32 posts tagged with ROCK and piano.
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The Guardian of Phobos
Piano vs. Electronics. Kinda epic even though it's not all that long! [more inside]
Hollow Words
A foot tapping piano-based rocker with some catchy riffs and pretty little intro that walks the line of being a little too long but IMO really sets the mood for the song.
Higher
This is the probably most commercial thing I've ever written -- still not sure how I feel about it -- but it was completely accidental. I just had this little 3-3-2 piano riff going and started putting a bassline under it, and the whole thing kind of fell out. I resisted it for months because it seemed so obvious but eventually gave in. Drums are 1-take 3-mics from my drummer but I think they work pretty well.
The interesting thing is that the 1-bar piano riff continues through as an ostinato through the whole thing, never changing.
I guess it's Coldplay's version of Marvin Gaye's SEXUAL HEALING, or something. A bit of U2 in there too somewhere in the scritch scratch guitar that comes in in the second verse. [more inside]
Your Destroyer
This is a rough mix of a nearly finished tune. Wanted to unleash it a bit early. [more inside]
Heroes Run
A story of an unexpected journey, and a choice to make; part rock opera, part... wolfdog, I guess. Lyrics inside! [more inside]
Easy
A song about a New Year's party in Miami.
womankind
An ode to women featuring guitars, piano, melodica, and lap steel. [more inside]
her name is hope
I wrote this after attending a concert late last year. Just finished (?) the recording. It's kind of a tribute to the musician I saw -- maybe you can guess who it is? Either way, it's a track that features guitars, pianos, fretless bass, vibes, drums, vocals and a lap steel part in the chorus that I'm really satisfied with. [more inside]
down slowly
me & the lady. I record everything on an old school mini disc recorder, not to be hip but because I'm poor. [more inside]
The Ballad of Cherry Hill
This is the lead-off track from the forthcoming EP, Labyrinths, by Steve Goldberg and the Arch Enemies, to be released 1/7/10. It's a wistful slice of indie-pop about insomnia, suburban isolation, and the boredom of hometowns. [more inside]
Madeleine
A new song called 'Madeleine' from my new band, features piano, strings and bouncy guitars! Wheeee. [more inside]
Song for Summer
As I was noodling around with these chords, beautiful summer has arrived here in Seattle. I couldn’t help but look out the window of our little music room at the gorgeous weather, flowers, blue skies, and people having fun on the water and asking myself, what am I doing inside on such a lovely day? And the answer is, writing a song about how I love the summer months as long as I’m safely ensconced indoors and out of the sun. It’s not my fault that I’m borderline translucent and in danger of melting in summer sun like a chocolate bar on the backseat of a car in July. But keep in mind, those of us who prefer it inside, aren’t necessarily anti-summer. We love watching it from the safety of air-conditioned shade. [more inside]
My Chemical Brain
I don’t know crap about this topic but it hasn’t stopped me from having my interest piqued. Specifically, I’m talking about brain chemistry. Both the mechanics of it and the way we manipulate what those mechanics do these days are super interesting. Even more amazing to me is how people’s emotions (usually negative emotions) can be a simple result of a chemical imbalance in their brain. Wow. I realize the drugs we have today are both amazing relative to nothing and very blunt instruments relative to what we’ll have down the road. And while I haven’t tried any of them, I sometimes wonder what people did before they existed. Mostly suffered I suppose. :| [more inside]
Brookline
(Note: NSFW-ish if f*** and a****** are a problem where you work.)
For the bulk of the years of growing up that I actually remember, what I would consider the “formative” years, I lived in Brookline, Massachusetts. (Not to be confused with the super irritating Brookline, New Hampshire that would show up in school closing announcements only to leave me extra disappointed.) During and after college I didn’t think much of my high school years at Brookline High School. And in fact, I ended up losing touch with every friend I made there. But thanks to the internets I have reconnected with many of them, some very recently. It’s been super positive, and it’s stirred up all these great memories of my time in Brookline. That’s what this song is about. These three incidents in particular: [more inside]
Take the Picture
I tend to take a lot of pictures. I found out early on in my photo-taking tenure that the more pictures I took, the more likely that some of them would come out nicely. Of course, I’m always the one behind the camera. As a parent, I also have wondered just how much of the time I spend with my kids they will remember (if any). My father recently asked me if I remembered how we used to watch Star Trek together. I honestly couldn’t remember. He was crushed. It occurred to me that many years down the road when my kids look at our family pictures they won’t see me in any of them because I was the one behind the camera. Something tells me that this detail will be lost on them as they repeat the cycle and tell me they don’t remember me being there. ;) [more inside]
In Your Name
I've spent the past couple of months trying to improve my production skillz with my limited resources. This is the first song to come out of it all (probably because it's the simplest) with more on the way hopefully! [more inside]
Dear Editor
Awhile ago I spent way too much time reading a thread on the always excellent Marginal Revolution blog discussing possible tactics for dealing with sudden and unwelcome time-travel to 1000 A.D. Clearly the thread needed to be put to music. (OK, it was clear to me at least.) That was so much fun that I thought it might be fun to do it again. And Tyler over at Marginal Revolution was nice enough to participate for another round.
Then Tyler announced the topic - “Are Books Overwritten?” Ruh ro.
[more inside]
Days Like This
It seemed time for an uncomplicated pop song (not that any of my songs are super complex in the first place). But in this nice little package you get everything you’re looking for in a standard radio-friendly pop song (does anyone listen to the radio anymore?)... [more inside]
SkyMall (Jonathan Coulton cover)
A few months ago I decided I wanted to try and do a cover. Based on the result, it was clearly a bad idea. I probably should have been discouraged but instead, after months of therapy, I decided to try again. The victim this time was one of my favorite artists - Jonathan Coulton and his excellent song SkyMall. [more inside]
Victor's a Dictionary
Written back at the turn of the millennium (oh the good old days) this song is about our old friend Victor. He’s an ethnic Chinese, Australian born doctor who abandoned medicine (and Sydney) to embrace the “structured” world of computer programming and the United States. Once you understand the laws that govern Victor’s existence you can compile him quite reliably. [more inside]
Private Island
Wrote this a few years ago. An introspective song about a place to be introspective. [more inside]
Terry (The Probably Drunk and Definitely Angry Stewardess)
Song about an unreasonably angry stewardess. Everyone's written one of these. [more inside]
Rule 34
If you don’t know what “Rule 34″ is, just pull out your trusty Urban Dictionary and look it up. Go ahead, I’ll wait. [more inside]
Let's Sneak Off
Polygamy (or more accurately - group marriage) gone awry. [more inside]
Betty (Sugar Fix)
This song is about a love rectangle. The singer is in love with Betty, she’s in love with a boy who treats her like crap. He is in love with Betty’s rich best friend who treats both him and Betty like crap. Everyone’s pretty much miserable except possibly for the best friend who’s oblivious to people’s feelings. [more inside]
1000 A.D. (Sugar Fix)
Inspired by the Marginal Revolution thread giving advice on what to do if you find yourself suddenly transported back to Europe 1000 years ago with nothing but the clothes on your back. [more inside]
the vase
My wife accidentally broke a vase. This song resulted. It was recorded in a couple of days inbetween other projects. I used no clicktrack, metronome or drum beat, so the timing is nice and loose (in a good way, I hope). It's short, so listen twice!
wedding song
Piano-based song written for my wife, for our recent wedding. As usual with my songs, it's slow and sparse. A lot of vocal layering going on, and some electric guitar to round things out in the chorus. Enjoy!
Perfect Martyr
One of my bands, The Man So Cool, did some recording a couple
weeks ago for a demo disc. We're still working on final vocals and
proper mixes, but this is a pretty good rough mix of one of the songs.
Links to the other three songs can be gotten over
yonder.
I Just Want to Feed the Ducks
Well, last week I had stepped out for a cigarette and witnessed a snippet of a conversation between a man and his daughter. They were both riding their bicycles down the sidewalk through the plazain which I work, and my guess would place the daughter at about 9 or 10 years old. As they rode past me, I heard the man say to the girl, "I just want to feed the ducks, and you keep pulling me away." And that's pretty much the basis for this song. It gets kinda awesome about halfway through. I mean, I think so, anyway.
sleep fiction
A pretty catchy melody, I think -- starts slow like most of my songs, but then picks up and becomes more of a rock track. Sample lyric: "Sleeping with you is still fiction, so missing it must be a contradiction." Features vocals, guitars, piano, drums, strings.
criminal
A recent recording of a slow and maybe a little creepy song I wrote a couple of years ago. I'm responsible for all vocals and instruments minus the bass, which was recorded by my Scottish buddy Riadsala.
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