September 30, 2008
Geez, you’d think with all of the cool gear I have at my disposal, I wouldn’t use the Rhodes Keyboard, like, every other week. But it just sounds so nice; plus, the kids loves the Rhodes (every part of this sentence was intentional.)
I totally improvised the keyboard part of this track, which basically means that I left in the mistakes. It’s very tempting to go back and re-record a part this isn’t quite right, but you risk losing a lot of the spontaneity that you like about the track in the first place. Or I’m just lazy. Um, I’ll choose that first reason; it makes me sound more “artsy.” I also threw in a little bit of Clavinet for seasoning (It’s that “plucky”-sounding keyboard.)
This week’s piece is called “Whole Mess o’ Wrong,” and it runs a whopping 2:26m. Hell yeah.
Whole Mess o' Wrong [2:26m]:
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September 25, 2008
OK, before I get to this week’s Weekly Thing of the week (I bought this sentence from the Department of Redundancy Department,) I need to mention a unusual article I read online. Apparently the comedians at PETA want Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream to start using human breast milk in their products. You can view the article here. PETA actually sent a letter to Ben…and Jerry! I think it would be great if Ben & Jerry sent a response to PETA thanking them for their “joke letter” and complimenting them on their “great sense of humor,” in spite of their well-known reputation as being a bunch of “freaky-ass whack-jobs.”Oh, and there is no way in hell I am trying “Ben & Jerry’s Soylent Cream!”Anyway, on a subject completely unrelated to breast milk, I wrote a piece of music this week, or something. I decided to give my vintage Wurlitzer 200a Electric Piano some recording time. I call this piece “Looking Ahead” and it runs 1:46m. Hope you like it.
Looking Ahead [1:46m]:
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September 17, 2008
Things are a little hectic in my neighborhood these days. John McCain and Sarah Palin (can’t have her running around on her own, can we?) are having a rally at the local airport. I’m not sure what kind of rally: “Nuremberg” or “Pep?”I don’t mind them being here, but all of the smoke, mirrors, and manure deliveries are really screwing up traffic.
I know, this isn’t a “political blog,” so I’ll get back to my dinky li’l tunes. This week’s piece is particularly dinky, since it’s only piano and strings. I hope you like it. It’s called “Daydream” because…well, it just IS, I guess. Later.
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September 11, 2008
Patty & I drove back from the Black Hills in South Dakota yesterday, so I’m posting this a day later than usual. I recorded this piece of music last night, you know, just to see how creative I could be while falling asleep at my keyboard (those black keys hurt!) Turns out, I was just creative enough to hit all of the right notes and add some of that reverb stuff.
I call this piece “Prairie Road,” mostly because I saw a lot of them over the last week. It runs an obscenely short 44 seconds and sounds all cinematic ‘n stuff. Yeah, I’m still waking up.
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September 1, 2008
Patty & I are getting ready to go to Rapid City, SD, so I finished up this week’s piece a few days early (yeah, I’m surprised too.) Just so you know: next week’s piece might be a day late, so it all evens out, right?
I found myself listening to Billy Preston the other day and decided I wanted to record something a little more upbeat, so I whipped together this piece with just bass, drums and Rhodes keyboard. (Warning! Geeky keyboard information follows!) I took a pretty standard Rhodes patch and ran it through a phaser and a guitar amp simulator, and voila…a slightly less sucky-sounding Rhodes patch. I actually own a real Rhodes piano, but I haven’t finished restoring it, so it’s still sitting there mocking me…just like the neighbor kids.
This piece is called “Groove Dog” and it runs 2:25m. Grab a sandwich, a heaping glass of milk and get down with yo bad selves! Whoo!
(I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.)
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August 27, 2008
I was up late watching the convention last night, so I finished this up during commercial breaks. As a result, I’m pretty sure a harmonica might have slipped into the mix. If so, I deeply apologize. (I probably should listen to this stuff.)
I don’t really know what I was going for with this piece. Let’s say, “background music.” No, that stinks. Um, “instrumental?” (Well, duh.) OK, you can be the judge. I call it “Time Enough” and it runs for 2:14m.
Ooh, and it has piano!
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August 20, 2008
I stopped by my old workplace when I was in the area the other day. It was great seeing everyone again…even the people who didn’t know I had left! (Whaddya mean, you “thought I was working in Building One?”) I was asked two main questions: “Any kids yet?” and “Are you still playing music.” I started to explain about these little pieces of music I’ve been doing, but I think they really wanted to know if I was opening for Marshall Tucker, or something. (I hear he’s good.)
Anyway, I almost didn’t get this week’s piece done in time. I was working on some other things when I realized I had nada. So, I found the basic idea of this theme in an old folder, cleaned it up a bit, added some rhythm and here you go. It’s called “Invisible World” and it runs 1:44m. Whoo!
Invisible World [1:44m]:
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August 13, 2008
I was listening to some of my previous music posts and I realized that while the tracks have been light, dark, cheerful, or even mellow, not one of them has been lugubrious. “Lugubrious” is an actual word in the English language and it is rarely used as a compliment. Rarely! It means, “mournful, dismal or gloomy, often in an exaggerated manner.” Well, I wanted to try something that would meet this definition, so I whipped up this week’s piece. I call it “The Mountain,” because, well, I like mountains. And so do you.
It runs 1:23m and might just put you to sleep. Let me know if it does
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August 6, 2008
When I was growing up, I always played on real pianos rather than electronic synthesizers. I never had anything against synths, but let’s face it; Beethoven sounds much better on a Yamaha than a Yamaha (um, they make pianos AND synths.) As a result, I don’t usually choose a synth sound for my solos.
This week, I’m trying something different. I’m using the sound from an old ARP Pro-Soloist. It just seemed to fit the groove of this week’s song. The song runs 1:20m and is called “Steez.” No, I am not making up words now; but if I were, “steez” would be on the list, along with “flefftuple” and “bordlaudle.” “Steez” is a combination of “style” & “ease.” I’m being ironic here, since I’m usually capable of neither.
Once again, I’ve said too much.
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July 30, 2008
I was out of town for several days last week, so I had less time than usual to compose and record music. On the other hand, it was great seeing my friends and getting a goofy-looking farmer tan (yeah, I’m pale.) Since I don’t like living without sleep, I simply decided to do a shorter piece of music.
I wasn’t planning on writing something with a slightly darker sound, but while playing around without some sound effects, I eventually came up with this. It’s called Aether and it runs 1:04m. Nothing fancy, just simple strings with a rhythm track to give it some momentum. And isn’t that what we all need in this crazy world? Um, probably not.
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