The Human Condition (rough cut)

February 28, 2007 8:24 AM

One of the nearly-finished songs for my almost-done RPM 07 album. Navelgazing lyrics, lush instrumentation.

posted by cortex (14 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

Long gated-trem tail on the end will mix in to a followup track on the finished product, in theory.

I slacked off a great deal during the month and have been recording kind of manically for the last few days; the results have been pretty good, but I'm finding myself disappointed that I've squandered the time I could have spent doing all the little extra polishing that occurs to me as I relisten and edit.
posted by cortex at 8:26 AM on February 28, 2007


I hear you, brother.

This is nice. I think it's the one I like best of your songs posted thus far.
posted by chococat at 9:22 AM on February 28, 2007


Terrific, cortex. I hear Wilco all over it.
posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:29 AM on February 28, 2007


Yeah, I've found myself thinking, "damn, The Ghost is Born has some really nice production choices" a lot this month. Though I have avoided listening to it.

There's a lot of piano on the album, as it turns out. My wife actually said, listening to the roughs last night, "so these are all piano songs."
posted by cortex at 9:45 AM on February 28, 2007


Dude, this is really, really good. Not only is it a good melody and a great arrangement, but... man I dig that guitar solo. That sounds absolutely killer. I have teh envy.
posted by edlundart at 9:47 AM on February 28, 2007


cortex is my co-pilot.

...

Or he would be if I could fly. And could convince him to trust me with the safe operation of a flying machine.

What I'm saying is I really like this. But if you really wanted it be Ghost Is Born-ish (which that is a fantastically produced album), that tremolo bit at the end should go on for another 6 minutes.

Just sayin'.
posted by sparkletone at 11:17 AM on February 28, 2007


sparkletone: heh. I haven't earned that degree of self-indulgence yet.

Lyrics, by the way:


Where do I get the right
To sing sad songs
Like anything in my life
Has ever gone that wrong

I'm just a whitebread
Well-fed
Higher-ed
Middle-class
Slacker ass kid
With a good life

Is the human condition
Sufficient permission to slum about
With these plastic editions
Pedestrian visions of worry and doubt
For the faux-down-and-out

Why do I come home late
when I know that she'll worry
Why does she throw those jabs
When she knows that they'll hurt me

But it's all just small things
Brief stings
Our golden rings
Remind me how lucky we are
We've got a good life

posted by cortex at 12:11 PM on February 28, 2007


I just wanted to say that I like the addition of the tremelo as well. It adds quite a bit, which is something that you wouldn't think would happen. And who is this Wilco? Kidding, kidding.
posted by sleepy pete at 12:37 PM on February 28, 2007


And who is this Wilco?

Some janitor.
posted by sparkletone at 1:27 PM on February 28, 2007


Is it just me or have you been diggin' a little deeper to keep up with the rpm thing? Of course, I'm not familiar with your whole catalog of music, but your last couple of songs have seemed a lot more personal and weighty. Just an observation, but keep it up man, it's really good stuff.
posted by snsranch at 2:26 PM on February 28, 2007


I haven't done a lot of introspective songwriting in the last year-ish, and RPM has definitely kicked that back into gear. I did a whole lot of writing for Aural Times, but it was rarely personal; and so, yeah, this has been an interesting month that way.

The album varies a lot. This song is more me-now-thinking-about-me-now than most of it, but there's a lot of self-reflection and nostalgia feeding the writing I've done.
posted by cortex at 2:39 PM on February 28, 2007


Nice.

Yeah.
posted by Ynoxas at 3:13 PM on February 28, 2007


Also that happy guitar-layered outro thing? Out of fucking nowhere. Totally not written. It was just going to be a sad fade on the IV. Yay for serendipity!
posted by cortex at 3:17 PM on February 28, 2007


And the album-final cut is linked to over here.
posted by cortex at 7:44 AM on March 2, 2007


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