I put this ambient track together back in 2003 during one of many sleepless nights, as part of a larger release called Threads. After listening to it again, I liked its hypnotic lull enough to want to share it here, and I hope it rewards your patience.

posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:56 AM PST - 4 comments

Exceptionally resonant bass channel with two layers of percussion on top [more inside]

posted by wastelands at 1:03 AM PST - 7 comments

MeFi's own es_de_bah takes over vocal duties on this one -- I didn't feel like I was the right person to sing it, and so I spent some time going through the "Music Collaborator" Mefi Wiki page until I found someone who would be. (It was his excellent song "a perfect preservative" which made me consider him in the first place.) In addition, my dad plays trumpet; I play Magnus chord organ, flute, and interesting percussion. It's a waltz. [more inside]

posted by Karlos the Jackal at 10:31 PM PST - 9 comments

I would not have expected that there are any songs I wrote that I don't know about, but going through my files last night I discovered this naughty a capella number, written for my awful puppet, Sailor Martin, back in 2005 in New Orleans.

posted by Astro Zombie at 4:14 PM PST - 2 comments

Cover of the classic Neutral Milk Hotel track, recorded with a band. The three of us are writers by trade, so we're calling ourselves "Evil and Wow!" (get it? get it??) [more inside]

posted by ford and the prefects at 3:39 PM PST - 5 comments

This is my great, sweeping ballad … my Piano Man, if you will. Tinged with chili powder. [more inside]

posted by soundacious at 1:49 PM PST - 3 comments

Please help me identify this simple rhythm, its origin, and all its instances. [more inside] posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 1:45 PM PST - 7 comments

As a tribute to the last eight years, I give you this moment of temporary insanity committed to tape in 2003.

posted by umbú at 1:31 PM PST - 5 comments

An RPM Challenge song from last year, about breaking up with someone special, but not quite the one.

posted by InfidelZombie at 8:06 AM PST - 1 comments

Number of The Beats debuts on MeFiMu. This track is guaranteed to get your next party busted. [more inside]

posted by dagosto at 2:57 AM PST - 2 comments

We started out trying to make a song about the old Nintendo game Rygar, and there's still parts of that in there, but at some point it got mainly concerned with Dracula. [more inside]

posted by erikgrande at 9:51 PM PST - 3 comments

Cover of the Velvet Underground tune as requested

posted by snsranch at 5:52 PM PST - 10 comments

492077616e74656420746f206578706c6f726520636f6e747261737420616 e642074686520656d6f74696f6e206f662072616e636f7220636f75706c656 4207769746820736572656e6974792e [more inside]

posted by 5imian at 11:32 AM PST - 5 comments

A simple cautionary tale of how celebrity, glamour, ambition and just-plain inauthenticity can twist a human soul. Also, you can dance to it. [more inside]

posted by soundacious at 8:58 AM PST - 0 comments

I hadn't heard the original tune before adding a groove to Dizzee's vocal track, so I kind of screwed up where the downbeat went. Nonetheless, here's some Dizzee Rascal with some synthy samples!

posted by CarrotAdventure at 3:04 AM PST - 2 comments

Another demo I put together over the weekend. It's about that place we all go to escape the grind (no, not MetaFilter). [more inside]

posted by self at 2:39 PM PST - 3 comments

This tune is straight off my new release, Roomful of Ghosts, available now from CD Baby. It's a total reworking of the same song that I posted here at MeFiMu a while back. Have fun listening to both versions! And see the [more inside] for my Official Sales Pitch. [more inside]

posted by flapjax at midnite at 11:03 AM PST - 6 comments

Dedicated to the inauguration of Barack Obama and the renewal of hope in America. I'm sorry, did that sound cheezy? [more inside]

posted by soundacious at 8:42 AM PST - 0 comments

An attempt to filter the zeitgeist of this recent long dark downtime of the soul. [more inside]

posted by cortex at 5:27 PM PST - 16 comments

Dark ambient work with an industrial undertone and extreme use of reverb [more inside]

posted by wastelands at 5:06 PM PST - 1 comments

Yup, that one.

posted by ageispolis at 3:18 PM PST - 2 comments

Inflatable guitars. Not those silly toys. I mean actual playable guitars. Which inflate. If you missed the excellent recent post about the Baschet brothers and their strange crystal / metal hybrid resonator.. things, you may also have missed what was for me a key snippet of information - one of the Baschets invented the inflatable guitar. [more inside] posted by motty at 2:36 PM PST - 3 comments

I've seen this asked before, but not lately ... is there yet a great Windows equivalent to Garageband, in terms of simplicity relative to features? posted by jbickers at 8:49 AM PST - 8 comments

Based on a true story. [more inside]

posted by ford and the prefects at 2:56 AM PST - 1 comments

So we decided to do a cover of a Freezepop song only one of us had heard before. 5imian joined us on synthesizer and we partied 80s style. (NSFW) [more inside]

posted by man vs sun at 5:16 PM PST - 0 comments

Abstract and minimal electronic piece. Inspired by movies like Manhunter and Tenebrae. Warning - beginning is quiet by comparison. [more inside]

posted by dagosto at 12:06 AM PST - 2 comments

YYZ with missing lyrics. [more inside]

posted by herrdoktor at 8:53 PM PST - 2 comments

A simple ambient pop song I wrote and recorded today with my organ, Macbook Mic, and some instruments lying around the house.

posted by ageispolis at 2:08 PM PST - 1 comments

this ain't working. this is how you do it.

posted by kimyo at 2:06 AM PST - 2 comments

Dark and moody. Lots of reverb. This is my fourth generative piece.

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

Back in either middle school or high school, in music class, I wrote my very first melody with a classmate named Mathias Knutzen. The assignment was to take a text from one of our books and create a song with it. We chose Robert Frost's poem and came up with this pseudo-jazzy tune. I always liked it, so I kept the "digital chord sheet" around and played it from time to time. More than 15 years later, here now is a brand new recorded version -- complete with brushed drums and falsetto background vocals. [more inside]

posted by edlundart at 12:00 AM PST - 5 comments

Free Jazz. Five trumpets, five drums. [more inside]

posted by idiopath at 6:37 PM PST - 2 comments

Myself and two friends: (michael, ceci) are doing a musical chainletter. [more inside]

posted by orville sash at 8:45 AM PST - 1 comments

In the desert, turn toward emptiness; fleeing the self.

posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:11 AM PST - 1 comments

Stuck inside all day, it fades in.

posted by pwally at 8:41 PM PST - 1 comments

Cumbia, as performed on the Nintendo DS [more inside]

posted by cloeburner at 12:36 PM PST - 1 comments

A 24 hour noise number. Not for the faint of heart. [more inside]

posted by idiopath at 12:34 AM PST - 5 comments

Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be To warm the world, that's done in warming us. Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere.

posted by Blazecock Pileon at 12:24 AM PST - 2 comments

Thinking about doing RPM. Need some advice on the "getting music into my computer" part. [more inside] posted by O9scar at 8:36 PM PST - 7 comments

A cover of the Neil Young tune.

posted by InfidelZombie at 1:13 AM PST - 1 comments

Melodramatic pop song about a fourteen year-old having an affair with his teacher.

posted by ford and the prefects at 2:43 PM PST - 0 comments

My Roomba has a soul. I'm sure of it. [more inside]

posted by 5imian at 12:21 AM PST - 3 comments

So as I keep shamelessly blabbing about around here on MeFi Music, my wife and I have a new album called "The Gilded Age," which I recently finished mixing. All my musical and non-musical friends and the many random strangers I've asked for feedback assure me that it sounds good. But I'm not quite satisfied that I mastered it properly. It sounds okay--but it's just a little short of the mark, to my ear. So this question is a two-parter: 1) Should I keep my solemn vow to complete the whole production process on my desktop and keep working on it myself or should I pony up all the cash I don't have to get it professionally mastered? 2) What are some good online resources for information about mastering audio on a PC? I use WaveLab, FWIW, and have a slew of plug-ins (thanks to an audio engineer pal who moved on to bigger and better things). [more inside] posted by saulgoodman at 8:14 PM PST - 5 comments

RPM is back. [more inside] posted by Miko at 5:14 PM PST - 37 comments

I really wish I wrote this song, along with pretty much every other Beatle's song. [more inside]

posted by BrnP84 at 10:31 PM PST - 5 comments

Well, we tried.

posted by InfidelZombie at 10:14 PM PST - 2 comments

Based on a poem by Sun Ra

posted by man vs sun at 10:09 PM PST - 2 comments

Just setup a new recording situation for myself, needed to give it a workout. Dialed in some rock. [more inside]

posted by erikgrande at 10:08 PM PST - 0 comments

A cheesy song to cover, I know, but I did it for the old man for Christmas along with a two other country covers.

posted by chillmost at 3:16 PM PST - 2 comments

For the sake of consistency this song was made with Nitro Tracker on the Nintendo DS. [more inside]

posted by cloeburner at 3:10 PM PST - 2 comments

Another country song that I recorded for my dad for Christmas. [more inside]

posted by chillmost at 1:38 PM PST - 1 comments

An oldish mashup of some dated electro ala Busy P and rhymes by the Beastie Boys. Kept current by the always timeless Donovan.

posted by ageispolis at 1:37 PM PST - 0 comments

A song, recorded live with minimal editing, composed using only the DJ minigame on the Game Boy Camera. Warning: This song is experimental and highly flammable. [more inside]

posted by hellojed at 12:46 PM PST - 2 comments

A happy, melodic love song. I don't do these very often! Wrote it a year ago for a girl. [more inside]

posted by azarbayejani at 9:06 AM PST - 2 comments

Another semi-anthemic dance song about dancing with a girl! [more inside]

posted by clcapps at 10:11 PM PST - 2 comments

Earlier I posted a demo version of this song, this is the almost-finished one. It's an atmospheric, organic, dance-y track with some far east flavors and a dash of electro

posted by god particle at 5:24 PM PST - 1 comments

I'm back from South America for a little bit, so I have an urge to play with my electronic toys. [more inside]

posted by cloeburner at 12:35 PM PST - 1 comments

Science makes me horny. [more inside]

posted by 5imian at 10:40 PM PST - 5 comments

A quick demo I recorded last Thurs/Fri. Slow building, pretty layered guitar & tom tom-driven indie-jazz type stuff. [more inside]

posted by self at 7:54 PM PST - 5 comments

Glitchy, semi-improvised piece with disjointed synths and samples.

posted by ianK at 2:53 PM PST - 6 comments

It smells, it smells!

posted by Corduroy at 7:58 AM PST - 6 comments

Written for a cello friend. Apologies for the low volume level and the minute of silence at the end.

posted by xorry at 10:39 PM PST - 0 comments

Collage of Schostokovitch, Ian Dury, The Exorcist, I dream of Jeannie, David Essex, and more. Starts with the required banjo comment. [more inside]

posted by fcummins at 5:08 PM PST - 3 comments

A short minimal-housey thing made exclusively with sound presets. [more inside]

posted by LMGM at 4:42 PM PST - 2 comments

tear yo ass up. [more inside]

posted by pwally at 12:15 PM PST - 1 comments

A simple synth/house song (my first actually), created with the Korg Kaossilator and some distortion effects.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License

posted by lord_yo at 8:49 AM PST - 1 comments

A Capella with a twist. I stitched three melodies together and messed with the stereo settings. [more inside]

posted by ibfrog at 11:16 PM PST - 1 comments

I just had to jump on the bandwagon.. Recorded after bars a few years ago after I got the four track. Friend on vocals, friend on guitar, I was on bass but it wasn't plugged in. Posted is the super-delux songsmith edition with the vocal track. We obviously didn't worry about tempo.. This is about the best I could do without spending six hours on it. It works better near the end. It helps to be drinking. It's pretty awful, but it has a moment or two. This is the original.

posted by xorry at 9:43 PM PST - 3 comments

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!) [more inside]

posted by cortex at 11:47 AM PST - 17 comments

Little bits of guitar chopped up and stitched together into a bouncy, happy whole. [more inside]

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

I haven't made anything in awhile; I guess I just used up all my stored inspiration. [more inside]

posted by tehloki at 7:51 AM PST - 5 comments

And DayTrotter. Pitchfork hurts my eyes and although I love Pat Stoli's work at DayTrotter I'm looking for some even "deeper cuts" if you catch my drift. [more inside] posted by dagosto at 4:12 AM PST - 10 comments

A New Great Depression era jaunt with undertones of cracked optimism. Thanks to RussHy for the inspiration through the lyrics challenge. [more inside]

posted by dagosto at 1:21 AM PST - 4 comments

My rendition of Ben Folds' cover of Bitches Ain't Shit done to Songsmith. I've not got the best voice and I just ran this through one take, so, you know.

posted by disillusioned at 1:02 AM PST - 12 comments

By request, this has been played through this. Unmodified or post processed in anyway, it sounds a little like a bad dub. But I thought I would post it as an example for other folks to see what is possible.

posted by mrzarquon at 11:43 PM PST - 106 comments

A cover of "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals that I threw together this morning, primarily featuring gamelan instrumentation. [more inside]

posted by clcapps at 8:52 PM PST - 4 comments

Written during the Montecito fires. Finally got around to adding vocals.

posted by ford and the prefects at 3:58 PM PST - 0 comments

Six layers of sound, created completely from scratch in the Operator soft synth, sent through a filter delayed return track

posted by wastelands at 3:28 PM PST - 3 comments

Electro-acoustic piece with piano, guitar and synths that started out as an idea to write a "palindromic" song. [more inside]

posted by ianK at 8:01 AM PST - 5 comments

Our drummer just skipped town. Any folks in the boston area interested in the gig? [more inside] posted by es_de_bah at 10:06 PM PST - 4 comments

Post-traumatic stress syndrome is a bitch. Pre-traumatic stress syndrome? Well, that can just wreak havoc on your marriage. Let's just hope this song is a relic from those bad old '08 days. (It's proggy-punk-grunge, if you're looking fer a genre) [more inside]

posted by es_de_bah at 9:20 PM PST - 8 comments

A song that, like almost EVERY song I write, is about running away to an exotic locale and, once there, dancing.

posted by clcapps at 1:56 PM PST - 4 comments

Recorded on my lil' Samsung cell phone, at a friend's apartment. [more inside]

posted by ford and the prefects at 2:55 AM PST - 2 comments

I wrot ethis electronic piece after reading Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan. He writes on one specific photograph taken from deep space, and coins our earth a "mote of dust" in the cosmic landscape. This piece was inspired by use of imagery in the sound design, as well as Carl Sagan's musings in Pale Blue Dot. I imagine the primary theme as particles of dust, in perpetual motion in a shaft of light. The context of these "motes" is expressed as the piece develops into increasing complexity. The mote is always there, omnipresent yet insignificant in the cloud of actvity around it. I hope you all enjoy it [more inside]

posted by 5imian at 12:00 AM PST - 2 comments

Weird demo. Probably 10 years old. Releasing it to the ether; good riddance.

posted by chococat at 11:57 PM PST - 3 comments

Pretty straight forward cover of that Juno song (but not that Juno song). Features Grover the banjolele, the geetar, me trying to sing high, lots of timing issues, and way too much going on in general. [more inside]

posted by Corduroy at 5:09 PM PST - 5 comments

...is a part of a little soundtrack I did for my kids. Their mock-trailer is... [more inside]

posted by snsranch at 3:43 PM PST - 6 comments

A fuzz rock demo [more inside]

posted by arcanecrowbar at 7:41 PM PST - 8 comments

A short minimal-glitch etude of sorts made from guitar-fret noise [more inside]

posted by LMGM at 12:28 PM PST - 8 comments

A song about what happens when the right set of eyes meets yours. This is from my new band, and was taped in Steve's garage on Saturday. [more inside]

posted by InfidelZombie at 10:35 PM PST - 3 comments

They say the darkest hour is right before the dawn.

posted by ageispolis at 4:00 PM PST - 5 comments

A song dedicated to my girlfriend for how cave-y she made her room. [more inside]

posted by azarbayejani at 12:23 AM PST - 4 comments

Dance beats and synth hooks underscore the classic breakup story of two digital lovers in Computer Land.

posted by CarrotAdventure at 4:58 PM PST - 5 comments

Sappy pop tune I recorded over the holiday break. [more inside]

posted by scottandrew at 2:24 PM PST - 8 comments

Wrote this after a bad break-up, about two years ago. [more inside]

posted by ford and the prefects at 2:05 PM PST - 5 comments

Finally going to record a real album! Now, some questions that need answerin'. [more inside] posted by ORthey at 10:16 AM PST - 9 comments

Diamonds from tequila. [more inside]

posted by god particle at 3:37 AM PST - 2 comments

A little dance remix of a Kate Bush tune sampled off my turntable... just wanted to try making something super happy and dancey out of a very beautifully written song.

posted by CarrotAdventure at 10:31 PM PST - 2 comments

Recorded back in '01 for the Chalkhills.org King For a Day XTC tribute compilation CD. Written by Andy Partridge, but never recorded by XTC. This was a one-off project, but eventually led to the formation of my XTC tribute band, and we played it live once or twice. [more inside]

posted by Devils Rancher at 8:57 PM PST - 1 comments

Some classic dubstep with a little funk halfway through. [more inside]

posted by ageispolis at 4:19 PM PST - 4 comments

A song about watching someone else succeed in a town that wasn't very kind to you. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 12:39 PM PST - 1 comments