I know it's been more like "MP3 of the Month" but bear with me, exciting stuff is going to be debuted here really soon!
In a somewhat related note, this week's MP3 is the ORIGINAL late night (ultra steamy) demo for I Care About You.
In recent years this song has become a fast rocking exuberant explosive song, but this demo is a completely different approach. Creepy, quiet, a little disturbing, and intimate. Sung in a lower register, played a lot slower (well I just wrote it), and filled with lots of empty spaces and (intentionally) awkward pauses.
I actually REALLY love this version of the song, it's closer to the true nature of the lyrics. But the rocking version is just so much fun, I just can't NOT play it in that way at this point.
Here are the lyrics!: I can't say anything too complex, I get stares I want to not seem so obsessed, but I care I care about you
I'm dismayed, I've misplaced what you gave me that day Is it gone? What have I done? Has it run away?
I care about you If I face the wall WILL YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME? If I cover my ears WILL YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME? I can't hold you hard enough, cause you squeek I can't carry you far enough, cause I'm weak I care about you
This is a very solid demo from 2004 of a song called "Party in the Gardens." Solid in the sense that I can't imagine what else needs to be added. This is the song!
This is a Fall song. It isn't Fall right now, but Winter turning into spring has basically the same weather as Fall, so why not? This is also a Kew Gardens song, one of many many songs based around my hometown of Kew Gardens, Queens. See, the word "Gardens" is even in the title.
The recording: I EQ'd the vocals so they would sound like they were distant and thin, which for some reason makes me tolerate my own voice better. The drums are fake but sound surprisingly warm and real. The bass is a fake jazz upright bass. I very much enjoy the little keyboard sound in the last verse, as well as the hand claps in the middle of the song.
Here are the lyrics. The song is kind of about avoiding a house party in Kew Gardens ("take it with you") and wanting to run through the forest instead. It's also about a lot of other things, and some stream of consciousness stuff. Here you go:
Cool October air Smells like Halloween Sidewalk steps under feet
Branches gently comb Through my hair Walking to a Rainsuits beat
Party in the Gardens Beg your pardon? Take it with you, see you tomorrow I'm walking through a forest, running through a forest
Donut Dunkin's coffee Muffins taste so good Under the sun, under the shade
They taste exactly The same But with a different, different taste
Walking down a street That's stayed the same Looking at my feet They've stayed the same
The sky changes every second In the same way every day Finding different things A simple pleasure sings
When I started MP3 of the Week, I wanted to show off the best things I've done, but also the worst. The final product of a song, whether it's a beautiful masterpiece recording, or a spirited live performance. But I also wanted to show the process, the clumsy demos, the cassette recordings, and the ideas thrown away and given a kind of afterlife on this blog.
So here we go. I have a massive folder titled "Song Ideas", that currently house over 300 MP3s that nobody has ever heard. Here is one of those MP3s. Some of them are dead ends, and some of them have led to a lot of my best songs. Some of them are even MP3s of full complete songs that I just totally forgot about.
This is highly embarrassing for me, but that's kind of why I made this blog in the first place. And no, this never turned into a song. But now that I'm exploring this folder I'm finding a ton of interesting and vastly different embryos for songs that became full grown.
This MP3 is a really nice little guitar instrumental I made back in February 2004. I hadn't even heard this one in years but discovered it just now.
It's almost all real instruments, no synth (except the clickety clackety percussion that comes in about halfway through.)
I count about 6 acoustic guitars (the riff, a bass line, the hitting percussion, the little noodling in the left and then in the right ears, and also a repeating pattern in the left ear), plus an accordion. All together a very calming and sweet sounding instrumental. Not something I can always tap into.
This week's mp3 is a cool instrumental I made in 2004, called "Slow Me Down."
I just really like how the layers add up here, getting more atmospheric and melodic the farther along this goes. I also like the fake accordion in the last 3rd.
What's it about? Well you aren't supposed to ask what instrumentals are about, duh.
Sorry for the delay! The internet went down in my house for a lot of last week. ANYWAY...
This week's MP3 is one of my favorite instrumentals I've made from back in 2004. It's called "Everybody's Crying."
It's a rare full length (i.e. over a minute and a half long) instrumental. I borrowed my friend Dave's electric guitar. I'm really happy with the general production of the song. The big drum sound, the atmospheric stuff at the very end, the bass line, everything. The title was inspired by the presidential election results of 2004.
This week's mp3 is an instrumental called "Grad Rat." I made it on May 17th, 2004, probably the day I graduated from college. I don't know what the title means exactly but when I googled it, that image above came up.
Not much to say. except I think this is a cool instrumental.
I took a bit of a Thanksgiving/Birthday break from MP3-OF-THE-WEEK (OK you got me, I forgot to update this), but I have a fun treat for y'all now.
This is a live performance of a weird fun song I wrote called "Diagonal Crossing." It's about crossing the street diagonally (duh) and how you feel like a total bad ass doing it.
Here are the lyrics.
Never mind the traffic laws I don't buy them at all I'm on top and everything is pushing to get out
Diagonal crossing
People think that I'm insane They're just way too tame Spitting on the face of death with every single step
Diagonal crossing
Old lady waiting for the walk signal grimaces in the sun Her diagonal days are over But mine have just begun!
Up and down and left and right Cross the street, hope to die Agony to me is walking 90 degrees
Diagonal crossing!
I'm pretty happy with the dia-agony pun there.
This performance is from a live party I played in 2004. This was a damn fun show with a lot of short songs and energy and no mic.
This is a really crazy song. It's probably my most complex musically...so complex I haven't played it in years because I worry I'll screw up. And it's very, very hard to sing! No home recording of this song exists, so here is a live version, from a party I played on September 25th, 2004.
The lyrics aren't my best or anything...it's basically about a homeless guy crashing a fancy ball. Yay? Here they are.
Millions of you reflected in a chandelier And every mind will wonder what you're doing here WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?
Crashing the ball you wanted to go but you're not invited So you'll just drop in and drop to the floor
What a disgrace to have such a dirty face Bring in a can of air freshener and a can of mace
chorus
You've got a beard so you don't need a mask Pouring champagne into your silver flask
Crashing the ball you wanted to go but you're not invited So you'll just drop in and drop to the floor You'll stain the floor You'll break the floor.
So yes. I love this song, mainly for the melody and music (OK, and the beard line.) But damn it's tough, especially that bridge. Hope you enjoy it. Who knows what the future holds for this one. Download it here!
I'm surprised I haven't put this week's mp3 up already. It's a full length instrumental from 2004, and one of my favorite things I've ever made. It's very simple but I think effective. Acoustic guitar, piano, drums. That's it. The title "Going Up Those Stairs" evokes some sort of haunting imagery for me, the idea of the stairs in your house having so many memories and associations that sometimes it's too painful to walk up them. That's what I get out of it, anyway.
You may notice I have a lot of songs about houses, rooms, furniture, etc. Interesting.
Summer songs (sort of) continues with the demo for my song Miss June!
I won't say what exactly it's about, but it's from the point of view of a 14 year old boy. Kind of based on someone I knew in Junior High.
This is an old demo, from 2004. I like how full the guitar sounds. Often on my demos the guitar sounds a bit thin. I also really like the accordion line that comes in on the last verse. Lyrics?
Hung up and stationed Illuminated I am awakened I see your face and...
Oh, what would I do Without Miss June
All of my friends and Me think you're hot and I've been rejected Now I'm in Heaven
Oh, what would I do Without Miss June
Oh what could I do With Miss June.
You are so pretty Now you surround me You must have said "cheese" I can see your teeth.
This week's mp3 is "I'm A Happy Dog", a feel good full length instrumental from 2004. A very obsessively worked out instrumental that took me a million years to record. I went crazy arranging the bass line to fit intricately with the drum part, piano thingies, when the acoustic guitars come in and out, the percussion, everything. I'm pretty damn proud of this. It was a big lesson in learning when to drop instruments in and out, to prevent everything from sounding too cluttered. And of course the lead melody line is my ACCORDION. Say hello!
If you turn it up incredibly loud at the quiet part about 1 full minute in, you can hear that it was raining outside! That may not be true, but I remember it being true. You can also hear that I used my lamp for percussion.
