Reinvention,
So, I've decided to follow Pajo's example and convert my blog into a chronicling of my work on this album I'm supposedly making. I hadn't really realized I was making one until I started thinking about my songs as having relationships with one another, a kind of order I didn't intentionally impose, but exists nonetheless.
Possible titles include: The Body Electric (which is what I have the demos labelled as right now)
or Patrick Grant and the Endangered Species. Maybe the first will be the title and the second will be the whole project name. I don't know. I'm sure other things will come up.
Song recorded in one mic, demo form: "My Neighbourhood is a Writer and it has no words." Played that one for Sean and he dug it. It's going to take a lot of work to make it have the combination of production styles I want on it. Funky Post-Pavement sort of thing.
"Atom Heart Mother and Evil Dead 2." I like this title, and I like the song, but I don't think they suit one another (one and other?). This is a post-rock instrumental, albeit a short one, that is probably going to be the first track on the album. Just guitar. I need to hammer out some of the foggy bits so that it fluidly progresses from one section to the next. I've never written a song with miniature movements before.
"Propane/ Unspeakable If." This is my dark, Haydenesque song. I worry that the chord progression sounds too much like "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" by the Foo Fighters, but they just stole that style/progression from really old celtic stuff, so I think it's okay. Besides, mine has lyrics and it's not exactly the same, or on an arena rock record. This song only needs work in that I want it to be more than just vocals and guitar and I'm not sure how to do that.
"Pop Song." Hoping I'll come up with a real title, although this is not entirely inappropriate. I'm just planning to write a ballad called "Ballad," so it might be overkill on the whole ironically aware titling thing. Maybe I'll call it "Ceci n'est pas une Pop Song." I dunno. This one doesn't need much work in light of how much work the other ones do. Dennis and Sean can already play parts for it because we used to play it all the time back when we were still working on Hot Soft Light (which I hope we will be doing again soon.) Echoey slide guitar, Paul Simon rhythms and references, dissonance. I'm proud of this song.
"A Portrait of Macy's." The title is a reference to Jaco Pastorius' "A Portrait of Tracy," which is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. The main riff is a reference to both Ella Fitzgerald's "If you ever should leave," (which, I think, was recorded with the Artie Shaw Orchestra), and "Listening to Otis Redding at home during Christmas" by Okkervil River. The song has a lot of breathing space...it might end up being the jazziest thing I've ever done if we add the kind of bass parts and drum parts I'm thinking about right now. It's pretty post-rock, so horns would not be unwelcome. They just post issues for live reproduction, but at the same time, I don't want my recordings to be reigned in just because I can't play them note for note live. I like studio artists and bands. Most of my favourite recordings can't be faithfully reproduced live.
There are some more, but I'll vamp about them later.
Over and Out, Be well.
Possible titles include: The Body Electric (which is what I have the demos labelled as right now)
or Patrick Grant and the Endangered Species. Maybe the first will be the title and the second will be the whole project name. I don't know. I'm sure other things will come up.
Song recorded in one mic, demo form: "My Neighbourhood is a Writer and it has no words." Played that one for Sean and he dug it. It's going to take a lot of work to make it have the combination of production styles I want on it. Funky Post-Pavement sort of thing.
"Atom Heart Mother and Evil Dead 2." I like this title, and I like the song, but I don't think they suit one another (one and other?). This is a post-rock instrumental, albeit a short one, that is probably going to be the first track on the album. Just guitar. I need to hammer out some of the foggy bits so that it fluidly progresses from one section to the next. I've never written a song with miniature movements before.
"Propane/ Unspeakable If." This is my dark, Haydenesque song. I worry that the chord progression sounds too much like "Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners" by the Foo Fighters, but they just stole that style/progression from really old celtic stuff, so I think it's okay. Besides, mine has lyrics and it's not exactly the same, or on an arena rock record. This song only needs work in that I want it to be more than just vocals and guitar and I'm not sure how to do that.
"Pop Song." Hoping I'll come up with a real title, although this is not entirely inappropriate. I'm just planning to write a ballad called "Ballad," so it might be overkill on the whole ironically aware titling thing. Maybe I'll call it "Ceci n'est pas une Pop Song." I dunno. This one doesn't need much work in light of how much work the other ones do. Dennis and Sean can already play parts for it because we used to play it all the time back when we were still working on Hot Soft Light (which I hope we will be doing again soon.) Echoey slide guitar, Paul Simon rhythms and references, dissonance. I'm proud of this song.
"A Portrait of Macy's." The title is a reference to Jaco Pastorius' "A Portrait of Tracy," which is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. The main riff is a reference to both Ella Fitzgerald's "If you ever should leave," (which, I think, was recorded with the Artie Shaw Orchestra), and "Listening to Otis Redding at home during Christmas" by Okkervil River. The song has a lot of breathing space...it might end up being the jazziest thing I've ever done if we add the kind of bass parts and drum parts I'm thinking about right now. It's pretty post-rock, so horns would not be unwelcome. They just post issues for live reproduction, but at the same time, I don't want my recordings to be reigned in just because I can't play them note for note live. I like studio artists and bands. Most of my favourite recordings can't be faithfully reproduced live.
There are some more, but I'll vamp about them later.
Over and Out, Be well.