I don’t have a lot to say about this weeks song. It’s dance music, with danceable rhythm, simplistic melody and, well, not much more.
Unnecessary fun fact of the day: The ending, starting approximately at 4.17, is the first thing I recorded for the track. I only left it there for the giggles. Neat little sound, isn’t it?
*drum roll – DANSMANIA.
The very first note I wrote about this tune was just two words: ”a drunk”. (Or is ”a” considered as a word?)
Then I decided that bassoon’s my weapon of choice.
After writing just a few bars of melody, the song started assembling itself.
SLOSH WALTZ depicts a drunks staggering trip from bar to home. The fellow in question is well dressed, top hat, bow tie, cane and everything. And what do you know, he looks just like James Finlayson, the scottish actor.
Our hero lives in a world, where the only colours that exist are black, white and their numerous shades. His movement is quick yet clumsy, as if the time is moving faster than it usually does.
After some adventures, including passing out for a while on the back of a milk carriage, the drunk finally gets home. The whole thing ends to a good tripping.
I call this one a waltz even though there’s not a single 3/4-bar in it. The slosh part in the title should explain it.
Introducing something serene compared to the previous ambient tunes I’ve made.
TEMPLE BY THE SEA is a place where you can rest and leave all your troubles behind (for awhile). In the daytime sun shines in and when the evening comes, thousands of bioluminescent insects provide the lighting. And I mean nice insects, the ones that respect your personal space.
Bird sounds are made with delayed guitar and slide. It’s an old trick by guitarist extraordinaire Adrian Belew.
The track is best served on a low volume.
GLOOM SUN SOLITAIRE is metal. Although here in Finland this kind of metal is pretty much considered as easy listening. You know, there’s some clean guitars and melody. And if there were vocals, it most likely wouldn’t be growling, snarling or screaming in pain.
About the specific genre within metal… I don’t know, man. I’m an old metallist allright, but I’ve completely lost track of the ”new” genres. There’s guitar melodies in thirds, simple power chords and a short passage with some fancier chords, so I’m just going here with the definition of ”classic metal”.
The guitar tuning is Drop D, which is awesome. Two more notes on the bottom without sacrificing any brightness.
Sometimes a song doesn’t want to be completed. The song in question was supposed to be a kind of an indie guitar pop tune, played with physical guitar and bass. I recorded most of the instruments to the point where I was able to do some preliminary mixing, and that’s when the song started to play dirty.
Couple of guitar sounds just couldn’t live peacefully side by side. Bass was being powerless of humming uncontrollably. The drums were actually very nice but the unity of the song was nowhere to be found.
Luckily I’ve got some tricks of my own – I guess that’s called craftsmanship.
So, I pretty much just gave the song the finger and replaced guitars with synthesizers, the lively bassline with a extremely straightforward one and changed drumset from an acoustic to electronic.
The result: One completed song
Bonus: It’s something completely different I thought it would be
Amount of fun gained: Lots
Sporty fun-fun pop of the day: SPACESQUIRREL OLYMPICS OF 2115
Sometimes it’s the tinest of things that give a song the finishing touch. PRAIRIE IS CALM was already completed, when I started messing with reverbs (which I normally use very sparingly).
Small room echo, maybe some more. What about a huge one? Canyon, big cave or arena one
Bingo.
Let the soothening begin.
It’s time to put out some shorties. This time three of ’em. Naturally they can be found in SHORTS.
”Yesterdays news of the future” is a theme song for a fictional news report or current affairs television program. I was aiming for a contemporary mood but delicious DX7-sounds forced me to go all retro.
”T.M.Q.” stands for a thrash metal quickie. And that’s about everything I’ve got to say about this one. Playing this kind of guitars always gives me blisters…
”Oh the joy & inevitable fail” is a remake of a tune I made years ago for a short film. A very short. The film had a grown-up getting excitedly to a swing -> swinging wildly -> jumping off -> hurting his foot and limping away.
I’ll be releasing these short ones every once in a while, a few at the time.
I’m the first one to admit that I’m often guilty of stuffing my songs full of stuff. ”Gotta have the 3rd and 4th part, not too much repeats and perhaps another accompanying melody. And Rhodes piano. And a solo part…” And so on.
I genuinely think that less isn’t more, more is more. No matter what kind of music are we dealing with. In this context more doesn’t necessary mean a tune proceeding rapidly from part to part, tons of instruments or overall complexity and lenght. It just means more great sounds, more exciting events and more fun.
Anyway, in YUSNYO I tried to be as minimalistic as possible. You know, make those exciting events to appear in a bigger picture. Since it is a drum ’n bass kind of a tune, there’s mostly, you got it, drums and basses. And some additional percussion. And synthesizers. And Rhodes piano.
Dang it.
ELEFLY was originally titled ”The funeral of the elephant and the fly”. Don’t ask. I dropped the funeralistic part from the title, because the final cut was lacking all kinds of negative feelings usually linked with funerals.
The vocal parts was kindly provided by my sister. So thanks a bunch, T!
Dang it, it’s cold in here. No, colder than that. It’s cold!
This kind of temperature always makes me wonder, why on earth my ancestors thought it would be a good idea to move up north. They probably didn’t even have thermal underwear and portable saunas. Weirdos.
Anyway, I’m lucky enough to be able to dwell indoors by a radiator, have a nice hot cup of tea and set my desktop background picture as a fireplace. And before too long it’ll be summer, and it’s time to complain about the heat.
About the footwear: ODE TO WOOL SOCKS.