July 16
01 - you will not win - vampire deer
Cold Turkey Roll
Classic mash note: Lennon and McCartney stole from each other long after the Beatles split up. A love letter written in guitar riffs. bit.ly/rileyrockindex
July 15
Boy On Holiday
July 14
To be alone with you (Sufjan Stevens cover)
Not sure if I can do it justice, but I have loved this song every since I first heard Seven Swans in my college days. Light, soulful cover of a modern classic.
I've messed with the harmonies a little, so some of the chords are more dissonant (but in a watery, calm way, not a harsh way, if that makes any sense).
July 13
Juju
A cover of Wayne Shorter's Juju using Gretchen Parlato's lyrics from her version of the tune. Done in a sort of 90s-ish trip hoppy style. [more inside]
July 11
gman
With gman's announcement that he's taking a leave of absence, I told him beforehand that, on the day of his departure, I'd smoke something heady and record an improvised freakout jam. Gabe—I hope wherever you landed, they have internet; this one's for you. [more inside]
July 9
Gloucester Street
Echoey guitars and sparse vocals, a cross between Mazzy Star and Nick Drake. This song is what I was crying about on the tube after Pride in London. [more inside]
July 8
I Don't Want to Know
phone monkey
July 7
Get out get out get out
July 5
I don't mean to be mean, but this isn't "Fantasy Island"
July 3
Don't Start
I've got an eyeball
This came into my head after seeing Katy Perry and The Residents, one right after the other. It's part of my new goal of working on vocal harmonies.
June 30
Alight
Deeper Well (Emmylou Harris cover)
I love this song. Cover with guitar, piano. From her 1995 album Wrecking Ball, which Wikipedia calls "career redefining."
Forget About (Sibylle Baier cover)
Cover of this beautiful song by Sibylle Baier. Guitalele, flute/clarinet/marimba/wurlitzer piano synths. [more inside]
June 29
Doodlebug001
June 27
Trial By Fire
Written for a songwriting competition, it's a lofi/funk/power-pop kind of thing. To ensure songs were not written in advance, entries were required to include a siren in their song somehow, so, y'know, that's why there's a siren in the song. [more inside]
June 25
both sides now, now
lofi recording of somewhat didactic relyricization of joan baez classic, prepared around the time of the tiki torch society's march on charlottesville. [more inside]
June 24
The Insertion
Here's a demo electronic track. 505 Drum Machine, Nord Lead 1, Arp Odyssey and a Crumar Stratus though a few effects. It's maybe Daft Punk Tron Soundtrack-esque?
All day
Post of the week! This is a new (and improved?) version of a song I posted quite a while ago (as "Drinking all day"). Light, airy, one-chord country song with moody lyrics. Added second guitar part, violin, harmony vocal.
I think I'm getting somewhere with my recording capabilities--what do you think? Any thoughts on the mix?
June 23
Ventura
A quick demo of a short instrumental that was inspired by, written and recorded on and named after the red guitar I bought the other day and mentioned on the MetaGoodness thread.
June 22
A Cautionary Tale
Colbert sounded like Led Zeppelin in his bit that rides the cusp between humor and a sheer release of pent up indignation, so I added guitar accompaniment.
June 21
This Is Not A Test
Received Wisdom
June 18
Want Trouble
Moody, jazzy little tune that explodes towards the end. About the delicious dread of falling in love when both people have baggage.
This is my second big attempt at faking swing drums, so pointers would be helpful. As per usual, I started out wanting a sparse mix but it got away from me a bit. [more inside]
June 17
Vox Inhumana
From my newly released album of the same name, at starthief.bandcamp.com. Something on a spectrum of drone/ambient/abstract electronica. [more inside]
June 16
a cloud of lettuce
June 13
fly away - first time
I lost my good friend a while ago. I made this with him and I miss him dearly. I just want him to be somewhere, so here he is. [more inside]
Rose
I like it again. This is the piano track I posted before (now without the synth, and with vocals and backing vocal harmony) but I think I've mostly solved the problem that to me the whole thing felt kind of lifeless. (At least I felt confident enough to replace the old track with this on SoundCloud, hope that was wise.) What do you think?
June 12
I don't know what I like to do anymore
June 10
I belong to you
Wrote a new song that I still like, unlike the last one I posted!
Textured, mellow, summery indie/country with guitar, percussion, strings, vocals.
June 1
Emergency Contact
One of the few times when the melody and the lyrics arrived simultanesouly. I was adding my wife as an emergency contact to my phone and it came to me that this was a new kind of relationship ritual. [more inside]
May 28
Stay
Flowing, dark piano and atmospheric synth. TBH I've been tinkering with this for so long that I'm not sure if I like it anymore. (It's like the "if you a repeat a word enough times it doesn't even sound like a word" effect--I don't hear what I once heard in it.) But I really liked the piano part when I first came up with it. What do you think?
May 25
Boilermaker
May 18
va como oye
Another all op-1 track, wanted to try creating a custom drum kit from the built in FM radio. Quickly escaped my normal musical comfort zone but pretty fun nonetheless.
May 14
Nest Mess
May 13
Lorem Ipsum
An experiment wherein a drum-sequencer drives a vocaloid while some psuedo-random oscillators modulate parameters of both. Made in Reason 10.1
May 4
Streets of New York
Here is the much improved, finished version of a song I posted before in "help me describe this." Expansive, trance-like, sort of indie folk song.
April 27
Regime Change
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