Friday, July 22, 2011

You Hold Up My Sky


Listen to You Hold Up My Sky...
or download You Hold Up My Sky.mp3 (6mb)

Murray sings.  Yes indeed.  This song is just waiting to become a number 1 hit.  Just need to pull together Murray and the Magic Tones.  Anyone?


A song I recorded yonks and yonks ago, and have never quite felt is "complete".


But I reckon it's rad, and can't be assed working on it any more.  That's how punk I am.  Yo.  Eat it.


I think of it as a Sonic Youth Love Song.  I enjoy that sort of dirty pop naivity.


I used Talkbox on bass, which was fun.  Bammed out some loud drums, and saturated those little bitches.  Um, evil Jim Dunlop Bass Wah on the guitar for those nasty chorus swells.

I dug up some old photos from the session, January 2010.











I asked Yoda for some feedback.
"More harmonies in the chorus, it needs."

Yes, I must agree, the chorus is lacking a bit.

"A solo in the bridge, it needs."

Yes, Yoda!  Okay, okay.  Jeez.
I will do more work on it one day.



"F Major Mania" - A hark back to the 60's


Listen to F Major Mania...
or download F Major Mania.mp3 (7mb)

I was playing my brother's old amp in Park Orchards.  We call it "The Dr Who Amp", because it looks like it was made by the BBC special effects team, out of tin foil, or something.


It sounds really crusty, like some old Beatles amp.  so I was just playing around, and then everyone went out, and I was about to leave.  And I thought, "I'm gonna record a quick song!


I ran downstairs with my H4 Zoom set to Multitrack Mode, recorded a drum beat to the click track, then ran upstairs, and wanged out some guitar over it with the Dr Who Amp.


Then I went home and threw some bass on there.  Done!  It's real scrappy!  But another fun journey into the sounds of the late 60's.


The structure of the song is a bit weird.  I kinda like the Verse part the least, and it appears the most.  Would chop and change it around a bit before making it into an actual song for a band format!  I like the intro riff a lot, which re-appears at the end.


This is me from years ago.  Seemed appropriate.

I wanna be in a psych prog rock band. 
Fax me if interested.


"Runnin' on Empty" - an exploration of exploitation


Listen to Runnin' on Empty?...
or download Runnin' on Empty.mp3 (12mb)

I've been loving the sounds of the 60's and 70's in a big way.  I started listening to a bunch of blaxploitation movie soundtracks, and wanted to try my hand at a tune in that style.


Whenever I try to do that, it seems to go in a Beastie Boys direction, because I listened to so much "Check Your Head" when I was a teenager!  It's embedded!


I started with a percussion loop from Edwin Starr's song "Runnin'", and added my own stuff over that.  I played Organ, Foxx Fuzz Wah Guitar, and an overdriven Gonzales Jazz Bass.


Fun!  I tried to add Trumpet, but I suck, so I gave up on that.  If anyone wants to add Brass for me, that would be stupendous!

Foxx Fuzz Wah, the most troublesome, frustrating, pain in 
the ass pedal I've ever owned!

Barely ever works, known to cripple minds and hearts.  
Sounds proportionately evil awesome!

I love you, you blue wretch.