As part of an effort on my part to get the musicians from R&P to record and share their work and exchange critiques with one another I have been doing a monthly post for musicians. Look for one of these questions on the first of each month. I've been doing these questions for a really long time now.
Here are my recordings for the month: http://wireandstring.bandcamp.com/album/september-2011
I decided I would try to do all standards this month. It was my intention to do 3 or 4 but I didnt quite make my goal. I have this version of amazing grace that features a sample from an old life insurance pitch i found on 45. I've also got a version of summertime that i recorded over lunch today, kind of a hastily recoded minimalist take on it. I have to admit that it feels like i rushed it so that i would have more than one song for this month, but I suppose I'll let you be the judge.
MQ: Musicians: would you post some of your current projects?
Everyone else: would you mind having a listen and offering any constructive criticism?
2011-09-01T15:36:18Z
jimmy- i enjoyed both of them. in everest i realy like where the 2nd drum part first comes in. and i really like the guitar intro and exit solos on when the rain falls. and really well delivered vocals on both tracks (a windscreen would be nice though.) and just dig the general vibe of both of them, really nice.
2011-09-01T15:39:11Z
hep- sublime called out gershwin who i am covering.
2011-09-01T15:51:13Z
gibb- fried cheer is just nasty as hell. but whats going on with the ending? are you going to leave it chopped like that? yer brain is good stuff, love the build up of it. and yeah, great drumming throughout. I also personally liked alice cooper and i'm 18 much more after listening to the rest of love it to death. too easy to rip on people when you haven't really listened to them. anyway solid cover.
2011-09-01T16:11:41Z
hep- yeah, sylvia is great. nice and jangly. forestspiritrarara just has some really nice lofi...its a really inviting it reminds me how a gnome fits in a gnome shaped nook. oh yeah wisconsin blue sky is a total mountain goats rip off, but its cool, i like the mountain goats.
2011-09-01T16:23:47Z
fingertoes!- so glad to see you. i've decided your voice reminds me of rose melberg. good song. guitar tone feels a bit hollow and tiny on it though.
hep- the artist just arrived home and she says she would sell you a print. they are 24" by 16". not sure how much we would charge you but it would be at least the cost of shipping.
2011-09-01T16:35:42Z
when i said tiny i meant atomic number 50 tin.
2011-09-02T13:22:53Z
godfather- drums actually arent canned they are acoustic. they are looped, but its a longer loop then it seems, its like 9 bars. but yeah, it is a lot to ask a really simple repetative drum line- its really holding the whole song together as the only rhythm element as it sits right now. anyway, yeah summertime. i've long felt like i needed to do a version. its almost like a right of passage to cover summertime. its been done so many times in so many ways its like here are some of the best lyrics ever, and this really solid haunting melody, and you can do anything at all you want with it. have you ever heard the james brown version?
2011-09-03T07:15:56Z
RJ- sawtooth remix is kind of amazing. its like the sound a train makes when you have been beat to an inch of your life and left on the tracks to try and crawl slowly off before the train finishes you. or something.
2011-09-03T07:48:59Z
the man- to begin with, non musically, i am really digging the old hollywood black and whites close ups theme that you are cultivating. this is a lot of music for someone who claimed to have nothing recorded 2 days ago. dark jouney is pretty cool and i think the makeshift percussion really works. great bass tone in that one also. the instrumental is nice, and for some reason i really liked the ending. psyche furs is great, especially once it really gets going.
and i still think my best cover from the old material was do me do duds.
2011-09-03T08:05:52Z
franzy- these simple little guitar parts can be so effective and powerful. you leave space so well, its something we could all learn to do better, how to leave negative space in a song. i enjoyed all 3. your vocals are great throughout. but i would like the vocal to come up a little in the mix on first date. she's killer was my favorite of the 3.
The Man Whose Head Expanded2011-09-01T17:50:00Z
Favorite Answer
Okay well I was determined to have something finished for this month, so I rushed to have this song finished in time. Unfortunately I had no percussion available so I was reduced to keeping the beat by slapping my hands off a weights bench and hitting a battery off the railing. I'm giving this song 'demo' status because it's definitely not quite finished, I doubt it'll get 53 plays like Laurence Olivier got last month, but here's hoping.
Both constructive and scathing criticisms are welcomed.
I'll listen to the rest and edit.
Sorry about the delay, I thought I'd wait until the TD trolls disappeared before commenting. I'll listen now and edit.
@wireandstring I like what you did with Amazing Grace, one of my least favourite songs of all time. You were able to do something fun with it, the sample was a nice touch. I like that you refrained from singing the lyrics and whistled the melody instead, it's a sweet melody really. I'm also jealous of your ability to whistle in tune.
Summertime was great, it's nice to hear a take on that song other than the Ella Fitzgerald/Dinah Shore versions with the big voices and grandiose productions. You stripped it back and turned it into something modern, I'm hearing new things in that song now that I never heard before. I like the swampiness of it all and the effect on the vocals, it's probably my favourite cover of yours along with Edward VIII (yes I did my research and went back and listened to your older songs), great job.
I have to go to the library and I'll be back.
@Jimmy Blister, I liked When the Rain Falls, I think the picture matches the feeling of the song perfectly. The guitar tone was great, and the singing was very good. I liked the stripped back nature of it, and the lack of overdubs let the singing and the lyrics shine through.
I think Everest has potential, but maybe with a different arrangement because the song seems a bit messy at the moment. I really liked the drumming on this one though. I agree with the Godfather of Soul that the sound got a bit too loud and distorted about halfway through.
@gibb I consider you to be the chameleon of R&P, because you seem to be adept at whatever style of music you set yourself to. I remember a long time ago coming across one of these questions and listening to a couple of your songs, I think you said that you were into the likes of Buck Owens and Hank Williams at the time, and you did that style of music very well as well.
You do the Sabbath/Blue Cheer/Hawkwind sound very well now. There's nothing wrong with sounding like those bands, they're all great bands. I probably preferred last month's batch of songs overall (Volcano especially), but Fried Cheer is my favourite this month. I agree with hep that the 'doctor doctor please help me' part definitely stood out.
I always loved I'm Eighteen by Alice Cooper, and you do a great rendition. I just wish I was still eighteen so I could cover it. Anyone know any songs about turning 22? The drumming is great on all the tracks as well.
@hep The woman in the picture is Janet Leigh from Psycho. I really liked Sylvia, I especially liked the distorted guitar that comes in after the 'a movie filmed in black and white' part. It's a really catchy song and seems like the sort of song that'd stick in your head for days. I get definite 'Femme Fatale' by Velvet Underground vibes from this song.
I had a heard time hearing forestspiritrara but it sounded good from what I could hear. You have a real knack for crafting catchy and memorable melodies.
Raga for London reminded me a lot of another song, I actually had to pause it and hum the song that was in my head to try to figure out what it was. I came up with 'Tender' by Blur. I haven't heard that song in a while so I don't know if it's just me. I liked the song though, the chorus in particular.
I've never listened to The Mountain Goats so I don't know if Wisconsin sounds like them or not, but I do like your song, especially the chord progression. I'm not sure about the 'punk rock' line, but other than that I liked the song overall.
@toes I listened to this a few days ago but wanted to reserve my judgement until this question came up. Your voice is always the highlight of your songs for me. It definitely sounds like you could kick my @$$. Parts of this song reminded me of Cinderella's big score by Sonic Youth for some reason ('if i could give you anything, i would give you a kick!')
I liked the guitar slide at the end and how you chose not to sing 'heart' at the very end, since we already knew what the title of the song was. It's the little things like that that matter. It would be great to hear you with a full band, bass, drums, the lot. I think your music has a lot of potential, but it's already really good with just one guitar and voice. Your voice and lyrics carry the whole song. I look forward to hearing your songs every month now.
i like it. it seems like you've got this unique sound going for you, and it really is great. good vox, guitar, same as last month. i might have already mentioned this but you remind me of joanna newsom for some reason. the only criticism i have is that it might be a little too much like last month. these new songs could have easily appeared on the ep you released last month. it's not a very good complaint since you seem to have found your niche and you shouldn't be forced out of it. but it's good to experiment a bit, you know?
I just listened to the songs real quick and will get back listening and commenting after the Steeler game is over.
Edit:
@ Wire & String, Amazing Grace was amazingly funny and I enjoyed it a lot. Summertime is one of my favorite songs and think you did a very good interpretation of it. My only criticism would be the canned drums, maybe if you used a slightly different beat, but other than that I really enjoyed it.
@ Jimmy Blister, Everest was great up to when the sound got very loud and distorted but that's just my taste. I really liked When The Rain Falls the best. Great song writing and performing.
@ likegibberish, Fried Cheer was my favorite of the three. I'm a fan of Blue Cheer and think you came extremely close to getting the sound. Yer Brain was pretty good too. I'm also a fan of Alice Cooper and think I'm Eighteen wasn't too bad but could use a little more work on it.
@ this is hep, I'll just repeat what I mentioned before with really liking Sylvia and just wish it was a little longer. The sound quality is the best on that recording and the most enjoyable to listen to. Forestspiritrarara was a little hard for me to hear with the sound of the recording but what I could get what a strange sound you were doing in the background which made it interesting to listen to. Raga for London was another real good song of yours and I enjoyed the slide work. It sort of reminded me a little of like an Eastern/Beatle sort of influence and fit in well with the song. And Wisconsin Blue Sky sort of reminded me of the Kinks and I enjoyed hearing that. If you've never heard the Kinks before you might want to check them out.
@ Fingertoes, Wow! I like punk rock and Won't Know Who Broke My Heart is great. You have a nice voice and it works well with the music your playing.
@ RJ, I just listened to Gourds, Gourds, Everywhere...HOLY FVCK!!! I'm not Catholic but I have to run and get blessed by a priest. Man, your art really sends crazy chills through me. It's awesome!!!
@ The Man Whose Head Expanded, Dark Journey sounded great just the way it is, I don't really think you need any more percussion than the minimalist use that you did. It really reminded me of early Pink Floyd.
@ Franzy, though I tease you about doing your school work and stuff I missed not hearing an entry from you and hope you can submit something later.
Thanks all for sharing your art with us all. I really appreciated hearing it and appreciate the work you guys put into it.
Hello everyone! Wow, what a quick August that was..
Anyways, nothing new has really been released this month. I wasn't feeling anything special coming out of my songwriting this month. Ah well, it will pass.
I did record 2 songs at the beginning of August, which are pretty satisfying I guess. I will just post youtube links, since I'm a bit lazy to post the songs on bandcamp.
When The Rain Falls http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDjjPr8AQ14
I'll edit.
@Wire: Amazing Grace is wonderful. I love the sampling you did on this, it just works in every way. It's good to see songs that get sampled, it takes alot of skill to make them work with a certain sound. Also, I see you added that static-y sound too, which was great to hear. Summertime is great too, I like the percussion.
I have realized over the past few months, your music is very unique and pure, but you are missing a *spark*. By spark, I mean that there is one certain thing that is missing in your music, but I just can't word it out. Maybe you need more percussion in there, I'm not sure. haha I ain't thinking right today, sorry.
With all that being said, I enjoyed it. Good job.
@likegibberish: I like fried cheer, What a great riff that has. Also, the drums fit very nicely with the guitar, which gives it that sick, lo-fi sound that we all love here. The distortion you use with your voice is great too, but I couldn't really hear what you were saying. I can't tell whether or not it is bad thing, because sometimes music doesn't need your voice to have an understanding. Either way, it all works, and I like it.
@hep: I pretty much told you what I thought of Sylvia, which was great. forestspiritrarara (I hope i got that right) was a bit boring, BUT, those chord changes were wonderful. did not expect that in any way, which was a neat thing to hear. I also told you my thoughts on Raga For London, but I'll say it again. I said that there wasn't anything special, but now that I listen to it again, there really is something special about it, I just can't put my finger on it. Good job though man, really.
Hello, all. Here is a little ditty I did a couple weeks ago. Pretty similar to the last one. Will listen and comment in a bit. Enjoy!
@Johnny Whoa! I enjoyed Everest and your voice. The second one I liked even better. It was kind of haunting in a way. I really liked the guitar sound you had goin' there.
@Gibb You know that I love you. And every new song of yours I hear makes me love you even more. I really have nothing to add besides that. I loved the Alice Cooper cover... and the others! I love your voice, I love your guitar sound, I love you.
@Hep I don't want to make it sound like Gibb is the only one I love, because I love you too. Sylvia kind of reminded me of some Guided by Voices tracks. I love the jangly jangliness of it. I like your vocal style a lot. I don't think I would've said Wisconsin Blue Sky was a Mountain Goats rip off if you wouldn't have mentioned it! Tee hee. I know I said this last time, but I would buy an album of songs of yours.
@Wire I value the constructive criticism, tee hee. As always, I quite enjoyed your recordings. I loved Amazing Grace. I still don't know how you manage to get than fun(ny) swampy sound, but I love it! I really liked Summertime as well. The album art for this one is another winner. Hee hee.