Category: Music - Page 34 - UNDERDOG of PERFECTION

A glimpse into the musical sketchbook

Last Friday night I spent a few hours playing around with some new musical ideas. I worked on some acoustic guitar parts for some earlier songs (including a possible re-recording of my 2003 track “Tai Chi for Oafs”), and I also worked on a couple of brand new ideas.

These may never see any further attention than what they got that night, and they’re presently fairly repetitive, but that’s why they fade out mercifully quickly. Enjoy! (Or not.)

Don’t Limit Me, Steve!
The working title of this track is aimed squarely at Mr. Jobs. As much as I love all things Apple, especially GarageBand, I do find it aggravating at times that the software makes you select a time signature, tempo and key before you can create a new song project. It makes it difficult to just play around with ideas because if you want to change any of these attributes, it permanently alters the playback of any tracks you’ve already recorded. I’ve retaliated by creating this song with an unnatural 11-bar chord progression and a bass riff that strangely hits a major 6th where the listener (myself included) would normally expect to hear a minor 7th.

[audio:http://blog.room34.com/wp-content/uploads/underdog/steve.mp3]

Mellotronic
Just a mellow electronic thing. And of course, given the name, I had to put some Mellotron in it.

[audio:http://blog.room34.com/wp-content/uploads/underdog/mellotronic.mp3]

It’s good to be “Downcast”

One really cool thing about participating in the RPM Challenge, beside forcing myself to record a new album and get it out there in just a month’s time, was getting to discover so much great talent out there amongst my fellow home-recorders. One of the most interesting people I’ve been introduced to through this process is a Chicago-based artist and musician named Joshua Wentz. And Josh was kind enough to invite me to be featured on his B-Sides podcast. Check it out!

While you’re there, be sure to check out all of Josh’s great graphic design work, not to mention his own music. I especially recommend the latest in his series of improvised tracks known as the Winchester Sessions.

OK, winter, we get it

I knew it was probably coming, so it wasn’t a total shock. But still… I woke up this morning to this:

Ugh. It will most likely have melted by noon, I suppose. Not that that will do much to repair my severely damaged psychological state.

Even worse, I’m annoyed that the default CSS for the new WordPress gallery functionality uses float: left so when there are only two images, it doesn’t center them, but leaves a nice, perfectly-sized void where a third photo would have gone. I’ll have to fix that. Speaking of voids, my annoyance (and distraction) at snow and CSS is somewhat compensated for by the smooth “electronic breakbeat jazz” grooves of Revolution Void.

Update, 8:13 AM: Great, now it’s actually snowing more. Take that, global warming! (Yes, please check out that site, if for no other reason than to prove that just because your URL is “globalwarming.org” doesn’t mean you’re a benevolent non-profit trying to save the world.)

Stirring up the “Bitches Brew”

There are some albums in my collection (such as Relayer by Yes, of all things) that I have purchased multiple (and I mean many) times over the years as new and improved versions have been released. But for some reason, after 15 or so years, I’m still stuck with the quiet, murky, horribly mastered original CD release of Bitches Brew, one of the most influential of all Miles Davis albums (all of which are influential in their way). Why? Well, that’s a good question, especially now that I’ve ripped off paid tribute to it with a track on my latest CD, Unnatural Disasters.

The price has probably been the biggest deterrent. Since it’s a double album, and most versions now feature copious bonus tracks, it’s almost impossible to find for less than $20. Even for download. iTunes has it priced at $19.90, and since all but one of the tracks are at least 11 minutes long, you can’t just scoop up the 7 individual tracks for $6.93.

Amazon MP3 Downloads has it priced at a more reasonable $16.99, but here’s the catch: you can still buy all of the individual tracks, even the 27-minute title track, separately for 99 cents each. It requires some more cumbersome clicking around (since ease of use has never been Amazon’s strongest suit, strangely enough), but it’s worth the extra calories burned by your right index finger, and the minute or two all of that takes, to save ten bucks!

Looks like I’m a “Very Us Artist”

Participating in the 2008 RPM Challenge was great for a lot of reasons. I got fired up to produce what I think is my best solo album so far. I learned about some great online resources for musicians like Kunaki and INDISTR. I met some cool people along the way.

But perhaps the most exciting thing to come of it is that I’ve discovered the Very Us Artists, a loose collective of musicians and visual artists who collaborate to produce a brand new, “various artists” (get it?) album every few months around a shared concept. There’s some tremendous talent involved, and it’s a wonderfully welcoming environment. The upshot of all of this is that I have recorded a track to be included on the next Very Us Artists album, The Future Is Now. It’s a very cool concept (which, of course, I had to twist in my own way), and I am really looking forward to seeing and hearing what my co-conspirators have come up with. Stay tuned for more!