yelyah

lullaby featuring piano (but of course!)

Notes:
Today I learned how to add an insert effect to the master channel. The song was way quiet so it got boosted via a limiter. Hurray.

Given the spirited twitter reaction to the question of whether SisterSavage should buy pitch correction software, I submit this. The pre-melodyne version of “spilt milk”.

It also retains my so-called “MST3K” vocals, which were removed in the later version.

Live improv. Minimalist piano.

No edits.

Vocal piece complete with fake accents!

“Farmer’s Blow” is redneck rap. Oh yeah, I went there.

If you’re on the run
And your nose has gotta go
Don’t grab a tissue
Do the farmer’s blow

Just tilt your head
To the side
Then block one nostril
And let it ride

You may think
That it’s obscene
But it’s quite the opposite
Where I been…read more

I excel at disappearing for long stretches, eh?

I think with this I’m officially committing to doing FAWM.

And R.I.P. my songwriting drought. August 27th, 2009 - February 1st, 2010.

You know those people who like to break out the family photos or something of that sort with which to bore their guests? This is my version of that.

Most of what makes this song special to me is for all the same reasons that you won’t share the same appreciation of someone’s vacation photos…read more

Let us celebrate our failures and our successes!

I submit my failure here for consideration.

I actually want to do something more with this just because it’s a lot darker than I usually write. Unfortunately, it never turned into something musical over the course of the writing session. Another…read more

“Farmer’s Blow” is redneck rap. Oh yeah, I went there.

If you’re on the run
And your nose has gotta go
Don’t grab a tissue
Do the farmer’s blow

Just tilt your head
To the side
Then block one nostril
And let it ride

You may think
That it’s obscene
But it’s quite the opposite
Where I been…read more

Oh yeah. The silly a cappellas are back.

Ideas they are like water
Just floating all along
But you really can’t hold on

Ideas they are elusive
You can chase ‘em everyday
In the end they get away

So get that old idea
And dust it off
It don’t matter if it’s good or not
It’s the fact that you…read more

Oh, I had such big plans for this song. Acoustic guitar, tin whistle, maybe go and drag the bagpipes out of storage (cough, or as the case really would be: fire up Logic, so I can use an external plugin).

I went to storm spotters training instead.

So all I really had time for, was to finish…read more

My final project required a vocal, so I made one up.

“lucid traum” is the vocal-less version of this song.

I am toast and you are bread

Funny how it’s generally the songs that I spend the most time on, where I hardly write any story.

So I’ll just briefly say this is the songfight.org song that I hadn’t even intended to write.

yelyah - “solo piano 20100411” semi live improv

Semi live in that I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but never locked the melody in (as is probably obvious).

yelyah - “solo piano 20100411” semi live improv

Semi live in that I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but never locked the melody in (as is probably obvious).

yelyah - “solo piano 20100411” semi live improv

Semi live in that I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but never locked the melody in (as is probably obvious).

yelyah - “solo piano 20100408” live improv piano

Listen as I fall apart near the end of it.

yelyah - “solo piano 20100410” live improv piano

Sometimes I leave in the fumbling beginnings because they’re amusing to me.

This would be one of those times.

yelyah - “solo piano 20100411” semi live improv

Semi live in that I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but never locked the melody in (as is probably obvious).

yelyah - “solo piano 20100409” simple piano melody

I really should do something further with this some day.

I guess I’m still on a semi-holiday after the marathon songwriting session that produced half life.

yelyah - “solo piano 20100411” semi live improv

Semi live in that I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but never locked the melody in (as is probably obvious).

yelyah - “solo piano 20100411” semi live improv

Semi live in that I had an idea of where I wanted to go, but never locked the melody in (as is probably obvious).

Funny how it’s generally the songs that I spend the most time on, where I hardly write any story.

So I’ll just briefly say this is the songfight.org song that I hadn’t even intended to write.

Silly song. Silly lyrics.

One live take. I recorded the piano and vocals simultaneously, though if you want to get geeky about it, the piano was via MIDI. However, if you listen closely you might be able to hear me hitting the keys in the background on the vocal track.

I’m finding fun and freedom…read more

If you followed me back in August, you might remember how I spent several days porting this song over to Logic.

Well, now that I’m using Reason+Record, I basically threw out all of that hard work and started over.

I haven’t yet had the time to try to recreate the mix I did in Logic, as I’ve…read more

Silly song. Silly lyrics.

One live take. I recorded the piano and vocals simultaneously, though if you want to get geeky about it, the piano was via MIDI. However, if you listen closely you might be able to hear me hitting the keys in the background on the vocal track.

I’m finding fun and freedom…read more

ambient/chill-out type tune

In 2006 we visited a Japanese garden. In September of 2009 I wrote this piano piece in 17 ET and I hear a connection between the two. So I put together a video from pictures and video taken of our visit and married the two. Please visit the song page to see the video. I hope you enjoy.

read more

Love like a salt river washing away
Love’s like sunshine evaporate
Love like floating candles blowing away
Watch out for the way you’ll compensate
When I’ve seen all you have to give
When I’m still hungry
I need more than this
Tell me how to get more than this
We’re only summertime
We…read more

Okay so here it is, this is the blues piano piece I’ve been learning since forever. Tonight is the first time I’ve been able to play it through, twice, without making some kind of mistake.

That said I had to slow to 80bpm which is too slow I think for this kind of piece. Also, because…read more

Written and Recorded April 18, 2010

Some people accidentally delete tracks…I accidentally kept this one :)

Details: Epiphone Les Paul (DADGAD, Capo III), Seymour Duncan Pickups, POD XT, Boss RC-20 Looper, Audacity.

I’m not going to wait till daylight
The sunshine on your face
Could give you greater credence
In the absence of faith
You could use that now
In my own cynical way
I call an end to this lover’s war
Where all the things you say is just talk
But I’ve still got the picture in my mind

If…read more

The chorus is adapted from “O Death Rock Me Asleep”, by Anne Boleyn, while imprisoned in the Tower of London, probably already waiting for her execution.

you cut the shape of a heart
with a knife so dirty
it would shame my sister if she knew
funny my skin is still tender
despite your…read more

This composition is a remix/reincarnation of a previous tune I wrote a while back. I wasn’t ever quite satisfied with it and had neglected to incorporate a nifty additional bit of melodic material from a friend and collaborator, [Robert…read more

A typical folk song.

Written and recorded in about an hour for the 24 hour album (attempted on March 13th). Excuse roughness and vocal glitches, it was 2am and this was my first full take.

Thanks to montgomeru for his chord suggestions. In case you weren’t aware, he’s the king of folk…read more

Gurgling, bubbling, churning.

This is the last track of the March 2010 24 hour challenge.

The process…

• find some interesting synth sounds (have collected many)
• work out some basic chords
• do some filtering
• add two tracks of e-bow (one on the G-string, the other on the B-string…read more

This was a piece I made with Reichatron back in January and, at the time, didn’t upload.

I had the odd experience of momentary unfamiliarity, enjoyment, and a sense of “Did I make this?”

Listening to it again I enjoy the way it drifts in and out and the way the droning and sweeping plays…read more

I spent 15 hours composing and playing this or, I should rather say, this is the sole product of 15 hours of sitting with Live & my piano.

I think there is the kernel of something good in it (and I intend to explore that later) but the 24hr challenge was the wrong place to try and learn how…read more

I mostly wanted to make music with a funky clav line I’d come up with, so this is it. For the voiceover, I unabashedly used an awesome monologue by Ken Nordine.

From my 2006 RPM album,, I am working on eventually producing a collection of mystic/sufi, inspired pieces,,, for which this will be one

Well, song 10 finally. A bit on the heavy side, some odd FX, strange vox, an Ibanez, The ever present harmonica, and some help from Illegal Alien Autopsy.
This was the first song I tracked for RPM. But, since my pen has run out of ink this month, I sent it over to that Alien Autopsy dude to see…read more

I guess I knew this would happen. Talk about creating one’s own reality Sheeeeesh. End of the month and my pen has been re-fueled and I added some vox to this one, plus some lead guitar, and a bit of synth strings. I also took a shot at some falsetto backups.

It started to take on a nice feel…read more

Post RPM jammin’. I don’t feel much like cleaning up after RPM. Not yet anyway. I think my little Casio took a beaten and went out of tune. I did this arrangement with just the Casio, guitars and
harmonica, hence the annoying piano and strings.
Fingered percussion ala Casio as well.
The…read more

Old Paint Ver.II

Continued from Old Paint Version I…………

So, I plugged in the cat eater, hit distort and it took on a whole new feel.
I added bass(finger is tore up now), more drums, and low level fuzzed up leads.

The ghost was still counting for me. I used that
count in…read more

Written and Recorded: Feb 14, 2010

Details: Epiphone Les Paul (DADGAD), Seymour Duncan Pickups, POD XT, Boss RC-20 Looper, EBow, Audacity…all fingers, no picks.

I wanted to play more directly with noise of various kinds so this piece focuses less on techniques and fancy plugins and more on selection & arrangement of sounds.

I spent many hours going through Reaktor ensembles I’ve downloaded searching for noises and sampling their output. I must have…read more

I elected to pursue my theme for RPM 2010 even though, ultimately, I decided not to take part.

So I’m going at my own pace, not trying to produce “finished” works, or to be governed by anything except my experimental muse.

The theme I chose was around granulation and “Dissolving Into Noise…read more

Written and Recorded: Feb 07, 2010

Details: Epiphone Les Paul (DADGAD - capo VII), Seymour Duncan Pickups, POD XT, Boss RC-20 Looper, EBow, Audacity…all fingers, no picks.

2010 RPM Challenge

I’m a complete idiot when it comes to all things midi related. Recently got myself a midi keyboard though and came up with this short piece just messing with sounds in Proteus. Really looking forward to the possibilities of combining this sort of thing with acoustic sounds.

Sitting around in my shop a couple of days ago with the Goodall and the Zoom H4N. First time I’ve really messed with using the internal mics on the H4N in multitrack mode

Written and Recorded: Feb 05, 2010

Details: Epiphone Les Paul (DADGAD - capo V), Seymour Duncan Pickups, POD XT, Boss RC-20 Looper, EBow, Audacity…all fingers, no picks.

2010 RPM Challenge

This is the first tune for my 2010 RPM Challenge.
A bit short…my first attempt earlier in the evening (completely different tune) I ended up scrapping at 1:30 a.m., so this one was done in just a few minutes…

Written and Recorded: Feb 02, 2010

Details: Epiphone Les Paul (DADGAD), Seymour…read more

By no means the first song that popped out. It’s just the first one I’m calling done beyond a remix. I think this will wind up leading in to a metal tune and will likely be shorter.