12 posts tagged with indie by sparkletone.
Displaying 1 through 12 of 12.
The Jackal
This song is not exactly new (it's only slightly younger than Forwards/Back), but I didn't properly finish recording it until tonight. The levels/panning in a couple places could maybe use a little more tweaking to help everything in the mix stand out, but it's correct enough for now.
Time In The Sun
Mostly instrumental. (I'd keep the repeated line, but replace the wordless vocal bit with some horns if I had access to any, and have them carry on through the rest of the song.) Much, much more guitar layering than I usually do. Strangely (?), I think my favorite parts of the song are skittering electronic bits of the drum track and the bass line.
Emma Lane
Another laptop song. I'm not sure I like the vocal melody enough that it will will stick. I didn't really "write" it so much as I made it up on the spot several weeks ago at an open mic just after I'd finished the words (which I do like) and the backing track (which I also quite like). I get the feeling I'll get annoyed with it in six months and go back and make up another melody (which has happened several times before). It's the only song I know of about a thief who steals weather.
What If God Wanted Pasta Sauce
I can't believe it never occured to me until tonight to post what is by far my most famousest song! This is not actually the recording I made back in August '05. This is a somewhat improved version that I made about a year ago. The improvements were really just redoing the vocals so they weren't as bad, and putting in the electric guitar part. It's funny-ha-ha.
Forwards/Back
Beep beep beep. The main keyboard line in this song and much of the chord structure started life as a guitar part. This is the first thing I wrote that uses nothing but my laptop. I was watching it snow, and the basic idea(s) for the song just sort of ... popped in there.
Burn Bright (Burn Out)
I think this is still probably the best thing I've written. It's arranged sparely. It's really not anything more than a more nicely-recorded version of the two-track sketch that I record immediately after finishing writing a song just to have a rough sketch of the structure and main vocal melody. I haven't got a more full recording, because... Well, every time I try to flesh out the song, I end up feeling like I've bludgeoned something delicate. I'll get it some day, but for now, I think it works best when played simply.
Dissent
This arrangement still needs some embellishment, though I think it works okay as is. Probably one of my better vocal turns.
Haunted Houses
The poltergeists that you can't see will come for you while you sleep.
Circling Wolves
The oldest song I've written that I'm still willing to play, think about, work on, etc., etc. It's also changed rather radically from its even shorter original form, and it's gone through a couple lyrical rewrites. It grew a beat about six months ago. I think this is probably the final form structurally and lyrically, but I'd probably work on it more if I thought I could improve the sound quality significantly.
Cancer Patient
Mmm, 6/8 time... The vocal's less questionable than the other songs I've posted, but it is quite raspy in places because I ended up doing it in a couple takes after already having spent an hour two whipping the screamy bits of M.A.D. into shape, so my voice was a bit shot.
M.A.D.
WE CAN DO THE MUTUALLY-ASSURED DESTRUCTION
Invocation
A long time ago, this song used to have words. They were super lame. Now it makes for a good guitar freak out. The drums were the first thing I ever made in Ableton Live. Doing the tempo changes at the end in Live was a pain (but I still love you, Live!). I think the drums sound a bit stiff and robotic (in a bad way), but it's still about the best I can do with real drum sounds. The vocal's a bit dodgy, but is Good Enough For Now.
Page:
1