i decided this first set of 6 songs matched enough that they belong in a certain order. now i’m just 11 songs away from my goal. then i will be free of ideas for awhile.
13 of 24 tracks or 15 of 26 songs. i considered releasing the second set as two EPs since it is the literal halfway point. but i doubt i will unless the second half takes unusually long to record.
speaking of the second half. the second half of the second half will probably take awhile. i have to plan it out a little more than the first two acts. if it were a record it would be one side with a “medley” (using that loosely) and one side with one really long song.
interesting little bit: i have two versions of the ghost in the attic (so far.) i couldn’t find an arrangement i liked for the basic chord structures so i tried out different ways of playing them. so if i have segments A,B and C. then first version released is something like (B/C/A) the second version released (first recorded) is something like (A/B/C/A) each have their own lead parts and sound different enough to my ear that i had to prove to myself they were in fact the “same” song. i may try recording a version that starts with segment C but i’m not sure. i don’t have concrete plans and that wouldn’t be until the last part any way …
re-recorded an old using a capo that will be used and re-mixed a re-recording of an old song that will probably not be used in any recognizable form. played with tape noise a bit until i got bored. figured out which two songs go together on the second set. and i think i have the order of the songs but i don’t want to say until i have the others recorded.
the previous halfway point was the halfway point of the entire project. this is the halfway point of the second album … quite a difference. i guess. but i just did a quick mix down of the first 5 songs from the second set. now i’m waiting to upload them onto my computer so i can listen to them regularly and hopefully have them influence the second half.
the third part i am expecting to be a pain in the ass.
as for these second-first five. 3 don’t have titles yet. two are re-records. technically that isn’t true. 1 was an alternate take on a song that appeared on the first half of the project. the other was a test recording that turned out to sound good.
2 of these songs are inspired by naps.
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while writing this i ended up giving titles to the songs.
first song (2012), birdbath, 5elephantsandawolf, stop voting start shooting, ghost in the attic. i’m not sure if i want ghost in the attic to have a subtitle or marker that will differentiate it from the other version. it’s not like i just re-recorded the song. i was testing out arrangements and ended up with 2 arrangements that sounded completely different. at the time i felt the first arrangement fit more with what i was doing. now they both do.
you’ll break my heart against my ribs.
i’m already planning the next project. better finish this one first.
i think i may have finally figured out what i want to do with the final track. i might test it out between now and then. so far away.
it’s wet outside
release.
http://soundcloud.com/girlboytom/sets/nothing-more-suffocating-than/
or
http://girlboytom.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-more-suffocating-than-yourself-act-1
having reached enough tracks to be considered the halfway point in this project, and having also let the first set of songs sit for four (edit: make that eight) months and a week, i decided to hit the “make public” buttons on the first “Act.”
this first set is mostly distortion and buzzing. no drums on any tracks.
i’ll go into more detail later. when i can focus, i guess.
when i say halfway … keep in mind this doesn’t mean this is half of the songs. or that the few songs i have recorded will be the first half of the second set. … it only means that i now have enough songs to constitute calling the amount i have “the halfway point.”
i record listening to a drum machine to help me keep time. unfortunately this means that when i remove the shit machine things can sometimes sound unbalanced. and then i have to find a way to balance.
my biggest problem is letting things breathe.
recorded tonight. kind of spur of the moment guerrilla recording. i turned things on. listened to the last thing i recorded. plugged my guitar in and recorded the first thing i played. it feels a lot like a cross between “lights flashing in my head” and the previously mentioned previously listened demo. these two songs will more than likely end up on pt.2 of the 3 pt. series. part 3 will probably be the most difficult thing to record … then again with it being the most experimental structure-wise maybe it won’t be. but a 30 minute-ish medley split between 5 songs and then one long song (maybe not quite 30 minutes) …
i have pretty much reached the halfway point. now i just need to cross it.
“the destination after my end” is completed and i’ve been sitting on it waiting to push the public button for awhile. judging by the first few songs of “of uranus, of japan” it is a ‘cleaner’ sounding piece of the puzzle. this isn’t exactly expected after how “BBBJCIM”
i haven’t been sleeping lately. makes it harder to find time to arrange and record. if i lived alone progress would be easier to make. but i can’t go waking people up at 4am just because i’m up and need to get things done.
i could easily come on here and preach about politics, morality, art, entertainment. anything. but it’s much harder not to. it’s hard to not tell you what i believe or enjoy.
the unfortunate thing about describing music nowadays is that it has become so fragmented by genres and sub-genres. so … when someone asks me what i sound like … well, i don’t know. i hear my influences and i hear the genres that influence me. lo-fi, minimalist, demo-core, alternative, noise, pop, rock with bedroom production and a press record and play M.O. …………………… i don’t know. i don’t think that description is going to sell records, win awards or start cults. doesn’t matter what i say people are still going to ask “oh, like _____?” and it’s always an artist that i don’t sound like and it’s always an artist i don’t like. and i usually answer that question with “um, yea, i guess so.”
i had to teach myself calligraphy in high school.
i’ve made 2 attempts at re-records. only one came out good and i’m not sure if i will use it. if i do … i’m not sure where. any way, point is … i had to take a small break and now i’m back to actually plugging in and pressing red buttons.
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