47 posts tagged with acoustic by flapjax at midnite.
Displaying 1 through 47 of 47.
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]
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]
How Long, America?
Wish I didn't have to keep writing songs like this. [more inside]
Take A Knee
Topical song. Recorded live in one take, fast and dirty, at home. Vocal, three-string guitar and stompbox, all coming out of a 15 watt VOX guitar amp. I videoed the performance too, which you can see at Facebook or YouTube. If you'd like to download an AIFF audiofile, you can do so at SoundCloud. [more inside]
Ferguson, Missouri
This song addresses the situation in Ferguson and the frightening militarization and violence of today's police forces across America. I made a video for it, which you can view here.
The Devil Walks the Earth
Here's a live recording of a song I premiered at a gig two nights ago (July 18, 2014). The bassist accompanying me is Keigo iwami, from the Swamp Root Jimmies. The song is anti-war, anti-greed, anti-death. Video here.
Democracy Stolen
Wrote this about the execrable Supreme Court ruling of April 2nd, 2014. Video here.
Never Took a Dollar from a Dead Man
This is S&H, from a show we did just the other night here in Tokyo. I'm so digging working with percussionist Habu Hiroshi, he's really bringing the groove. Video here.
Oh Death (by S&H, live, April 2013)
Well it isn't the first time I've posted this song to Metafilter Music. Nor is it the second, third or fourth. But, in my defense, I'd say that all of these versions are, well, rather different from each other, in their various ways. This fifth one is from my duo band S&H, and was recorded live at a little African restaurant in Shinjuku. Video here.
Annie Took the Money
Last of the tunes recorded earlier this month in a little house in the mountains. Vocal and stick dulcimer. A very prolific songbird who was just outside can be heard throughout this performance. Video here.
Hobo Blues
Ever since I first saw John Lee Hooker's utterly captivating, almost terrifyingly powerful performance of it, I've been a lover of this song. RL Burnside covered it as well. This is my humble (and following those two performances, I really mean that) offering, from a little house in the hills of Nagano prefecture, Japan. Video here.
Couldn't Tell You Why
Another tune recorded the other day at a little house in the woods. Just vocal and stick dulcimer, and a little bird outside that joins me for the very last note. Video here.
That's the Way It Wiggles
Recorded this at home the other day, using the stick dulcimer and a stomp box. Lyrics and video here.
If You Believe
Another tune recorded in the woods of Nagano Prefecture. Video here.
The Silence Could Be Heard
How I spent 4 minutes and 52 seconds of my summer vacation. Recorded yesterday, in the woods. Video YouTube or Vimeo.
Not Anywhere Anymore
i put down the phone / left a bag of cookies on the corner / filled my brain with a soft white light / sent all my 8-track tapes / to my cousin down in mississippi / took my foot off the pedal, and gave up the fight... A brand new song, live in Tokyo, May 1, 2011. Video here.
Random Act of Cruelty
Recorded live at Super Deluxe, Tokyo, April 22, 2011. I'm playing strumstick and stompbox. Video here.
John the Revelator
Here's another tune from an earthquake/tsunami disaster relief benefit show that i was part of on April 8, 2011. This one is a traditional gospel number. Video here.
Grateful Wanderer
Many of the gigs I'm doing these days here in Tokyo are fundraisers for Tohoku quake/tsunami disaster relief. This tune was from one such concert. The video for it has been added to the Artsts Support Japan YouTube channel, and it can be seen here.
Bless Your Pretty Bones
Another tune recorded in a former elementary school classroom on Awaji Island, Japan, during my March exile from Tokyo. Video here.
No Such Place As Home
Yet another tune recorded in a classroom at the former elementary school were I was a refugee for a few days. Here I'm playing a berimbau they had lying around. Not playing it in the usual way (caoiera-style, you know), but just kinda strumming it. Your basic one-note accompaniment. Video here.
Pigs Ate My Roses
Another tune recorded during my brief exile on Awajima Island. Video here.
For a Little While I Was Free
Over the last few days, at a former elementary school on the island of Awajishima, I recorded a number of songs. This one is the newest of those: written on the train out of Tokyo on 3/17 and recorded on 3/18, in a rather reverberant hallway/stairwell. Video here.
Wouldn't That Be Fine
Breaking out ye olde stick dulcimer again for this one, plus the trusty stompbox. Live in beautiful downtown Shibuya, February 10, 2011. Video here.
Hope You Catch the Drift
Live in concert at Barrelhouse, Ikebukuro, Tokyo, on December 12, 2010. Vocal and stick dulcimer. Video here.
Baby Please Don't Go
Live in deepest Ikebukuro, Tokyo. Accompanying myself on my Hungarian mouth bow. Video here.
Blues Wrapped Round My Head (live, 2010)
Until You Kiss Me (live, 2010)
Back in 2007 I posted this same song (a studio version) which eventually made its way onto my 2009 CD release, Roomful of Ghosts. Here's a live version of the tune, recorded June 25, 2010, at Super Deluxe in Tokyo. Video of this same performance here at YouTube, and just for good measure, here's the video for that studio version as well.
Only Passing Through
I posted a solo version of this tune back in January 2010, but this is the Medicine Bone version, recorded at a gig the other night right here in ol' Tokyo town. Video at YouTube.
Over Amsterdam
A new song, hot off the presses, recorded live in concert just a little more than 24 hours ago, as of this posting. Video of this same performance at YouTube and Vimeo.
Show Me the Way to the River
Another tune from the same recent Medicine Bone show as this one, with special guest Ken Kawashima on harmonica. Video at YouTube and Vimeo.
Ready To Rock
Solo, live at CAY in Aoyama, Tokyo, April 14, 2010, accompanying myself on the strumstick. Video of this same performance at YouTube or Vimeo.
To Tennessee
Recorded April 7, 2010, in a conference room in Ichikawa, Chiba, Japan. For this tune I'm using one of my sardine can sanzas. Video of this same performance may be seen at YouTube.
Fighting the Civil War
The recent announcement of Virginia's "Confederate History Month", and this comment in particular, in a Mefi thread about it, inspired me to write this song. [more inside]
Better Take Care of Me
Recorded April 7, 2010, in a conference room in Ichikawa City, Chiba, japan. The instrument is a kind of mouthbow, although it's not actually bow-shaped: it's one of these. Video of this same performance at YouTube.
Dance Into the Fire
A brand new song, from a gig I did on March 25, 2010, at Super Deluxe here in Tokyo. Video of this same performance at YouTube here.
Burnside
Another live recording from my new band, Medicine Bone (previously). This is one of band-mate Ken Shima's songs, which he's singing here. I'm on walking drums. I love drumming to this tune. Video of this same performance on YouTube.
Sitting On Top of the World
This is my other brand new band, the Ghost Steppers. We do old-time, early blues, jug band, mountain music: all traditional stuff, no originals. Here's our rough-and-ready take on an old favorite, originally written and recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks, that's been interpreted by many, many folks over the years. I've changed the lyrics a bit (maybe more than a bit) but that's part of the longstanding folk tradition, of course. Video of this same performance at YouTube here.
I'm Worried About You
Here's my new band, Medicine Bone, from our official first gig at Velvet Sun in Ogikubo, Tokyo, February 27, 2010. Ken Shima is on guitar, and sings plenty of his own tunes in the band too: it's a collaborative effort. This is one of my tunes, though, a blues. Video of this same performance at YouTube.
[more inside]
Little Bug on the Floor
This fast and dirty recording is from the mic on a Sony CyberShot camera. It's no audiophile's dream, for sure, but I just felt like getting some recent jaw harp tunes down to live video the other day, as I had a free hour in a big conference room. The room is definitely present in the recording. Anyway, video of this performance can be seen at YouTube and Vimeo. [more inside]
You Came Out of Nowhere
i keep thinking there's something i need to do - and i keep not doing it... Recorded live in performance at Nana Hari, Hachobori, Tokyo. Here I'm accompanying myself on the strumstick. Video at YouTube and Vimeo. [more inside]
Only Passing Through
...we're all in Folsom Prison, but there ain't no Johnny Cash... Recorded live in performance at Nana Hari, Tokyo, on January 17, 2010. For this song I'm playing the Vietnamese jaw harp known as the Dan Moi. Video of this performance at YouTube and Vimeo.
[more inside]
As I Slowly Disappear
Recorded live in performance at Nana Hari, Tokyo, on January 17, 2010. Accompanying myself on the strumstick. Video at YouTube and Vimeo. [more inside]
Gone Gone Gone
For the April "two chords" Challenge. The two 3-note chords even share a note in common, so we're talking a total of five notes serving as harmonic accompaniment for this song. Played on the strumstick. There's a hoop drum, too, of indeterminate pitch. I posted a lo-fi, live version of this song to YouTube as well, direct from my 6-mat tatami room at home. You can see it here.
Bridge In The Sky
Fellow wants to cross a bridge, but it floats up into the sky. Woman comes along but she turns into smoke. Fellow throws a fistfull of dirt in the air, gets a new idea, goes and does some other stuff. Then there's a happy ending. Written for the "bridge" challenge, but I reckon you knew that already. Guitar by Ken Kawashima, who can also be heard here and here. Lyrics inside.
Until You Sever The Snake
Written and recorded for the serpentine challenge now underway. My buddy Ken Kawashima brought in the North Mississippi blues riff and yours truly did the rest. Apologies to animal rights advocates, but some snakes were severed during the recording of this song. Had to be done. [lyrics inside]
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.
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