The Story of A Hoax

I am completely in love with one of my songs (for the first time in a while). It's called Hoax*.

Inspired by a news article that I found in Newsweek (I was at the orthodontist's, ok?). The front page read Global Warming is a Hoax*. I thought that was pretty cool so I ran home and put the title down on paper and didn't do anything for a couple weeks. At this point, I was still trying to configure 7 (I've since given up on it) and a piece of it evolved into Hoax*.

A week later, it was ready. (I made the last adjustment about 5 minutes ago.)

The only problem is that the rhythm in the left hand is virtually identical to Down is the New Up. (from the basement version) It has virtually no other similarities (it's not even in a minor key), but that one small detail is bugging me a lot.

But all the same, it's a song I would play 3957 times before I got sick of it.

So there ya go.

I am so sick of not recording. I think this would sound really good recorded, although I can't think of a drumline for it.

I'll work on it.

~-~

Superstition Will Be The End of Me...

If you believe in things
That you don't understand
Then you suffer...

Summarizes the problem I'm having with it right now.

It's a song that has an extremely complex rhythm. (eighth rest, note, sixteenth rest, note) (eighth note tied to a sixteenth note)

It's frustrating to play, but you're rewarded greatly when you get the rhythm down.

I'm getting there.

And remember kids:
SUPERSTITION AIN'T THE WAY.

~-~

1 new messages

Chris and I are probably going to get together sometime soon to have a "jam sesh".

Awesometown.

Not Recording

Until fall.

Come on.

Reason:

1. i'm the only singer-songwriter ready to record in the group.

2. the guy we're recording at only does a minimum of 4 hours per appointment. and i don't have 4 hours of material to record.

LAME!

God, i'm running out of places to go.

Maybe now that I'm not recording, I can go back up to Zane's...

...

I have a hedgehog.

He's at the bottom of the page.

Click on him, he does hedgehog related things.

Couple New, Important things

Computer's being weird, so we have to put up with Arial font in today's post. :(

Anyways:

Thing 1: I have a neocounter! Whatever you see, to the right of your screen (->) subtract almost all the Manchester views, because I was testing if it counted my views... and it does. (fart noise)

Thing 2: (and much, much more important, btw) The collaboration with Zane and I has officially gotten underway. We worked on something like 8 or 9 songs yesterday.

Some of it was just random jamminess. (Yes, I said jamminess.)

Enlarge my default pic on myspace, and you'll see what actual songs we're working on. (You'll notice that some are covers...)

Zane has everything at his house: a miniature drum set, (that functions like an actual drum set) a keyboard with over 500 settings, sleigh bells, maracas, a chord organ, a glockenspiel, a stand up bass that's literally a cardboard box with two strings, many an acoustic guitar, amps, mics*, a recording studio that runs on batteries, a violin... thing that looked like a stick, and today, he got his banjo. It's absolutely unbelievable. He doesn't even have to leave home to record, which I am very, very jealous of.

We wanted to record yesterday, but the batteries to his recording studio died, almost soon as we turned it on. (Damn AAA batteries...)

But you know what? It felt good to practice and get the ideas a-flowin'.

Wanted to meet up with him next week, but odds are, I'm not gonna be up to Manchester until September.

Thing 3: I am recording next week, but I have absolutely no idea what to record.

Several options here:
1. Toy Platoon: I could either record it and then do a version with Zane, or I could just do the version with Zane.
2. Internal Clock: It's done. But there's always the chance that I might want to add drums.
3. 7: My poppy song. I think I might save this for solo.
4. Insomniac: The song I recently forgot about that's lullabye-ish. Also saving for solo.

I'm talking too much. Bye.

~-~

{What A Sad Place to Be}

Gm
F
Eb
F#
D
C (add 9)
Bb
Am (off and on)
Gm
^ ^
It's a very basic progression without the Eb and F#.

It feels like Down is the New Up and the Tourist (both by Radiohead) to me. I bought OK Computer (finally) and have been listening to it absolutely non-stop, so that's where a lot of my influence has been coming from lately in my writing. The album is a masterpiece. Get it. (Unless, of course, you already have it)

~-~

(no title) for lack of a better title.

lifeless, but still supported
the memories go way back
don't look at me like that
you know exactly what you did
currently watching radio
currently waiting on it all to close
now no one knows how this will end
or what we're going to end up doing

when i am on the last steps (last legs?)
i will fall down

one left goes right
two rights go north
three rights go left
four lefts go nowhere

cold-blooded killer
the punches fall out front
don't call me out like that
you know exactly what I said
currently singing hymns now
the meteorite's in sight, all right, all right
people still worried
about who will lose and who will win tonight.

When I am on the last steps
I will fall down

the screech of feedback
the mindless crying
that all your dogs make
at a tin-can whistle.

(by the way this song was originally 7, but I made a billion changes to it, so by the time i was done with it, it was a completely different song. it's rhythm, chord progression, lyrics, timing, and feel is COMPLETELY different. it's almost popish...)

Sucking Wind

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ERROR. SYSTEM FAILING.

Good progression

Am augmented
Eb
Fm7
Eb7
Dm9 (add 7)

That's the intro to my song "7". (Yes, I finally broke down and made a new song)

The verse is the same thing sans the Am augmented chord (makes it atonal otherwise)

The chorus is in 7/4, the verse in 3/4, the bridge in 4/4.

Chorus: (sung)
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (x8)

Nifty, huh?

It's not really a fun song to play, but it's really technical.

The flan in the face

I haven't made a new song in a while.

Haven't really felt the need to.

For the first time in a while, I'm content with the songs I have.

Maybe because I haven't been playing them as much as I did.

Tip: Don't try those banana creme and peanut butter reese's. They taste like crap.

~-~

EP possibilties:

Zane and I are considering releasing an EP featuring... well... us.

Song thoughts:

Satin in a Coffin
Internal Clock
Unnamed song of his
Wolf at the Door
2+2=5
a wilco song
Toy Platoon
Bukowski

Whoa Whoa Whoo Whoa

Weird. I just said that I probably wasn't gonna record before summer ends a few hours ago...

Well I was wrong. I'm recording the 26th.

WOOT!

Multiple choices too... I gotta decide one. Or two. Or 29385710923857.

Lack of Postage.

Sorry.



I was somewhere else, away from a computer.



You can't always be next to one.



For some reason, at this point, I'm waiting for summer to end. I like the feeling of looking forward to weekends instead of them just being another ordinary part of the week.

The sky's white right now, and it has been for the past couple days. No clouds, white. highfog.

My plans on recording before school starts might be dashed. 3 months and 6 days since I last recorded. I can't take much more waiting. I'm serious.

Well all's not well, but I'm told that it'll all be quite nice
They'll drown you in boots like Mafia
But your feet will still float like Christ
And I'll be damned.
They were right.
I'm floating upside down
My feet afloat like Christ.
~-~

My God...

I'm on a roll.

Signal Flare
Signal Flare (Reprise) (which I think is better than the actual song)
Down Is The New Up
Toy Platoon

Down is the New Up is a cover of a Radiohead song. Yorke's falsetto is ridiculous in this song, but I think I might just be able to pull it off. If you've never heard it go to my youtube account and check my favorites. It should still be on there.

Signal Flare, as I already told you is a quick 3 minute song. It's a pretty unique song, at the end I have a quick little solo in 5/4, and I think it's the only song I've written where I actually have a noticeable dynamic change.

The reprise is an instrumental divided into 3 equal parts (1 minute each): Part 1 is a chord progression I found out about that I really like: Gm, A, Dm, C, Bb. I pretty much just solo on it. Part 2 is just a buildup with the chords Gm, Bb, F, C which leads to part 3: which is the same chords only it has a melody on top of it instead of me just improvving. (I think that's how you spell it.)

And Toy Platoon's gonna be a fun one for the drums.

~-~

Let it Be Known That On August 2nd, 2007:

I jammed on a song for over 20 minutes.

To a new song called "Signal Flare" that's less than 3 minutes.

Total Time: 23:06.

Yeah.

~-~