Monday, August 31, 2009

Aintree

if you haven't downloaded The Last Sunset yet then it is right HERE

this is song is my life as of 2008. this describe the summer of 2008 for me almost exactly. i was jobless after a couple tries, always out exploring, and deeply in love with a woman. it was the best summer of my life.

the concept for this song actually started with the last two parts. John Newman and I recorded a song we thought up a couple weeks earlier and decided to add on a dreamy part, since the song itself sounded kind of dramatic. right when we hit the bridge it turns dreamy instantly and i play a piano melody that's absolutely beautiful and he caresses the mood by changing the chords up. it was so perfect i was accumulating lots of tears in my eyes.

that was spring. then summer came and i kept hearing this chord structure and the melody we played along with it so that became the first part of the song. i had countless dreams about a special someone that summer and the first part of the song really shows how content i was with everything.

the second part of the song was originally supposed to be post-rock sounding. instrumental smoothliness. but i decided to change it to pop sounding to make it sound like the day was progressing and you were out there having fun. which i was, at least. i heard Pete O'Hare and Luke Knight play the riff that is going on there. and the intro the second part, the loud distorted guitars, was actually supposed to be the beginning of the song before i decided to link all of these songs together.

the 3rd part was a reflection of a chord structure that i had seen a lot in many different bands being used differently so i decided to make my own version of it. sounded pretty good considering its supposed to be that burning desire of love that you can't stop thinking about.

the 4th part was based on the original riff that john newman and i thought of one night. i played his busted old piano that only played a few notes and we made a song out of it. the "spine" riff, so to speak, was part of a jam between Pete O'Hare, Carlos, and i. and that was the riff Pete played. good stuff. and those two were in the same key so it worked out.

the last part is probably the best. for an entire summer i would look at the sunset and literally hear this song. and then i had the pleasure of playing an acoustic version of it with Carlos and i time shifted that so the violin line he played would exaggerate its beauty.

the song could be broken into movements, simply really. the tone changes from movements on.
1. MyBeloved
2. Sunrise - Midday
3. Silent I Love You's
4. Doubt
5. Sunrise

enjoy

Friday, August 28, 2009

The Old Man and the Sea

if you haven't download the album, The Last Sunset yet, don;t worry. it's right HERE

this song is great. the old mand and the sea is great. i think it accurately portrays the story. i didn't originally intend that. actually, the woman i love was coming over and i didn't just want to have her show up and say hi whats up, plus i was playing guitar anways so i thought; why not make a magical loop for her.
i start with a simple three notes. then some ambient notes to set the theme. and like most of my songs, i just kept going.
i didn 't know what to call it at first. maybe The Calm Sea or just Calm and then i something on the internet reffered to the old man and the sea and i got really excited. YES, thats the perfect name for it. this is the impression i got reading the book anyways. the song makes me flood with emotion almost to the point of tears everytime i hear it. it's strange, performing it doesn;t do much for me. i'm thinking more about the shords and aspect of it. sometimes i slip into an emotional state when i play it but when i hear it back like 2 weeks later i just lose it.
the old man, who was down on his luck with fishing, went out to catch something huge. he caught a marlin and battled with it for almost 3 days and he made this relationship with the marlin, like the marlin was something he loved and respected but he needed it. and there was one line that got me when the old man said: "It's time to finish this. It's either going to be me or you. Are you ready?"
he also loved the sea which is the basic part of this song. even though the sea has been rough to him and unforgiving at times, he constantly comes back. i also wanted to give the impression of waves slowly flowing past.

this song is all about that magical feeling like youre content with life even in the face of death and defeat. like the old man.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Death of a Whale


Moby Dick doesn't die but this picture is too good.
you can download my free album, The Last Sunset HERE

this is and will remain the most badass song i've ever made. the reason i think it's so badass is cuz it was completely spontaneous.
it was summer 2008. i repaired one of the guitars my brother left behind. he bought it for $15 .and i couldn't find a decent job so i was a bum. the first thing i wanted for my guitar setup was a looping pedal. $200 for an RC-2 Loop Pedal. My friend Pete O'Hare comes over and plays this eerie coplex riff. i don't remember exactly what it was but i remembered Em-C in 3/4 time so i just simplified it to its root. and i loved experimenting with chord extensions. mainly i would use M7s and m+13s at the time.
ANYWAYS.
later another friend of mine came over and i showed it to him and i just start playing and i cant stop. and i start to use an Ebow on the string and BAM!! it grows more intense. i flip the switch for distortion and POW. instant intensity. i had a couple recordings in mono cuz it was a loop pedal coming out of one amp. but when i decided to make a stereo mix of the song, there was no limitation.
i basically recorded everything dry and made sure every individual guitar riff had its own space. some overlapped but on purpose. then when everything was planned out, i just added everything to the same stereo reverb track. it turned out well. the biggest problem i had was when i hit the distortion part. i had no idea had to approach that cuz live i would just flip a switch. i made many versions of this song and the ending on the version for this album is by far the best. before i would misplace distorted guitars or make it uneven. lil things that bugged me. and when i found out how cool bass disortion sounds i just threw that in there and it sounded even more in your face AWESOME.
a lot of people have told me that Death of a Whale is not a good name for this song. i initially named it that cuz the day i made it, my mom told me this story about how killer whales are assholes and killed this baby sperm whale just to eat its jaw, huge bullies. believe when i say that Orcas are nature's assholes. A lot of people expected this song to be metal or punk sounding cuz of a name like Death of a Whale. they thought about it too much.
but everytime i hear this song i just feel the hair raise on my forearms. i can almost feel the fear of whatever confrontation is being imaginated. it just made you feel like there was a brooding entity growing into an unstoppable force.
but this was a smooth start to the album
-it is one of my best
-it foreshadows tragedy

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Last Sunset 2.0!!!!!!!!!!!

my free album, The Last Sunset can be downloaded right HERE

hey there,
this is the second version of The Last Sunset, my album. and i redid it for a number of artistic reasons and for a couple technical mistakes. i'd like to thank Pete O'Hare the most, John Newman, and Carlos Rodriguez Arza.
i can't believe it's done. i've been making this in my head for the past year, since the beginning of last summer. and the biggest problem i had was that i could hear it but i wasn't exactly good enough to play it yet. shucks!
i included a few photos in the album rar cuz they actually inspired me to change my songs to some degree. i always started with a basic formula and then it would change depending on how life went. each song kind of represented an emotion that would be compositionally the same but dynamically changing; like life! sure, i've felt in love or doubt but i would feel them differently depending on where i am and when. mainly, i just have a definative riff that i would consider love throughout the album. you'll know when you hear like 50 times, heh.
anywhooooos,
i'm probably going to make posts about each individual song. but for now, enjoy.
the file to download is right under the picture. unzip it with winrar if you're on a pc. thats free too so get it.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

silly mp3 converters


i don't have very good mp3 converters so some songs, when they transit to the next, they pop. stupid things. the WAV files don't pop. dumB.

anyways, i have a few problems with my album that i just reviewed again.

-i speed-pick a tonne. maybe a little too much. damn. i'll change that next album.

-i'm not sure on a couple of artistic decisions on how the song ultimately sounds. i didn't intend lullaby to sound like a lullaby..... yet. i wanted it to be screaming with a vast ambience to it. but i'm definately gonna release it later in a lullaby form. ellya.

-in The Last Sunset song, the end could use more ambience tones then just having the beginning static fade into hyper compression.

-Aintree's 4th movement: Doubt, which sounds like doubt to me, seemed rushed. it wasn't rushed at all though. it took me 14+hours to create Aintree. I don't really know what to do with that. i may just leave it.

-Death of a Whale is badass though. it's not really a problem. it's just badass.

-Cold, Dark, Germany's 2nd movement: Brides of Dracula, didn't have convincing emulated tape hiss....... hm?


i hope that it was still a sweet experience for you though. I may fix these things and repost it..... again. but until then

Au Revoir.