665 posts tagged with acoustic.
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Make it Out Alive
Acoustic demo of a song that's supposed to be a lot louder and noisier and uhh drummier. Written last night, recorded in my living room this morning. Take your meds, loves
Rain
Twelve string acoustic miniature again!
A Conversation
12 String etc
Empty Light
12 string recorded on a phone as usual
Hell
A bad omens country song with my lowest drawly early morning vocals ever and a cool slippery guitar riff in the chorus. [more inside]
The Thing that Beats like a Cracked Bell
12 string acoustic etc
Keep It
I came out as trans to my partner of 20 years and she ended our marriage and I'm a wreck of a human being and anyway here's a song
Consolation
Guitar, phone, still a bit clumsy.
The Ballad of Innsmouth
A somber tale of aquatic horrors. [more inside]
Sky Bvtches
Sort of a low-fi midwestern rock thing. [more inside]
Naturelle 2
I bought an old Steinway upright recently, on which I've been making pieces like this, which I call "naturelles."
Three more naturelles on Bandcamp, here: https://raygull.bandcamp.com/album/naturelles-1-4 [more inside]
You Should Eat Your Yellow Vegetables
Just stretching the muscles, keeping loose, don't wanna get too rusty ya know... [more inside]
Seven Up / Old Sledge / All Fours
Another old-time fiddle tune [more inside]
The Wandering Life Is A Difficult One But It Is Not Without Its Pleas...
Had a homie on the last goat farm who asked me to write her a song about bouncing around the country taking care of goats and green things, asked me to call it "Hard Out Here for a Nomad" but that is not the name of this song, the name of this song is "The Wandering Life Is A Difficult One, But It Is Not Without Its Pleasures; For Example, Today I Saw A Cardinal." [more inside]
Hymn To Her
Another post, another Sunday....
The Let Go
Another request from my three-year-old grandson, this is Elle King's "The Let Go." Video.
man, damn
somehow managed to write this today and then record a million takes of it on my front porch. chords are far apart, words are close together — pretty difficult for me to sing but we're getting there
pictures of sunsets
A song about struggling with mental health, written and recorded in my bedroom this weekend. Some explicit lyrics.
All You Fascists Bound To Lose (2021 update)
The events in Washington DC on January 6 compelled me to write this one. I took Woody Guthrie's chorus and ran with it. You can see the video of this performance at YouTube. Cheers. [more inside]
Mercy Now
This moving song by Mary Gauthier is one of my favorites. Everyone needs mercy. Video.
Mirrorball
pop song with a train beat feel [more inside]
You Can Make Me Feel Bad (Arthur Russell cover)
I've been listening to this song a lot recently, and admire Russell's sort of ambiguity. Featuring authentic San Francisco rain and street noise.
The Great Staycation
It's about as much fun as you'd imagine it would be. March 2020. [more inside]
Marathon Days
Just wrote this today, very much informed by our current situation. Lyrics in the bridge borrowed/stolen wholesale from Joy Division's "Transmission." Recorded on my bathroom floor into my Tascam DR100's built-in mics. Who will he answer to?
Bottle of Sunshine (Corwin Bolt & the Wingnuts)
A brand new song from our forthcoming album "Riches to Rags", which we're released today as part of our special Social Distance release on Bandcamp. [more inside]
Unknowable Knowns
Restless and pissed off over the covid-19 situation, and powerless to do much about it, I set up a mic (and a camera) on my porch after I put my kid to bed and recorded this song I wrote about civil disobedience.
You got the stones for crime. It's about time.
Mean ol' Coronavirus
I wrote a little tune about that darn microscopic critter the whole world is talking about. I made a little video for it, too. If you wanna see it, it's here. Put it on Bandcamp as well, just for good measure, as an AIF file, which of course I'd be delighted if you bought for a buck. Or more. Cause all my damn gigs are cancelled lately. [more inside]
Head Like A Hole
You know how you were thinking the other day "I really love Nine Inch Nails, but I'd really love Nine Inch Nails if they were Sufjan Stevens"
Yeah, me too. Also for the first time shot video as I was recording.
Five Miles From Town
In honor of Clyde Davenport, who passed away this week at the age of 98, one of the fiddle tunes he played, although not particularly in his style. [more inside]
Letterbox (TMBG cover)
A hushed but nonetheless exuberant take on a very good song from They Might Be Giants' album "Flood," recorded at my kitchen table [more inside]
Best Booty on the Farm
Recently met a dog with a mighty fine behind. [more inside]
Stamps
Short, sweet, sappy love song. [more inside]
The Best Part of Christmas is You
This year I wrote a Christmas song that I'm rather fond of for my wife, who I'm also rather fond of. [more inside]
chords 'n gourds
An autumnal fingerpickin' instrumental.
Manhattan Skyline
Some recent discussion on MeFi about the band a-ha reminded me that I'd recorded this acoustic cover of one of their songs a long time ago. This is actually based on an arrangement by Kings of Convenience, who made some interesting changes to the original song structure. Me on vocals and guitars (nylon-string and steel-string). [more inside]
Both Hands - cover (Ani DiFranco)
Acoustic guitar and voice. Pretty straight as far as my memory of the proper song goes. [more inside]
F9mily (You & Me)
A multi-tracked violin sketch/tiny cover of an excellent song by Lil Nas X that I can't get out of my head.
Whistlin' Tune
Havin' a play with the gang! [more inside]
Little black bird
Just a little song from my weird little indie folk heart. Actually reworking something old and the first thing I've recorded in a while, since I was pretty tired from the whole process of putting out my first EP in January. Also...stuff?...has been happening to my voice because I am trans and recently started testosterone therapy, I really notice the change in how my voice feels and I certainly hope others can hear it too!
Georgia
Another weird, haunting indie folk song from yours truly! There is also a weird, haunting music video located here.
This is all part of my first official release, which I am super excited about, under my stage name MK Ellison.
Meek
Walking with pushchairs to make the little one sleep forces you outside. [more inside]
I Will Work For Honey (Tim Long's Unidentified String Band)
"'I will work for honey!' This girl looks at me and goes, 'what?' I go 'yeah, it goes like this.'" [more inside]
Smoke
Pretty proud of the vocals. This is a weird one, but my most haunting song yet. I had an image of a supernatural, quiet kind of nightmare where the narrator has a horrible premonition that something is coming for her, tries to run away, but cannot get far enough.
Big red sky
It's been a while since I posted any of my new songs here. What do you think of my kind of new direction (and quality of the recording)?
Alternative folk-ish, acoustic song with clean vocals, guitar, mandolin, harmonies. Sounds happy but the lyrics are not. [more inside]
Magali
This song started as a joke and turned into something quite different. My friend and her husband have a lovely cat with an inspiring life story. During a recent visit, she said I should write a song about Magali, and after laughing about possible lyrics, it turned into a heartfelt song about the sweet, loving bond between a man and his cat. [more inside]
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).
Deeper Well (Emmylou Harris cover)
I love this song. Cover with guitar, piano. From her 1995 album Wrecking Ball, which Wikipedia calls "career redefining."
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.
Many Chords
My wife had a pessimistic guitar instructor when she was younger, one of those "there's nothing new in music, there's only 12 notes" kind of musicians. So, as a rebuttal to that mindset, here's an in-progress 50+ chord progression that I think is turning out swimmingly so far.
Let's try that again
This is a complete reworking of a song I posted before (17) which is now...prettier? Mellower? Flows more? What do you think of my new direction?
[more inside]