Another Movie

#5452 from Drew Smith on Vimeo.


There's a long story behind this I should probably tell. Should.

OK here are the other movies I made and then we're done witht this

"Through the Windshield":


This is technically a photography project, though some weird framerate issue makes it impossible to see the photos. Whatever.

"The Universe" (best viewed in HD)


A big reason why I didn't post much over the last two months. This is the longest film anyone has shot in the history of the class by like five minutes.

"Fortunate Son (Demo)"

...because if you put "Demo" in the name, no one will complain about the poor recording quality. More words...tomorrow?

Update 2 Days Later: I wish I could say my inspiration behind this was strictly political, and that I didn't come up with the idea after hearing it on Sons of Anarchy. I probably wouldn't have gone through the trouble of recording it and posting it if I wasn't such a Communist, though (see previous post).

This song is obviously very similar to "Testify" in that both are really vocal-driven (though here the guitar is used more harmonically, where there it was used more for rhythm and dynamics), and in that both, at least to me, update older protest songs for modern-day issues even though the words aren't changed. "Fortunate Son," while it's rooted very much in Vietnam and the anti-war movement, is pretty easy to translate because it's basically about power and privilege and how wealth tends to set in and fester and slowly decay everything around it. No wait, that's plaque*. Anyway those are universal themes that never go away, they just change to suit the times, like the Endless.

So anyway I was practicing the song, insert "know way do you practice" joke here, and noticed the sort of bluesy sound I was getting from the tuning (it's the same key as the original, but tuned down two steps so you're playing the A/G/D/E chord shapes instead of G/F/C/D). Some versions I tried to do used a lot of seventh chords and switching from the major to seventh chord, but it was too ornate to play easily, and it sort of gets overwhelmed by the vocal anyway. A few sevenths snuck in, on the D chords in the chorus. Similarly I'm sure a full-band version of this is possible, but that would probably be too hard to play distract from what I'm saying trying to say.

I've always had this theory that I could sing, in the same way that I could run a marathon or be elected Dictator-for-Life or get a steady, well-paying job: it was technically possible but highly unlikely. I think I'm getting closer, and didn't expect to get a better take then this one, so decided to use it, but I wouldn't say I'm quite there yet. Also, how do you not breathe into a microphone if it's the built-in microphone? I've had this computer for three years and have taken it apart completely to replace the screen (one of the reasons I didn't blog anything this summer), and I don't even know where the microphone is.

I still have no idea if I'm going to post anything next week.

*I had dental surgery last week.

Tags: ecomonics, Irish people, wankers

This is actually probably the most concise, accurate description of what went down I've ever heard:

"End of the Universe"

Don't read too much into this...I made it as a joke for a class project...we'll see...possibly more later...

But seriously watch it

Wait how did I not know about this?

250, Untititled

[In the interest of transp[arency, I've left all spelling and typing error s intact for this post]

See, this is why I shouldn't bother with things like this. You make big promises and then you get busy with school and writers block and you could have posted like ten blogs but NOOOOOOOOOO it had to be a song. I'm a dummass.

Anyway here are some movies I made a while ago, which at least contain music. I fininshed another movie last week but the file might be a little to big to post until I can figure out how to shrink it.

What am Was Watching II

Trying to get more into a bloggin schedule of a couple times a week (as opposed to my current schedule of "never"). Here's some videos, in no real order:


This was written by one of the guys who made LOOOOOOOOOOOOST (deep cut). It is funny and you should watch it because it is funny. Also there's famous-ish people and a cool use of time travel.



The next thing I was going to post went down the memory hole, so here a video of Kurt Vonnegut being awesome instead:



The next thing is also the thing that is the last thing, because I thought I had more things but did not. Anyway I am recomendiding Clone High because it is a fun show that is funny and also fun and you can watch the whole thing in like three hours so theres that. Also I really like the theme song, so at least watch that part. The first episode is kind of weak, and the show never does that much with its premise, but it gets stronger as it goes along (surprising for both an animated show and an anything-goes parody, it's actually pretty serialized). All the episodes are streamable (note to self: is streamable a word?), although you might have to hunt for some of them.

The next post is number 250, and I'm trying to think of something cool for it, which is not-very-subtle code for I'm probably going to start posting music again.

Ok normally...

..."it's funny because it's true" is a shorthand way of dismissing things as neither funny nor true, but this really is funny because it's true. This guy knows his states. Plus it'll take less time to watch then it took for this page to load (I should fix that...)

Drawing is cool I wish I could draw,

I find this series fascinating (there are like 4 or 5). I like people that talk fast; I fell like they're not wasting my time. Also there are cool pictures and oh yeah it makes a supposedly difficult concept accessible and interesting.



Also I couldn't figure out how to fit it into the main body of the post but I really wanted to use the word "mathematic" somewhere around here.

Here's something that's not a song.

I watched this on DVD (remember those?) earlier this week and it somehow became one of the best movies I have ever seen. It seems like it should be the most pretentious thing ever and yet you can't look away from the screen. Give it a shot, and if you get bored try skipping to the second half, which somehow makes the real world look more fantastical than any CGI (especially, it out-TRONs TRON. TRON is a verb, right?).

"Beatbox 2"

:)

UPDATED 1/3: Some Notes on the Future of Song of the Week: For a long time I had sort assumed that SotW would end here, and I probably wouldn't do a year 3 (I'm not saying I would quit music entirely, just stop with the weekly schedule). I'm going away to school and probably can't take most of my instruments, and I don't know if I'll have time to record. Plus for a long time when I wasn't doing music, the stress of missing the deadline was getting to me, and I figured it would be better to quit than to have to keep to it. Having said that, doing so many songs in such a short time was a lot of fun, especially some of these smaller, less stressful songs from the second half of the week. And I still have a lot of unused ideas, so who knows? Maybe I can find some time to do something.

Over the last few weeks I've been remastering, editing, and rerecording (what a weird word) most of the SotWs in preparation to do some kind of downloadable album release. I've done most of them at this point though a lot of the most important ones (which of course are the ones that are the hardest and take the longest). Still aren't done yet. And I have three days, and I have to spend a lot of that getting ready to go. I guess we'll see.

DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: This one's the same.

"Lower"

UPDATE SOMETIME BETWEEN XMAS AND NEW YEAR'S, THEN REWRITTEN ON 1/3, BUT IT'S AFTER MIDNIGHT SO I GUESS 1/4: Originally (woo! plastered!) I wanted to end with a different song, which was I project I'd half- recording a long time ago (beginning of this year, I'd guess). It was much wordier, loop-heavy, and very "controlled"-sounding. I gave it up because I couldn't get the old and new guitar sounds to match. I tried going to drop-d, but it still wasn't right, which got me here. In the end this is almost certainly a better fit anyway, what with being more spontaneous and longer and stuff.

One thing both song had in common was this intense, dark, manner to them. It's basically metal but much different than than heavy wood or dread or 22 minutes--the first song (which never got a name) was more trip-hop, where this is more prog.

DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: This one's the same.



In the end really happy with how this turned out. It's almost fully improvised, and it feels loose but not shaggy or foot-dragging like "Grace" (or some parts of "Testify"), and it's alternately contemplative and violent, but still has the right energy that the fast and slow parts feel like the same song.

I had my guitar amp and my computer on the floor and just used the Mac's built-in microphone. Because I was standing, the mike was about six feet away (probably more, I wasn't standing on top of it). As a result the lyrics are probably a bit hard to make out. Although, the fact that you can make out anything should tell you how loud I was singing. It's not a complicated story, basically a cross between Paradise Lost* and "Viva La Vida"; I wanted something epic but also uncomplicated, and just sang what the title suggested to me.

Lyrics:
I thought I had it all (xseveral)
My kingdom, my kingdom, on fire
My body, my body, in chains
But the only thing
The only thing I missed was you

*If you had told me at the beginning of year one that I would have songs based on both Paradise Lost AND The Divine Comedy, I would have assumed you were joking. People change, plans change.

"All Along the Watchtower"

Part to the reason there are so many acoustic song near the end here is because I wanted more songs to play live. In fact I wrote this to play live and didn't originally (bang) plan to record it. Ironic because Hendrix's version of the song is probably the best example anywhere of using the recording studio as an instrument.

And speaking of awkward segues, let's talk about my favorite song ever for a minute*. I love Hendrix's "Watchtower" because on top of everything else it has this unique sort of surrealist atmosphere, which for lack of a better description I'll compare to the "Space Coyote" thing from The Simpsons. You can hear a lot of techniques from that song in my songs-- panning, guitar effects, a lot the vocal styles (both Hendrix's "talky" style and the "ooh" and "aah"s from the intro). Of course, this is the rare "Watchtower" that's mainly a cover of Dylan instead of Hendrix. I actually put in some changes, like the increase in volume between verses, to make it more differenter.

I avoided some of the hurdles of the other acoustic songs by recording the guitar and voice parts separately, and thus insuring there was only one thing that could go wrong on each take. Of course I did a bunch of takes before I figured that out. This song, like some of the other recent ones, is very hard to sing, especially as it goes on (I'm actually getting pretty good at the first verse). Some takes had the last verse as the same as the first, and some had it even louder, but those tended to be more shouting or yelling than screaming (yes these are all different things).

Leftovers:
As with "Hallelujah", I've written several other covers of this song, including one very close to Hendrix but in a slightly different style.

This song is also keyed down, quite aloo actually, from C# to F#, basically by playing the Bm, A, & G chord shapes in a lower tuning. I used the same technique as Reaction of only playing D/G/B strings of the chord (not coincidintally, they have same I-vii-vi progression; this song was "written" slightly before that one).

*Note that the two songs I've listed so far as favorites are both covers--which probably says more about my work than my work itself does.

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"

Another song picked out of "unfinished" pile, mainly because I knew I could do it well, it wouldn't take long, and it would complement "Watchtower."

Digression: I like GNR's versions, but it's probably less "good" and more "so bad it's good", mainly for how much it ignores tghe whole point of the song (of course i've done that, to a not as good song). They took a song about a man literally on his dying breath and tried to play it as fun and triumphant, and it just doesn't work if you actually listen to the lyrics for ten seconds.

More movies: this cover was conceived as the song that plays during the sad part of the movie. Or maybe the credits (not all my ideas are all that brainulated).Then I saw I'm Not There (of course, Dylan's original was written for a movie, too).

Like Hallelujah, this was keyed down five steps from it's original key (here from g to d)

"Morning in America/ Out to the Street"

wanted to do a double song for a while, even recorded another. these two were recorded separate, but were turining out similar in theme (plus both were in c) so saw chance. wanted third, called "breakfasttime," but couldn't figure out how would sound in time (these were very last two songs recorded, on Sunday night).

Morning in America:
arose out of me fiddling (pun) w piano, and getting this riff i liked because it reminded of Copland (see, i know real things about real music*). in contrast, this very urban and modern where he focused rural. A lot of my instrumentals are trying to conjure a place and time as well as a mood, and this really gets all three.also like bc where a lot of these last few songs are backward-looking,this is something i haven't done before. some previous helped, though contrapasso, dread, helped w strings (in turn this helped strings for dread rewrite)

Out to the Street
originally not intended as a double song, but like the way they contrast, with morning all get up and go and street more reserved, unhurried, but both having same urban/early morning feeling. opening strings based heavily around tone clusters (slam hand on keyboard--which is what i did). horns written similar way, sax synth, played four/ five notes together and rocked hand back and forth. easier than trick i used in diamond. also used clusters on piano for percussive sound. interesting how same technique comes out three very different ways.
Original title (when just strings, before finding whole arrangement) was "inverted rainbow," but sounded somehow homophobic, then "inverted halo." latter is good, might still use for something.


*Speaking of modern composers, anyone who thinks my music is weird should check up on some of those guys. "Rise" could be The Beatles compared to "Ancient Voices of Children." And compare "Insanity in 9:8" to "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima"

[eh, that's good enough. you can understand it]

DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: Both of these are the same. Which was lucky, because I don't think I could have had just one of them.

"Doctor Who"

I forget when I had this idea, but it must have been fairly recent, I think either near the end of Series Five or right after it ended. It's a simple idea but I like it because The Doctor's basically a cowboy anyway.

My playing on the lead part sounded fine on the GarageBand file but here seems.. not that great. This is a fairly common problem--a lot of songs lost volume and/or quality when being converted. I might retape it or just try and fix the mix pretty soon.

Special thanks to the youtube commenter who pointed out The Doctor HAS been to the wild west (and of course, as I just found out a couple days ago, it looks like he's going back there). maybe they can get someone talented to redo this for that episode.

"Hayao"

Over the last summer, I was having a lot of problems with my mood. I wouldn't say it was full-on depression, because I know it wasn't because I had some of that too, but later. But I'm not going to write about that, because it's not a very interesting story and also wildly off-topic. Maybe some other time. Anyway, one of the things that helped was that I got to see all the Miyazaki movies for the first time (the other thing that helped was Calvin & Hobbes). I'm not very good at explaining it, but there's something about even the darker ones that just makes you feel better about everything.

This song isn't really an StL song, but it is soundtrack-realted (similar situation with "Grace", but that's a different long story). Basically what happened was I just had this scene in my head, and I heard this music under it, like a waking dream almost (or am I the only one who writes music in their sleep?). And it reminded so much in spirit, and setting, and style, that I hummed it into my computer and gave it this title in homage.

The main thing with this guy is that it sounds like a Joe Hishashi-style piece, but somehow doesn't resemble any specific one, either in terms or melody or arrangement. [Or it's an exact copy and I'm in big trouble. I've never done pastiche before, so these problems are new to me.]

"Alabama Frog"

This was the first song I wrote after getting back from Europe, around the end of June, which is a long and involving story that no one but me will find interesting. Anyway, probably as a result this is the most American song ever.

Originally (shot) it was just the one guitar part; the second guitar was added as a test. In retrospect it's maybe more electric-sounding than I'd like, which is mostly a mixing problem.

I have no idea where the title comes from. It just seemed to fit.

DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: This one's the same.

"Untitled, No. 61"

This was a test of MIDI instruments and Apple Loops. I completed most of it inn about 15 minutes, on October 29. I know this because I know it was a Friday, and Rock Band 3 came out that same week.

I wanted to write a song called 52. It would be the last song of Song of the Week Year One.

For obvious reasons I didn't do that, but I revisited the idea and decided to do a song called 61. Since that's where about I was at that point. Sort of, but "60" and "62" both sounded wrong.

I wasn't going to post this originally. I thought of it as too much of a joke, and was going to have it as a bonus track or such. But since I already had a title, and it's kind of a fun listen, I figured "can't hurt."

Though it was finished sooner, this song was probably partially inspired by "Club Noise", in terms of structure. Along with that song, this is the one I most want to see performed live.

DOWNLOADABLE VERSION:
Rerelease Notes: This one's the same.