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Ep. 33: Song “Eye to Eye” (Influenced by Elvis Costello)

Today’s episode is a new song of mine called “Eye to Eye.” This one is going to be on my album, which will be coming out later this year. With the podcast recording above, I thought I’d start by playing you the acoustic demo version of this song then we’ll get into how the album version was recorded.

After the song was written, I got to thinking about how I wanted to approach the song for a full band rock sound. Elvis Costello’s song “Pump It Up” came to mind.

I tried to capture the same type of drive and energy with my song. First, the drums follows the same type of pattern with the quarter note snare hits. This same sort of beat is also found in Roy Obison’s song, “Oh, Pretty Woman.”

The electric guitars took on more of a straight quarter note strum to follow that beat. I felt like there needed to be a little more of an accent on beat so I added a lead part that sort takes jabs on each quarter note.

As the arrangement was coming together during mixing, I felt like a little messiness would help serve the song. For the vocals, I added some slapback-style delay. You’ll also hear 4 background vocal tracks where I tried to do sort of a call and response thing, which was inspired from Elvis Costello. I took the bass part and added a massive amount of distortion to give it sort of a 60s fuzz bass sound. With the guitar solo, I added even more distortion and boasted the treble to give it a really thin sound so it cut through the mix.

Lyrically, the song is about the frustration of trying to get people to see things the way you see things (which is sometimes next to impossible). This was written long before the election and I didn’t really have that in mind at all at the time it was written but now, it’s seemed to take on a new meaning with the state of things.

Lyrics:

You think you’re on a roll this time
And you can’t help but put your best foot forward now
And you won’t see it but you’re on the edge
and I won’t stand aside and watch it crumble down

But you refuse to budget and see me eye to eye
I’m begging on my knees to see things eye to eye
I fall apart a hole in my heart it’s eye to eye
I think I waited much too long to say goodbye

You’re gonna raise the stakes this time
And you won’t change your mind with anything I say
You won’t believe it but you’re on the edge
If you won’t get behind me, then get out of the way

But you refuse to budget and see me eye to eye
I’m begging on my knees to see things eye to eye
I fall apart a hole in my heart it’s eye to eye
I think I waited much too long to say goodbye

But you refuse to budget and see me eye to eye
I’m begging on my knees to see things eye to eye
I fall apart a hole in my heart it’s eye to eye
I think I waited much too long to say goodbye
And you won’t stand beside me and see me eye to eye

My Eclectic Workout Mix (which, incidentally includes Elvis Costello’s “Pump It Up”).

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Eclectic Workout Mix (Spotify Playlist)

With everyone back at the gym working out with the new year, I thought it would be a good time to share the songs that get me pumped up when I’m exercising. It’s a mix of rock, hip-hop and electronica. Some of them are hits you’ve probably heard before and other songs are fairly obscure. I expect it to grow over time so subscribe if you want to hear the latest songs as they are added.

Link to Spotify

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Ep. 32: Song “Underwater” (Influenced by Sigur Ros)

This episode’s song is influenced by the Icelandic band, Sigur Ros. I saw them play a several years ago and again more recently and they put on one of the most incredible shows I’ve ever seen. Such power and emotion with such a unique sound. Here is one of my favorite tracks of theirs.

And here’s another song that I have found inspiration from:

My song borrows some elements from Sigur Ros’ sound. First, the repetitive piano lines and the sound of a guitar harmonic layered with some echoy effects (so it almost sounds like drops of water). Sigur Ros use a violin bow on the guitar to get their sound but I used an ebow, which is a pretty close approximation. I added bass and kick drum but it still felt like it needed something to I threw in a sparse electric guitar part to help ground the busy piano.

Since I can’t sing like Jonsi, I went a different direction with the vocals and layered them. Take a listen.

Lyrics:
Underneath the surface
Struggling for air
Stone tied to your ankle
Skin is turning pale
If I could reach you
I would set you free

Something keeps you down
Help is reaching out

Trapped beneath the surface
Of a crystal clear sea
Fell asleep with the fishes
Motionless as can be
If I could see you
I would set you free

Something keeps you down
Help is reaching out

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Ep. 31: Instrumental “Slumberland” (Music for an Introspective Film Scene)

For today’s episode, I’m sharing with you a instrumental piano piece I starting writing back when I was about 14. It’s actually one of my first pieces of music. Over the years, I’ve modified it a bit and added parts to make it longer but the main theme has stayed about the same.

About a year ago, I decided it would be a good idea to record it in case any film makers wanted to use it for a scene. I kind of imagine it being a used for an introspective sequence like if one of the characters were laying in bed about to fall asleep or someone has a relative pass away and they are trying to cope with the loss.

I recorded it with the upright piano in our living room. I added some string and ethereal sounding parts with the keyboard along with melodica part to add some texture (which sounds a bit like an accordion).

I’m pleased with the way it turned out. Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to get it into a movie!

Download “Slumberland” on Bandcamp

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Ep. 30: Song “Have I Loved You” (Influenced by The Beatles)

This song is actually the very first song that I wrote with words! I wrote a few songs on the piano before then but hey were all instrumentals. Accordingly to my notes, it dates back to July of 1997 almost 20 years ago when I had just turned 14. It took me about 15 years to actually get around to recording it.

At the time I wrote it, the song was much slower. I thought of it as a ballad patterned after the Beatles “In My Life” (where I not-so-subtly lifted the line from). The lyrics are also very lovey-dovey like the early Beatles. Later on when my high school band was taking a break, I jammed with may buddy, Jeff, on sax and picked up the tempo, giving it the Jack Johnson meets Dave Matthews feel. Unfortunately, my friend was available to play sax when I recorded, so I decided to whistle the solo parts. I also added jembe, snaps, maracas, and bass guitar to fill it out. I think it works. It’s not the best lyrics I’ve written but it’s a snappy, catchy tune that I’m still proud of it.

Lyrics:
I was a lost little child until
I found you then I knew
You are the only one for me
You are the only one I see

In my life have I loved you
If it’s right I will love you

How can I what I’m feeling now
I don’t know how
The moment you looked this way
I knew I was the only one to say

In my life have I loved you
If it’s right I will love you

You’re like an angel from heaven
Descending from the sky
I’ve you since the day we meet
Til the day we said goodbye

How I can what you want me to be
I guess we’ll see and I know
You are the only one for me
You are the only one I see

In my life have I loved you
If it’s right I will love you
In my life have I loved you
If it’s right I will love you

Download “Have I Loved You” on Bandcamp

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Ep. 29: Listening Party “Revolver: An Acoustic Tribute” by The Fab Folk (Beatles Covers)

For this episode, I’m doing something a little different. I play is a duo that covers Beatles songs called “The Fab Folk” (along with my friend, Matt Weidauer) and earlier this year, in honor of it’s 50th anniversary, we performed the Beatles’ album “Revolver” in it’s entirety. This lead to the idea of recording a full album of these songs. So now for this listening party, I’m going to play each song and give you some commentary to go with it.

  1. Taxman – During the live show, we had our friend, John-Ross Boyce sing and so we invited him to come in and sing again for the studio version. You’ll hear him later on in a few other songs as well. For the instruments, I played acoustic guitar, bass, and sang harmonies while Matt played cajon, tambourine and sang harmonies.
  2. Eleanor Rigby – For this arrangement, we knew doing a string quartet arrangement like the Beatles wasn’t going to work so we reinterpreted it with a bluegrass, cowboy feel. We invited my wife, Melissa so sing on this one. I played acoustic guitar, cajon, tambourine, organ, bass and sang while Matt played the mandolin.
  3. I’m Only Sleeping – For this one, I sang, played acoustic guitar, bass, and brushes on a cajon and ride cymbal. Matt provided the mandolin and sang harmonies.
  4. Love You To – The Beatles version of this one is heavily influenced by Indian music but for our arrangement, we stripped it down to something really basic and direct. Matt sang lead vocals and played acoustic guitar while I played cajon, organ and sand harmonies.
  5. Here, There And Everywhere – We kept this one fairly sparse like the original but instead of the oh and ahs, I played melodica. I also sang and played acoustic guitar while Matt played the cajon.
  6. Yellow Submarine – Like Eleanor Rigby, we sped this one up and gave it a bluegrass cowboy feel. John-Ross sang lead vocals. I played guitar, cajon, tambourine, organ and sang harmonies while Matt played mandolin and sang harmonies.
  7. She Said She Said – We kept this arrangement fairly true to the original. Matt sang and played acoustic guitar. I played cajon and sang harmonies.
  8. Good Day Sunshine – Like the last song, we also stayed fairly true to the original version. Instead of piano, Matt play acoustic guitar and sang lead while I played cajon, the piano solo in the middle and sang harmonies. We added a little delay effect at the end to imitate the Beatles recording.
  9. And Your Bird Can Sing – For this one, we resurrected an old recording we started a couple years ago but never finished. Matt sang, played acoustic and electric guitars while I played cajon, shaker and sang harmonies.
  10. For No One – The Beatles version of this features piano and a french horn solo. Like the Beatles, we kept it sparse but instead used acoustic guitar (which I played) and mandolin (which Matt played) and I sang the lead vocal part.
  11. Doctor Robert – This one was actually recorded at the Revolver tribute show I mentioned earlier. Matt sang lead and played acoustic guitar while I played cajon and harmonized. Not everything picked up very strongly in the live recording so I overdubbed another cajon track and added bass, tambourine and melodica along with some additional harmonies.
  12. I Want To Tell You – This one is pretty basic. Matt sang and played acoustic while I sang harmonies and played cajon and a tambourine.
  13. Got To Get You Into My Life – This is another track we took from the live recording of our show. John-Ross sang lead vocals. I played acoustic guitar and sang harmonies while Matt played cajon and sang harmonies. To fill it out a bit more, I had John-Ross some to the studio and overdub another vocal track and I added bass, tambourine, an additional cajon track, more harmonies and several tracks of melodica to imitate the Beatles’ brass arrangement.
  14. Tomorrow Never Knows – This last song was also taken from the live recording of our show. Pretty much all of our arrangements have an acoustic guitar but for this one, we had a hard time coming up with something that sounded right. So, instead, we invited our friend and music producer, Eric Robertson to play keyboards while John-Ross sang lead vocals and Matt and I both played cajon. To fill it out a bit more, I went back and overdubbed bass, shakers, and two electric guitar tracks: one played with an ebow and the other plucking the notes from the chords, then put in reverse (to imitate the reverse sounds the Beatles used on the original). I also faded the song out and increased to reverb as it faded, as if the song were evaporating into thin air.

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Ep. 28: Song “I Get By” (Influenced by John Vanderslice)

This week’s song is called “I Get By.” I started writing it back in 2005 and it stayed half written until seven years later when I finished it for my the 50 songs in 50 weeks project. This one is influenced by John Vanderslice, particularly his fourth album “Cellar Door.” I tried to copy the same sort of beat and feel of his song, “White Plains.”

I began recording this song with the guitar riff. In my head, I had a beat figured out but since I didn’t have a drum set at the time, I had to use programming to create the beat. Then I added a bass guitar to give it a little groove.

After adding those parts and the vocals, I had the core of the song down but I felt like it needed some different textures to make it interesting. I added three different guitar parts played by an ebow. They mostly act as a drone staying on the same note and filling things in a little. While those guitar ebow drones sound something like a synthesizer, I went ahead and added another part that actually IS a synthesizer on top of the ebow part for additional texture.

Once we got to the solo section, I wanted to step up the chaos and noise a bit so I added a few buzzy synth parts, then a synth with a delay (which kind of sounds like something from a video game), plus a really crazy noise pad played on my iPad.

For the arpeggiated keyboard line I took some inspiration from the band, What Made Milwaukee Famous. Here’s their song, “idecide.”

I wanted that same sort of sound with their synth line and I especially liked the way it co-exists with the guitar part. So I came up with my own arpeggiated solo, which I played as two separate parts so I could have it bounce back and forth from the left to the right speaker.

To top it all off, I needed one more element. And that element was beat boxing. Yes, I actually beat boxed on this song! Hey, there’s first for everything, right.

I think this is one of my favorite songs I’ve ever recorded. I hope you like it.

Lyrics:
Lit the fuse and blow it up
It’s out of the ashes that we begin to pick things up
You broke your leg, I lost my job
It’s gonna take everything to get back how it was

I Get By
I Get By

When I get back to your place To your place
It doesn’t take anytime to find any empty space
Was it love that caused this pain?
And I don’t need anything to have my mind erased

I Get By
I Get By
I Get By
And it goes on and on and on and on and on

I was wrong and you were right
Time has a way of making the outcome turn out fine
With better luck we’ll find a way
To get at the heart of our problems and make them go away

But I Get By
I Get By
I Get By
And it goes on and on and on and on and on
The beat goes on and on and on and on and on

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Ep. 27: More Christmas Songs – Angels We Have Heard On High and Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel

A few week’s ago on Episode 24, I shared some of the favorite Christmas songs my wife and I have recorded over the years. I promised there were more songs on the way coming this year and so now, here they are.

This first one is folky/bluegrass take on Angels We Have Heard On High. I sang and played all the instruments and my wife, Melissa, sung harmony.

Next, we changed things up and did a slow, serious version of Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel sung by Melissa. The instruments include acoustic guitar, organ, a ride cymbal played with brushes and a cajon, which we altered to sound extra deep, echoey and distorted, sort of like a low, rumbly explosion. In fact, I recommend listening to this with either headphones and a system with a fair amount of bass.

Download our album of Christmas Songs on Bandcamp

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Ep. 26: Favorite Music of 2016 – Top Ten Albums

1. Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

I’ve been a fan of Radiohead since OK Computer came out. I’ve eagerly followed along over the years as their sound has morphed and changed with each album and enjoyed watching and listening to the twists and turns. I must admit I was a bit disappointed with 2011’s King of Limbs but this year, they’ve redeemed themselves by once again reinventing their sound. It’s a great, soft listen with some beautiful moments incorporating Johnny Greenwood’s strengths as an orchestral composer with the string arrangements. Essential Songs: Burn the Witches, Daydreaming, True Love Waits

Stream: Spotify

2. Chris Staples – Golden Age

I first heard about Chris Staples back in 2014 when American Soft came out. It was a breezy, mellow, relaxing album and Golden Age is no different, continuing with a sound cut from the same cloth. It’s so pleasant to listen to and filled with so many great melodies and lyrics. He’s a great songwriter but also very tasteful and understated in his arrangements. Occasionally, the production is a bit more elaborate than his last album, such as a the string on “Park Bench” but on the whole he tends to stay pretty sparse and let the songs stand on their own. Essential Songs: Golden Age, Park Bench, Hepburn in Summertime

Stream: Spotify

3. The Lumineers – Cleopatra

On their second album, the Lumineers go for a bit of a sparser sound and fortunately, they’ve written a very solid set of songs that stand on their own and don’t require a very elaborate production. I love the echo-y sound on most of the vocals and instruments. Essential Songs: Ophelia, Sleep On The Floor, My Eyes

Stream: Spotify

4. Parker Millsap – The Very Last Day

I first heard Parker Millsap perform on Conan earlier this year. He’s got a powerful, soulful voice, especially for only being 21 years old. He’s a great songwriter who creates interesting melodies and arrangements. He’s put together a very solid and enjoyable album. Essential Songs: Pining, The Very Last Day

Stream: Spotify

5. Blind Pilot – And Then Like Lions

Blind Pilot knows how to make relaxing music. I first saw this band a few years ago when they opened for the Shins. The singer has such a smooth voice. I love it. Essential Songs: Seeing is Believing, Umpqua Rushing

Stream: Spotify

6. Wilco – Schmilco

On their 10th album, Wilco takes yet again another twist in their evolution and goes for a more sparse and immediate sound. The songs are very raw and it seems there was a conscious effort to keep them that way. I kind of think of it as the acoustic counterpart to last year’s album, Star Wars. Essential Songs: If I Ever Was Child, Cry All Day, Just Say Goodbye

Stream: Spotify

7. Kishi Bashi – Sonderlust

On Kishi Bashi’s third album, he takes the intricate arrangements from his debut and adds dancey, retro elements from the 70s, at times recalling Electric Light Orchestra. Essential Songs: M’Lover, Key Big Star

Stream: Spotify

8. American Football – LP2

This is American Football’s first album in 17 years and they sound like they are continuing right where they left off; with the same intricate guitar lines, drumming patterns and a unique sense of melancholy. It’s a welcome sound to return to with the state of popular music today. Essential Songs: Where Are We Now?, I’ve Benn So Lost for So Long

Stream: Spotify

9. Childish Gambino – “Awaken, My Love!”

On Childish Gambino’s third album, he ditches rapping for an entirely new sound, incorporating retro R&B and funk with cosmic flavor. It’s a bold direction and I’m loving it. Essential Songs: Me and Your Mama, Redbone

Stream: Spotify

10. The Head and The Heart – Signs of Light

They are back with another set of solid folk rock tunes. Although they take something of a traditional approach, it’s a very pleasant and welcome sound, especially the harmonies. Essential Songs: Rhythm and Blues, City of Angels

Stream: Spotify

Spotify Playlist of 25 Favorite Albums of 2016

Favorite Songs of 2016

Spotify Playlist of Favorite Songs of 2016

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Ep. 25: Song “I Don’t Know” (Influenced by Bob Marley)

This one is yet another oldie from the high school days; one of my first. Although this is far from reggae, I’m going to go ahead and site Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” as inspiration.

I love the sound of the organ in that song so I tried to maintain a little of that feel. Also, the jembe (which is sort of like a congo drum) adds to the “island ambiance”. The lyrics are a little bit of a downer so hopefully the production elements help balance it out.

Lyrics:
Out walking on a lonely day
Ain’t never gonna go my way
Cause the moment has come and passed
And there’s nothing but delays

I don’t mind
I don’t mind

It’s gonna be lonely day
So tell me it’s okay
But I don’t know

It’s raining on a cloudy day
There’s water on the window pane
And I can’t see through this mess
Cause I’ve lost the clarity

But I don’t mind
I don’t mind

It’s never gonna be today
When is it gonna go my way?
I don’t know

Well maybe it’s all pretend
And maybe I don’t know where I am for you
And I can’t see what you need
I don’t know what you need
I don’t know what you need

It’s never gonna be today
When is it gonna go my way?
I don’t know

Well maybe it’s all pretend
And maybe I don’t know where I am for you
There’s no one left to blame for all of my mistakes
All of my mistakes

It’s gonna be lonely day
So tell me it’s okay
But I don’t know

Download “I Don’t Know” on Bandcamp

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