end Volume 3. [more inside]

posted by pheatherwait at 8:21 AM PST - 0 comments

Almost like having a chamber orchestra in my apartment. [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 6:10 AM PST - 2 comments

So that you're not left hanging after the conclusion of the third movement, here's the finale of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, programmed in SONAR with the Miroslav Philharmonk library.

posted by NemesisVex at 4:36 AM PST - 4 comments

This is another improv track featuring The Great Big Mulp on drums and SheMulp on questioning my sanity/backup vocals. We were slightly soberer this time. It's a rough mix, so feedback is nice. [more inside]

posted by reklus at 9:38 PM PST - 2 comments

How I solved my vocal pitching problems (mostly, anyway). [more inside] posted by unSane at 7:58 PM PST - 13 comments

The first of two songs for this month's Summersong challenge -- a singalong powerpop anthem about incest, sunburn, and lost love on an English council estate. [more inside]

posted by unSane at 2:37 PM PST - 5 comments

...Because when was the last time...? [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 1:17 PM PST - 5 comments

A bit of lo-fi pop goodness. [more inside]

posted by Crane Shot at 12:42 PM PST - 2 comments

usus use + rapere to seize [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 10:00 PM PST - 0 comments

A few weeks ago I bought Miroslav Philharmonik, an orchestral sample library, and to test it out, I programmed the third and fourth movements of the Beethoven Fifth in SONAR. Here's the third movement. I'll post the fourth tomorrow.

posted by NemesisVex at 8:49 PM PST - 4 comments

A few months ago I saved a bookmark to a particular VST plugin. Alas, it got deleted at some point. Can you help? [more inside] posted by scottandrew at 7:03 PM PST - 9 comments

I'm trying to learn a little Jim Croce song... [more inside] posted by jeffamaphone at 3:58 PM PST - 7 comments

An Evening With... edition 3.3 brings you something a little different. [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 12:39 PM PST - 0 comments

sesqui-, one and a half + annus, year [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 9:57 PM PST - 2 comments

Aka 21 Nugent St., AKA this deadly house in Thunder Bay where we have righteous disco-ball dance parties and bluegrass jams, and where I've been crashing the last few weeks. It's been a treat.

posted by CarrotAdventure at 4:37 PM PST - 1 comments

A little progish - lots of analog synth, lots of interesting sounds, harmonies, counterpoint, a little odd meter, hopefully pretty catchy chorus, and one of the more obscure lyrics I've written (lyrics inside)... lots of stuff! [more inside]

posted by Wolfdog at 4:24 PM PST - 1 comments

A few days back I uploaded something for this month's MeFiMu Challenge called "Jasmine & Seashells". The mix was a bit shitty and, on reflection, the track is about a summery as Santa Claus. So...with apologies for the inappropriate earlier post, here's a more nuanced mix and a less bogus title.

posted by MajorDundee at 3:48 PM PST - 1 comments

On this day of improv, so begins volume 3 of Demons of Gyrophonia's box set, An Evening With... [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 12:13 PM PST - 2 comments

an unprepared solo for prepared double bass.

posted by peterkins at 6:17 AM PST - 5 comments

This is an improv piece from the Next/Slimelords circa 2007 featuring our backup singer (AKA SheMulp) on lead vocals and The Great Big Mulp on drums. We came up with this while making fun of SheMulp's tendency to roll her R's only when saying spanish-y words. [more inside]

posted by reklus at 1:37 AM PST - 12 comments

Isn't music the best you guys

posted by CarrotAdventure at 3:06 PM PST - 4 comments

Previously on MeFi Music, Jeff Buckley's alien-inspired song, "Ozark Melody", was released. Now, because MeFiers asked for it, the unmixed tracks have finally been released. [more inside] posted by joetrip at 4:34 AM PST - 5 comments

Had this bluesesque thing kicking around for a while. A rather grubby mix, with a clumsy edit halfway through, but I quite liked it after not listening to it for months. Decent guitar riff/sound. [more inside]

posted by MajorDundee at 3:14 PM PST - 6 comments

I just can't stay away from this song, it has a power over me. This time it's with my diddley bow (the Marron Glacé Guitar). At the end of the song, Death momentarily overtook me and made me attack the instrument with one of these. Video of this same performance at YouTube.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:22 PM PST - 5 comments

Men from the Manly Planet perform Wire's megahit, live at the Univ. of Chicago Lab School cafeteria, circa 1983. [more inside]

posted by stargell at 4:36 PM PST - 1 comments

I thought I'd throw a few older compositions up here for fun. This is a short piano trio I composed in 2004. Lots of extended techniques and other academic foolery. But it still rocks a little, when it does.

posted by Lutoslawski at 2:18 PM PST - 2 comments

How do you change tempos, yet keep the same pitch, with minimal loss of quality? [more inside] posted by dobie at 11:00 AM PST - 8 comments

This song is a portrayal of identity crisis — yet not just in the expected expression through lyrics. A snarling electro beat attempts to warp itself around jazz-inspired harmonies and progressions as the speaker explains his own crisis. [more inside]

posted by dacre at 3:05 AM PST - 0 comments

Another quick composition, in the vein of blues or something. [more inside]

posted by tmcw at 8:06 PM PST - 1 comments

Yes, I know, it's Gaga, and it's overplayed, and likely to polarise opinion. But on the other hand, despite all of that, this really is a good song. (And you can tell it's a good song because it survived me butchering it with a uke.) Video version is available here. [more inside]

posted by ZsigE at 6:18 PM PST - 2 comments

Close your eyes...it's time for a blend of ethereal/darkwave and dream pop. [more inside]

posted by malocchio at 3:20 PM PST - 0 comments

Another impromptu song. [more inside]

posted by tmcw at 9:51 AM PST - 5 comments

The latest sound, kids: run yer thumb piano through a cheap pitch shifter. Recorded live at Super Deluxe, Tokyo, July 5, 2010. Video of this same performance may be viewed on ye olde YouTubes.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:23 AM PST - 6 comments

An earlier generation of what LOOM uploaded a few days back. This one made us both wear cheesy grins. IMHO it has a little more "oomph" and focus, and highlights LOOM's really rather splendid vocal performance to better effect. Be afraid, be very afraid.....we plan to do more of these.......

posted by MajorDundee at 2:13 AM PST - 7 comments

I'm getting back into my decade-old hip-hop project Cap City Mob, and have learned a few new tricks, as well as improved my lyrics and maybe my skills. Here's a taste of one I did this evening. [The not-so-kid-friendly lyrics inside.] [more inside]

posted by grubi at 12:54 AM PST - 2 comments

DMelanogaster and I sing an a capella spiritual. [more inside]

posted by Obscure Reference at 8:50 PM PST - 2 comments

You know that rush of memory that happens sometimes with a certain scent or sound? I've tried to evoke that through writing a song within a song. Not for me to judge whether it's worked or not.... [more inside]

posted by MajorDundee at 2:35 PM PST - 3 comments

A lovely electronic pop track, a prerelease from Good Old Neon's forthcoming album, Radiant City. [more inside]

posted by Cantdosleepy at 7:08 AM PST - 2 comments

Old-time fiddle tune performed by the usual gang at The People's Pint in Greenfield, Massachusetts. [more inside]

posted by usonian at 6:45 AM PST - 4 comments

The lyrical counterpoint to "My Cirripedian Friends". [more inside]

posted by ianK at 12:17 AM PST - 4 comments

A ballad of Odysseus. [more inside]

posted by stargell at 9:23 PM PST - 2 comments

been messing around with this recording for a while now. hope you like it. kind the doors plus pavement. kinda better and worse than that sounds. [more inside]

posted by es_de_bah at 8:36 PM PST - 4 comments

The forecast for Thursday: partly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. Later: decreasing clouds and a high near 76°. Overnight, expect winds out of the west-northwest at 30 mph. [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 1:21 PM PST - 1 comments

A lazy little two-minute blast that can't even manage to find room for a bridge. [more inside]

posted by uncleozzy at 12:54 PM PST - 10 comments

Back in 2007 I posted this same song (a studio version) which eventually made its way onto my 2009 CD release, Roomful of Ghosts. Here's a live version of the tune, recorded June 25, 2010, at Super Deluxe in Tokyo. Video of this same performance here at YouTube, and just for good measure, here's the video for that studio version as well.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:18 AM PST - 1 comments

Some noisy, synth-driven ambience from my new album, Never a chance.

posted by squidlarkin at 8:17 PM PST - 0 comments

Seriously, I need that fucking lawnmower, statim. [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 5:45 PM PST - 2 comments

final song of flame

posted by pyramid termite at 8:51 AM PST - 0 comments

Guitar and synth rock, with a certain whiff of the 70s about it, and a comparatively laid back chorus that I'm pretty happy with. Lyrics inside. [more inside]

posted by Wolfdog at 3:23 AM PST - 3 comments

In the spirit of David Tudor's Rainforest pieces, but the wrong animal is singing. [more inside]

posted by idiopath at 11:22 PM PST - 1 comments

song 7 of 8 of the new album flame

posted by pyramid termite at 8:26 AM PST - 0 comments

This is one of my favourite songs off my most recent EP, The End Of The Beginning. [more inside]

posted by Jon-A-Thon at 12:02 AM PST - 0 comments

song 6 of 8 of the new album flame

posted by pyramid termite at 7:53 AM PST - 0 comments

In the last year or so I've gotten a little bit bolder about singing, edging past extreme self-consciousness to feeling pretty comfortable joining in on a chorus at an open session... but unless the chorus follows the simplest of chord changes, I pretty much have to choose one or the other: singing or playing. [more inside] posted by usonian at 7:18 AM PST - 30 comments

This is a song about drowning at sea, denial and adventure. [more inside]

posted by ianK at 3:54 AM PST - 1 comments

This song began as a test song for two things: stomping/clapping/snapping out a typical breakbeat and messing around with my new Ashbory Bass. It grew quite a bit from there. I've been sitting on this song for a few months and finally decided today to rerecord some of the trombone bits, though they're still pretty sloppy.

posted by The Great Big Mulp at 1:43 PM PST - 5 comments

A song that I wrote really quickly and got stuck in my head for a few days. [more inside]

posted by tmcw at 10:56 AM PST - 1 comments

Which is just about my favorite thing ever - "Take the A Train," "Solitude," "Don't Get Around Much Anymore," and dozens upon dozens of others – these chords never get old. This is just me vamping and trying it out with 'em.

posted by koeselitz at 10:41 PM PST - 3 comments

I love by the grace of god's amazing voice, and it's really fun to try to keep up with her melodies. [more inside]

posted by umbú at 7:54 PM PST - 7 comments

An old-time chestnut on guitar, mandolin, and my new Menzies tackhead banjo [more inside]

posted by usonian at 6:15 PM PST - 3 comments

What's your feeling about amp sims? Here are mine, based on some tests. [more inside] posted by unSane at 5:57 PM PST - 19 comments

This is a weird mix of a drum machine, a ukelele, and me singing with some other effects thrown in. I record stuff like this at home and never let anyone hear it, so I thought I might give it a whirl. Enjoy!

posted by willc at 4:34 PM PST - 1 comments

song 5 of 8 of the new album flame

posted by pyramid termite at 12:51 PM PST - 0 comments

There have been a lot of sightings of the same UFO over Mid Cornwall, going back for years. I've seen it twice now. It's a pulsating orange light that acts like a Chinese lantern, but is MUCH too high up for that. Does anybody know what it is? I wrote a song about it! [more inside]

posted by By The Grace of God at 4:33 AM PST - 1 comments

I waited a while to post my most recent song, and that's because I feel kind of guilty. And that's because I recorded that song after a heavy week of recording alone, and so my throat was all warmed up and un-self conscious. But I can't play the song live because it's at about the edge of how high I can sing, and I simply can't seem to hit those notes on the spot. I like the tune, and I'd like to play it for people, but I obviously can't have a week in a room far away from everyone to warm up. What are your tips? How do you warm up your throat? How do you get comfortable warming up knowing other people can probably hear you (I live with roommates)? posted by Corduroy at 11:13 PM PST - 12 comments

Remix/remaster of "this is what it sounds like when you shrink a lowrider down and go cruising around for circuits to listen to on in a motherboard and then there's an earthquake" for better bass and mixdown. [more inside]

posted by loquacious at 7:52 PM PST - 1 comments

A rerun of this earlier episode. [more inside]

posted by tmcw at 7:36 PM PST - 2 comments

This is my first cross-country collaboration with my old friend Blue Bar. He wrote the song--it's a melancholy waltz. He also sings on the track, and plays guitar. I fill in on accordion and drums.

posted by umbú at 6:30 PM PST - 4 comments

Here it is again, the Gershwin classic. Really belted out that bridge. Also, couldn't seem to stay in the same key for more than a second. [more inside]

posted by koeselitz at 6:19 PM PST - 2 comments

A remix of a song from a new project. [more inside]

posted by sleepy pete at 12:26 PM PST - 9 comments

song 4 of 8 for the new album flame

posted by pyramid termite at 9:51 AM PST - 0 comments