52:39 by ChristianLeBlanc
Originally, every melody in this song was on guitar. This meant lots of static when it played back, despite my best efforts at equalization. So, I replaced two lines with my QY-70, sang another line, and left the last one alone. You can still hear some static when the guitar melody plays alongside the guitar chords. Anyone feel like giving me some tips on how to avoid that?
"You've been away now
I've been away too
It always works out
I don't know that's true
If I can't take it
If I can't make it
I'll at least face it
Until it makes sense
Maybe I'll win
And see you again
Or maybe you'll win
And you won't hear from me again"
Update: I made a music video for this song! Simple travel footage, from going to meet the Allreds last week, but at least it sort of commemorates the 3/4 completion point!
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
38
52:38 by ChristianLeBlanc
Speed record! This one took me half of a lunch hour, and then another half hour later that night.
And it SHOWS! :)
(EDIT: Crom's balls, this one is rank! Sorry project, sorry anyone who listened to this!)
Why the rush? Busy week! Jill and I are going to Montreal this weekend to the Montreal Comic Con to meet my comic book hero, Mike Allred. There's also a CGA assignment due a few days after I get back, so I wanted to get most of that done first. And also also, I was approached about joining a band two weeks ago. One and a half practices later, I joined up and played my first show with them, in Fredericton. So practicing my parts at home was taking up a little time too :)
"This one's a song
That acknowledges how
One day I'll be gone
Bring it on bring it on bring it on
I'm accumulating songs
as fast as these wrongs
like this growth that's on my shoulder
Already feel colder
Like this numbness in my leg
Or click in the joint of my thumb
Each year I grow another ring
Like ripples that go they're going and going
But they don't 'cus they stop
And maybe I just thought
If I could write something strong enough
That I could be remembered by
Some small part of me won't have to die"
Speed record! This one took me half of a lunch hour, and then another half hour later that night.
And it SHOWS! :)
(EDIT: Crom's balls, this one is rank! Sorry project, sorry anyone who listened to this!)
Why the rush? Busy week! Jill and I are going to Montreal this weekend to the Montreal Comic Con to meet my comic book hero, Mike Allred. There's also a CGA assignment due a few days after I get back, so I wanted to get most of that done first. And also also, I was approached about joining a band two weeks ago. One and a half practices later, I joined up and played my first show with them, in Fredericton. So practicing my parts at home was taking up a little time too :)
"This one's a song
That acknowledges how
One day I'll be gone
Bring it on bring it on bring it on
I'm accumulating songs
as fast as these wrongs
like this growth that's on my shoulder
Already feel colder
Like this numbness in my leg
Or click in the joint of my thumb
Each year I grow another ring
Like ripples that go they're going and going
But they don't 'cus they stop
And maybe I just thought
If I could write something strong enough
That I could be remembered by
Some small part of me won't have to die"
Friday, September 11, 2009
37
52:37 by ChristianLeBlanc
I have two favourite poets. One Canadian (actually, he lived a few blocks away from where I grew up), and one American. Alden Nowlan, and then Alden Nowlan's US counterpart (imho), Hayden Carruth (who, I just learned this morning, passed away almost a year ago at age 87. The write-up here serves as a good introduction to him). To be honest, I only have the one book of poetry by him, "Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey" (whose title, I'm happy to say, I tried out one time while celebrating with some friends one morning), but it's one I really enjoy, and for the same reasons I enjoy Alden Nowlan's poems.
Carruth's poem "The Brook" is reproduced here in its entirety; just scroll a little bit down until you see it. In it, he's just describing the sounds of a brook and how he likes how unconnected it is from humanity's touch; the sounds it makes, its meaning (or lack thereof); you can just lose yourself in all of it. I always liked thinking of that poem in terms of experimental electronic music, which I guess fits if you start throwing buzz-words like 'organic' around. Here's pretty much most of the poem right here, from the book "Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey":
"A music extraordinarily variable.
Each passage of water against its stone
sounding a different pitch and rhythm."
"...syllables
of unknown meaning, notes on an
unknown scale..."
"...Without art, the song was perfectly
artistic. The unmeaning music
and the unknowing listener were one
in the loneliness of those distant
late summer nights in Vermont.
Truly the music meant nothing,
no intimation, which was why
I liked it so much, my brook
murmuring all night in the darkness,
and I meant nothing, and I liked that too."
This week's song just happened all in one session, last night. I've been hanging out with too many creative (CREON) people (scroll down to RoB Patey) lately not to do a little experimenting of my own (experimenting, for me, means paths well-trodden by others...an apology that needs only be made for these styles of music, I think).
The wonkiness is from me playing with the sample and hold LFO on my Voyager, and the organ and other melodies are coming from the Triton. I don't usually play chords, but I got some high 7ths and low 5ths going on (...maybe? I think?).
And while this song is quite long in terms of this project, it's still much shorter than it could have been; I could probably just listen to, and tweak, that sample and hold bit for hours. I really liked the randomness of it, which is why I linked to that Hayden Carruth poem above.
As always, comments are welcomed and invited. Is this tune too self-indulgent? Too melodic? Too sloppy? Too unlistenable? Should I have tried going wonkier with it? Or getting jiggy? A beat of some kind? I'm open to anything, here. Let me know!
I have two favourite poets. One Canadian (actually, he lived a few blocks away from where I grew up), and one American. Alden Nowlan, and then Alden Nowlan's US counterpart (imho), Hayden Carruth (who, I just learned this morning, passed away almost a year ago at age 87. The write-up here serves as a good introduction to him). To be honest, I only have the one book of poetry by him, "Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey" (whose title, I'm happy to say, I tried out one time while celebrating with some friends one morning), but it's one I really enjoy, and for the same reasons I enjoy Alden Nowlan's poems.
Carruth's poem "The Brook" is reproduced here in its entirety; just scroll a little bit down until you see it. In it, he's just describing the sounds of a brook and how he likes how unconnected it is from humanity's touch; the sounds it makes, its meaning (or lack thereof); you can just lose yourself in all of it. I always liked thinking of that poem in terms of experimental electronic music, which I guess fits if you start throwing buzz-words like 'organic' around. Here's pretty much most of the poem right here, from the book "Scrambled Eggs and Whiskey":
"A music extraordinarily variable.
Each passage of water against its stone
sounding a different pitch and rhythm."
"...syllables
of unknown meaning, notes on an
unknown scale..."
"...Without art, the song was perfectly
artistic. The unmeaning music
and the unknowing listener were one
in the loneliness of those distant
late summer nights in Vermont.
Truly the music meant nothing,
no intimation, which was why
I liked it so much, my brook
murmuring all night in the darkness,
and I meant nothing, and I liked that too."
This week's song just happened all in one session, last night. I've been hanging out with too many creative (CREON) people (scroll down to RoB Patey) lately not to do a little experimenting of my own (experimenting, for me, means paths well-trodden by others...an apology that needs only be made for these styles of music, I think).
The wonkiness is from me playing with the sample and hold LFO on my Voyager, and the organ and other melodies are coming from the Triton. I don't usually play chords, but I got some high 7ths and low 5ths going on (...maybe? I think?).
And while this song is quite long in terms of this project, it's still much shorter than it could have been; I could probably just listen to, and tweak, that sample and hold bit for hours. I really liked the randomness of it, which is why I linked to that Hayden Carruth poem above.
As always, comments are welcomed and invited. Is this tune too self-indulgent? Too melodic? Too sloppy? Too unlistenable? Should I have tried going wonkier with it? Or getting jiggy? A beat of some kind? I'm open to anything, here. Let me know!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
36
52:36 by ChristianLeBlanc
Just so nobody worries: as far as I can tell, my exam last Thursday went ok, so the use of the word 'suicide' in this week's tune is not a cry for help :)
As a matter of fact, I have to confess that this feels like one of the least personal songs I've ever written, lyric-wise. Which might be ironic, given the weepy-weep nature of the words. I'm not saying that to trash it, just to point out that lyrically, everything seems really 'open' and 'generic.' Which could mean that anyone listening could have it apply to them?
"This was mine: too many cold, cold nights
Over time until I thought I'd die
This alienation and resignation was not alright
Invalidation and indignation made me feel uptight
Trapped in ice, you broke me out in time
I hope you realize you really saved a life
Invalidation and alienation makes me cry
Through your invention, you showed me ways that it would be alright
Confrontation, intimidation in a hostile time
Through adaptation, you helped defuse a living suicide
Invalidation and indignation made me feel uptight
Through your invention, you showed me ways that it would be alright"
Just so nobody worries: as far as I can tell, my exam last Thursday went ok, so the use of the word 'suicide' in this week's tune is not a cry for help :)
As a matter of fact, I have to confess that this feels like one of the least personal songs I've ever written, lyric-wise. Which might be ironic, given the weepy-weep nature of the words. I'm not saying that to trash it, just to point out that lyrically, everything seems really 'open' and 'generic.' Which could mean that anyone listening could have it apply to them?
"This was mine: too many cold, cold nights
Over time until I thought I'd die
This alienation and resignation was not alright
Invalidation and indignation made me feel uptight
Trapped in ice, you broke me out in time
I hope you realize you really saved a life
Invalidation and alienation makes me cry
Through your invention, you showed me ways that it would be alright
Confrontation, intimidation in a hostile time
Through adaptation, you helped defuse a living suicide
Invalidation and indignation made me feel uptight
Through your invention, you showed me ways that it would be alright"
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