the Rattling

Alexander Sunset

2012-01-17T16:19:00.000-08:00

Alexander Sunset

here's a little bit of a theme song for alex.. for some reason, when i think of super hero themes, the first one that pops up is darkwing duck. i think that's a little odd, but maybe not.. there was a short window of time where i really liked watching tale spin, rescue rangers, ducktales, and darkwing duck after school.. although, at the time, i think tale spin was my favorite. always been scared/fascinated with flying, i think.

anyhow, emily is still outta town, so i didn't really give her a chance to call this one finished.. but i think it'll be okay. it's kinda important to the overall super hero concept album thing.. not unlike the few unfinished songs i have left. i wrote some good words for something i'm calling "the ballad of windy & alex".. and i think that'll get it pretty close to finished. yeehaw!

also, on an unrelated note:

craigslist musicians seem to be uncommunicative flakes. i'm kinda still in disbelief.. i've been looking for other musicians, bands, people on tour, maybe somebody needs a multi-instrumentalist who can leave for tour tomorrow - anything.. but nobody even really replies to my emails, and if i get a single email, there's no phone number or anything. i figured it would be easy to play with a few different people, especially here in portland, make some new contacts, whatevs.. i can't even do that. hmph. yeehaw.

Alexander Uses His Powers (why the hellknot?)

2012-01-09T13:49:00.000-08:00

hahaha. today is monday, and i'm trying to finish up the a.f.c. stuff, which still includes another 5 or 6 tracks.. but this one is an odd one, a sorta dreamy noise wash.. mostly guitars feeding back in the old practice space, late at night.. it was pretty fun, using the acoustic and the electric to try and build these chords, moving around the room with the amp turned way up, trying to make the pretty noises.. kinda like whales or something. i can't make noises like this in the apartment, of course.. i keep trying to re-create those feedback swells and such, but it's never quite right..

Alexander Uses His Powers (why the hellknot?)

anyhow, i like how this one turned out.

Even Adam

2012-01-03T14:19:00.000-08:00

Even Adam

the music for this song started off with a cool cowbell part, and i like that a lot. of course, now it's got a bunch of other stuff going on, and it's hard to hear how neat it is, but still.. cool cowbell part. it's also got attempts to move between three similar but seperate song ideas, and that proved kinda difficult.. the swirly psychedelia of the first third, and the major key guitar rock, and the end.. whatever that is. ha! it was kinda hard to mix 'em all together all the same song.. trying to make the guitars sound big in the 2nd part, etc etc..

in other news, recording for American Friction is still underway, but it's slow going.. after spending some time on a particular take of 'Martians' we decided to scrap it and start over. tough decision sometimes. oh well. on the other hand, another new song that may or may not be called 'Nudist' is sounding pretty awesome. and we got a show coming up, jan 12th, so i imagine it'll be more rehearsal than recording for now.

Plastic Bags

2011-12-28T11:12:00.000-08:00

here's the bigger & longer side of our two-part release.. this song has been around since the days of the practice space (sometime in the summer, i suppose..) and that's probably obvious from the live drums. i had this crazy idea for a groove similar to Primus' My Name is Mud song.. sorta the inspiration for the end of the song, although my version comes out all square and full of guitar solo. ha!

Plastic Bags

life ain't that precious

2011-12-28T11:06:00.000-08:00

we keep getting closer to the end of this crazy album, sort of.. and here's a few more songs - but i also keep writing more, which is good and bad. today i'm gonna post two songs, but in two separate posts. crazy, huh?
yep. crazy.

anyhow, part of the reason i'm posting two is 'cause they're connected and this one is super short.

life ain't that precious

Bullies!

2011-12-19T08:02:00.000-08:00

yeehaw, december 19th. good times.

it may seem quiet around here, and i suppose it is - but not for lack of noise. we've been working on the new album for awhile now, and that recently included a long stretch of something like writer's block and dissatisfaction with the lyrics.. whew, tough times. we had a dozen songs all half finished, and i didn't like any of 'em.

but the good news: we seem to have found some new energy, and a lot of songs started to come together last week, even some new songs... all fitting together into the concept nicely, so it's probably time to start posting 'em.

this new song, Bullies, is kinda tough.. it's got some dimished chords, me trying to sing falsetto, a big thick bass/low-end mixdown to go with my dance-y hi hat stuff, all those crazy lyrics.. ha!

Bullies!

yeah, so i hope to be able to post a bunch more songs in the next few weeks, as we can get 'em squared away. and things are going well in both American Friction and the New Mexican Revolution. The Revolution just played the best show we've had in a few years - down in Eugene, OR at Luckey's on a Saturday night, with a traveling posse of drunk Santas filling up the bar and dancing. hard to compete with that. i also think jonpaul took a few photos from stage, so i look forward to seeing those. the band is really starting to gel, Geoff's back in shape already, it seems..

yep, dec 19th, good times.

Truly Daring

2011-09-01T07:20:00.000-07:00

Another for the A.F.C. album - Truly Daring is a song I wrote one night while at the practice space, all alone with a single strand of christmas lights for illumination. i was working with the big dynamic shift from the get-go, trying to figure out how i can come in with big guitars and live drums and screamy vocals, yet still contrast that with acoustic guitars.. and then, somehow along the line, we put together the intro - it started off with some more random piano bits, but really came together with emily's film noir trumpet solo..

Truly Daring

Boney is just this kid from back in grade school
a lizard's light beneath his skin
but he showed doubtand word got out
now i don't get to be his friend

Truly Daring is just the way I was in high school
a madness i could try and call my own
it rippled out in the dark - i swear i gave off sparks
to keep us warm against the cold

lets get wasted

2011-08-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

alright, so it's been a little quiet on the front these days, but it's not for lack of activity. emily and i have been working on a new album, a.f.c., for a while now, in addition to some other projects, but we're just now starting to see some results.. for our first offering, we've got "lets get wasted", a short little number that turned into something i'm really kinda proud of..

lets get wasted

i think it's cool, hopefully it sounds alright to other people.. i kinda struggled with the mix to this one, partly 'cause i don't have a strict deadline, and also 'cause i really like the song.

in addition, one of my other projects, American Friction, has been pretty busy lately, recording and playing shows.. and this weekend is gonna be kinda cool - friday at dante's, and saturday at slabtown. either show alone would be awesome, and back-to-back is kinda exciting - a tiny bit like tour.

as if that weren't enough, another awesome old friend is in town this weekend, one of the original guys i moved to portland with, from the first band.. neat-o.

Unreadable 2

2011-05-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Unreadable version 2

i got a friend coming into town today with his fiance, a great guy i've known since kindergarten or something, a long time, *and* we have the same birthday, so that's kinda cool. and portland has had some awesome weather the past few days (70-72.. hmm.. can't find the degrees symbol).. so i'm in a pretty good mood, fairly excited. ha!

so, in light of this weekend's upcoming distractions, i can't foresee a lot of writing and recording in the immediate future.. but that's alright, i started some new stuff yesterday that has promise, with a neat tempo & feel change in the middle.. so next week, i figure, will be be pretty productive. i've gotten sorta comfortable in the space, working on quiet stuff during the day and getting louder (drums!) around 6pm..

a puny and a whopper

2011-05-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

so, working swing shift is basically less cool than working the early day shift, but there is one redeeming aspect: an awesome view of the sunset from the hill, giving way to dusk by the time i'm waiting (for what seems like forever) for the #9 downtown. there is a scrappy little rhododendron at the bus stop that glows a brilliant red-and-green in the gloaming.

swing shift does not leave much time for me to work on songs with aaron, but we dug up this old gem from the archives to post today --

a puny and A WHOPPER!

this song has existed for a while now, but the recorded version is pretty simple -- just the idea of the song, really. it germinated at dan and colae's wedding (which must be a couple years ago by now, since julien just had his first birthday and baby girl couch is on the way!), when i overheard a toddler named ziggy (impressively well-behaved for such an occasion) discussing garden bugs with his grandmother. i didn't actually see the bugs, but grandma described their relative sizes using the delightfully obscure terms "puny" and "whopper." later, this song emerged, co-written by leah.

if i had a photo of miles and indie side-by-side, or indie riding miles like a horse, i would post that for sure. but i don't. so i can't.

edit: jonpaul sent a photo!

Beauty and Suspicion

2011-05-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

Beauty and Suspicion 2 - with live drums

more time in the practice space (which needs a name, by the way) recording drums and such.. yesterday/last night i spent a lot of time there, playing drums, singing, even turning up the guitar and playing with some feedback.. so that was pretty cool. i had plans to stay there late, until emily got off work, but the neighboring metal band showed up, and their concept of loud and mine are still somewhat different..

so that kinda forced me out, but not before i'd made some progress.. for the record, i've "played" drums on all of the OneADay5 stuff, i think. some of it was beneficial for the songs, but not all of it. i re-sang some stuff, too.. but i'm not sure that it's really important enough to post. so maybe i'm being a little bit picky about some stuff.. maybe.

anyhow - i like the drums on this one.. a lot of energy, some silly fills, and in this case i think it improves the song. blah blah.

In The Belly 2

2011-05-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

In The Belly 2 - with live drums

i think this is the last one to be re-posted.

it's a shame about all my blurry christmas light photos.

hmm.. so the post re-appeared, so i cut and pasted..

In The Belly 2 - with live drums

i spent hours at the space last night, trying to work on drums and guitars - but i must've been there for the same 3 hours that another band was practicing, and it was kinda frustrating.. not nearly as successful as previous attempts. oh well.

that being said, i was able to try out some different things last night, getting pretty loud in the middle of the night, in beautiful downtown portland. fun.

Judith 2 - live drums

2011-05-15T08:30:00.001-07:00

Judith 2 - with live drums

fixing this blogger stuff is not very much fun, but i found this (an old saved draft!):

i kinda thought of this song a little bit like Wilco's "At Least That's What You Said.." - which is an awesome mix of little sad intro and rocking outro.. so the blueprint is there, but our original attempt was a little flat (i think) and the outro didn't really work for me.. i wanted more rocking, and less singing, i guess.

and Wilco's drummer, Glenn Kotche, that guy has such a good feeling behind the kit, it's always neat to try and channel some of his groove..

and also, emily and our fledgeling rose plant, enjoying the sun break.

Reasons On The Way 2

2011-05-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

Reasons On The Way 2 - with live drums

not too sure about blogger here, but it's free and has worked this long.. so we'll just keep the faith.

there used to be a story here about recording with Basho all day yesterday, full of gorgeous harmonies and some nice violin playing.. but i lost that post somehow, and then a few more.. blah blah. so i'm just gonna try and rebuild real quick.

Focus for Color 3 - more live drums!

2011-05-10T19:05:00.000-07:00

Focus for Color 3 - with live drums

more of the same experiment.. which i'm gonna go do more of tonight, fingers crossed. it's hard working odd hours, in a weird lonely room, but it's cool to record some drums.

Just A Ghost 2 - with live drums

2011-05-09T18:25:00.000-07:00

well here's the beginning of an experiment. at the practice space i've been spending time playing drums with stuff, working on things.. and most of it has involved the recent song a day 5 stuff, so i thought about fixing something, remixing some bits, and so on.. and i've been recording drums on most of the songs we just wrote.

it's not in the spirit of previous song-a-day stuff, but it's good to try some different stuff i figure.. and we'll see if i'm making things better or worse. or if it matters at all.

Just A Ghost 2 -with live drums

in this case, its pretty much only live drums were added.. i might re-sing it and add some guitars for the second chorus stuff, but i got distracted with other songs that might need drums. ha!

Happy Mother's Day!

2011-05-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

Moms

Yep, today is Mother's Day.. i bought a card for my mom years and years ago that i never ended up mailing her - and i find it every now and then, stamped and enveloped, ready to go - but i always misplace it before i go back home. i'm not very good at keeping track of dates and such, but i do intend to give my mom her card one day.

happy mother's day!

song-a-day 5.1

2011-05-07T12:51:00.000-07:00

i think aaron's grass-seed is working:

also, the weather was nice enough for the first concrete-slab cookout of the season on thursday. hebrew nationals. mmmm. . .

guess we're all moved into the new rehearsal space, too. aaron's been down there just about every day this week setting stuff up and recording drums on a bunch of stuff, finally. this post marks the official ending of song-a-day 5, the beginning of song-a-day 5.1, and the promise of more songs to come.

Sufferable
must have been a miracle that you'd already had your fill of all life's cracks that didn't contain me.
didn't know what hit me. you glowed a complementary mode that mingled into memories that would be.
now i'm running out of cigarettes to light, and i'm leaving all the houseplants outside tonight. it's hard to spread your wings when you never wanted flight, but this is the way it is, ain't wrong or right.

startled you by saying 'bye, cuz you can't help but catch my eye -- that tiny glance between ignoring hours.
wonder what i'm waiting for. hasn't this happened once before? you're milking the excuses for your powers.
now i'm running out the back door again, in the middle of the night,
anxiety my friend,
hoping in my dreams i won't be toothless again.
tomorrow there'll be better plots to tend.

Just A Ghost

2011-04-20T10:11:00.000-07:00

here's a strawberry plant, for Adrian.

Just A Ghost

this is the song i wrote first thing yesterday morning.. with a neat Amaj and Emin7 going back and forth, and then that giant descending line, which is actually a big part of an old king hen song i thought of last week - but these days i can't even really remember how it went, and this line might be the only part of it that survives.

it's funny, recording in the apartment has a lot of challenges, especially with such a hard deadline.. no drums, can't play loud, can't do all sorts of things early or late, even singing and such - but what i really want are feedback swells with the guitar, and it's impossible to do here and hard to simulate.

how awesome can my guitar parts be without feedback? not very.

anyhow - yesterday after recording most of this one, i got depressed and distracted - singing "in the belly of the whale" all afternoon and trying to nap in the sun, so i figured this one'll have to wait. late last night/this morning i put another little ascending guitar on the second break and decided to call it done. even without the feedback swell.

we did a little minor surgery on jonpaul's xbox last night, which seems to be a success, and that's good news. hopefully we can shoot some zombies tonight.. in celebration.

In The Belly

2011-04-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

In The Belly
of the whale.

i'm going in the belly
the belly of the whale
i'm gonna say i'm sorry
i said i'm gonna make confession

i think i'm gonna kill another
i'm gonna rip apart my brother
i'm gonna open up the roses
i'm cleaning off the cobwebs
i'm shaking all the cats off

wrote two songs today, this is actually the second.. the first one needs another line or two of lyrics, and it'll be all done, i think. it's good to be a few hours ahead of the game, eh?

ha!

today was a pretty nice day in portland - the sky cleared up all afternoon, which is pretty awesome.

The Doctor Is A Tool

2011-04-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

The Doctor Is A Tool

sorta depressing day today, kinda hard to muster up enthusiasm for some song writing, but maybe emily's cake will cheer me up. ha! of course it will. chocolate cake.

i wonder about psychiatry, especially the pharmaceutical side of it. seems suspect.

finished watching The Stand on Netflix.. started off strong, ended pretty poorly - but i guess that's probably old news. we hadn't seen it before, and it was worth watching once.. but it kinda makes me wanna read the book, which is probably a lot better.. also, Twin Peaks is up now, so we might re-watch some of that stuff.

The Quiet Room

2011-04-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

The Quiet Room

yeah i heard you
i don't think i've ever heard you better
the out-of-focus life is softer
you frame the devil on your dresser
it's a quiet room
i don't think i've ever heard you better

and you need a quiet room
for recording a confession
for pouring over lessons
and if it's happening too soon
the proof is right there in the room

it's a very quiet room
made lesser be the presence
it was right there on the dresser
do you change pictures now when i come over?

wrote this in the middle of the night last night.. if it's a little noisy, i apologize.. it was played pretty quietly, delicate little finger plucks and mumbly vocals, and you can really hear the computer fan. you could probably hear the upstairs neighbor, if you tried. they keep odd hours, i think.

anyhow, we have some *other* recording to do, with *other* people, so there is not a lot of time to write anything today.

also - i think we've got the keys to a new rehearsal space and we're supposed to check that out tonight, and that's kinda exciting.

Nothing but a labcoat

2011-04-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Nothing but a labcoat

this is just a simple song about a sexy scientist. we love sexy scientists. literally.

it started with the lyrics "nothing but a labcoat" and worked backwards from there.

it's been a pretty slow day around here, dark and cloudy with a bit of a hangover.

Reasons On The Way

2011-04-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

Reasons On The Way

you said i would never make it on my own
well i guess i have to try
you said within a weekend i'd come home
well i'm proving that a lie

i don't really care if it's raining
i don't really care if it's your birthday
i ain't making no excuses
and i got reasons on the way

the truth is
we were never meant to be together
we were just living on a loan
and the truth is
i don't mind a little stormy weather
if i'm heading on down the road

i don't really care if you're famous
i don't really care what your daddy said
i ain't hearing no excuses
and i got reasons on the way

i wrote this song yesterday, trying to write some acoustic guitar stuff to balance out my future synth-pop experiments.. and use the mandolin, if only a little bit. i almost put accordion on it, but i figured the little organ part was the same thing, essentially - so i left it fairly simple. it sorta reminds me of the rolling stones doing country music, or something..

in other news, it seems like a rehearsal space is on the horizon, which may be super cool for the music production.. having a place to play the drums would be pretty nice, and would help the songs out a lot..
it's a big challenge, not using my "first instrument" when i'm writing songs, but it keeps forcing me to be creative.
and i like spending time with the drum machine, trying to squeeze more and more out of it, but it'd be a lot easier to just play the drums, making the changes more obvious, setting 'em up with cool fills.. ha! the drums.

aaron

Judith

2011-04-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

Judith

life came at me sideways
a dirty half-breed
it was fast but not the speed
and the filth,
it was invasive
i stay wasted
so i won't remember shit
i like your new mask
i'll help you lace it up
no friend of love
is the discovery a curious one?

so now you like Judith?
"after a fashion"
more disappointment,
a puppet trying to wrestle with passions

i'm gonna win
Judith ain't never gonna see me unhappy again

i started this song a few days ago, but i wasn't really sure what to do with it.. i had more of the outro rock out bit than anything.. and i tried to work backwards and write lyrics for the first part. and then that changed my ideas for the second part, and on and on, blah blah..

but this morning i really started to like it, and while i was working on another song i kept thinking about it, so i figured it must be time to call it finished.. emily came home and we wrapped it up, doing a little more singing and stuff. we were gonna put real trumpets on it, but we didn't. i've been thinking about the saxophone a lot lately.. that might sound nice.

Butter Brickle

2011-04-13T20:32:00.000-07:00

Butter Brickle

this was mostly written yesterday, with a bulk of the lyrics and singing done after emily got home, with the help of leah. i don't wanna use her full name 'cause she might get in trouble - but i gotta mention her, because she sang a bunch at the end and helped write lyrics.. always appreciated.

it reminds me of ween, i guess, which is pretty cool.. also it has something about old st. nick and some butter brickle, which is pretty cool.

today i got most of a weird dreamy electro-pop song put together, but no lyrics yet. with another American Friction practice tomorrow night, i gotta plan ahead a bit.

they own everything

2011-04-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

they own everything

on the other side of the mountain
i lost my fascination
dazzling hum of insects
a stranger married my sister
they own everything

this song started on jonpauls' ds-10, using that cool little korg synth/sequencer thing.. all the weird syncopated blip-bloop stuff, that was the ds-10. once i got it into protools, i tried playing all sorts of little noises along with it, trying to build a rhythm track.. another glitch-y nod to radiohead, i'm sure.

i used the rather arbitrary length of the ds-10 source events to define the parts of the song.. if that makes sense, umm.. i just built around what jonpaul exported for me, and tried to find musical bits that filled the holes and stuff.

anyhow, it was a pretty weird day - working on this song a lot(listening to this over and over became really meditative).. as well as two other bits i'm trying to turn into songs.

Something Worse

2011-04-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Something Worse

have you looked at her?
i've never seen her eating..
have you even looked at her?
you'll never catch her sleeping
i don't think she's human anymore..
what was she before?

i must be dreaming -
i can't get close to her
without reaching for a knife

have you taken life before?
there's something worse than wolves at the door

this one comes in just under the wire, i guess.. it's about 10:30pm here, and i'm still kinda thinking about the mix. ha! i should really move on to the next song, right? right.

umm.. this song started off with some odd glitch-y drums and piano loops, (maybe a little bit like thom yorke's solo stuff?) - and just steadily got out of control, with a whole bunch of overdubs. it turned into a bit of a mess, perhaps, but i really like the creepy lyrics.

Focus for Color

2011-04-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

Focus for Color

You take a path that I might've taken, but didn't. Goodbye. Good luck! I hope you break a leg!

How do we win the future?
Got to see you in the future.
You (i) might be me (you) some day.
What will you have to say?

The more you like it now, the less you'll like it later -- trading in all the focus for the color. WE WANT THEM BOTH!

i wrote the music for this one a few weeks ago, trying to come up with cool metal riffs for American Friction. ha! anyhow - i'm not really much of a metal guitarist, or guitarist at all.. so it's almost always luck when i come up with something that i think is super-cool, like this main verse lick.. umm, it's like a Fmaj7 and a Fmin/maj7 back and forth.. with a chorus in Cmin, with some circus-y chromaticism.

or something like that.

i thought it sounded like a sonic youth song at first, sorta.. not sure now, with the crazy double time change and all, and the acoustic guitar skank part.. and the cheesy keyboard trumpet sound. now it's more like the leaning towers, i suppose.

finished it just in time, too - we're gonna go over to jonpaul (i like your new haircut) and indy's house to make CD merch..

Gravitational Turnstile

2011-04-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

gravitational turnstile

One of these days, I will alight.
The stars'll align and you'll see me back in the game.
Until that day, I'm bound to flight.
The planet's a sphere far, far away from here.

This is better, but hard to maintain.
I'll soon be out on the streets again.
I know this can't last for long.
I've already sold myself to a somber song.

Comets only come around once in a while, blazing through the G-turnstile.

this is the music i wrote first thing yesterday morning, that seemed (at the time at least) a little too dark and depressing for a sunny Friday.. when emily heard it last night she liked it right away, and when we woke up this morning we managed to do all sorts of things to it..

in fact, i think she did most everything today.. except the little tiny super-quiet drum part.. i did that. she wrote the lyrics, played the bass, accordion, and trumpet.. and sang, of course. i played the clumsy mandolin part. and the accordion part that got muted 'cause it's full of mistakes.

the not mean song

2011-04-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

the not mean song

i'm not gonna say anything mean about you today
it's too beautiful for that
the sun is out
i don't see any clouds
it's just too beautiful to stay mad

it has already been a pretty good day here in portland, oregon.. and it's only noon! yeehaw.

this is actually the second song i wrote today (wow!).. 'cause the other one was too ponderous and minor-key, full of accordion and mandolin and big chromatic walkdown stuff. it was neat, but almost inappropriate, i guess.

so i took a break, pulled out the ukelele and sat in the sun for a moment, and this was the very first thing i played.. words and chords and everything. if there is a record for fastest song i've written, i think this one would win.

which isn't to brag, or anything.. it sounds for all the world like a demo, not as fleshed out as other stuff we post here - and i could've written more words, figured out a cute little piano bit and made it longer.. but all those ideas seemed to take away from feeling of it.. a little rough, but innocent. or something.

anyhow, i think i'm gonna celebrate by sitting in the sun, playing the uke some more. ha!

Making Birds From Angels

2011-04-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Making Birds From Angels

pouring noise like concrete
trying to build a wall
hoping it won't fall

making birds from angels
a cage big enough for all
but they won't return my calls

it seems amazing, but we can't judge before we're through

opened up the floodgates
invited everybody in
all my enemies and friends

once they saw what i was making
some labeled it a sin
others offered to pitch in

it's amazing - what our ambition leads us to..
it seems amazing - just a modern man with tools

i like the lyrics to this one.. odd stuff, which is usually my favorite. i really like the little verse about "labeled it a sin/offered to pitch in".. somehow reminds me of something a little dylan-esque. when i started (with the acoustic guitar stuff, walking up & down the chord changes) i thought i might do a little folksong/storytelling thing.. maybe a southern gothic song, or something. i even had some lyrics written, but it wasn't making enough sense for a 'story'.. oh well.

i also got to use the mandolin on this one, and it's the first time i've played it in 2 years or so, easy... it used to live in Eugene, while i had the banjo, but a few months ago we swapped - which was sad at first, 'cause i really like the banjo, but it's always good to switch it up.

lastly, the outro to this guy is a little tricky.. i kinda see it in 6, but i think you could see it in 10, or a shifting 2 and 4 back and forth.. with the 3 chords moving on top, in a cycle. i spent some time thinking about it, but listening to it now, it doesn't seem that weird.

today's a busy day, with American Friction rehearsal tonight - now that this song is posted, i gotta go write a new one for tomorrow.. whew.

maybe something with mandolin..

dreams of flight

2011-04-06T11:53:00.000-07:00

dreams of flight

a long long time ago, back in santa fe, wes shirley (from the New Mexican Revolution) had a song called dreams of flight - which i vaguely remember, but all those vague memories are positive.. i think it may have ended up on his more experimental solo album, but i can't be sure.

in any case, i felt i should mention that, 'cause that must be where the main turnaround lyric comes from.. and while i don't know exactly what his song was about, i can tell you this song is mostly inspired by that movie "the boy who could fly" - i watched that movie a lot as a kid, and i loved it. fred savage burying GI Joe toys in yard, making it around the block on a big wheel.. good stuff. it also had a boy who could fly (not fred savage). and while the movie was more about the power of belief or something, mine is more about dissatisfaction, gravity as the status quo, stuff like that. a real head-y rebellion. ha!

i had trouble getting to sleep last night because i had songs on the brain. this little math-y phrase kept trying to write itself while i wanted to sleep.. so i ended up thinking it all through (sort of) and mapping it out.. and first thing this morning i was able to record it, so that's kinda cool. maybe that'll be tomorrow's song..

the news this morning talked about snow, hail, and thunderstorms.. with a high of 49. sigh.

another way out

2011-04-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

another way out

a large chunk of the music for this song was done on Nanoloop by jonpaul, which is this nifty little iphone app that kinda simulates old 8bit videogame noises, using similar sounds and noises and stuff.. he sent me a short bit that we chopped up and re-arranged for out verse/chorus/rap, and then started to overdub and stuff..

it wasn't too difficult, but the scheduling was - now that emily is gainfully employed we have a narrow window in the early evening, and it's kind of important to plan ahead a bit.. in this case, i spent ALL day working on a completely different song, agonizing over lyrics and such, struggling with it, hoping emily could fly in and save it - but then emily came home and wasn't really feeling what i had worked on, so we just moved to a different song, and this one came together fairly quick.

i think i should have known - if the next song is such a headache during the day, maybe i'll just start another one.

in any case, a big thanks to jonpaul for the 8bit electro-pop.

also, it's cold and wet here. with the promise of more cold, and more wet.

Mister Sun Punch

2011-04-04T11:51:00.001-07:00

Mister Sun Punch

we stayed awake
we tempted fate
she asked me to stay
the beast grew tame
a storm astray
a doll with lightning face
another rainy day
but i stay entertained

how could mister sun punch let this happen?

this song took some head-scratching to figure out.. i had this drum groove in 5 from way way back.. i think i came up with it playing drums in The Volumes, many years ago, and then tried using it in a John Elton tune.. and now it pops up here, using my trusty DR-880 guy.. the music started on the moog, with a stairstepping descending line, but the hard part was 'hearing' a melody over the thing, and then coming up with words - but i guess that's almost always the case.

this time, late last night after finishing up with the moving i was able to put pen to paper, and had a whole page of weird poetry/lyrics.. and this morning, with some editing, i was able to put 'em down on the song.

it might've been nice to have emily sing on it, she could make it prettier - but she's busy today, because:

today is emily's first day at work, woohoo! i hope she's not too nervous about it, and that she finds where she's going okay, and her clothes are appropriate.. and i don't want her to have to worry about posting a song today, it'll be nice to let her just come home and relax, so it's probably best just to finish this one up.

aaron

Brand New Man

2011-04-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Brand New Man

grew up thinking this was family
spending all my time at home
they had me convinced but i've learned since
i'd be better on my own

he had the space and desperate taste
it takes to make a man
he got the parts and learned the arts
and came up with a plan

and when they walked down the streets
everybody would cheer
they came to celebrate
the automaton was here

with straight white teeth, a perfect crease
he really looked divine

we'll build a man to prove we can
to follow our own line

and when he started to breakdown
all the people shook their heads
you should have known
you'd be better off alone
just like your father said

this song was pretty fun to write, with emily and i splitting songwriting duties about 50/50.. i wrote the lil guitar line (descending/ascending Eminor) and came up with a chorus, and then kinda recorded those bits w/out having a clear idea what to write about.. the next morning emily and i wrote a bunch of kinda inspired lyrics about a sort-of frankensten's monster character. i've always wanted a robot friend.

once it started to head in the direction of ridiculous musical theater, emily was all set.. we just had to spend sometime going over things, trying to get the fermata and outro parts.. this afternoon we overdubbed electric guitars, accordion, organ, trumpets (real and fake).. and some singing. i think this song might be better with a more over-the-top theatrical vocal performance, full of character and what not. oh well.

and in the meantime, helping jonpaul and zach and melissa move. and playing a new mexican revolution show at the tonic (which went well, thanks to alfred) - it's been a kinda busy weekend.

Beauty and Suspicion

2011-04-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Beauty and Suspicion

she's a clean break and i'm quick healing
an open hole of love sick feelings
a laughing accident
you knew exactly what i meant

i thought it best to keep to myself
to decorate my private hell
i got no alibi
i got no heart to try

does beauty lead to suspicion?
you mentioned mystery -
i'd give it all up willingly

i thought this was what i wanted
to see the whole town choke down on it
taste was bittersweet
it was better incomplete

she's a clean break and i'm quick healing
but the whole exchange has left me reeling
it was all an accident
i know exactly what she meant

beauty and suspicion
an ancient mystery
i'd give it all up willingly
for the gods of atlantis
i wrote a symphony
i'd give it all up willingly

i wrote this song in the middle of the night a few nights ago.. chords and words pretty much all at once. if you can find a reasonable melody, sometimes the words come easy.. i wish it was always like that. in addition, yesterday emily and i put together a pretty awesome and hilarious song, which i imagine we'll post tomorrow.

also - now we can stream all the songs throughout the website, which is pretty awesome. i'm using Streampad, which works well on my end, and i trust it'll work for others 'cause i'm surprisingly unfamiliar with some of this stuff.. but so far so good. i guess it just reads html script and finds .mp3 files, and then streams them in a queue. neat-o. it works for the blog, obviously, but also for all the back catalog stuff, each "album" page has it's own streaming thing.. it might be cool to randomize it something, or maybe be more particular, but for now it just goes in order. in any case, i like it a lot. and we can all thank Erik Baldoni for that (american friction's bass player, hoo-ray!)..

so it's pretty tight this weekend, helping jonpaul and zach move, playing a show tonight with the New Mexican Revolution (at the Tonic, 1 of 4 bands.. whew.).. and working on these songs, but i think we can manage.

aaron

Unreadable

2011-04-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

Unreadable

come from a time when holes had all the meaning
before all this concentration happened
we chose the macroscopic
but now

we're unreadable
with our face to the sky
our lack of shame a disguise
if we can sacrifice all our brothers
we can save all their wives

we're unbeatable
with our pits full of fire
burn our mouths free from the lies

we're unreadable
a machine with two eyes
and we can still change the tide
if we could let go of mother
we could get back our pride

we're untreatable
but don't act surprised
just watch out for the smiles

this song started of with that big simple G, D, C chord progression, and then those crazy horn breaks.. and with that big celebratory thing going, i added on the Dmaj lick at the end (sorta like Rocket, one of my favorite Smashing Pumpkins tunes..), and i had a four minute guitar solo outro, and it's only got like two minutes of song before that.. so i chopped a lot of that off.

then emily added more trumpets.. just to add to the fake keyboard trumpets i was using. that's probably some of the loudest stuff we've done in this apartment, and i think it's about the limit.. i had a fantasy of setting up the kit in here, and muffling it all and playing some real dry old soul/funk style drums, but that'd still be too loud, i fear. oh well.

and speaking of drums, this song has a repeating drum fill that made me think of Matt Sorum playing on November Rain.. same fill over and over, 'cause that's what Axl wanted. so i'm like that.

in other news, it's friday afternoon and the sun broke out in portland, gorgeous and much needed, so i may take a break for awhile and read a book outside.

aaron

Zombigurumi

2011-03-31T13:59:00.000-07:00

this song is almost entirely emily's - but i think that's kinda obvious.. she wrote the music on acoustic guitar, including the little minor mid-eastern-ish breakdown section, and had the chorus vocals figured out from the beginning. i went to bed last night thinking about some other song and when i awoke she had written all the verses and figured out most everything else.. and we spent this morning and early afternoon putting bass down, singing all the bits, and recording weird noises.

here's an opportunity to learn about amigurumi (編みぐるみ), and by extension, zombigurumi. (ゾンビぐるみ ?)

Amigurumi Wikipedia

Zombigurumi
I wanted it to be a special night
Amigurumi by candlelight
But the face came out all wrong again

So I tried adding on a little woolen mustachio,
Stitched on some blush.
I knew that I had made a new yarn friend.

But then. . . . .

I don't know what we're doin here.
We were in my room, now we're at the pier.
I don't think I ever wanna go home.

Acryllic boats filling up the sea,
Knitted jellyfish surrounding me,
And a lego lighthouse not too far away.

My amigurumi grabbed me by the hand,
Skipping gaily down the moonlit sand.
We began the steep ascent, the stars so close.

Now it looks like I've come out on top.
I get it, I don't wanna stop.
I don't need nothin I ain't got right here.

I don't remember giving you those teeth.
And why are you looking that way at me?
You know you're only polyester fiber underneath.

You're looming in so very tall,
Near my neck, it barely hurts at all.
And now I'm sprouting multicolored yarn all over me.

I must seem a spectacular sight,
I could never wake up, now I'm out all night,
and I don't think I ever wanna go home.

And, the photos: old-school audio repair. a cardigans tape i've carried around with me since the mid '90s. warped by sundrenched dashboards and dusty boxes (no case of course).

Gorgeous Bruise

2011-03-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous Bruise

this song has a neat Abmaj/Cmaj thing going on, which sets up some neat half-step motion.. umm.. like G and Ab, or Eb and E.. that sorta stuff. and it's got a middle section in A minor. and horns and guitars, and lots of singing, and chimalong, even a couple of theremin tracks..

it started off with the acoustic guitar, playing through all of it.. and the lyrics came pretty quick, once i got a bit of a melody, but i had a hard time singing it - i was trying to do this harmony part, not really my strong suit.. so i got sorta discouraged. but emily fixed it all up.

she's got a problem saying numbers
something more than just a stutter
a gorgeous bruise on her left thigh
those kinds of marks will make you wonder
can she see the warmest tundra?
did they just laugh to be polite?

i earn medals i guess..

it's just enough to make you shudder
crawl back underneath the covers
another beast has learned to bite
did you see amy at the window?
did you ask about the candle?
did mary think it was too bright?

i earn medals i guess.. it don't mean much now, but it's all i got left

she's got a problem saying numbers
something more than just a stutter
that gorgeous bruise on her left thigh
those kinds of marks will make you wonder
can she really see the tundra?
did she just lie to be polite?

a lot of self-referential lyrics there. i won't go into it too much, but amy & mary pop up, and the warmest tundra. and the candle. ha!

Normal

2011-03-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Normal

this song went through a bunch of versions.. which is hard to believe for a song-a-day. it started with all the acoustic guitars - i had that little chord thing in seven, which i was kinda proud of, and i was trying to sing real fast over it, with no luck. emily came in and changed the vocal melody, and we tried to write a song about a treehouse and adolescence and stuff, which i thought was a good idea, but all my words were terrible.

so we shifted gears a bit, worked on the outro.. emily sang a bunch of stuff we later got rid of, and put piano bits down.. and we shelved the whole treehouse line of thought for new lyrics. kinda crazy - 'cause song-a-day is really more of a first thought/best thought sorta deal. no time for second guessing.

and i spent all morning working on two other songs, both of which are close to finished, even if one is a little silly. so we're in good shape for tomorrow, i think..

in other news - it's pretty wet and little cold outside. not so great for taking indiana jones outside.

aaron

you are a hell and here's proof

2011-03-28T20:38:00.000-07:00

you are a hell and here's proof

this song started off with an experiment in building a note-pool and stacking triads to get chords.. in this case i just ended up with a dreamy Cmaj chord, with an f# popping up every now and then.. kind of a lydian style thing. and it was getting late so i just tagged on this mumbled outro bit, which turned out to be my favorite little bit, 'cause i really dug the lyrics.

then today emily recorded the vocals and trumpets in the middle, all super echo new agey psychedelic. .. and some more moog.

you are a hell and here's proof
full of old ocean water
a minotaur in a mansion garden
but don't talk about the beauty
william never really started any fires
he saw you glance at your watch
you better pray i stay asleep
ended up with the jitters
a passionate critter
with no friends
hanging out the window

And as for the photo: meta!

lest ye be judged

2011-03-27T10:37:00.000-07:00

another round of song-a-day begins, officially, with this little number - lest ye be judged - a pretty little song with guitars and moog and emily singing. it's got some neat timing issues, with a verse in seven using these dreamy chords (Eb-7 with a B, and a E-7 back and forth), and it straightens out for the turnaround stuff.

The same things we're running to for comfort
are the same things they're fighting for.

Can you blame them?

Can you feel the perspectives of people who've been taught to care about different things?

On an unrelated note -- the amigurumi is a little Formaldehyde friend I made for the ladies at the lab, sort of a parting gift. They call him Aldy.

elephant

2010-11-18T12:30:00.000-08:00

this picture is sorta unrelated to anything in the song.. but i was looking through photos on the camera and found this - i guess emily must've taken it a month ago (or so) while jonpaul and i were "fixing" the moog. i'm pretty sure this attempt was mostly 'take it apart and put it back together'... and i don't think it helped much.

as for the song, elephant, i wrote this a few weeks ago, all distorted piano and odd chromatic motion (it's all in Fmaj, with a C C# D augmentation thing going on..).. the whole noisy-pop thing is definately a nod to Idiosyncratic Routine and Best Supporting Actress, two projects of jason nickle (of the Shitty Beatles) that i find pretty inspiring, and difficult to imitate.

i guess the music kinda reminded me of a circus (maybe 'cause i saw some OPB reality circus thing recently).. so i started writing about elephants, and originally i had an idea for a short story about a lonely elephant.

that would've been cool.

but it wasn't really happening, i couldn't get a bunch of lyrics over the music, i couldn't find a melody/rhythm for the stuff i wrote, blah blah.. so i just started over, and wrote something different.

hmmm.. i think that's about it. i also used the borrowed accordion on this one, but listening to it in the background, i can barely hear it.. who mixes this stuff?

aaron

things will change

2010-11-15T15:46:00.000-08:00

the other day we met a married couple that plays music together (the mukluks) and we sorta swapped accordions for a bit, in case they wanna use our slightly fancier accordion for their show.. so i had their smaller accordion around the apartment, and tried to use it on some songs. i'm not much of an accordion player, though. blah blah.

this little song is odd - it's kinda short and simple, but it's got backwards bits, slide guitar noises, harmonica, on and on.. kinda crazy and full of instruments. but still short. it's another in the line of "happier" songs experiments, and it has the same mixed results.. the chorus is all Emajor stuff, but the verses start with a good C#minor setup - so that's not too cheerful. and the lyrics are a little more cheerful than "i don't wanna be your friend anymore".. and the ethusiasm is kinda muted. i managed to squeak out a harmony or two, but i can't hear the smile.

ha! it probably just needs an awesome guitar solo outro.

things will change

things will change maybe for the better
it may sound strange but today i got a letter
it was plainly stated: all the worry and regret are over-rated
things'll change whether or not you let 'em
the storm clouds'll crack and the sunshine is back

is it simple enough?
momma always said that the song doesn't need to be much
just sing from the gut
if you're honest the words'll be someting they love

its been fifteen years since i thought about my friends in highschool
like facing your fears, fielding phone calls cluthching a bible

contemplate, geth.

2010-10-18T16:44:00.000-07:00

contemplate, geth.

monday, finished up this little instrumental track.. been working on the I Like Your New Haircut stuff, now it's got a lot of violins all over the place, which we recorded this weekend. looking pretty promising, the whole album is gonna be pretty neat. and it'll be good to finally finish the thing, it's been in the works for almost 2 years, i think.. whoa.

but even saying all that, it still has a bit farther to go..

Upset on Mondays

2010-10-15T11:14:00.000-07:00

things are getting closer to desperate here, no luck on the job front.. i think i'm gonna go over to Safeway down the street and apply for a job, maybe also TMobile and Fred Meyer.. but i'm not terribly hopeful. just closer to desperate.

on the other hand, the weather has been nice here in portland, oddly.. sunny afternoons, cool crisp air. i like it, and it makes it much more enjoyable to wander door to door looking for jobs.

this song is another in the attempt to write "happier" songs. catchy little major key bits - they start off happy enough, but it's hard to write lyrics. super-hard. these days i don't look a gift-muse in the mouth, as it were.

blah.blah.blah.

Upset on Mondays

Janie's always upset on mondays
and it pinches like you wouldn't believe
i wanna give her everything that she wants
i wanna give her everything that she needs
always bleeding from her head over something
it was nothing i could really take part in
a vast and ancient garden
don't look back when she tells you to leave
her love is something i'll learn to stomach
her attention is like a disease
a pretty bird with a terrible temper
making eyes from the heart of a tree
janie's always angry on mondays
it pinches like you wouldn't believe
i wanna give her everything that she wants
i won't look back when she tells me to leave
you don't own me anymore
i got something to settle the score
i won't be back for more

vast tract of nothing

2010-10-14T11:05:00.000-07:00

thursday morning, just finished up this little song with emily's help - she came home between classes today with a lotta pep (she did well on her test!) so we recorded some keyboards and drank smoothies. pretty great. managed to finish this one, with a few more in the works.

the song's a little odd, i guess. i wanted to write more happy songs, and so i came up with some major key guitar stuff, trying out different things. it started out cheerful enough, but once i started writing lyrics it got all weird and sorta depressing.

but still in a major key. i had planned to start off in E major and then tag on the outro in A major, with a little bridge to transition between them ("i didn't come to point fingers.. blabh blah").. and that worked out alright, but i added this guitar near the end that leans on a G#.. with a few B's every now and then.. so that pushes it back into a kind of Emajor thing. oh well, maybe too technical and silly anyhow..

vast tract of nothing

you don't know what you've been missing
we got soul with no son
we're the flood and the fire
we don't get tired
we got dreams that the human race is gonna expire
you can turn into stone
you can chop through bone
but is it really everything that you want?
it seems a vast tract of nothing
you got expressions that you use but refuse to believe
you got weapons in the shape of your teeth
but i don't come to point fingers
i can't care enough to pretend
i don't wanna be your friend anymore

ha! reading the lyrics like that, it is pretty far away from a happy song. hmm..

i got no reason

2010-10-05T09:33:00.000-07:00

whew - it's been a long time since anything got posted here, huh? it's been kinda odd since being back in Portland, and I'm not sure I've got much to show for it.. we still have various band practices 2-3 times a week, and stay sorta busy, but it's odd.

Emily is back in school, as of a week and a half ago.. which is good, but we decided I wouldn't go to school, and instead I'd work a lot and make money. (ha!).. but it's tough to find work 'round here, that's for sure. I applied at a 24hr Subway down the street, and they haven't called me back. sigh. i can't even get crappy jobs i don't want. oh well.

here's a song. it took about an hour, i figure.. started playing the chords (with the odd phrasing), and found something to latch onto.. the words spilled out, piece of cake. it would've been easy to dress it up, re-recording it and making it fancy, but i kinda like the lo-fi loneliness of it.

i got no reason

i got no reason to get excited, i've decided
i guess you'd rather be alone
let me feel something while i am able
i'll just sell all my stuff and get back on the road
but this thing between us, it's a demon
i can't fight it
why won't you pick up the phone?

Home!

2010-07-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

We're home!

A little groggy, both happy and sad, we've arrived. I was even able to fix the website!

Now I've gotta buy some coffee.

Aaron

ア-ㇿン

2010-07-17T03:18:00.000-07:00

Alright, school is over.. and Emily and I both survived, which is pretty cool. The whole evening ceremony was pretty great, with a bunch of food and drink (they just put beer everywhere, so you never have to go to the bar to get it! wow.)

My speech was alright, I think. I was kinda nervous so I spent most of the afternoon practicing with Emily, and my host family said it was fine (but they're pretty nice, and they seem to like me..) a lot of people ended up crying over the course of the evening, which I guess is good. I'll take credit for some of it. ha!

Afterwards we partied pretty hard.. drinking at the park (which is perfectly acceptable in Japan) then an hour of karaoke, then a trip to Susukino where we hung out at a bar with some new Japanese friends, drinking and eating meat on a stick. That stuff is apparently pretty universal, and you don't need to be fluent to have a good time.

Today my host family kinda led me around for some food and sight-seeing.. After a full day of adventuring, we went to another hot spring/public bath, which is always awesome.. This one had a nice outdoor section, which is probably my favorite, but it's hard to choose when everything is awesome. I hope/imagine Emily has something similar going on.

I'm not entirely sure if we'll see each other before Monday (at the airport!) so I'm planning on taking it easy, slowly packing and cleaning up over the next 24 hours.. then home!

Aaron

Friday morning

2010-07-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

Well, today is the last day of school here in Sapporo. It's been a tough week, I think.. yesterday was the final test, which wasn't too bad, but today is the final presentation. It's gonna be in front of everybody (whatever that means) and it's a little bit nerve-wracking..

Additionally, I got asked to give a speech tonight at the graduation ceremony/farewell party. I suppose it's an honor, but I don't think anybody else wanted to do it, either.. ha! Maybe they didnt pick me so much as I was the first one who didn't say no. ha. ha. So I've spent the last 3 days memorizing stuff for the test, stuff for the presentation, and this speech that Harano-sensei and I wrote. Jeez..

I should mention that I'm not really that good at Japanese, and it's a long speech all in Japanese (of course).. in front of a bunch of Japanese host families. I'm a little worried they won't understand it ('cause of my bad pronounciation and such) and the students won't understand it ('cause its in Japanese!).. and it'll just be me making noises with my mouth for 5 minutes in front of everyone. Hopefully they know when to clap at the end..

Anyhow, at the other end of it we'll have survived a month in Japan, which was pretty amazing.. We've still got the weekend to party and relax and recoup before the journey home (we leave here on Monday, umm.. I think we might get home Monday, by going back in time..) Not completely sure, but I'm not gonna worry about that now..

Aaron

monday night

2010-07-12T06:12:00.000-07:00

Today was a lot of school - two Japanese classes in a row and then lunch, then a class of Japanese culture. Which doesn't sound that bad, but two classes in a row is pretty rough for me - I get kinda tired after one!

Anyhow, after class we went to the station with a new Japanese friend, Shinya-san (no photos, sorry) who taught me how to read half-price, which is pretty important I guess. Turns out, a lot of bars are half-price around the time we get out of school, but not the one we've been frequenting... (which we call 'bar restaurant'). So thats a pretty important lesson, too bad it's in the last week. For the record, he also pointed out a few bars that are all you can drink for 90mins, for around 10-15 bucks. Yeehaw, desu.

After that, my host mother escorted me around the giant mall complex and took me to dinner, so I've got another photo of me eating. At least I'm not smiling look a goofy idiot in this one.. ha! The other photo is me in front of a giant float sorta thing, one of about 30 that high school kids made for a parade/festival in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, I missed the actual parade (it was Friday night, while we were partying in Susukino) but Shige-san took me took the high school Sunday morning to check 'em out in the daylight, and they're pretty impressive.. I think the kids made them entirely themselves, and had to carry them by hand around the neighborhood. My high school was different.

I went ahead and posted a few pics of the night-time parade, even though I wasn't there, because it's pretty cool.

Sunday morning in Japan

2010-07-10T16:39:00.001-07:00

whew.. sorry for the long delay, it has been pretty busy around here.

Here's a pic of me at the bath, and Yoshiyasu-san and I at a bar, and Shige-san and I ate a restaurant on a lake.

Our school work has really ramped up for the last week, leading up to a final exam and presentation (for group 3, at least). It's pretty scary stuff for me, because all of the vocabulary is new and presentation format is kinda specific.. so I'm spending every morning sorta rehearsing the lines of my 'script'. As well as all the other stuff for school that are unrelated to the presentation.

Anyways, life outside of school is pretty great! Friday night we went to Emily's host family's friend's bar, where we were treated awesomely, given a little private room with food and drinks, and even a guitar, haha! So we played a few songs (though we were a bit embarassed) and it was nice to be able to play a bit.. it's been 3 weeks or so, and thats tough. Afterwards Emily and I explored Susukino some more, looking for live music - which is surprisingly difficult. Eventually we found a tiny little jazz club, and I think they were more or less wrapping up as we walked in, but they went ahead and did another set, mostly for us (i think..)

Because we're so obviously foreigners, we get a lot of attention.. so at this cozy little club we got to talk with everyone there. Pretty cool.. most of them were musicians, and one of them loved doing card tricks, so we saw lots of neat sleight-of-hand stuff, and then played some Japanese bridge games (emily won once).

Saturday I went to another public bath with Yoshiyasu (one of my host brothers), this one was like a spa, i think (having never been to an American spa).. it had a lot of tubs with different temperatures, some outside, as well as these rooms that are like saunas, but without the steam.. just hot rooms. They were awesome, especially after a night of drinking.

I skipped over a whole week of stories (and photos).. I'm sorta bummed about the website stuff, and it sorta tempered my enthusiasm (unfortunately). Only a week left, so we'll try and do better..

Aaron

2010-07-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Just a few quick pictures before I go to bed, from our recent adventure to a surprisingly awesome park just outside of Sapporo, full of crazy statues of granite (i think) including a recreation of Stonehenge and those Easter Island heads, and a whole bunch of Buddhas spread throughout.. if you look closely, you can see Shigeyasu-san (one of my host brothers) and I in front of the Daibutsu.

Aaron

Just a quick one...

2010-07-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

It is Saturday, about noon here.. After a pretty good night of partying in Sususkino (entertainment district of town) I've had a slow morning, breakfast and coffee and studying, not bad. Susukino was a crazy adventure, I think Emily has some pictures - we'll post those eventually.

Then I hopped on the computer to check my email, and the whole website has been taken down for some kinda malware/virus problem, and I can't figure out what to do! It's a bit of a problem, being in Japan and all.. and the email I got says I have 15 days before they delete everything!

If anyone knows how to get a hold of Wes Shirley, maybe he can help.. I'm not entirely sure what the problem is, but it affects both thenewmexicanrevolution.com and theleaningtowers.com, and if that stuff got deleted it might never get rebuilt, which would be a bummer.

thanks and love and such -

Aaron

I gotta run now, but hopefully Wes can hear about this somehow.. if not, I'll start figuring out international phone calls.

2010-07-01T00:07:00.000-07:00

This is our most recent group activity, Kado - a traditional Japanese flower arranging art.

The whole PSU crew with our arrangements.

My work in progress.

Last night we attended an international student exchange barbeque. We played huge games of tug-o-war and tag -- very fun and cross-cultural! Aaron bought a 6-pack of Sapporo tallboys to share with our new friends, Ken-san, Naoya-san and Dai-san.

Last week we visited Okura Yama, site of the 1972 winter Olympics 90-meter ski jump. This is the view of Sapporo from the chair lift.

The past week has been heavy with Japanese language classes, every morning I think.. with one day 2 in a row. So that has been a little intense, but also good. I (Aaron) somehow tested into the hardest of 3 levels, (I was aiming for level 2) so I'm in a little over my head sometimes, but my host family is super helpful - I'm sure I learn more Japanese at home than at school, but it's different stuff.

The BBQ thing was pretty fun, but it involved a lot of physical activity. An epic 4 team game of tug o' war (tsunahiki) that my team was destined to lose, and then a crazy form of tag (O Nagokko, i think) that lasted about an hour nearly killed me, I think. Luckily, I had that 6 pack of beer waiting for me, so I was able to persevere and make friends.

We're still having a hard time finding a good place to hang out and drink and relax (local dive bar, for example).. perhaps they're not the same here, every place we've been to has been a little stiff, or something. Tomorrow night we go to Susukino, an entertainment district of town.. I mentioned it to Shige-san, one of my host brothers, and I think he used the word erotic to describe it. Not sure though..

Also, this morning I found out Yoshiyasu-san, my other host brother, has the same birthday as me. That's pretty cool.

This morning we had a lecture on robotics, which was awesome. Hokudai has some fairly neat robotic stuff, although it seems real-world oriented, like controlling vibrations in machinery and buildings. At first I was a little disappointed, but then he started showing amazing videos of autonomous robots navigating hallways and playing soccer and such, and it kinda blew my mind. He also had a little robot dog-like thing, which was pre-programmed (not autonomous) but still pretty cute.

Tomorrow is Friday, no Japanese class.. probably won't have much to post until Monday, but we'll see.

Aaron

Kikkoman Factory Tour

2010-06-28T16:09:00.000-07:00

It's Tuesday morning, a few hours before an organized field-trip to the coastal town of Otaru. Yesterday after Japanese class we went to the Kikkoman factory where we learned a bit about soy sauce, which I think I can share with you. 3 ingredients, Soy beans, Wheat, and Salt.. plus a microbe, which might be called Kikkoman Aspergillis, but I should get Emily to help me with that microbiology stuff. 6 months later, Soy Sauce! Apparently not a lot has changed over 350 years of constant manufacture, just more computers to help control temperature and oxygen. The manufacturing process wasn't terribly enthralling, but the employees were awesome. Super attentive and friendly and excited, I think they were all really proud of what they were doing, and that was more impressive than the bottling machinery or whatnot.

Afterwards, back in Sapporo, we wandered down to a local bar and had a drink, which is still a little bit of a problem.. we can't seem to find local dive bar-type establishments, and always end up in more expensive restaurant things, which are starting to get a little predictable, and aren't entirely comfortable. oh well.. we are a giant gaijin parade, i suppose. We'd probably ruin whatever comfortable bar atmosphere we found. Saaa..

Yesterday I couldn't get the camera, website, and computer to all work together in harmony at the same time, so no pictures yet.

Aaron

2010-06-27T02:41:00.000-07:00

Just got back from an awesome adventure in the mountains outside of Sapporo, where my host family took me to a famous mineral spring (near the base of the moutain in the picture). Pretty amazing stuff, no doubt. Thats my host mother and I in front of the mountain on the drive up there.

At the spring we wandered around and drank the water, which some people collected by the kiloliter, using big plastic bottles and carts on wheels (we collected a single bottle). On the way back down to Sapporo, we stopped at another spring (a hot one) and dipped our feet for a bit (that's my host mother's daughter and husband). Near this hot spring was another Shinto shrine [edit: not Shinto, actually Buddhist], with an awesome cave full of statues of Buddhas and such.. pretty cool place, and I got a little fortune thing (O Mikubi) which was apparently the best one you could get, although I could only read a tiny bit of it.

Last night we went out to a buffet sort of restaurant, only with a grill built into the center of the table, so we cooked our own meat and vegetables. They also had all sorts of other stuff of course, sushi and ice cream and fruit and on and on and on.. fun stuff, and it was cool that we all had to kinda help each other cook while we ate, to keep stuff moving around. The picture is of me eating sushi, which my host family is still impressed by.. I tried to explain to them that I really like some sushi, but I don't think they believed me.

Before that, Emily and I went to the flower festival in the middle of Sapporo (Odori park, if you have a map) and wandered around the crazy shopping mall city nearby, where we ate some ramen for lunch before going to Emily's host mother's house for an informal tea ceremony lesson, which was pretty interesting.. including rare and expensive treats from the southern end of Honshu and family heirloom tea cups worth something like 20,000 dollars! wow.

We'll have time tomorrow (Monday) to post another blog entry and upload some more pictures, so I'll stop here.

Aaron

Taro-chan wa kawaii inu desu!

2010-06-21T21:14:00.001-07:00

I think the dog, Taro, has been a great ice-breaker. I love dogs and Taro is very sweet. He can do some simple tricks like high-five and sit up tall and balance on his hind legs. During meals, he sits next to the table and begs with a funny-sounding voice. Okaasan is pretty strict about not feeding him from the table, but Otoosan is a softie!

When we go for a walk, Taro-chan can be left outside of a shop without being tied up -- Okaasan just tells him "matte" and he waits until we come back and doesn`t run away. When we get back from a walk, Okaasan carries him into the house, straight to the washroom, and washes his feet (because he doesn`t have shoes to take off.) She is pretty diligent about keeping outside ground/inside ground separate.

PS - Local time is 1:25 pm on Tuesday.
PSS - Happy Father`s Day, Dad! (Sorry no card)

Asagohan!

2010-06-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

This is yesterday`s breakfast and the smallest meal my host mother has served so far!
Itadakimasu!

Homestay!

2010-06-21T21:05:00.000-07:00

My host parent`s house and the park across the street.

tuesday!

2010-06-21T16:44:00.000-07:00

emily & amanda woods on the streets of Sapporo, after successfully buying a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.

my room (2nd floor corner room) with a nice breeze and awesome windows. it has a little desk for my school work and closet for my clothes, so i'm practically back home.

this is just a quick one, before the day starts -

yesterday was the language placement test, which was a little bit nerve-wracking. i think i did alright on the written stuff (kanji is still a problem) but i feel like i really messed up in the interview, so that was disappointing.

on the other hand, some of the students on campus here have been really friendly and have allowed me to practice a lot of Japanese (some of them are English majors!), and we had a little welcome party last night with more conversation practice. at the end of the day (after biking home in the dark) i was pretty tired, so i pretty much went to bed right away.

we also went on a little adventure in the late afternoon, wandering around Sapporo where we found a little bar and had a few drinks, which is really great.. much appreciated break from the hectic worrying..

-

today is an easy day, no classes, just touring and sight-seeing, so we'll be able to post some pictures soon.

aaron

Father's Day, I think..

2010-06-20T03:40:00.000-07:00

It is Sunday night here in Sapporo, the evening before our first day at school, and it has already been a whirlwind experience. I've spent the past 36 hours or so in a near constant low-level confusion, but my Japanese has gotten a lot better!

I've got an awesome homestay family, the Saito family, and they've been amazingly supportive and energetic (and understanding) towards my clumsy attempts to get situated and such. ..and I've eaten more food in a day in a half than I would in a week back home, I think.

So far, as a quick rundown since Emily's post -
After breakfast we met at the school (Hokkaido Univ) and milled about waiting for our hosts to arrive, which was surprisingly nerve-wracking. Needlessly, as the hosts and school administration has gone to great lengths to prepare everyone over here for us, and Emily's host family and mine took us to lunch together before we seperated. Since then, I've been around Sapporo on bike (they've got a bike for my school commute!) and been to the supermarket (disorienting), gone to Sato-land (a sort to cross between a park and amusement park, and another park with giant fountains and bike racing and little mountains. I had written in my introduction letter that I like hiking and biking, and they've been concerned that I wouldn't get a chance.. so I get quite a bit today.

..and so much food! I don't think I could detail/catalogue it all, but it's amazing. They really appreciate food around here, I think.. French, Chinese, Korean, and of course Japanese in abundance, as well as interesting versions of American food.. and lots of sweets. I think I've gained weight.

Tomorrow morning (Monday) is the first day of school, with a placement test first thing in the morning, and it'll be the first time I've seen Emily since yesterday morning.. which doesn't sound like a long time but it feels like a very very long time. So tomorrow is another big day, looking forward to it, blah blah..

Oh! It's also Father's Day in Japan, too. I watched some crazy show that seemed similar to 'kids say the darnedest things' or whatever, but it was all cute little kids saying things about their fathers (i think... umm..) anyhow, it's 3am or so where my dad is, so I'm gonna skip the phone call.

Happy Father's Day!

Christian Center

2010-06-18T17:03:00.001-07:00

This is the sort of hostel-type place we stayed at the first night, before meeting our host families.

Breakfast spread.

Itadakimasu!

Poor big Mike . . . everything is so small for him, including the door frames

. . .and Arrival!

2010-06-18T16:58:00.001-07:00

Clearly we were all a little less fresh-faced and bright-eyed after a day of traveling and crossing the date line, arriving *finally* at New Chitose airport in Sapporo on Friday night.

Wow! A cigarette machine. Neat.

Departure

2010-06-18T16:44:00.001-07:00

Bright and early Thursday morning at PDX airport. . . Marina and Amanda were on our flight. The transit was long, but relatively smooth. I ate fast-food poutine at the Vancouver airport *shout out, Helen Hedberg!*

Everything about the Japanese flights was pretty adorable -- I tried to get a little video clip of the safety video, which was emceed and enacted by these little cartoon avatars who would make animaeish facial expressions when, say, the person in front of them put their seat back abruptly, or tripped over bags left in the aisle. Totemo kawaii desu nee! Also, the stewardesses were all very cute, with these puffy silken neck scarves and JAL aprons of cotton fabric enprinted with fantastical old-fashioned hot air balloon flight machines.

Aaron and I sat next to a sweet 6-year-old and her mother on the 10+ hour flight from Vancouver to Tokyo. The girl, whose name was Erika, goes to a French-immersion school in Vancouver, but is Japanese (she and her mom were flying to visit family) and also speaks English. Smart girl! She shared her Japanese snacks with us on the plane, and we played some video games on the in-flight entertainment screen.

day after tomorrow!

2010-06-15T22:08:00.000-07:00

no photo for today, but wanted to keep up with maintaining the blog habit.
we just got home from our last camaro island practice before we leave. it was a pretty decent practice, i must say-- we just wrote a 2-hour set list and went for it. ed recorded the session, so maybe he can get rich some day in case we don't come back from japan (HA! and ~knockonwood~)

we got a lot of little errands done today. tomorrow: final load of laundry and cleaning, pay bills, and PACK! ohmygoshimasu!

haiku

2010-06-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

whew! i finished this crosstitch just in time -- it is for Yoshida-sensei at Richmond to thank her for allowing me to infiltrate her classroom for the last half a year. i know haiku is sort of a complicated art, and i'm sure mine is naively elementary, but i think she'll appreciate the sentiment:

きょうしつに
きれえなうたが
ひびいてる
i hope this means something like:
"in this classroom, beautiful songs resound."

i discovered that the crosstitch medium is sort of difficult to work with for writing hiragana, but it's probably because i'm not even THAT comfortable writing it pencil-to-paper yet.

now to decide which yarn and knitting supplies to bring with me. . . .

Spring Festival

2010-06-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

at Richmond Elementary.

Yoshida-sensei passionately directed the kindergarteners in the singing of several Japanese songs with gestures. She is a musical genius with the kids.

I was so tickled to meet Poncho from the Moshi Moshi program!

Richmond Elementary

2010-06-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

Me with my kindergarten class at Richmond Japanese Immersion School. Totemo suki desu!

Atarashi zishyoo desu yo!

2010-06-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I'm blogging! I'm attempting to prepare myself for the advent of a photo chroniclation of our impending trip to Japan. You know, because I lack the tech savvy.

This is a picture of me with my new dictionary. Nakanaka ii zishyoo desu nee. . .

study buddy

2010-06-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Last week, Indiana kept me company while I studied for the ACS Organic Chemistry exam. This week, I recycled about 30 pounds of O-chem related papers from the past year. I will miss that class, really.

Hangover Brunch

2010-06-13T14:22:00.000-07:00

So we can feel human again.

Gifts for our host families!

2010-06-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

Moonstruck chocolates and Stumptown coffee -- YUMM! The wrapped, rolled up things are beautiful peacock tapestries that my mom crocheted for the host families (I wish I had thought to take pictures of them before packaging). We haven't been told much, but here's what we know: Aaron's is the Saito family, a 91-year-old grandmother, 60-year-old mom, and two sons, ages 27 & 28. Mine is a mom and dad, ages 60 & 63, and a shihtzu, family name Koyama.

teething

2009-12-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

teething

leaving for colorado first thing tomorrow, so a bit of cleaning and packing.. watching some tv and such. also i found a picture of wes and emily (and me) working on the new mexican revolution stuff at an old practice space.. a stinky little closet in NW portland, with no heat.. our new space is pretty much the opposite, i figure.

laundry also. need some clean socks.

grave song

2009-12-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

grave song

we chose the key of Ab 'cause we have a little homemade music box instrument (you can hear it at the very end of the song) that uses that key, for some reason.. so we wrote a chord progression and a couple of changes, and started working on it.. it clearly has a lot of emily's input, what with all the big singing and stuff. i kinda wish we could do more of that, but i think we start laughing too much.

i think it was supposed to fade out at some point, also - oh well.. arty ending, ftw.

just another spider bite

2009-12-14T00:56:00.001-08:00

just another spider bite

lodge party recovery day, spent most of it lounging around, working on this song and thinking about car commercials.. EAC practice tonite was good, came home and finished this.. just now getting done. just two more to go, i think - and then i'll be off in colorado for three weeks, with family. three weeks. crazy.

aaron

alientated times

2009-12-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

alienated times

becker's annual lodge party is tonight.. year five, i think, and it's always a good time. ice sculptures, meat dishes, good liquor and such.. what could be better?

too bad the shitty beatles couldn't play, it would've been perfect. on the other hand, i think camaro island and the new mexican revolution will play.. so that's a lot of time playing at a party.

we're watching documentaries on giant squids.

floating ash

2009-12-11T22:51:00.000-08:00

floating ash

F Dmin Bb C

when i turn around
i wanna see the whole thing burning down
nothing left but the sound
of floating ash
i'm gonna laugh
at all the things that couldn't last

they say i've got a streak
some kind of demon inside me
and while mostly he's asleep
i think everyone should be free
a single match is all i need

and i hope you've got one too
i need a pilot, soft and blue
for a mission on the truth
against the sky
no one survives
no one ever gets out alive

wilting roads

2009-12-11T00:15:00.000-08:00

wilting roads

today was a pretty good day, if a bit cold.. it hasn't gotten above freezing here for a few days, which isn't much compared to the east half of the country, but it's a pretty big deal for portland. anyhow, emily and i spent most of the day bumming around the apartment, sorta working on music and reading and such.. it's nice to take it easy after all the school work.

patchwork

2009-12-09T18:02:00.000-08:00

ha! it's cold in portland, and there's no shortage of jokes (intentional and not) on the local news tonight. in addition, some elementary kid stuck his tongue to a flagpole (funny) and the school called 911 (not funny) and got the fire department to 'save' him.. they poured warm water on his tongue and it came off.

of course it came off. i can't believe no one at the elementary school thought of it. wow.

luckily, they only teach children. ha!

anyhow, here's a song.

patchwork

how do you sing when there's not much to say
the sweater looks better on you anyway
you can do what you want, but i don't wanna be friends
i guess the patches are cute but it's proof that you're wearing thin

it never used to be like this, we were a team
we won by taking risks
but then you settled down, i hear you moved in with him
you guys looked great together - i hope i never see it again

you never believed and i did tell some lies
but you were just like me, you looked us straight in the eye
you said that you want to be free, but now you stick with your friends
crying 'bout the weather's gonna start turning soon and you wanna fit in

it didn't need to be like this
a stormcloud from an open wrist
so as the water comes up know that it's a revenge
i'm gonna laugh and hope all you assholes never learned how to swim

we got a guitar in the mail today (!) from emily's father.. so thanks John! it's a 12 string, which is pretty cool.. i've never spent any time with one before, so once we got it tuned up i got to work, using it on this song, just screwing around.. it's nice, kinda chimey, but i guess that's obvious. ha! we're both done with school now, so i hope to be able to spend some time with it, writing/recording/posting songs.. fingers crossed.

petalstain (花弁しみ)

2009-10-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

so despite the lack of any activity on the interweb, i've actually been pretty busy and sorta productive on the musical front..

i was real lucky to work on music for some moving images (!) which is pretty awesome.. providence, i suppose - cause i was really hoping to find some way to doing something/anything in that direction. so i got asked to write a bunch of little major chord acoustic guitar bits for a short promo film for the MESD, and i churned out a lot of stuff trying to make sure i didn't screw up. almost all of it was background stuff, so when i listen to it now it seems a little bit directionless - almost unfinished or something.. it's odd to write 'instrumental background music', perhaps..

anyhow, some of the stuff i've been working on has spun itself into other directions.. stuff that would end up unsuitable for the project but sounds kinda cool, so here's one of 'em..

petalstain (花弁しみ)

this is actually two months old or so.. and only one of many things i've been up to, but i think it's the most suitable to share. for the MESD video, it was all acoustic guitars, real simple and pretty stuff.. once we were done with that, i started to tinker with it and introduce all the static-y guitars at the end and play around the electronica bits.. after the MESD gig, i was able to do music for another video project which had a different role to fill, and i think i'll post that one soon. similar and different stuff was involved. ha!

back in school, benkyoo shimashing the hell out my nihongo. lots of hard work, studying everyday for this PSU japanese program, which uses JSL core conversations and all.. blah blah, it's good and bad, sorta hard and unfamiliar, but i'm doing alright. it's nice to be on PSU campus, lots of hubbub. and it's cool 'cause emily and i are going together on the bus every morning , so we wake up together and stuff. sweet.

morning breath

2009-08-18T10:18:00.001-07:00

here you go.

morning breath

bloodtest & trying=failing

2009-08-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

bloodtest

trying=failing

emi-chan to aaron-kun wa futatsu atarashii uta o kakimashita

it's sorta butchered, but i think it gets the point across. and the verb is wrong, but i couldn't find "to write songs" anywhere.. so i just went with 'to write".

they're both cool little 'gem of a song' songs, kinda linear in fashion with some neat lyrics and such.
i'm a particular fan of bloodtest, which i had very little to do with.. the lyrics are super awesome, and i think emily might've performed all the bits herself! yee haw desu.

we're about to eat hangover pancakes, which sounds pretty pefect to me. school is going well, nihongo no kurasu wa tanoshii desu ga chotto muzukashii desu yo. emily got an 'A' and 'Oustanding!' on her midterm paper in environmental ethics! yoku dekimashita, emi-chan!

hangover pancake o tabemashoo!

The World Over There

2009-06-26T06:11:00.000-07:00

another Thomas Pynchon Fakebook song today!

the world over there

this is a song i put together near the end of our time at the Willis house, maybe the last thing we did there.. it clearly benefits from the live drums and loud guitars. i'm pretty sure i did everything on this one, but as i was working on it i had this vague idea about the horns coming in over the second half, making this big triumphant thing (maybe like William the Arsonist).. but emily and i could never really figure out what to do, so it stands as a sorta noisy guitar celebration.

despite all that, i really like this song.. it reminds me of the early Flaming Lips stuff I fell in love with back in the day, ala Clouds Taste Metallic and such. and it has that neat moment where it's in a big slow six for most of the song and then changes into a punk rock two-feel, sorta.. tough to describe, but i like the effect.

moving on - here in Portland, OR the weather has really taken a turn for the better.. high pressure moving in just in time for the weekend, gonna last all week it seems. i'm pretty happy about all that, no doubt. hooray! emily's been working hard in the lab down at PSU all week, this'll be the end of her first week working full-time, so that's a reason to celebrate. and i've been doing work for Ben, actually making money, so that's good news as well. maybe this weekend we'll go out for dinner or something.. ha!

aaron

vulgar song

2009-06-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Over these last two terms (fall 2008 & spring 2009, i guess) Daniel Couch put together the Thomas Pynchon Fakebook, a project to set the lyrics in Gravity's Rainbow to song.. being a big fan of Pynchon, I agreed to help pretty quickly. i should find the address and set up the links, but i gotta go to work in a bit here.. but i wanted to post a little something before i left, blah blah..

anyhow, it was experimental on a few different levels - obviously working with somebody else's lyrics can be odd, but there was also some collaboration (almost all of it through the internet).. anyhow, emily and i put together 5 songs (i think), and contributed to a few more, neat stuff.

a lot of the lyrics in the book are setup in a jazzy singalong context, and they often have an innate rhythm and form to 'em, we basically just added the most obvious music in most cases.. it was an opportunity to do more show-tunes/jazzy stuff, but this may not be the best example.. on the other hand, it's got Danni doing a lot of funny laugh noises all over it, which is pretty funny.. and emily did a lot of vocal pitch shifting stuff. good times.

Vulgar Song

hmm.. i should also find the lyrics and maybe page numbers (ha!).. . but i gotta run.

oh yeah, and i kinda bombed my japanese quiz yesterday, which made me pretty sad. i guess i was just caught off guard, the quiz was pretty easy (despite the fact that i failed it). oh well.

2009-06-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

Saddest Songs

another song from the Black Mesa Songs album.. sorta gets me all choked up, sometimes. gorgeous little song with some excellent words, i wish i had written this. oh well, at least i get to listen to it. ha!

while we were working on the album, there were a couple of songs that seemed like little gems - maybe we shouldn't clutter them up with accordions and trumpets and noisy guitar solos and such.. and while we ended up doing that to most songs, this one was too nice to mess up.

on other notes, emily and i started a japanese conversation class last night, which was pretty cool.. i've been studying japanese for a few terms now, at PCC, but it's sorta exciting to have emily as a conversation partner.

ja mata

Hunger For Thirst

2009-06-23T06:26:00.001-07:00

hunger for thirst

The New Mexican Revolution finally released a new album, Black Mesa Songs, and I think it turned out pretty darn good. It's got the reliable mix of americana/country/songwriter-stuff, as well as some Tom Waits-style gypsy punk (ala Gogal Bordello). ha!

that sounds funny to read over, like some mutant press release. it's also pretty early in the morning, 'cause i gotta go to work.. which is awesome, 'cause i need money. i've been reading the Grapes of Wrath lately, on account of all the plane-traveling i've been doing, and it's a bit depressing. apparently you gotta have money. hmmm..

anyways, hunger for thirst might be my favorite song on the album, but it's a tough pick.. it's a country tune with neat poetic lyrics, and it's got a nice solo section and bridge. good stuff. on other parts of the album, their is more noise, more instrumentation, more experimentation, but this one is beautifully basic, i think.

I swore today I’d bite everything I said
Half words full of broken letters
I couldn’t explain away the reasons that I stay
Half sounds are for all the better

And you were at your best when I was at my worst
But I could never remember exactly which came first
Even benign smiles could seem so cursed
As I traded in my hunger for my thirst

Words are like leaves that are free, you can’t put them back on a tree
Each one a life of its own.
They might try to fly, or maybe just fall and die
Or wait like a seed to be sown

Sometimes words move like snow or they’ll settle like broken glass
Sometimes they lie in waiting for the moment to pass
So I try to bite down on them break them into pieces,
Let them settle where they will.

yuki geshou 雪化粧

2009-01-11T15:17:00.000-08:00

yuki geshou 雪化粧

this is a little something i was thinking about doing in the big snow storm of portland 2008.. and hopefully it's closely related to an earlier piece called "snow day" on here.. a lot of the same things in the same key, spacey and instrumental and increasingly lethargic, almost.. i think this one could've been longer and more spaced out, especially up front. we'll save that for the live version.. ha!

also - wes shirley has a new blog that's pretty interesting - wes's album-a-day review blog!.. he doesn't seem to be held down by any genre or time period or relevance.. but it's all western pop music so far, i think. we shall see. neat0.

the white visitation

2008-12-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

the white visitation

emily finally finished this term of school, which is pretty great news.. and i'm sure she got 100% in everything, so we're celebrating. ! and with that celebration we can post this little guy.. another instrumental experiment, which has a neat big modulation from Emaj to Amin.. and i think it worked out alright. it'd be nice to have a cello or something, but i don't.

now that emily has much less stuff to do all the time, maybe we can kick out some jams.

the lonely rocketman

2008-11-28T20:20:00.000-08:00

uh huh.

the lonely rocketman

i'm pretty proud of this one.. it wasn't super hard or complicated or what-not.. but it was the most successful experiment of the past two weeks.

happy thanksgiving.

cloud or lion? part 2

2008-11-25T18:15:00.001-08:00

here's a few more things i've been up to..

she left
bad dream / wake up
anti-venom

absolutely no luck on the job front.. it's terrible.

i've managed to stay busy, but not by making any money. sad face.

i found a way to control and trigger midi events in protools with this alesis keyboard. ha.

cloud or lion?

2008-11-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

i found a dead bird..
bum
indoor pigeon
juggernaut

it's a leaning towers clearance!

these are all little instrumental pieces that we've been working on.. well, mostly instrumental - no lyrics but there are some voices. some of it was put together as sorta marketable tv commercial style experiments. some of it was just experimental, 'cause i gotta keep busy somehow. 'bum' dates all the way back to October Mountain.. and 'juggernaut' is pretty old too, but 'i found a dead bird' was mostly over this weekend.

in addition, i don't really like to crowd a single post with more than one 'song'.. so that part is also new. i'm very experimental, ha!

Creeping Tokyo

2008-11-04T11:47:00.001-08:00

Creeping Tokyo

this song has a kinda tricky harmonic structure.. it's got a Bb major, a Gmaj and Gmin, Cmaj and Cmin, and it's mostly in the key of F (as per the good time outro solo).. so i'm kinda proud of that stuff. it's not super complicated, but it is a little bit clever, i think. it's got some guitars weaving in and out playing single notes to build chords, along with the moog and the keyboard, so i had to be kinda careful about the orchestration.. or something. it's just a song.

and it has some funny words -

you're a whore and i would kill you if i could
i'd write a dangerous little tune
a creeping tokyo of doom

it's a war and i'm never calling truce
i've got little left to lose
and i'm not afraid of you

i cut tiny little holes and you'll never be the same again

you're a fake and i'll expose you to the world
show them all how much you're worth
i guess i've always hated girls

you're not safe and i'll crack you in the end
you'll get betrayed by all your friends
i'll never let you sleep again

i cut tiny little holes but you'll never be the same again

evidence, a pop song

2008-11-03T14:05:00.000-08:00

evidence, a pop song

well, it seems like good news all around at the house - i've been working a little bit for ben, and i've got an interview scheduled at powell's books for wednesday.. and i'm pretty hopeful for that job. and leah had a great interview for OHSU med school, and the new mexican revolution had a pretty good show the other day, despite wes having two missed up arms from two seperate bicycle accidents (!)... i guess that last bit is both good and bad news. ha!

and emily and i found some time to finish a few more tunes.. this one i wrote mostly while watching a documentary on Thelonious Monk - neat stuff. it's also kinda inspired by the new Blitzen Trapper album, Furr.. which is pretty great.. a full half of the album blows my mind, makes me jealous, all that stuff.. i like it alot.

celebrate

2008-10-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

this is.. umm.. day 8 of unemployment, i guess. sad face. i've filled a few applications and sent a resume, but no replies yet. sad face. i feel like i should accomplish more creatively, but i'm pretty bummed out and always feel like i need to be finding work.. which isn't doing much to cheer me up. ha! and then i have 'band practice' just about every night of the week, but it often feels like a waste of time, a luxury.. that's a new feeling. band practice used to be a responsibility, right up there with all the other big time things i have to do. oh well. blah blah. i have written a few bitter songs and what-not.. emily's been trying to help out with a couple of pretty good ones, so i've shelved those in favor of finishing this one..

celebrate

i also have a picture! i'm not sure who took it, but it was given to me by G. Tony Jacobs (the bass player in the picture) and i think it must've been taken by Dan or Colae.. i like it. that's the one Leaning Towers show we've played, for their wedding. for the record, we played two cover songs and Beautiful Creature, an original.. short set, hopefully we kept them wanting more.

rivers run downstream

2008-10-22T12:39:00.000-07:00

day two of unemployment, not much to say... i've got band practice every night except thursday, when the king hen plays a show at the Tonic Lounge, so that's keeping my nights busy enough.. and during the day? songs.

i've got a few things that are kinda neat, including two pretty things that just need more lyrics.. yesterdays big effort, "evidence, a pop song" is coming along nicely, i think i can finish that pretty quickly, but for today:

Rivers Run Downstream

this has emily rocking out on the bass - thats always a treat.

mermaid babies

2008-10-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

well, i lost my job yesterday at The Portland Mercury.. i'd worked there for a little over four years, first as a distribution driver with emily, and then as an advertising runner. they were always really cool to me, let me take time off for touring and always treated me well, and it allowed me to work just a few days a week and still make ends meet while working on music. fairly ideal situation, i think.. so it's sad that it has to come to a close..

and then, well i didn't want the last song we'd posted to be dayjob, so i figured i'd better finish something else and post it.. this one wasn't the first choice, but i spent so much time working on this other song and i couldn't quite finish it.. well, anyways, i wanted to post something, so here it is..

Mermaid Babies

i like the lead guitar and all the crazy drums on this one.. i kinda thought it was a little like Keith Moon at times.. with a big windmill guitar.. and i kept it short, 'cause i've always like the little short rock tunes.

Dayjob

2008-10-12T10:29:00.001-07:00

Dayjob

i'm not sure what happened, but this was supposed to be posted a few days ago.. oh well.

this was all words and chords that i had for a few weeks after the wedding, but it didn't seem nearly substantial enough for a song.. two verses and a guitar solo is all i had.. so i dropped that big D minor change into it and got a little weird, i really like that.. the accordion comes in and the odd drum exchange, neat-o.