9-29-09 Old And New

A late night quiet song about old and new and stuff. Link.

9-28-09 A Song In Five Minutes

This could be the theme song for this project. Link.

9-27-09 That's Not A Toy

...it's my heart. link.

9-26-09 Braniel

Written after attending the wedding of my two friends Daniel and Brangien. There was mention at some point during the reception of the two of them joining together to create this super-being called 'Braniel'. Happy anniversary, you two!

9-25-09 Jerk With A Chip

You're keeping a secret
Like a monogrammed sentiment
On the quilt of the misbegotten
So get bent

link

9-24-09 Yesterday

Different Yesterday. link.

9-23-09 Log Jam

The name of a one-off night we did at Seattle Center for Winterfest last year. Pretty much completely nonsensical. I kind of love it. Especially the ridiculous guitar tone cluster meltdown at the end. link.

9-22-09 You're Always Right

Written out of anger and frustration at a situation I shall not divulge here.

This was an interesting experiment. The groups of 'backup' vocals were recorded while I was not listening to the playback, so they all seem to happen at random times. I then took those random vocals and painstakingly harmonized them (no easy feat since they weren't really synched to any particular part of the song. The result turned out pretty cool.

Link.

9-21-09 real thing

Tossed off, but hilarious. Sometimes they just come out that way. link.

9-20-09 Open My Arm

Another Paul Gude lyric. This one is disturbing for some reason. But I really love the chorus. link.

9-19-09 Seven Wonder Salad

O, banjo, why hast thou forsaken me? Link.

9-18-09 Magical Thought

When I did this one, I thought it was a throwaway. Listening back, I really like it. I resisted the urge to make the instrumental part too fancy, and the lyrical idea is well presented and almost (almost) poetic. Written after seeing "The Year Of Magical Thinking" at the Intiman.

link.

9-17-09 Lonesome Bedbug & Headlouse

If there were ever two more misunderstood pests who just needed to be understood, these would be them. Gross.

I wrote this for a kids' music gig that was bug-themed. I performed it as a duet with Sarah as the lonesome headlouse and myself as the lonesome bedbug. I had intentions of fashioning the appropriate antennae and mandibles for each bug, but I ran out of time. Probably for the best. Gross.

link.

9-16-09 elayuna

A semi-improvised tone poem. Link.

9-15-09 Walker Lane

An instrumental guitar piece with deliberately oblique parts. If this were developed more fully, it would have a full prog arrangement with 17 guitar parts and a church organ. Okay, maybe only 13 guitar parts. Titled after having watched the Scott Walker documentary 30 Century Man. Link.

9-14-09 One Last Time

This has the makings of a perfectly serviceable (if somewhat lurid) pop song. It has a good vocal hook, a bouncy rhythm, and of course, who doesn't appreciate the sentiment? Nobody, that's who. link.

9-13-09 Anniversary

A song written for my lovely wife on our 1st anniversary.

9-12-09 Taming The Beast

Created after a ridiculous 6-course meal at Beast in Portland. I think you can hear the meat in my throat. link.

9-11-09 Cheeks On The Glass

Uh-oh.

This one's kind of terrible, but in a really fun way. This was recorded in the Portland Hilton with Sarah, on our anniversary weekend. We'd been listening to a lot of Serge Gainsbourg on the way up, and it spawned this. The title actually came first, thanks to an unfortunate photo taken in our hotel bathroom of, well, cheeks on glass. Use your imagination. Or don't.

9-10-09 Pot Kettle Black

A correspondence between pot and kettle. Clearly, they're on opposite sides of the fence. Link.

9-9-09 Let It All Begin

Some fun wordplay in this one. Setting up internal rhyming in a song is always fun and challenging, although the result (for me, at least) tends to sound somewhat awkward. link.

9-8-09 Long Day Done

Not sure why it was such a good day, but I'll take 'em wherever I can get them. This song has some nice harmonic lockdown between the mando and vocal (save for a brief diversion at the end). Link.

9-7-09 Forgive Me

And the countdown continues...

Ah, forgiveness. I find it very easy to forgive others, and very difficult to forgive myself. link.

Takin' A Vacation

Not the name of a song. I really am going on vacation; a babymoon, to be exact. During that time I'll have limited internet access (I'm guessing). So this blog will take a short recess while Sarah and I relax for what may the last time in a long time. See you soon!

9-6-09 Mi Corazon Es En Fuego

For the record - I don't really speak Spanish. I know that's shocking to you all, but there it is. Link.

9-5-09 Monkeytown

Another song with wonderfully demented Paul Gude lyrics. Crappy Radio Shack mic again. ooh. aah. link.

9-4-09 Carbon Monoxide

This one is creepy. I like the way the vocal turned out - I used an old, crappy Radio Shack mic for this one. Link.

9-3-09 How Many Legs Have You Got?

I was working on songs for a gig at the Burke Museum. They hired me to sing a bunch of kid's songs about insects for their 'Bug Blast' event. This is my life. This song is intended to help people remember the wide variety of legs different creatures have. If you're not careful, you may just learn something. link.

9-2-09 Let's Take A Trip

A song fragment, really. But I like it. It's amazing how a chord progression feels so much richer when the bass notes aren't the root notes of the chords. I must have been listening to a lot of Beach Boys at the time. Link.

9-1-09 Lights, Camera, Tears

I think I was channeling Elvis Costello on this one. It needs The Attractions backing me up, though. Link.