Holes In Thoughts

Monday, March 26, 2007

Mulberry Street

Challenged myself to actually complete a demo this weekend.
Came close - got a 5 1/2 minute demo, without bass. Given that I usually stop at around a minute and one idea, that's pretty good. Hoping to finish it up tomorrow afternoon, because I told my boss that if I didn't come in with a song, he'd have to fire me.

Will update with the MP3.

Labels: demo, Ignition, Impulse Nine, mp3, music

posted by Steve @ 12:09 AM 0 comments

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Song change-up

The songs Mars' Dirt (Demo) and Mystic have been replaced by the demos for Summer and Kablooey!. The old songs are still available from the main website, if you didn't get a chance to listen to them.

If you're feeling terribly opinionative today, check out the 'demo' section of the main site (where you'll find Mars' Dirt) and tell me which songs should or shouldn't be used. If you're in a band, I'll trade feedback with you, too.

Cheers
Steve

Labels: demo, Impulse Nine, mp3

posted by Steve @ 2:23 AM 0 comments

Monday, January 16, 2006

A Funny Thing Happened Today no. 7 part 2: Update on 'Mars' Dirt'

So I was trying to go to sleep - wasn't working - and thought about the mental image I had in my head while writing Mars' Dirt: a gritty scene on the sidelines of what could be in Cowboy Bebop's world, in which a man contemplates his own sad state on Mars and considers how valuable Martian soil used to be and how much he could've used that cash when it mattered.

And I came up with this. I'm going to put a noir-style spoken word over the second stretch between the stutter-muting (3:17 - 3:33) and the end (starting roughly at 7:30). It takes about 2 and a half minutes to read it, the way I do it.

"Red dirt. [inhales a cigarette]

As far as the eye or some enhanced binoculars could see. Not that the horizon's real far, here. Used to be I could take some of that dirt back home and sell it for about the same price per kilo as gold, maybe buy Mom something nice. Buy a ticket back, in any case. Mom is at the headrest, now. Barely knows who she is, nevermind who I am. Always used to get upset when I called in the middle of the night but I had a hard time with area codes before, now ... well forget it.

She's lived a long time .. and I love Mom, but ... .... [takes a long drag]

People live a long time, now. but nobody wants to admit the last 30 years are a waste. Half the kids I've met that have great grandparents - great-great grandparents - in the headrest don't even know it... parents don't wanna to show them. Can't blame them, really. I have a good excuse for not visiting but... would I if I could? I got a big heart but it only gets so big when it's always getting crushed. [inhales again]

Some of that red dirt could've bought some care. Now, it's all just dirt again. And she doesn't know who I am anymore. Doctor says she's got 15 years ahead of her. I do love my Mom. [inhales]

I'm not a bad person. I'm not a bad person. I just ... "

Labels: anecdote, demo, Ignition, Impulse Nine, jazz, music, true

posted by Steve @ 4:28 AM 0 comments

A Funny Thing Happened Today no. 7: NEW SONG, Cowboy Bebop Soundtrack, etc.

My wife was giving me an example of a person who is (1) completely certain of themselves and (2) dead wrong when she said a co-worker adamantly proclaimed that the Blues came from Jazz.

No. That's like saying that Sumi-e came from Japanese landscapes - yeah, they were done at the same time, and they had some similar ideas, kind-of, but ... no. You're wrong.

However ...

They do tag along together sometimes, and the best example I can think of is the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack(s). There's a lot of versions, and I happen to have all of them. Ranging from Pop to Jazz to Blues to the positively quirky, it's really completely brilliant - not unlike the show, really.

In working on my own music, I've been toying with this sort of cosmo approach to genres, shoving in whatever works for whatever reason, and I'm back to having a good time with music.

Today, I had a bad migraine and so sat down to play guitar ('cos I can do it with my eyes closed and sitting up and closing my eyes is the least painful position to be in, for me, when a migraine strikes). Came up with a song that I'll share here with Myspace's new Podcast ability. I'm hoping that with this particular song I will actually meld a bit of Blues and Jazz. Though in its current state, it's much more Blues than Jazz. I'm hoping that with some unusually Jazzy bass guitar, and a more complex rhythm track, I'll have that. (Even though it's already pretty much polyrhythmic; the three instruments are all playing different rhythms - but it works).

The song is named Mars' Dirt. Fair warning - it's (exactly) 10 minutes long and 12 MB. Aaand it's mostly noodling. But I'm happy enough with it to post here. It will be replaced, eventually, with the finished version.

I guess my investigation into Romanian and Eastern European folk songs (i.e., from The Historian, mentioned in a previous entry) will have to wait few more days...

Impulse Nine - Mars' Dirt

Currently listening :
Cowboy Bebop
By Yoko Kanno

Labels: demo, idiots, Ignition, Impulse Nine, jazz, migraine, music, stories, true

posted by Steve @ 2:11 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Anecdote no. 9: Is it really any good?

This has been a tough week, but this is not the place to complain about money.

The fact that I haven't posted in a while has a lot to do with stress. It's not that there wasn't anything interesting going on in my head, I just didn't want to work up the effort to type it up. Which is ironic, really, because the point of this blog is to get my ideas out. I digress.

I have been going through my demos for my new album. I haven't had a response to my music on the site I made for it. See the blog before the last. I've been listening to the seventy-odd song snippets and realized three things:

1. I like them. I genuinely enjoy listening to this music I've made.
2. I don't know if I like it because I made it or because it's good.
3. I also don't know if listening to it all the time makes it sound better - the abnormalities and mistakes just become part of what it is. Other times I get tired of them and I wonder if it's a sign the song is no good.

I need feedback, damn it.

Bonus points: Vu'un Tacjun, a song that won't make this album (doesn't fit the vibe at all) but probably the next.

Labels: anecdote, demo, Ignition, Impulse Nine, mp3, music

posted by Steve @ 2:42 AM 0 comments

Monday, October 03, 2005

Anecdote no. 8: Ain't Too Proud to Beg

I've updated my music site to include the public demo-sorting process for my fourth album. I'm inviting everyone I know - any anyone for that matter - to weigh in on what they think of the 40 or so song ideas and demos I have for the next album. Depending on how much feedback I get, I will probably post a song demo or two per week.

My rationale is that I would rather have bad advice than no advice, because I can ignore it and be in the same place I was when I started. I've got nothing to lose except pride - and anyone ought to be able to lose that.

My greatest fear is that I'll get no response. To any artist, acclaim and disdain are both infinitely preferable to indifference.

Here goes nothing: http://music.impulsenine.com

Labels: anecdote, demo, Ignition, Impulse Nine, mp3, music

posted by Steve @ 3:56 AM 0 comments

Friday, September 30, 2005

Random Thoughts no. 8 & 9: Do ya think I'm sexy? / Misnomers / Music

I know I'm not the first to say this, and won't be the last, but it's wierd how much more attention I get from girls/women now that I'm married. It's nice, but it makes me wonder, have I changed or am I just more relaxed? I like to think the latter.

Also - why are they called 'speed bumps' -- shouldn't it be 'slowing bumps' or 'destroy your suspension bumps'?

Finally, I am going to be posting a rotating set of song snippets and ideas from my next (4th) album, called Ignition. For all five of you that read this. If anybody who reads these are disposed to critique music, I'll post a link probably tomorrow to a place over on impulsenine.com and you can tell me how good or how shit they are.

Currently listening :
Pop
By U2

Labels: cats, demo, Ignition, Impulse Nine, mp3, random, women

posted by Steve @ 3:31 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Random Thought no. 3: Going public on MySpace

Don't you hate it when you write a blog and it disappears into HTML 404 oblivion?

This is a boring blog entry. Fair warning. I'm also experimenting with making highlights and such so that my blogs can be read more quickly, just getting the high points. I'm debating whether or not to attempt to actively find friends on MySpace, so to make my little blog a bit more public.

On the plus side, I would like to have feedback for all of these little ideas and stories I have. In particular, it occured to me to start posting songs that I've been writing for feedback. I have about seventy song ideas and demos recorded already for the next album, not including the songs I have written out but aren't recorded yet (that's another dozen or so). It would be nice to be able to say, 'you know what, this idea isn't working' and just ditch it before I waste too much time on it. Also, having an active readership and feedback encourages me to keep writing.

On the downside, it takes time. And I really don't need any more excuses than I already have to not work on my at-home job, being graphic design. Also, when you've got little numbers like 'views', 'kudos', and comments and such, it's easy to qualify your work based soley on those numbers and comments. This is not good. Public be damned, I do what I do. No offense.

Labels: blog, demo, Ignition, Impulse Nine, music, MySpace

posted by Steve @ 1:26 PM 0 comments

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Exciting Event No. 1: Vu'un Tacj'an

I wrote a song today. Well, sort of. This requires explanation. You see, I'm working on my 4th album (as noted in my profile thingy). But I'm a bit of a doodler - I have something like sixty or seventy one- or two- minute compositions that are neat little songlets but haven't really been developed yet.

Today was a co-worker's 21st birthday and, in Maloney's tradition, a bunch of us met at Maloney's to start her off right by getting some food and a tequila shot. I had lunch with her but didn't go out drinking. (This is related to the song) She - her name's Brie - had me listening to the Clash a lot lately, particularly Guns of Brixton from London Calling. I decided to see if I could compose a complete song in the time I had between when I left Maloney's and when I picked up Rachel from work - about 2 and a half hours.

And I did. It's very much a chill, psychedelic jam rock affair, which isn't suprising given the reggae influence and quick-as-I-can nature of the experiment but .. I am satisfied. It's called Vu'un Tacj'an which means "I am cheese" in Tsotsil (which is a Mayan language) - because of her name, you see.. Not that I know Tsotsil or anything - Googled that one.

Here it is: Vu'un Tacj'an

I worked especially on the drums, which are often neglected to drum loops. Especially interesting, to me anyway, is the strongly tremolo'd ska rhythm part. Not gonna win any Grammys but it's a nice quiet little jam...

Labels: demo, Impulse Nine, Maloney's, mp3, music, stories, true

posted by Steve @ 4:48 AM 0 comments

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Name: Steve
Home: Tucson, Arizona, United States
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