February 12
Ahg the Caveman (Tim Long's Unidentified Flying Stringband)
February 10
Black and White Rag
I've always known "Black and White" as a fiddle rag, but it turns out it was composed for piano in 1908. When I was a kid, it was one of about a dozen tunes my dad and I played together (over, and over, and over) with him on guitar and me on fiddle. In a total coincidence (no, really) my band decided to record it for our upcoming album “High on the Hog”. I never played it quite like that with my dad, but looking back it's fun to imagine I was practicing for this. [more inside]
February 6
16 Step
A short improvisation for polyphonic synthesizer and 16-step sequencer
February 5
Oak Bay 2
January 28
Seawrack
January 21
Perilous Motion
Here's a chewy demo, work in progress.
If you like Seam and Superchunk this is in that vein. [more inside]
January 17
Samson
January 16
Lazy Rock
January 6
Close Enough
Plasma Laser Whip
The year is 1998, the air is thick with sweat and the night is slipping deep into the bass. The 303 pulses and squelches, the drum machine kicks the beat and the effects warp our minds. Dawn is coming, but for now it is just us and the crowd and the music and the warehouse.... [more inside]
Tired Of Winning
Another track from my first solo album. Like a great many of these lyrics, it began as a joke, albeit a sardonic one. President Trump had done something else horrifying and I said, out loud to mrs. eustacescrubb, "he was right. I AM tired of winning!" [more inside]
January 1
st swithins day
December 30
16 - bear trap - vampire deer
still thinking about it all - this is the last song on the album - time, perhaps, to have more fun ... [more inside]
Auld Lang Syne Chimes (chorus)
Short recording of me playing the chorus of "Auld Lang Syne" on bar chimes. Bonus background vocals by crickets outside. Total running time: 51 seconds. Happy new year, MeFi! [more inside]
December 29
Lift
15 - avenue song - vampire deer
the thing was, i was a mess in the 70s and he was the together fast talking con artist - in 2013, i heard that he'd killed himself way back in the 80s - that left me to wonder how i could be wrong about so many things, because it just wasn't what i expected to have happened [more inside]
December 27
Keeping up with my friend's five year old on drums
My friend posted a 50 second video of his daughter with her new christmas present drum set, and I decided to try to play along. It ended up turning into a free jazz fusion freakout of sorts. Here is the video.
December 25
14 - draw the lines - vampire deer
December 24
13 - captain's walk - vampire deer
December 22
12 - jack of assholes - vampire deer
December 21
Saint Simon
I came up with an arrangement of Saint Simon by the Shins on the wurlitzer. It's in some sort of 3/4, 6/8, 12/8 I'm-not-sure-what waltz/not waltz time signature.
Palo Alto
Featuring the Line 6 M9 providing a little bit of chorus, delay and reverb... and the old classic, the Line 6 POD providing the 'amp'. Full Line 6 rig today.
December 20
11 - instruction set - vampire deer
Christmas Creep
December 18
A Salvo
December 17
10 shadow - vampire deer
i wrote this in 1997, cribbing considerably from psalm 91 - i'm not as optimistic or as confident as the psalmist was - i'm also pretty disturbed to see how much more relevant it is now than it was then [more inside]
December 16
09 holler at the sky - vampire deer
actually this is the first song of the second cd, not that anyone's burning this to cd, but ... it's also another monologue and dulcimer based tune ... [more inside]
December 15
08 magpie - vampire deer
December 14
Everything That Isn't Bolted Down
07 crazy party - vampire deer
some people keep going until they can't - i wound up watching more than i did, but got to the point where i couldn't watch either [more inside]
December 13
(Gettin It On) On Christmas Eve
Bro-country Christmas wishes to you and yours. Apologies for the paucity of pickup trucks and SoCo.
06 robot morning - vampire deer
back in 1976, the guy who owned the bus and was going to take it out west was an artist - and what he liked to sketch was pictures of things like dead puppies with the new NCR barcodes on them - it was punk and conceptually on it ... [more inside]
December 11
05 blessed are - vampire deer
December 10
Advent Prelude
Advent Prelude by Charles Callahan. Written for flute and organ, but played here by flute and piano for various reasons. [more inside]
04 careful - vampire deer
December 9
Fluid Bonded - John The Rabbit
After co-writing and producing an album for a friend this year I decided, what the hell, Trump is President and we're all gonna die, may as well get over my fear of singing and write a solo album. This is the first compositon that gelled from that effort and made it onto the final album (which album can be heard on Bandcamp here).
Recorded entirely in my spare bedroom, using Logic, Ableton, various iOS music apps, and my own human body.
call on me
03 make it rough - vampire deer
December 8
Arps-speriment
December 7
02 division avenue - vampire deer
division avenue is a street in grand rapids - it's the few blocks south of downtown i have in mind - used to live in a residence hotel in 77 for a bit there - it's changed and it's not changed - but there are many places like it [more inside]
« Older Songs | Newer Songs »