Back in 1985 I was in a band at school - at that time I didn't play an instrument; I was the singer (!) This track was entitled 'Dreaming In Colour' (the music written by band members Giles Hancock and Tim Finch) and I thought it would be fun…
Back in 1985 I was in a band at school - at that time I didn't play an instrument; I was the singer (!) This track was entitled 'Dreaming In Colour' (the music written by band members Giles Hancock and Tim Finch) and I thought it would be fun…
Well, my entry for RPM 2022 went from LP to (a very short) 4 song EP but this track I think has bags of potential. It was a discarded idea from a few years ago that was lurking in my 'half-baked' Logic folder but something in it ignited my creative…
So with renewed focus on RPM 2022 I set about at least creating an EP if an album wasn't possible... This track was written and recorded over a period when there seemed to be relentless storms following each other without respite. Power cuts aside…
The first new composition since being back in the UK; heavily chorused Precision fitted with flat wound strings gives it a nice retro feel along with a Roland Jupiter 8 synthesiser plug-in
I wanted to add vocals but am suffering with a heavy cold!
So... I entered RPM 2022 and experienced a double-whammy - A massive influx of work and a prolonged period of absolutely no inspiration or creativity! So this is only the second track of a project that's now likely to be an EP rather than an album…
Lyrically it's about the time I had a 'proper' job and how (despite the fact that I liked my immediate team and my role) I could not adapt to the nonsense involved in climbing the greasy pole in a corporate world.
Initially I wasn't sure about…
I wanted to go down a different path with this one and try a new vibe altogether; no guitars at all and the bass guitar (my new Fender Mustang) only appears at the end of the song
The original title was 'Mediocre Fajita' (long story)... It started out with the initial bass riff but I ran out of creativity and left it. Then over the course of Christmas 2020 I got COVID so most of the time I had neither the willingness or…
Love the exploratory feel in this - especially that dreamy mid section. Sorry you guys have been struck by the evil 19. Sending you all the gentle vibes - you have to do RPM again in a few weeks... ;)
A bit of a 'kitchen sink' one... It's another one I play beginner's guitar on tentatively (the lead break & rhythm)
The are no vocals (I'm amassing a large amount of songs needing vocals!) but it does feature some more epic 80s synths…
This is only the second song I've ever written on the guitar - I'm playing acoustic and rhythm... and you can tell I'm a beginner ๐ Happily the rest of the instrumentation is a little more polished.
No sugar coating this... It's a very melancholy…
This was all written on the bass - I wanted to get an earthy 70s Rickenbacker bass vibe on this so naturally there's liberal splashes of Moog and Hammond Organ to accompany it.
It's kind of 'prog-lite' and again needs vocals. It's a working…
Well... this took a left turn at Odd Street. The main melody started off as riff written and played on bass guitar and the early version had guitars, and real drums etc.... Then I got introduced to a suite of 80s synth plugins and it all went…
Only 1 week ago I was luxuriating at a beautiful hotel in Dubai, floating blissfully in a lagoon pool... Forward wind one week and I'm here in the cold, wet, windy UK having to quarantine...
Now, at the aforementioned pool, they played a chill…
The second one born from my first week of quarantine. I dusted off my 5 string Sandberg bass guitar and wanted to evoke a Motown-ish vibe on this one and really got into the snare and bass guitar following the same rhythm rather than the usual…
The second one born from my first week of quarantine. I dusted off my 5 string Sandberg bass guitar and wanted to evoke a Motown-ish vibe on this one and really got into the snare and bass guitar following the same rhythm rather than the usual…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
I've been missing in action for ages - apologies to all, I'm about to start listening again too.
For ages, I'd been considering a move away from my trusty Boss BR1600 on which I've recorded and mixed nearly everything…
With lovely Keith Landry. Unfortunately, the studio I had at the time was on its last legs and the recording is a terrible quality, but I've never been able to get the vocal to sound better. Probably because I'm now over the awful thing* I did…
Written and recorded as part of our family RPM project this year. :-D
13 year old Jasmine on vocals and ukulele.
We wrote and recorded 10 songs under the name Cattica. It was just the best month of lockdown imaginable.
I've disappeared into a total rabbit hole with these 70s/80s synths. This one features the ARP2600 (in several guises), the Jupiter 8, Prophet 5 and the Fairlight (what a machine that was back in the day!)
This started in my head as another…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
I found this one while I was digging through the shoe-box for the 1994 songs. Apparently I wrote it on 10th November 1995.
Foolishly, I thought it would only take a week or so to record... I was originally expecting…
Well... this took a left turn at Odd Street. The main melody started off as riff written and played on bass guitar and the early version had guitars, and real drums etc.... Then I got introduced to a suite of 80s synth plugins and it all went…
Music written and performed by Mike Smith, also known as Dragonsong.
When Mike first asked me to read this poem, he believed it was written around the time of the Spanish Flu...but, our sources say no. It was most likely written by Kitty O…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here's another song from 1994, with a sparkling new "Andrew Russe Band" arrangement fresh from the broom-cupboard.
Like most of my songs, it was written with an acoustic guitar, a pen, and an A4 pad. The ones…
Another tune exhumed from the past... 1984 to be precise. A 15 year-old angst-ridden vocalist wrote some words that went something like "Late at night... the shadows... creep across my wall". Happily, the song is musically much stronger than the…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And this is the last of the little threesome of In Your Hands, Little Thing, and this one, When I Try To Be Me.
It's in the key of 4th fret and was written just over a month later than the other two, on 19th March…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
Now here's a bit of an oldie - the second song I ever wrote. In... 1978!
I think I played it once, or maybe twice, at school assemblies. My musical peers and colleagues back then dismissed it as corny/rancid pop music…
I LOVE this!! It's got everything - super-catchy, some lovely chord changes, great middle eight and a key change at the end. This would have been a huge hit in the 60s!
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here is the first reply to In Your Hands.
I say "first" because I've found another one, When I Try To Be Me, that Mrs R says I have to do too... but that's unlikely to be the next one I post because I'm working…
This didn't go as planned... I wrote this song for my wife Nicola while I was away in the UK working in March 2020... I excitedly played it to her from 3,500 miles away over the ether and.... I think she was expecting a ballad rather than a rather…
@andrew - this is pretty much the original but with some radical mixing. The drums sounded like Spector's Wall of Sound' on the original and the balance was all wrong - The piano on the middle 8 now has the dreamy, ethereal feel I wanted too. I would need to write an entirely new song to give her what she expected!!
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
OK, let's delve once more into the magical shoebox of unused songs...
I've already recorded several that were written in 1994 (Sleeping with the Ghost, Elizabeth's Room, With Mum Again, If You Knew, A Hundred and…
(Remastered 22/10/2021)
And here we go - Edith FINALLY gets it...
Actually, she's been getting it ever since I wrote it on the 29th May. I thought it would take a week or so, but it proved to be more of a fight than I was expecting.
On…
My latest composition - It was the first song I worked on in Dubai after curfew was imposed in April but it started life in January in the UK and was called 'Abundance Of Time' and has taken me until now to finish. It's a bit unusual as it has…
And now for something completely different... Right now it's hot.. and I mean 50 degree hot. So I had in my mind's eye a summery, trippy 'under a palm tree' kind of vibe. And I got that... but I got more... much more...
Millions of years ago... Before the dawn of history... I was a in a school band. I couldn't play an instrument then so I was the vocalist. This tune was one of the band's originals.
Now, bear in mind this was the 'Ay-deees' so it was mullets…
Millions of years ago... Before the dawn of history... I was a in a school band. I couldn't play an instrument then so I was the vocalist. This tune was one of the band's originals.
Now, bear in mind this was the 'Ay-deees' so it was mullets…
Comments on Shed Sounds's stuff
Tim here. Yup very faithful to our original 1985 version! How on earth we passed any O levels at all is beyond me!
Hard not to sing along with the aaahs! A big, beautiful sound! Great confident vox!
Great bass work - and liking the open air, blue sky feel.
Great song - rich sounds!
This has a lovely night driving feel.
Ooh loving that synth solo!
Sparkly and catchy! Agree about the basslines - and good to hear your vox again too.
Loved the 80s feel - ๐ x
This one needs your vox! Great feel - love the percs and sparkles.
Brilliant RPM album, loved the retro vibe!
Well done Matt, some feat that! I'm going to use some as intro music. Thanks
Love the exploratory feel in this - especially that dreamy mid section. Sorry you guys have been struck by the evil 19. Sending you all the gentle vibes - you have to do RPM again in a few weeks... ;)
He's a cutey. :-D (I bet his dressing room is bigger than the puppet show's)
t r i p p y
Oh my, beautiful. Completely heartfelt and genuinely touching.
Looking forward to your dreamy vox on this!
Loving the space in the beats, but you were clearly off your face when you wrote this.
Definitely chill (although I get Russe's hot water bottle-nicking wifey ref), and very soothing...needed that. Lush track, kiddo.
Long silk gloves, lots of shoulder action. Def Motown.
I can really hear this with a swing rhythm!
Comments made by Shed Sounds
You've been gone too long! This sounds rich - love the stereo duelling guitars. Great tune and lyrics too
I think the recording has a haunting authenticity to it - it wouldn't sound the same with crispy production. Gorgeous song ๐ค
Great job Jasmine! ๐
Absolutely gorgeous!
Thanks @Andrew - Flatwound strings and very meaty Precision pickups of unknown origin!
Oh yes! from the composition, sonic quality, standard of playing and lyrics to the overall positive and catchy tune this one kicks arse!
Thanks @Anton!
This is lovely - echoes of 'Perfect Life' by Steven Wilson ๐
Absolutely top-drawer in terms of composition, performance and sonically ๐
Thanks @Andrew... To be fair, they're probably the highlight of it, lyrically speaking!
Love that unexpected chord change in the middle eight - Great work!
I LOVE this!! It's got everything - super-catchy, some lovely chord changes, great middle eight and a key change at the end. This would have been a huge hit in the 60s!
Great work! I can hear the Tull influence but also reminiscent of Gordon Lightfoot... If you remember him?!
@andrew - this is pretty much the original but with some radical mixing. The drums sounded like Spector's Wall of Sound' on the original and the balance was all wrong - The piano on the middle 8 now has the dreamy, ethereal feel I wanted too. I would need to write an entirely new song to give her what she expected!!
It was definitely worth perservering with - love the melancholic vibe
Wow! Fantastic work - Loving the bass work ๐
Thanks @andrew! The first sign of it is at 21 seconds... and again at 1.45
@andrew - Can I raise a practical question? Are we playing Stonehenge tomorrow?
Thanks @AMUC ๐ค
That's just made me laugh out loud @Andrew! ๐