Sunday, February 28, 2016

hard rock cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence"

Here is my hard rock cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence". I arranged and recorded it in February 2016:

Recording


Arrangement Notes

I kept the famous lead melody and of course the chord changes, but treated everything else as a blank slate.

Since the song is rather repetitive, I took the approach of piling more and more harmonic material together as the song unfolds. This is especially true in the outro, where I added new material (whether a synthesizer "pad", strummed chords, power chords, or double stops) every two phrases.

The bass is interesting:  I used a combination of an arpegiator and electric bass. The arpegiator gives the main bass line. With the electric bass I added syncopation to add emphasis to the arpegiator’s output. I have long been opposed to using arpegiators, but tried it out and thought the result was too cool to pass up. I guess the trick to music composition is an open mind.

Live Performances

  • 11 March 2016 at Lush Lounge in Vista, CA
  • 18 March 2016 at Lush Lounge in Vista, CA
  • 21 March 2016 at Mr. Peabody's in Encinitas, CA
  • 2 April 2016 at the Gopher Hole north of Escondido, CA
  • 7 April 2016 at Aztec Brewing Company in Vista, CA
  • 10 April 2016 at the Saddle Bar in Solana Beach, CA
  • 24 April 2016 at the Saddle Bar in Solana Beach, CA
  • 30 April 2016 at the Transgender Day of Empowerment event in Oceanside, CA
  • 15 May 2016 at the Saddle Bar in Solana Beach, CA

hard rock cover of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita"

Here is my hard rock cover of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita", arranged and recorded in February 2016:

Recording


Arrangement Notes

I kept the Latin drums (a loop) and the samba bass line, but scrapped everything else. Getting the Latin style right while recording the bass line was challenging at first because that is not how I usually syncopate my rhythms. I added some distortion to the bass to assert my intent of a heavier version of the song.

The lead guitar part I wrote reminds me of Carlos Santana, which is most likely simply due to the samba background rather than the composition of the lead part itself. The rest of the guitar parts were inspired by an attempt to make lots of noise; something like a Sonic Youth song or Radiohead's "Creep".

Live Performances

first performance

Last night I performed for the first time as “Axis Evil” at the Gopher Hole north of Escondido CA. It went very well given that it was my first live performance in about four years and given that the PA system sucked. I was nervous, but I played through my mistakes. I’ve appended a photo below.

I opened the show, so I started with “Talk”. Since the main band was an acoustic act this surprised the audience a bit, but I wanted to leave an impression. Nobody expected the sound I gave them. Also, since I only showed up with a guitar and microphone, no one expected the rest of the band to come through the PA from my iPad.

I still had to pay for my margaritas though.  J

I spent Friday night strategically removing tracks from the recordings of “Talk” and my cover of Madonna's “La Isla Bonita”; the tracks that I intended to play live. For “Talk” this was the lead material except for the chorus, which is too hard for me to play while singing. For “La Isla Bonita”, I cut the chords that marked the beat and played them live.

I spent all day Saturday practicing. This was a challenge because I needed to both practice singing and prevent overworking my voice. So I rehearsed the guitar part a lot by itself between rehearsing the guitar/singing to give my voice rest.

During the performance my voice shook a little, and I didn’t “move” with the music like I usually do. This was all due to nervousness. But I still sang with confidence that was more an act than how I actually felt.

Thinking in terms of “branding” my music, I had to decide what to wear. I decided not to dress “like a rock musician” and instead showed up as I normally would at that particular bar (I am a regular there, which is why they let me perform). I think this too surprised the audience when a nicely, conservatively dressed woman started with the jarring entrance of “Talk” and sang with a masculine voice. Oh well. I don’t hide who I am when I perform music.


For the tech I used an iRig2 to plug my guitar into the iPad, and used the AmpliTube software to simulate the amp/effects and mix the MP3 file containing the rest of the band. Then all I had to do was plug the output of the iRig2 into the mixer.


Friday, February 26, 2016

new song and recording: "Talk"

This new, original song is called "Talk" and was written and recorded in February 2016. The recording, lyrics, tablature, and composition notes are given below.

Recording


Tablature

Tablature for this song is posted at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzqNzl6eyl0MSVdyT0JWb1otbmM/view?usp=sharing

The code that generated this PDF is at https://github.com/emw314159/tracks

What I Wrote It About

What else? Heartbreak and lovesickness.

Lyrics

If I'm loving and kind, then why am I so pissed?
Acceptance would be much more noble
Moving on so much more mature
But instead I'm gonna throw... throw a lyrical fit:

You say I'm brave and nice
Why won't you talk with me?
You say I'm honest
So why won't you talk with me?

If I'm loving and kind, then why not make amends?
I tried to reconnect
Tried to reach your point of view
But now I just don't get it
Now I just don't get it

You say I'm brave and nice
Why won't you talk with me?
You say I'm honest
So why won't you talk with me?

What is the point of love that goes nowhere?
What is the point of love that goes nowhere?

I just want to talk with you...
I just want to talk with you...
I just want to talk with you...
I just want to talk with you...

Composition Notes

Style

When I started writing this I was shooting for a cross between Sonic Youth and Muse, with the energy of punk. I captured the Sonic Youth influence (in the strategic use of dissonance) and the punk energy, but missed Muse. Instead you get to hear my strong Midnight Oil influence in the sparse guitar parts and in the bass grooves.

I wrote the lyrics in less than an hour. Usually it takes me weeks. I deliberately avoided the use of rhymes to create more tension. I also skipped use of dense metaphors and instead just cut to the chase.

Theory

I don't bother to use my music theory training when writing music anymore; I tend to force listeners through my own key changes, chromatics, and mixed scales. (I do this whether I'm writing rock, orchestrial music, or string quartets; the exception is when I write jazz charts). I also avoided use of punk and metal cliches such as power chords. For that matter I ignored standard chords of any type.

Instrumentation

I'm playing both guitar and bass (5-string). That's also my mediocre voice in the mix. I left out the use of a synthesizer since I thought it would rob the intensity. The drums are an algorithm--because I can't play them--I'm going to go back and program better beats for the song later.

Live Performances