March 2007 Archives (all archives)

March 31

West of Eden

A backing riff that had been hanging around, nagging at my brain, for several years. Could never find a melody for it, until today, when I found a whole shitload. Twangy instrumental surf, Jazzmaster nirvana. If only bass guitars had whammy bars I'd be in heaven. From my great unreleased album "Cesare Gorgeous and the Strange Attractors play songs of Love and Hate".

posted by unSane at 6:08 PM PST - 5 comments

Chicago or Bust (demo)

This quick demo was made on my pocket tape recorder right after I had finished writing the song, and I was really pleased with the way it sounds... like it's a recording from a long time back.

posted by buriednexttoyou at 3:39 PM PST - 6 comments

March 30

bent+acoustic

Back from the dead! Original description: A quick-and-dirty first attempt at combining circuit bent instruments with acoustic guitar. I know some people frown at the idea of forcing bent instruments into measure and meter but there's a 24% chance that those people are no fun. Did it work? I dig it. Any suggestions?

posted by RobertFrost at 1:18 AM PST - 6 comments

March 29

All That's Left

A new song from a new band I am in called The Square Waves. This song is sure to be a hit on the Canadian charts, or at least a podcast intro or something (hint hint).

posted by Quartermass at 9:59 PM PST - 6 comments

Moksha Samsara

like clockwork
knockin' jerks off their top perch
in church they lurch at the thought of my verse
for it's immersed in a curse of unquenchable thirst
every word is a symphony and every phrase is a first


posted by ageispolis at 6:04 PM PST - 5 comments

Wildside

Crickets, guaguancó rhythm, double bass, jarana guitar, one singing voice and another one rapping.

posted by micayetoca at 5:10 PM PST - 13 comments

Contentment

This is one of a few IDM tracks I've been working on. I really like the glitchy drumline in this, plus the 3 part melody. I would appreciate any feedback on it, as I feel this is pretty good.

posted by Vicarious at 5:00 PM PST - 5 comments

Going To Abilene

I am re-uploading this song. I wrote it a while back and recorded last weekend. I'm just learning to record, so the guitars are a little quiet. Tips would be very welcome! I'm stoked I get to re-post, since I spelled "Abilene" wrong last time.

posted by pazazygeek at 4:50 PM PST - 5 comments

March 22

Lufthansa

Going back to my roots: Here's a techno-diddley straight outta Air Deutschland.

posted by ageispolis at 2:35 PM PST - 9 comments

March 21

John Hughes

The first song off of The Olivers' EP Cleveland Panda Rampage, though the third one to post. (Previously (1, 2)) Afroblanco and I play in a band together. This is a song, well, not about the noble '80's director so much as inspired by his cheesy yet touching brand of passionate sincerity. As always, we want to hear from the people/spambots. Especially the spambots. Thank you.

posted by Navelgazer at 2:41 PM PST - 1 comments

Angeline

This is a cover *gulp* (really more of a tribute) of a song by this other band called O'Death. I contacted them a while ago about doin it and they said hell yeah, do it up. (They are quite a different sort of band from us). Anyway, this is me singin an playin the fiddle. Hope you like it.

posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:57 AM PST - 8 comments

March 20

Cool

Another minimalist lyric from ancient history. About a girl who's reactions to me were not as warm as I would have liked. The lingering moment or two of Leonard Cohen is a recording artifact from recycling media. Ah, the four track days.

posted by nanojath at 6:45 PM PST - 2 comments

The Strangest Secret

This is a track from an upcoming album where every track is an instrumental based on samples of international folk music. The chopped up melodies on this one come courtesy of China. Thanks, country of China!

posted by laze at 1:37 PM PST - 6 comments

Giant Flag

A demo from about six years ago. In Canada, the norm is that we don't tend toward the big rah-rah kind of Patriotism that our neighbours to the south are prone to. Ours is a polite, reserved, (Canadian), skeptical patriotism. There's an F-word in this one, if that sort of thing worries you.

posted by chococat at 11:27 AM PST - 9 comments

March 19

The Hard Way

From the Monumental Box Tribute, a Guided by Voices cover project by Postal Blowfish comprising 5 CDs of Robert Pollard's earliest work.

posted by dhammond at 10:18 PM PST - 3 comments

Sex Positive

Long dub song for those spring nights. Place song in background. And enjoy.

posted by mildred-pitt at 10:16 PM PST - 4 comments

Lexington Avenue Line

In a departure for me, this tune features no percussion, synths, jaw harps, scrap metal or hand held mini-vibrators, but is simply accompanied by... an acoustic guitar. Radical, huh? Anyway, as you might guess from the title, the tune is a kind of meditation on New York City. Hope you enjoy.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 9:57 PM PST - 9 comments

Sloe Gin Fishin

goin fishin. nuff said.

posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:30 PM PST - 9 comments

Nashville

Technically not a song performed by me, but a song done by 2 of my good friends which was tracked (mostly) and mixed by me. I'm posting this because I've got a 1:30 remix of the song I did, and I want to post that. I figured it'd be nice to have context.

posted by god hates math at 10:32 AM PST - 0 comments

March 17

ggg2

This one turned out better than my first one. I borrowed my brother's guitar and as you can tell, I'm not the best guitarist around. The whistling turned out great though.

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

Beginning of the End

This song was inspired by: Dean Moriarty, Coldplay's "We Never Change," the last shot of Fight Club, and global warming. Just ignore the vocals; I can't sing for crap today but it'll sound great once I redo it in a studio. Hohner-Gruhn guitar, AudioTechnica microphone, and GarageBand.

posted by Saellys at 7:15 PM PST - 2 comments

Family Matters

Do you remember Family Matters? This bump is a remix of the theme song! I find it nostalgic. "Daaaaays goooo byyyyy"

posted by ageispolis at 1:07 AM PST - 9 comments

March 16

ggg

I just got CoolEditPro and started learning how to do this. I have no instruments at this point, but I will get some. When I was young, I took piano lessons from the lady next door for about three years. She didn't like me and used to hit the backs of my fingers with a pencil when I made a mistake. I didn't practice as much as I should have, I admit. As soon as I get an instrument(s), I'll record more and upload them here.

posted by sluglicker at 9:13 AM PST - 7 comments

March 14

The Jackal

This song is not exactly new (it's only slightly younger than Forwards/Back), but I didn't properly finish recording it until tonight. The levels/panning in a couple places could maybe use a little more tweaking to help everything in the mix stand out, but it's correct enough for now.

posted by sparkletone at 6:49 PM PST - 5 comments

Goofed Up

This song is all goofed up because...see more inside.

posted by snsranch at 5:23 PM PST - 4 comments

throw away those blues - vampire deer

6th song in my rpm album

posted by pyramid termite at 5:09 AM PST - 0 comments

March 13

Little Brother's Had Enough

This track samples the (totally killer) acoustic riff from Grizzly Bear's "Little Brother". This song started off solely as a hip-hop track, but then I decided to leave in a portion of the original as a hook. The song now sounds like somewhat of a genre fusion... "Folk-Hop" maybe?

posted by ageispolis at 7:09 PM PST - 6 comments

Keep Laughing

Another one from the Retrospective. Written when I was 15, I always considered this song to be a more or less blatant ripoff of Lush's “For Love.” The original lyrics were even more painfully awkward than these are, and I was stuck for years on how to improve upon them, but desperation finally took precedence over inspiration: I was literally scribbling them at stop lights on my way to the studio. Not a creative high point, then, but the production is among my sharpest. To their credit, the Science Park line-up of that time made a huge impact.

posted by mykescipark at 2:55 PM PST - 5 comments

Manhattan

The last song from my new record, "Beauty, Grazing at the Trough". Since I completed it last December, I've been posting a song per week, and this is the last one. It's also the last song on the record. After some aggressive, loud, dense songs (some of which are not particularly chipper), I wanted to end things more simply. So this song is acoustic-guitar driven and uses only hand-percussion (including some triangle that I reversed in one spot, to cool effect, if I do say so myself). I also borrowed a friend's Gretsch for the electric guitar parts. Final word goes to a harmonica solo over some pretty arpeggios. Site, myspace.

posted by fingers_of_fire at 2:29 PM PST - 8 comments

March 12

colder than the moon - vampire deer

4th song for my rpm project

posted by pyramid termite at 1:28 PM PST - 3 comments

Sailor's Psalm - 5-piece acoustic

I wrote this awhile back. This is the band performing it at our buddy Todd's house (I'm the fiddler player). I was trying to go for something like a ballad, early 19th century U.S. south, maybe. I think it's pretty. He's singin about drownin hi'self, if you were wonderin.

posted by Baby_Balrog at 1:25 PM PST - 8 comments

She's Not Thinking About You

A glum, minimalist tune about the feeling you get when you're sure that all the thought you are putting into that special someone is not being returned

posted by nanojath at 11:44 AM PST - 5 comments

No Title

This is a live version of a song I did with Video, a band I'm no longer in.

posted by mexican at 3:56 AM PST - 4 comments

March 11

Little boy

Mildly inspired by a sleepwalking incident when I was about 8. Come to think of it, musically it's somewhat similar to the last song I posted (Oh mon cher) - but this one's in English!

posted by ORthey at 10:27 PM PST - 9 comments

What Have You Done?

While my friend Beth is in town, we're recording a bit (as The Shrimp Boat Pirates. We just finished this one last night. Hohner-Gruhn guitar, Fender Stratocaster, Casio keyboard, kitchen utensils, Audio-Technica microphone, and GarageBand.

posted by Saellys at 3:13 PM PST - 9 comments

March 10

The Model

I've been out of the game for a while, so I thought I'd warm up by covering the Kraftwerk classic acoustically. I thought I'd try some alliteration aswell...

posted by TwoWordReview at 12:39 PM PST - 8 comments

hardscrabble lullaby by vampire deer

3rd song on the rpm album

posted by pyramid termite at 6:32 AM PST - 0 comments

March 9

Shape of My Heart

This is a cover of The Backstreet Boys' Shape of my Heart, done with only banjo and voice. I recorded it for a weekly covers contest that a few friends and I came up with. I'm less than excited about the production, but oh well...

posted by god hates math at 10:49 PM PST - 10 comments

Chivalry

The second recording of my first visit to my school's media center. It's a song idea that I've been toying with for a long, long time. It's in 7/4... if you like that sort of thing.

posted by tmcw at 2:29 PM PST - 3 comments

Footfalls

I have a bunch of song ideas that I drafted a couple of years back, and am finally getting back to fleshing them out and putting lyrics vocals to them. Only problem is, I kind of forgot where I was mentally, so I'm not quite sure of what to write. This one was one of my favorites, and suggestions for theme ideas?

posted by psmealey at 5:27 AM PST - 3 comments

March 8

Sleepover

A slice of 13.

posted by chococat at 9:57 AM PST - 10 comments

groundhog day by vampire deer

another song in the rpm album

posted by pyramid termite at 6:31 AM PST - 1 comments

March 7

How I Roll (Demo)

at the marriot the proletariat can find himself a bed he's been workin' day and night man was better off dead

posted by ageispolis at 5:28 PM PST - 5 comments

Ascension Island

In the late '90s, I was the main guy behind an electronic art-pop band called Science Park. After suffering a nervous breakdown in the winter of 2000, I disbanded the group and retreated from the music industry for six arduous years. Now thirty, I've just issued a 15-year retrospective of my life in sound and have re-committed myself to my life's work with a raft of new projects. "Ascension Island" was first issued on a Japanese 7" single on Motorway Records in 2000, and later on my album Disinformation (Obscure-Disk). A tale of love, espionage, and violence always just out of sight, it features my trademark drifting electronics, shortwave radio interceptions, and cool, clean singing. Enjoy.

posted by mykescipark at 9:26 AM PST - 15 comments

I Spend All My Free Time on the Internet

Defense and confession wrapped in to one song. Let your freak flag fly.

posted by cortex at 8:57 AM PST - 11 comments

Knives Come Out (God Damn Radio)

This is the part where we start to fall apart (watch your goddamn radio).

posted by dhammond at 1:39 AM PST - 1 comments

March 6

Defeat

The last RPM Challenge song I can bear to subject you to. I seem to have been in a little bit of a mood when I "sang" this one, 'cause I really camped that lyric up.

posted by nanojath at 7:26 PM PST - 4 comments

tall guys

how 'come you keep blockin'?

Snare's a bit big in spots, but otherwise good. If that didn't piss you off, please do check out more of
} the edison carter project { . Lyrics over there, too. thank ye all, again, me-fite fave-rs e!

posted by bitterkitten at 4:07 PM PST - 2 comments

Ain't So Lonely

Okay, so that's not me singing or playing the guitar. But it's the first song I ever wrote. My good friend Sarah Kenvyn then did a bit of a rewrite, wrote some music, and recorded it. Thanks, Sarah!

posted by dobbs at 3:58 PM PST - 7 comments

Bring Me The Head Of Elmo

Lyrics [with handy reference links!] and more information inside.

posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:09 AM PST - 4 comments

March 5

Losing Ground

Loud, bombastic rock. Lots and lots of chords. I was aiming for "Down By The River", or "Polyethylene". Site, cd, myspace.

posted by fingers_of_fire at 9:07 PM PST - 0 comments

At the Open Mic (Cortex vs Los Muchachos Mexicanos)

I liked cortex's song so much I had my band record a backing track for it.

posted by mexican at 3:50 AM PST - 31 comments

March 4

Eccentric

Another track from my RPM Challenge Effort. I was apparently channeling my poor man's Tom Waits that night. My impoverished, destitute, homeless alcoholic's Tom Waits.

posted by nanojath at 8:59 PM PST - 4 comments

The city streets

Listening to too much Steve Reich? I don't know.

posted by xmutex at 10:37 AM PST - 3 comments

March 3

Breaking The Mecanique (SPRKLTNE mix)

In which I screw up that which was perfect just the way it was.

posted by sparkletone at 1:59 PM PST - 2 comments

cigar store indian stomp

another vampire deer recording for the rpm challenge

posted by pyramid termite at 3:12 AM PST - 0 comments

March 2

Positronic Hips

<cortex> jimbob you are under orders to post something to Music
<jimbob> cortex, will do, give me...12 minutes
<cortex> Jimbob, it's been twelve minutes.
<cortex> Chop chop.
<jimbob> o shit

posted by Jimbob at 5:41 PM PST - 5 comments

Face The Music (Tony Danza)

I forget why Tony Danza was in this song title, but man have you ever seen that guy naked? This is another rockist song from my old band New Blind Nationals. It's got the three guitar attack but with a pulsing disco bass line underneath. I'd like to pretend that Franz Ferdinand stole their best ideas from me while I was sleeping.

posted by drezdn at 2:13 PM PST - 3 comments

Summon My Jesus

The second song to post from our new EP. (Previously) This is my band with Afroblanco and some other guys. We're called The Olivers, and are giddy for your comments, snarky or otherwise.

posted by Navelgazer at 1:08 PM PST - 12 comments

March 1

Let's Just Pretend that David Bowie Wrote this Song

A song about pretending that David Bowie is singing a song about how something else is writing his songs, including this one. Approximately. From my RPM 07 album Manifests.

posted by cortex at 5:32 PM PST - 15 comments

little queen of everything

from the vampire deer rpm challenge album

posted by pyramid termite at 3:13 PM PST - 3 comments

Only Civilization

Another selection from my RPM Challenge album. There were a couple lyrics I really wished I was a better musician when writing and this is one of them. My methodology did not encourage a melodic interface between the lyrics and the music.

posted by nanojath at 12:28 PM PST - 5 comments

Time In The Sun

Mostly instrumental. (I'd keep the repeated line, but replace the wordless vocal bit with some horns if I had access to any, and have them carry on through the rest of the song.) Much, much more guitar layering than I usually do. Strangely (?), I think my favorite parts of the song are skittering electronic bits of the drum track and the bass line.

posted by sparkletone at 12:03 PM PST - 5 comments

Howard Beale Died For Your Sins

This is off of the RPM Challenge album I sent in yesterday. It takes its title and a bit of its chorus from a Metafilter comment. Per snsranch's request, it includes more of me singing (or at least trying to).

posted by drezdn at 9:37 AM PST - 2 comments

Just Blew Into Town

Here's a song from the RPM '07 CD that I just popped into the mail today. In the end I was able to get 8 presentable tunes together within the space of the month. Whew!

posted by flapjax at midnite at 2:07 AM PST - 11 comments

Room at the End of the Hall

I had this vague melody a year or so ago, and at the time it was starting to become a song about riding my bike at night, drunk. I stuck it on the backburner until after I saw that Johnny Cash bio-pic, where they sing that June Carter duet "Time's a Wastin'" together, (which they never did in real life.) So then I got this idea to write a nice country duet like that, but instead of it being all happy and fresh-new-relationship-let's-consummate-it kinda thing, I wanted it to be about people that hated each other intensely. People that were sick and tired of seeing each other everyday for years and years. Then, for an added twist, I forced my lovely wife to sing the harmony part. We actually do like each other, though.

posted by chococat at 12:25 AM PST - 9 comments