I discovered this theme while musical typing my last name into GarageBand. [more inside]

posted by abc123xyzinfinity at 8:43 PM PST - 2 comments

A lightly shimmering anthem about all manner of hustlers who move their mouths without their brains engaged. Influences: The Damned, Warren Zevon, The Misfits, Tom Petty Rickenbackers, jangle and vitriol. [more inside]

posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:50 PM PST - 7 comments

My friend Bill got hit by a car while riding his bike in San Raphael, California last month. He's been in a coma, and broke his vertebrae, collarbone, ribs, and has been on a respirator, critical. He has a history of alcoholism, and meth. He came to the midwest because his mother was dying, and after she did, there were ghosts in her house. We wrote and recorded this three years ago when he was in the midwest in 2007. I was planning on finishing it for Halloween this year. But now it makes more sense to me. Wow. Sometimes music transcends time and space. [more inside]

posted by Disbro at 11:39 PM PST - 1 comments

Very pleased with the cheesy riffs in this. [more inside]

posted by sailormouth at 10:48 PM PST - 0 comments

This is just one of those idle and whimsical bits of musical fun. Who have you got into years after the artist's heyday? Conversely, who were you really into for a while but now find a bum-shuffling embarrassment or are simply baffled by your previous obsession? [more inside] posted by MajorDundee at 9:17 AM PST - 41 comments

A murder ballad for the October challenge. Guitar and vocal recorded with two mics in one take, on the first take. (lyrics NSFW) [more inside]

posted by makabampow at 10:37 PM PST - 2 comments

This is the third in a three part installment here at MeFiMu of diddley bow/stomp box tunes from The Pink Cow. Straight outta Shee-boo-ya, Toe-kee-yo, Jay-pan! Video here. [more inside]

posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:40 PM PST - 3 comments

Just sneaking this one under the wire for the Hallowe'en challenge. A thrown-together palate cleanser from the recent power pop -- a piece of Eastern European-flavored surf about the scariest thing I can think of. I actually gave myself the shivers when I was putting together the ending so it's probably worth sticking around for that. [more inside]

posted by unSane at 2:39 PM PST - 7 comments

Brainstorming ear-stretching exercises. [more inside] posted by umbú at 12:56 PM PST - 8 comments

A spooky circuitbent electronic drone for Halloween. oooOOooOo

posted by sailormouth at 9:31 AM PST - 2 comments

Fuller, 4-part, 9 1/2 minute version of a previously posted song, built almost entirely out of samples taken from the Conet Project, a 4 CD set of number station transmissions [more inside]

posted by Hoopo at 12:00 AM PST - 2 comments

Today's espresso-driven shot of melodrama power-pop. Originally written around 1995, I think I finally nailed how it was supposed to sound. [more inside]

posted by unSane at 1:55 PM PST - 5 comments

A cover of the Misfits song, slowed way down and given a sort of old sci fi movie feel. Featuring extra creepy vocals by the incredible snsranch-- all shall fall to the power of his burning hand!

posted by InfidelZombie at 10:58 PM PST - 4 comments

How would I go about getting the bass feel you can hear on Radiohead's "All I Need (prominently about 30 seconds in) and (to my ears) sounds similar to the one heard in Boards of Canada's "Roygbiv"? [more inside] posted by ejfox at 3:57 PM PST - 3 comments

Ancient 8-track demo from 2002 or 03. A dark (and occasionally slightly out-of-tune) little curio with some interesting chord progressions and harmonic twists. I vaguely remember being obsessed with this one at the time. I guess it could be categorised as spinwave chilloff.... [more inside]

posted by MajorDundee at 2:12 PM PST - 5 comments

Sometimes songs come easy and sometimes they come hard. Everything about this one was hard. The final, sweated over, version of a song I posted a rough demo of a few weeks ago. Hopefully the results are worth it! [more inside]

posted by unSane at 12:57 PM PST - 9 comments

A relationship, coldly thought out from beginning to end, in just 97 words. [more inside]

posted by tunewell at 7:50 AM PST - 0 comments

Bonfire is an ode to bucolic, cross-country driving moments in the Pacific Northwest. Produced by A Gap Between » http://soundcloud.com/a-gap-between

posted by nuevaforma at 3:39 AM PST - 12 comments

no more freaky people with humpbacks! spontaneously scary vocals by ariel. guitars by the chillmost delivery system. recorded in a somewhat more innocent time.

posted by kimyo at 2:43 AM PST - 2 comments

A new one about memories of being young. And yeah, getting poison ivy is fun when you get it with your high school girlfriend out in the middle of a field when you're seventeen. [more inside]

posted by Disbro at 5:35 PM PST - 2 comments

Another tune with the one-stringer and ye olde stomp box, from deepest Shibuya. All the ghosts in Alabama are singin' it... Video here. [more inside]

posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:06 PM PST - 4 comments

At long last, the remix of Y&SF with new vocals and Major Dundee's guitar work incorporated. [more inside]

posted by unSane at 12:27 PM PST - 4 comments

A special reminder for all concerned, in this special time of year: Friends don't let friends self-immolate. [more inside]

posted by askmeaboutLOOM at 7:32 PM PST - 2 comments

Some kind of folk-ish song with a dash of electric thrown in. It's the beginning of a narrative – not sure what exactly. Includes a way too ambitious lyrical reference to Amazing Grace. [more inside]

posted by quadog at 1:04 PM PST - 0 comments

I sat down to work on stuff for my art-rock band, but wound up demoing a Nashville-style country song in favor of gay marriage. I have no idea where this stuff comes from some times. [more inside]

posted by COBRA! at 1:02 PM PST - 3 comments

this is a song that i wrote yesterday about the turning of life's wheels

posted by flyinghamster at 9:26 AM PST - 1 comments

You like music, right? You have memories associated with songs? Great! Write it down and send it to me. [more inside] posted by sleepy pete at 1:38 PM PST - 2 comments

Another version (again, live) of a tune I've posted here before, but that time was with jaw harp. This time it's with my diddley bow and stompbox. I love my stompbox. Recorded two nights ago at a joint called the Pink Cow in Shibuya, Tokyo. Video here. [more inside]

posted by flapjax at midnite at 10:45 PM PST - 6 comments

An admittedly inconsequential but strangely catchy (to my ears) little ditty and, in the fantasy world of 7" coloured vinyl singles, one of the b-sides to the forthcoming I've Got A Feeling That I'm Everything I Never Wanted To Be. Which, belying its Smiths-esque title, is shaping up as pure late '70's power-pop. [more inside]

posted by MajorDundee at 2:48 PM PST - 16 comments

Can anyone do a good mad scientist voice, along the lines of Bela Lugosi in Plan 9? I need some vocals for the song I'm doing for this month's challenge, and my acting ability is pretty much nil. posted by InfidelZombie at 10:03 AM PST - 9 comments

An improvised instrumental experiment on digital accordion. [more inside]

posted by Jenkiins at 9:57 AM PST - 3 comments

Choral work in support of marriage equality, with text taken from a speech by a Republican WWII vet. Performed by the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers 2010. [more inside]

posted by mormolyke at 9:48 AM PST - 5 comments

Piano experiment gone horribly wrong. [more inside]

posted by AppleSeed at 8:31 PM PST - 2 comments

Another uke-y croon, mellow and heartfelt. [more inside]

posted by tunewell at 7:08 PM PST - 6 comments

A song about a skater girl told through the medium of barely understood skating metaphors [more inside]

posted by minifigs at 11:58 AM PST - 3 comments

"I'm not lazy, but I'm not ambitious." [more inside]

posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:41 PM PST - 11 comments

Normal For Once in Toronto [more inside]

posted by Crane Shot at 7:26 PM PST - 2 comments

More Dan Moi-nery. Video here.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:40 PM PST - 3 comments

a short burst of a soundtrack for an imaginary and possibly crap horror film. [more inside]

posted by peterkins at 3:33 PM PST - 6 comments

made this a few years ago with Beep Map which is a plug in that i have no idea how to use.....but managed to make this...which isnt perfect but oh well [more inside]

posted by Greynaab at 11:23 AM PST - 5 comments

White Boy Rap [more inside]

posted by Disbro at 8:24 AM PST - 9 comments

The horns in this bouncy lo-fi surf-garage number? Synthesized. But the off-key backup vocals? They're real.

posted by allaboutgeorge at 4:33 PM PST - 4 comments

For the Chilean miners. Original idea was that unSane would do drums and Orthey handle vocals. Then, in a stroke of stupifying idiocy, I wiped the multitrack. Finito. So this version is a "rescue mix" in more than one way - it's a cdr rip of the WIP I wiped (heh) with some percussion grafted onto it. Not as it should have been, but it's a good track (imho) and, well, this is better than nothing. Viva Chile!! [more inside]

posted by MajorDundee at 1:41 PM PST - 6 comments

[more inside] posted by Zenabi at 5:53 AM PST - 7 comments

Made between trips to the beach this summer. Another song that looks like it will be making it's way onto my next release. More experimentation with that dubstep feel.

posted by ejfox at 8:37 PM PST - 2 comments

Does anyone have any tips for writing songs that work well for another person's voice? I've always just kind put songs together as they come and figured we would just adjust the key if it was difficult for our singer, but I think now that is kind of short sighted. Our singer has a good voice, and our music would be better if the songs really showed that off. I'm interested in technical issues like how to determine the best keys for someone to sing in, but I'd also like to hear stories about how you have approached writing songs for others to sing and the challenges you faced. And if you'd like to make suggestions based on work we have already done, there are a lot of songs by my band posted here. posted by InfidelZombie at 11:02 AM PST - 10 comments

simple folk song with guitar and voice (a little haunted) [more inside]

posted by at the crossroads at 11:54 PM PST - 1 comments

Check it out: In four years & change, Metafilter Music has had over 5000 posts! A nice round even number like that is clearly a omen that it's time to post a collection of all the songs. So, here's a torrent!* It's kind of big - it weighs in at 4629 mp3s** & over 20 gigabytes. This gathers everything from its opening in June 2006 through the end of September 2010. [more inside] posted by Pronoiac at 7:20 PM PST - 36 comments

The first song by my new band, Smokemonster. [more inside]

posted by Saellys at 11:13 AM PST - 3 comments

Just something we did for fun this weekend. I can only take credit for the singing and half of the snaps.

posted by useyourmachinegunarm at 10:03 AM PST - 6 comments

Remix. Faster - varispeeded to within an inch of its spectral life. New drums. Modest EQ tweak.

posted by MajorDundee at 6:44 AM PST - 5 comments

Mr. Solomon Burke, who was arguably the last living link to an age of soul music that has now passed, has just died. Rest in peace, you beautiful singer of songs. NYT Obituary. Wiki page. [more inside] posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:14 AM PST - 5 comments

Fifty six seconds of music from a jaw harp from Vietnam, played by a guy from Alabama, recorded in a room in Japan. Video here.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:03 AM PST - 2 comments

I tried really hard to keep my strings section in line, but they're doing whatever they want. [more inside]

posted by snsranch at 5:36 PM PST - 4 comments

This is an environmental sound recording: rush hour commuters descend a staircase at Tokyo's Akihabara Station. You'll hear the dopey little melody (twice in a row) that they play for every train that pulls in, the clatter of feet as commuters rush down the stairs, the ambient bird call recordings they play in the station, and the pre-recorded announcements. Video here, which is the third clip so far at my new YouTube channel, HiddenTokyo

posted by flapjax at midnite at 8:31 PM PST - 4 comments

boo

posted by MajorDundee at 2:00 PM PST - 12 comments

Ideally what I want might be described as: a smaller footprint Nord Stage EX than the Compact (like 49 keys, and they don't have to be weighted, although they could be) - plus poly-key pressure like ye olde Ensoniqs had, and I want it to be built tank-like like the Nord Lead. Maybe the Nord synth engine could be swapped out with something Poly-Evolver-esque version of the Evolver or the Malstrom softsynth from Reason. Ya gotta dream. Anyway, since that doesn't exist, and I don't have a bazillion dollars to have somebody custom build me my live-performance dream machine.... Is there a small hw synth out there a la the Alesis Micron that looks and sounds similarly badass, with at least 8 voice polyphony, with full size keys - and - is easier to program without requiring additional software? I feel like every other small synth I've tested so far in that ballpark, I could breathe on them wrong and they'd break. I bought the recommended Micron software editor from one of the two companies that exists that makes it, but it is extremely sluggish and inconsistent. [more inside] posted by bitterkitten at 10:46 AM PST - 8 comments

My band's rendition of this tune, which I posted a while back. It was fun condensing the 9 track arrangement down for a three-piece. Worth the long intro. [more inside]

posted by es_de_bah at 4:22 PM PST - 1 comments

I've been toying with the idea of building myself a "custom" Strat or Tele using necks, bodies and bits bought from stores (usually with an eBay presence) purporting to retail genuine Fender parts. Anyone got any experience of this? Is it really possible to obtain genuine Fender parts in this way - or are most of these things fakes? posted by MajorDundee at 2:34 PM PST - 18 comments

AcoustoFolksyCountrySappiness! [more inside]

posted by sarastro at 12:08 PM PST - 2 comments

Loud and thumpy circuit bent toys. [more inside]

posted by sailormouth at 10:45 AM PST - 1 comments

A new song by The Peter O'Tooles. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 7:01 AM PST - 2 comments

A musical Poem. [more inside]

posted by Disbro at 4:57 PM PST - 6 comments

Improvised song collaboration. I adore the outcome of this moody song. My friend Mark is on vocals, I was on guitar. Bass and piano were added later by me. We literally made this up as we recorded it. Never have made-up, almost gibberish lyrics sounded so meaningful. [more inside]

posted by tunewell at 12:39 PM PST - 6 comments

A new track that my friend Lesley and I worked on over the last few weeks. Inspired in part from reading a Joe Strummer bio.

posted by Paid In Full at 9:55 AM PST - 3 comments

I've just been trying to record some acoustic guitar using a crossed coincident pair of condensers. Overall the sound is really good, and better than the (already good) results I got with the B1. But I have a couple of questions. [more inside] posted by unSane at 8:31 PM PST - 9 comments

Trust the government. Trust authority. [more inside]

posted by beardlace at 12:02 PM PST - 3 comments

Welcome to Teen Island (Season One). We here at MTV started this reality show with the best of intentions. But things have gone horribly, horribly wrong. [more inside]

posted by naju at 11:11 AM PST - 4 comments

The spate of suicides by bullied gay teens has been weighing heavily on me; here's a song from my Celtic punk band The Peter O'Tooles on the subject. [more inside]

posted by Astro Zombie at 11:26 PM PST - 6 comments

And I didn't even go to work today. [more inside]

posted by uncleozzy at 4:09 PM PST - 10 comments

I wrote this song in a redwood grove near Pescadero, California. [more inside]

posted by Disbro at 9:54 AM PST - 2 comments

A song about a New Year's party in Miami.

posted by Lutoslawski at 9:51 AM PST - 7 comments

It's one minute long. It's background music for a robot factory.

posted by beardlace at 12:04 AM PST - 2 comments