This is a cover of a song by Sister Savage, from her kickin' 2010 RPM Challenge album, Juped 2k10. It also introduces the genre of acoustic crossdressed spacecheese (these damn kids today with their flying cars and their hyperspecialized genres…
This is a cover of a song by Sister Savage, from her kickin' 2010 RPM Challenge album, Juped 2k10. It also introduces the genre of acoustic crossdressed spacecheese (these damn kids today with their flying cars and their hyperspecialized genres…
Sure, use it however you'd like!
If I owned a skirt I'd have worn it for the recording to get in the right frame of mind. So I had to go with the bright yellow racing shorts.
This is a cover of a song by Sister Savage, from her kickin' 2010 RPM Challenge album, Juped 2k10. It also introduces the genre of acoustic crossdressed spacecheese (these damn kids today with their flying cars and their hyperspecialized genres…
This is a cover of a song by Sister Savage, from her kickin' 2010 RPM Challenge album, Juped 2k10. It also introduces the genre of acoustic crossdressed spacecheese (these damn kids today with their flying cars and their hyperspecialized genres…
This is a cover of a song by Sister Savage, from her kickin' 2010 RPM Challenge album, Juped 2k10. It also introduces the genre of acoustic crossdressed spacecheese (these damn kids today with their flying cars and their hyperspecialized genres…
This is a cover of a song by Sister Savage, from her kickin' 2010 RPM Challenge album, Juped 2k10. It also introduces the genre of acoustic crossdressed spacecheese (these damn kids today with their flying cars and their hyperspecialized genres…
Finally a good cut of this one. Named after Daniel Burnham of Chicago's Burnham Plan, this song is about the downfall of western capitalism. I'm completely unprepared for it myself -- I have no idea what I'll wear.
The fact that the song starts out with just vocals and guitar is a remnant of the narrative that I originally planned for the album and was mostly dropped. I actually recorded a bass part covering just the second half of the song -- it worked well in the second-to-last verse but I couldn't come up with a part that didn't totally mess up the last verse/solo-coda section so I canned it. I never even thought about drums. They might work... because I wrote this song on dulcimer and play it on acoustic all the time, I never really think of it as a full-out rocker personally.
Like this one, too. You need bass and drums to go with this to make it really take off IMHO. But free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it! Nice song.
ER
I (Al) wrote this song way back, just before the start of the current Iraq war. But it comes back to my mind every time a politician utters words matching a regex something like /(capture and )?kill (Osama )?Bin Laden/. It happened to be Obama…
Original working title was something like, "And after six years I finally understood why they sing in the streets here, and could go home." It's sort of about anonymity in the modern city. If that sounds pretentious, that's because it is.
Words are from a sestina of the same title by Steve Davenport, who asked us to make music out of it! This was a terribly fun song to record. We did it, of course, while drinking. Thankfully no instruments were harmed.
(they were armed cars -- though it's a post-peak oil world somehow i still have everyone driving cars everywhere. so much for concept album, geez al. also, the lyric was intended to be "two armed cars", but it's funny to picture "two-armed cars". they might also be, as xkcd would have it, "sweet ass-cars").
rpm 2011
Taking taking all her money
Taking taking all her sweat
Taking taking all her money
Taking taking all her tears
What do you give back? (shark attack)
Taking taking all her love
Taking taking all her life
Taking taking all her love
Taking…
You know, son, when you turn up the amplifier that high it creates a harsh and unpleasant sound. If you turn it down a little it lets the natural beauty of the guitar tone show through! And then maybe you wouldn't have to strain your voice so much to sing over it!
rpm 2011
Making music everyday alone in my dark hole
Pumping out my silliness for not a single soul
Stinking up the internets with links to stupid songs
Oblivious that no one clicks and no one sings along
There’s a word for people like me…
rpm 2011
If I scream louder
Could you understand
If I scream louder
Will I be a man
If I scream louder
Would it become more clear
If I scream louder
Would it ease your fears
Screaming at the top of my lungs
If I scream louder
Will my point get…
i've decided to be an infectious disease.
i've decided to be the answer,
the reconstructor.
reanimating that which is dead inside of you.
and if i pretended that i must have a holistic cleansing,
i have proven that it cannot be,
change must spread…
Final version
Day 28
Anyone else still writing songs?
this is the result of trying to listen to too many mixes in one day. Sometimes it's just easier to record something else.
One of my favorite things about finishing the RPM Challenge is that I know you'll have an album finished, too, that I can hear.
Day of rest is exactly right. I'm just loafin' this weekend!
Also, I definitely recommend checking out the Gormenghast novels if you have some time on your hands. They could be described as "fantasy novels", set in a medieval castle lost to time... but they have a Kafka-esque sense of the absurd and a sort of social commentary perhaps informed by the search for meaning after the horrors of World War II.
That part at the beginning reminds me of my friend who is an excellent saxophonist. In our college bands he had a few parts that were wild like that and really threw himself into them.
I'm really enjoying the album. You make great sounds, and melodies out of them! Congrats on another RPM finished!
Starting out as a simple and awe inspiring invention, progressing to a more chaotic and demanding machine driven future. - people becoming enslaved to these devices. Feeding the machine.
Phone samples were recorded from the output jack of my…
from the album "the Hardest Blow" featuring vocals from Dana Detrick-Clark
I can't see your sorrow, innocent and blind
Better luck tomorrow, leave this all behind
I think I'm feeling something, but I'm not sure what it is
Maybe you could…
Well, I had this crazy idea that *maybe* Buddy Guy was using some microtonal inflections in his cover of Tramp (which are what the "blue notes" are and thought it would be cool to cover it with my fretless guitar. As it turned out it was my ear…
Lyrics:
Love is a mild catatonia
When you suspend your disbelief.
It can beat you down, it’s like pneumonia.
It’s something you catch and don’t release.
It’s a debt without restitution,
A series of rules that you must break.
I might…
Comments on Al's left hand's stuff
Voices blending beautifully and solid song-writing!
Stupendous!
Sure, use it however you'd like! If I owned a skirt I'd have worn it for the recording to get in the right frame of mind. So I had to go with the bright yellow racing shorts.
I have to put this at the end of my 2010 playlist as a feel-good close, is that okay??
Pretty cool "cover" version. Illegal Alien Autopsy
Sparkly indeed. Great fun.
:-D THANK YOU! Rhythmic, naughty and very cool! And yes, that chorus is as sparkly as the skirt I imagine you're wearing right now!
This my fave track - great job! Love that melodic baritone line!
The fact that the song starts out with just vocals and guitar is a remnant of the narrative that I originally planned for the album and was mostly dropped. I actually recorded a bass part covering just the second half of the song -- it worked well in the second-to-last verse but I couldn't come up with a part that didn't totally mess up the last verse/solo-coda section so I canned it. I never even thought about drums. They might work... because I wrote this song on dulcimer and play it on acoustic all the time, I never really think of it as a full-out rocker personally.
Like this one, too. You need bass and drums to go with this to make it really take off IMHO. But free advice is worth exactly what you pay for it! Nice song. ER
I like this. I used to live in Chicago, and I chuckle at your descriptions. ER
Okay - I like this one. It's catchy. The lyrics are well thought out, and the guitar accompaniment fits it like a glove.
LOL love it!
Great Rhythm!
Love the Harmonica playing and the voice is outstanding.
loose and tight .
Thanks for your way too kind comment! You guys have some smashing lyrics and a really nice intimate sound. I'm a fan.
Whoops, that comment was meant to be about this song!
Nice harmonies, really upbeat tune :)
This reminds me a little of Destroyer, a little of Fiery Furnaces; plenty fun
Comments made by Al's left hand
Cool contrast with the last track. You have lots of sounds up your sleeves!
This is such a cool sound.
(they were armed cars -- though it's a post-peak oil world somehow i still have everyone driving cars everywhere. so much for concept album, geez al. also, the lyric was intended to be "two armed cars", but it's funny to picture "two-armed cars". they might also be, as xkcd would have it, "sweet ass-cars").
You know, son, when you turn up the amplifier that high it creates a harsh and unpleasant sound. If you turn it down a little it lets the natural beauty of the guitar tone show through! And then maybe you wouldn't have to strain your voice so much to sing over it!
I love the "epic fail", that's hilarious. This album rocks it.
if i scream louder will i lose my voice?
It happens that Jess (other half of my band/marriage) was reading a Rumi book this February. We like your album!
Everything has a programmer and everybody needs a hacker. Hell yes.
One of my favorite things about finishing the RPM Challenge is that I know you'll have an album finished, too, that I can hear. Day of rest is exactly right. I'm just loafin' this weekend!
(this one too)
This track, to me, just epitomizes the RPM challenge.
Also, I definitely recommend checking out the Gormenghast novels if you have some time on your hands. They could be described as "fantasy novels", set in a medieval castle lost to time... but they have a Kafka-esque sense of the absurd and a sort of social commentary perhaps informed by the search for meaning after the horrors of World War II.
That part at the beginning reminds me of my friend who is an excellent saxophonist. In our college bands he had a few parts that were wild like that and really threw himself into them. I'm really enjoying the album. You make great sounds, and melodies out of them! Congrats on another RPM finished!
Nice vocal styles!
I picture carving an ice sculpture while listening to this. Totally cool!
YOU HAVE INCORRECT PERSONAL OPTIONS
Great vox! And other stuff too!
There's certainly a kernel of something really good here. I'll stay tuned!
Listening to this album tonight I'm struck by its pace. The songs unfold just right.
Love the instrumentation.