the first things to do..

well, just a half hour ago we finally got the intranets up and running at the new house - and i'm very excited about it.. i have a long list of stuff to accomplish, a whole host of bills to pay and emails to check and work to finish, but i'd rather post a song or two..

it's a bit of house cleaning, with the idea of starting fresh in the new studio, which is looking quite promising. did i mention i was very excited? i am.


this is an intro song i'd made for the bungie podcast.. they make Halo, which i'm quite fond of. ..and an interlude, which i never gave 'em 'cause it didn't do much. but it's pretty enough.

bungie podcast intro 1
bungie podcast interlude 1

intro lyrics:
b - u - n - g - i - e - p - o - d - c - a - s - t (bungie podcast!) has arrived, finally.
where do you go when you need a BR? (hey lars!)
let's play more ranked so we can lose the gold bars
what's up with the plunger guy?
is the master chief gonna be replaced?
will bungie's slingshot work this time?
if brian and luke won't say we'll have to wait for bungie day..



i also have another nerd alert thing worth posting, and a few instrumental bits i think i'll post.. and at least five "new" songs, but i don't think they'll make the cut. and after that, all new (hopefully awesome) songs from the new studio! yeehaw.

Nerd Alert Jingles, mostly..

jonpaul and mark used to do a podcast, called Nerd Alert.. or maybe Nerd Alert, Nerd Alert.

it was funny stuff, and emily and i would write little songs for them, especially intros and outros, but also little recurring themes for specific segments. i kinda thought of the leaning towers as paul schaffer and the cbs orchestra. and jonpaul and mark as david letterman. i suppose one of them would be that red-haired announcer guy, or biff the security guy.

emily says totes.

anyway, the podcast seems to be over.. and i thought we'd just post some of the things we did, they're sometimes funny and catchy.

writer strike 2
nerd alert intro lost
nerd alert intro 3
nerd alert outro 3

there are more of these, of course.. intros and outros for all the episodes, plus little bits, but i think we'd rather just do more podcasts.. so mark and jonpaul should get back to work.

beautiful creature

beautiful creature

we got the ray guns
we got follow through
we pray the aluminum angel
get us altitude

at the top of the mountain
we don't lower our eyes
we trick them by staring, directly
the lack of shame a disguise

such a beautiful creature
with a scheme at the sky
those pasted on feathers are clearly a lie

i escaped once at recess
broke my mom's heart in half
that was the first time the walls bit
it was the last time she laughed

but i hated my teachers
so i spread my arms wide
and jumped off a two-story

as i write this, it's early monday morning and i'm watching 'the Great Escape' on AMC.. pretty great. steve mcqueen.

we had the music to this song for awhile.. i had kinda forgotten about it while working on the Siamese Dream stuff, but a few days ago we listened to it and i had a bit of inspiration, enough for some lyrics and what-not. i think it turned out pretty well, the best bits are probably emily's chorus vocals.. those are fucking awesome. and i kinda like the guitar solo, too.. ha!

of course, the impetus for such activity is largely Leah B Green... she's gonna take an MCAT test tuesday, so hopefully she's getting rest and eating well, and maybe this song will bring the answers more readily to her consciousness. or something. good luck, leah. and break a leg.

of simple hope

of simple hope

i think this'll round out the October Mountain stuff.. it's a song i wrote most of out on tour, in New York City when i got some time to myself.. that whole descending guitar lick just sort of came out, and i though the king hen would find a way to use it, but we still don't have a spot for it.. not really.

this song also benefits from the round of drum recordings i did when i got back from tour.. it's got a good freakout part for the end. i've always liked that effect, sorta like Amsterdam by Coldplay or something.. but with a guitar solo, ha!

of the songs that are left, one is a rap tune "implement the surprise!", one is a Summerteeth-era Wilco tune that never came together... we have a sorta Bjork thing with mideastern flute.. and a song called "in principle" that's mostly drums and piano, but emily's been struggling with the words lately. oh well..

Scattershot

ahhh... Scattershot

this is probably the single biggest joy & headache surrounding October Mountain. sooo many instruments, sooo many tracks, a lot of good ideas, and maybe some questionable ones.. and it all started way back while i was on tour with the King Hen.

Emily wrote the whole thing, and got pretty far with the dulcimers and keyboards and drums.. i really liked it when i finally got home and listened to it, but it wasn't finished. this was the beginning of the end, i guess... 'cause i started working on the drums, and we added accordions and guitar.. then started in with the flutes and clarinets, and a bass clarinet. whew. much thanks to Jana Thomas for doing all the clarinet work, and Kathy Lee for doing the flute bits, and the awesome piccolo bit on the second verse.. i love that part.

it was around this point that the whole thing just started to be a mess. so there was a lot of sorting and editing and mixing, and i couldn't get back to that little gem of song that i heard the first time. oh well. i still really like the song, and the ambition and everything.. too much second guessing, probably.

Scattershot

fight the battle you've been groomed for
i'll foot the bill this time
maybe it's not because of but despite
creation is expulsion and obsession with the light

grips of melancholia
caught in the scattershot
the flowers become wrecking balls
and you might regret your lot

is that what you call crazy?
the voices in your head?

well put me at the bottom of your list
'cause falling apart isn't something to brag about

William The Arsonist

here's another song from October Mountain, William the Arsonist.. we first wrote about him in the song The Apple (from the second round of song-a-day), but it wasn't very clear. i suppose it never is, anyhow.

i had it in mind (in our mythical alternate reality) that the human population would plummet with the coming of angels, human babies not being valued anymore.. and the cities would empty as civilization reshapes itself around the rapture.. and the angels take over the cities, but they don't like the steel and glass buildings, so they construct giant aeries (?) around the buildings, using the structures as a skeleton for epic towers of wood to nest in.

william kinda sets off the revolution.


William the Arsonist

when i was young i grew up towards the sun
i felt no fear, i was a perfect son
you gotta grant me that.

my hands were small, but not my vitriol
i stopped the sound, i burned the cities down
all the planes will come down hungry.

i finally found a way to hold me up
the perfect pill, i couldn't get enough
clean the cobwebs from the room

we culminate, lets be the end of this
we'll make a thing, lets build an arsonist
all the dogs give up your barking

when we grow up, lets grow up towards the sun
we'll live with pride and never once let on
you gotta grant us that

our lives seemed small, but not our vitriol
we claimed the ground, and pulled the heavens down
all the angels come down hungry

there's this line i keep drawing
and i can't see where or when
i've secured the coin of vantage
i can't possibly offend
i'm no milquetoast

and the morning finds you tired
sporting someone else's brand
how much longer till you remember?
you've been missing your friends
i'm no milquetoast

as for the music, Kathy Lee played the flute parts for us.. and Mattie did the viola, (including the solo before the outro!) big thanks to them. we're pretty poor and didn't pay them or anything, so hopefully it wasn't too bad for them. emily wrote that cool verse riff, with the alternating turnaround in 7 and 9.. i had the big guitar break and outro.. but it was a long time ago, so the details are fuzzy. i remember wanting a big freakout at the end, but it gets pretty muddled pretty quickly.. lots of drums and cymbals rolling around, crazy guitars, choruses of vocals, bass, piano, trumpets, viola.. see? muddled.

The Lords of Holiday

we just got back from colorado, where emily and i were hanging out with my family.. it was pretty great, up in the mountains with lots of sun and just enough snow. good times with dogs and kids out in the fresh air. yeehaw.

we had it in mind to finish up October Mountain before we left, and maybe post the whole bit.. but we couldn't, and while we were gone i'd been thinking about it and such.. i think i gotta just post what we have, and it may not end up being the whole album.. some of those songs are so difficult, and we're both kinda tired of working on them. oh well.

two of the songs for October Mountain are connected to the same world that The Eleventh Hole (and a few song-a-day songs) takes place in.. the near-future imminent apocalypse world where Amy and Mary run around sniffing glue and battling angels with the help of Half-Starved and You Make Me Sick. (ha!)

the first one is The Lords of Holiday, which is about the 'rapture' - in this case, angels are born to human parents, quickly taking over most of the world, until a human rebellion begins to fight back (that's where Half-Starved and You Make Me Sick start to shine). the angels are the lords of holy days, or something. get it? ha.

as for the music, i had an opportunity to go over the Erik Becker's place and record drums with Paul Tuthill's help.. and i had 5 or 6 songs in mind, but i wanted to try and get as much drumming as possible ('cause i like playing the drums, you know). so i wrote this song pretty fast, just for something else to play drums on.. so i think it turned out pretty neat.

i really like the guitar solo at the end of this one.

The Lords of Holiday

tomorrow i think we'll post the other song in this storyline, all about William the Arsonist. ha!

We Hate Songs

We Hate Songs

this one is kinda self explanatory..

You Are Not The One

it's been a busy few days.. i have been working for ben and i had band practice, and emily has work and stich 'n bitch.. so we ended up missing a song yesterday.. a terrible blow to morale, i tell you.. we barely even got this song put together, even though i spent all day today working on songs.. sheesh.

You Are Not The One

now emily's asleep on the floor while i watch Aliens.. good times.

Glass Collapse

i know you fall to pieces.

even if you're sorry, can it ever be enough?
don't whisper - i can hear you well enough.

i'm pretty tired of pretending to like you.
i'm also sorry i said i love you.

i know you broke the window.

Glass Collapse

i had a bit of this guitar part a few days ago, but today on my lunch break i came home and wrote a bunch more and recorded a couple of takes.. and then after work emily and i sat around thinking about stuff.. i put on that little phase guitar bit, and wrote some words.. emily came up with some neat singing bits and played a weird keyboard/string part.. i think i kinda messed the mix up, enough that i might actually go back and try and fix it.. but i got deadlines, you know.

in addendum:

i did go back and revisit the mix, and i think it's much much better now.. maybe my favorite of songaday3? crazy talk.

The Lines That Stop

we just got done recording Nerd Alert #5, a sunday afternoon tradition of sorts.. and then i dove into this little song, which emily started this morning while i was at work.. pretty awesome stuff, i think, i really like the lyrics, i'll try and type 'em out here but we, just saying, started a movie and the burritos are ready and blah blah..

The Lines That Stop

the king hen show was pretty great last night, with some neat bands on the bill.. plus we did pretty well, sounded tight and what-not.. i saw a guy play guitar with just his left hand for a bit, and a bass player do something similar, eye popping neat stuff, and it got me thinking. i should practice the guitar more.

ha!

No Virtue

saturday night, and we're just wrapping this up.. and we got a full schedule ahead of us, so we're kinda running late. i'm playing tonight at the Towne Lounge with the King Hen, that should be fun.. i played there with the New Mexican Revolution not too long ago, i like that place. thumbs all the way up.

anyways, this is what we did today, between videogames and dog walks and fixing the guitar strap and all.. emily did most of the work, with all the guitar and moog and stuff, and she wrote most of the lyrics. i was moral support. and i played videogames.. ha!

No Virtue

another song that made me wish i could put real drums on it.. it would've been a more explosive flaming lips kinda song, i think.. modern psychedelic rock, yo.

Between the Fence Boards

Between the Fence Boards

in a hole between fence boards
i could see your shoulders fall
in a backyard full of defeat the earth is slowly rising
it's just the rain pretends to fall

with my ear against the sheet rock
i could hear the whole phonecall
to keep yourself from breaking down, you said -

"we're all slowly dying, we're all made to fall"

when we get back to where we came from
i'm gonna let them hear it all:
how the joy was fits & starts
why was loneliness so painful, while the loving rubbed us raw?

ahh friday.. good times. emily and i both worked today, so it was a bit of a crunch to get this done on time. luckily, she has the next two days off and is bound to do some good work.. i started this one a few days ago, with all the guitars and banjo and such. i got sad for a little bit while i worked on this song, 'cause i really wanted to put drums on the middle part.. oh well. today, while i came home for lunch i wrote the lyrics for this on top of a melody emily had.. i think it worked out kinda nice. and i really like the little acoustic guitar solo, and the crazy chimalong bit.. thanks matt! love!

now i get to drink wine and watch tv.

yeehaw, friday!

Birthday Melancholy

this is what i did today:

Birthday Melancholy

ha!

i had the first little acoustic guitar bit first, a few weeks ago.. i'd brought it to King Hen practice, thinking it was all dark and ominous, but it didn't seem to go anywhere, so we dropped it. happens all the time, no big deal.. but last night i started playing kinda idly, maybe television.. and when i woke up this morning i made some coffee and started recording. it has a bunch of odd tuned electric guitars that i play with a violin bow, i really like doing that stuff but it's pretty hard.. lots of mistakes and starting over and such.

i kinda stopped there, leaving it as an instrumental, hoping emily would come home full of inspiration and vigor.. but she's all concerned about looking for a job and she had been working all day, so she didn't have much to offer.. so i wrote those lyrics really fast and we sung 'em. done and done. ha!

A Talking Monster

i've been reading about this artist, Vasarely, in a book emily brought home a few weeks ago.. and i find it strangely fascinating, i'm really into it, i like reading about his life and his art and the development and such, but it's pretty funny - 'cause i don't care much for his art.. oh well.

this is a song i started awhile ago.. maybe a full week, but it stalled out pretty quickly. i had the words and idea for the second half, but i couldn't marry it with anything, and i've been trying to leave more space in everything. i have a real easy time of just layering all the instruments and sounds and such, and it's much more difficult to just leave things sparse..

A Talking Monster

so once i came up with the verse ideas, it was just a matter of writing a bunch of words and finding phrasings and such.. i kinda like how it turned out, but in some ways it's not weird enough. part of SongADay 3 is to be much more bizarre and challenging and experimental, less poppy. that's tough, it turns out. emily and i are good at indie-pop.

Siafu

today isnt much of a day, it turns out.. emily and i are both a little sick, and the weather outside is grey and dismal.. even working on songs has taken a significant amount of energy and discipline, and i love working on songs.. geez.

we ended up finishing the outro for Nerd Alert episode 3 first, which is a good accomplishment.. and then moved over to another song i started yesterday, but it was a dead end.. so we switched gears completely and worked on this song, about these crazy african ants.

Siafu

i've always been fascinated by ants, ever since reading Godel/Escher/Bach.. which is a pretty cool book. bottom up organization and what-not. they sorta defy explanation.

anyhow, hopefully emily and i can regroup and feel better and get a song for tomorrow conceived, recorded and put together, i feel we're always behind schedule, despite having songs everywhere. wow.

Not In This Form

this song started off with the main keyboard part, and then the vocals.. emily can't wait for Lost to start up, and she's been looking for a job.. and while we cleaned the house and cooked dinner emily figured out the big crazy outro bit with the piano, which is my favorite part of the song. we decided not to muck it up with anything else, as i really liked all the space it had.. but it might've been even better with a shaker part. the world may never know.

Not In This Form

does anybody even watch ugly betty? does erik becker even have a job anymore? the world may never know.

Take Aim At Horses

sunday is Nerd Alet Nerd Alert podcast day..

Nerd Alert, Nerd Alert Podcast Homepage

so i spent a good deal of the after noon working on that, with jonpaul and mark. it's mostly a comic book discussion, but it's pretty funny and the conversation can range quite a bit.. movies and television, libraries, on and on.. and it's got the leaning towers doing intro and outro music, with a few little bits of music and such in the middle of the show. fun stuff.

but this morning, first thing, i woke up and wrote most of this song... Take Aim At Horses, which emily and i finished up just now.. i really kinda like the chords up front, it has a difficult G# to Bmin to Emaj thing, or something close to that. pretty stuff.

I Have Mono

i think that I Have Mono
the winking eye explains
a sadness when your lover calls you names
but you love them just the same

i only wanted to stay focused, to see what i could do
now i see that i'm neglectful, too
i didn't care enough for you

i kinda hope that i have mono
that might help explain the weariness
why the daylight 'causes pain
but i want daylight all the same

i only wanted to stay focused, to see what i could do
but now i see the movies almost through
i didn't care enough, it's true

i really liked this little chord progression, i wrote it on the acoustic guitar a few days ago.. sorta Eb/Gminor thing, with an odd phrase... maybe five times, or something. so it was kinda hard to write lyrics for, but i think it worked out.. today i put the guitar solo bits on, which i really liked, i'd broken a string on the guitar last night at the show, so i hard to work around that a bit.. (god forbid i put new strings on..). and the end is a few open tuned guitars being bowed, and a few tracks of moog..

Despite What They Say

friday, whoo hoo! i go to work for the Mercury a bit, then the King Hen has a show tonight at the Satyricon.. i don't have too many good memories of that place, but it goes through changes, i'll keep an open mind. in any case, it should be a great day.

if for no other reason than this song - Despite What They Say

i really like this one.. emily did most of the work on this one. we started on the little chord organ thing that's so outta tune with everything else. the whole second half came together last night, in a fit of inspiration/frustration.. good times. i really like the lyrics, i may come back and type 'em in, but i gotta run..