I started talking about aircraft which convert into cars that can be driven on standard roads. I was thinking specifically about this one:

We then talked about the tolerances of aircraft, and how a mechanical failure in one is generally catastrophic. We imagined such a car with only one parachute, and the father of a family taking it, with his reasoning being “you can always have more kids”.

We then followed this thread to its logical conclusion in song. Morally, it was not our proudest moment, but if you enjoy dark humor, bon appetit.

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Since this is a gem site, perhaps I shall unearth a few of these with a mind on getting some original stuff up once the smoke of school clears (eight weeks until graduation, yes).

This song is a piano cover of Danzig’s “Cantspeak”. One project I never completed was an album of only Danzig covers called Dancezig, and in perusing various lyrics for that album I found the lyrics to ‘Cantspeak’ to be particularly moribund, even for Danzig. It certainly didn’t fit the pounding beat of the song (though I certainly enjoy the original). Thus, I drew out every ounce of pathos and took Danzig to Emo Piano town.

In my Freezing of the track, some of the instruments dropped out. When I originally posted this song to my blog in 2007, a fellow Atlanta musician (Tricil) told me he enjoyed the dropouts. Plus, I don’t have the original instrument pack installed anyway, so enjoy the random missing sections. It sort of works with the song.

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BOUNCE

This was recorded in November, for my girlfriend’s birthday. Many thanks to my friend Vincent for guitar and whisper vocals.

koala (koala), in barcelona (barcelona)

you climb in the tree eating eucalyptus leaves
you shop for moda on the paseo de gracia

koala (koala), in barcelona (barcelona)

you are an architect
you build koala houses in the trees of Parc Guell

koala, in barcelona
happy birthday to you

koala song

So I was sitting around depressed this weekend trying to psych myself up.  All I need is to feel a little better, right, and then I just get up off my ass and do…  whatever it is that will better my station in life, right? Go get some cool clothes and some shades, right? Maybe clean up a little bit, eh?

Well that never really let up over the week, and session wizard King Solomon was feeling even worse than I since his cat escaped and hasn’t returned yet. So that reflects a bit in what we have here. It’s a long song with just piano and vocals (Rob on piano) that laments the necessity of blind eyed optimism in the face of the modern world.

Maybe this is relevant? I dunno.

Enjoy!

In lieu of something fresh, here is a demo I literally recorded at work last April, vocals and all. I’ve been working on re-recording it for a Hella Gem instead of posting this but I suppose that can just wait for an eventual album instead. The vocal performance features cameo appearances by one of my co-workers on the radio and the sound of Projector #8. I used the microphone built into the laptop to record the vocal. Frankly, I’m surprised it is listenable at all.

As to the structure, it repeats the same two basic chord structures but I changed the vocal melody from a “verse” to a “chorus” when appropriate. That’s sort of a folk song thing to do, I suppose. Enjoy this super rough cut, with the usual wordless vocal improvisation.

It’s called “The Ballad of Danger” because I recorded two songs that day… the other was called “The Ballad of Hope” (and was not nearly as good).

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I’m heading to a wedding tomorrow, so I’m going to go ahead and post this.

This song is about my fear that the emotional detachment necessary to deal with the world will dehumanize me.

I attempted to actually write lyrics for this and re-record the vocal before posting this, but it didn’t really work out. Next time, gadget, next time. The title is a random phrase pulled off the top of my head.

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Here’s a little song about how sometimes I feel like I’m a bit more grown up and have my feelings a bit more under control now. How do I feel about that? I’m torn! Thus: a song.

Drumming and bassing antics by King Solomon, who also prevailed upon me to change the first chord in the chorus from a minor to a major.