The Five of Spades is an instrumental track. It’s mostly an acoustic guitar piece but I’ve added a bunch more acoustic and electric guitar tracks near the end. This is getting closer to being something that I actually would like to listen to myself. If that sounds weird, I understand. I really like droning and repetitive acoustic guitar stuff. And, while I don’t have the skills that I love in John Fahey, Elizabeth Cotten and Doug Keith and nor am I playing in that fingerpicking style, I really like where this is going.
February 8, 2009
Five of Spades
February 1, 2009
Four of Spades: Song Of The Sea
The Four of spades is my first foray into the wetter side of life.
Wouldn’t it be nice to be a fish in the sea? To swim around willy-nilly. Join a school and zip around with your friends. It would be fun to explore the depths and see all the pretty things that oceanic life has to offer. Swimming to any point in the wet earth might just be possible. Time wouldn’t be an issue. What does a fish have to do all day except for eating smaller marine life and avoiding the jaws of the larger? Have mass amounts of fun, is what!
Or what about a crustacean? The insects of the sea. Swimming backwards might not be so bad and maybe kinda fun. And some have the added bonus of having claws. What I could do with a pair of claws! Nuts would not be a problem anymore; I wouldn’t need that ballet-related Christmas ornament if I had claws. How exciting to not have internal bones! Oh, to be a mass of slime contained by a shell. Barnacles can go anywhere a ship takes them and they don’t even have to expend the energy to get there. A leisurely life, indeed.
Squids and Octopi? Not too bad either. So many tendrils! The mystery! The ink! Escape under a cloud of darkness and confusion. Cram into that little nook, this cranny. How easy it would be to hide and be safe. And the lucky ones get to grow to immense proportion and have show-downs with the masters of the sea: whales!
Shellfish. I admit that is not as exciting. How to mobilize? Can they even vote? Are there elections in the sea? If not, maybe a clam or scallop could organize the first. That would be a good way to make a name for oneself.
Just listen to the song.
January 25, 2009
Three of Spades: Letters Home
The Three of Spades is a bit more ambitious than the previous two songs. This one kept me in the space until four in the morning. A move that I regretted for the rest of the week since it was a Monday night. I don’t think I fully recovered until the weekend. Regardless of my complaining, I think I came up with something cool, if not just unusual. I have been reading Team of Rivals, a book about A. Lincoln, and it’s influenced the lyrics of this song. It’s a bit about a man in that era that has to travel away from home to serve in government. The travel is slow and hard and he has to stay for several months away from his wife and family. The lyrics are contents of letters home to his wife.
What makes it a bit ambitious is the number of tracks on the song. Aside from all the percussion and the guitars and bass, I recorded eight vocal tracks. Five of them are in unison for the main part and the other three are all in unison for the harmony part. (There are some variances as far as unison is concerned: the “oohs” are not all in unison.) For one track of the percussion I banged on an electric fan with a drumstick; see if you can hear that.
It’s got an African sort of feel too it, particuarly the guitars. I was previously playing in a band called Intermissions where our inital goal was to make our take on African-styled music so I started trying out some African-ish sounds on guitar back then. Note to purists: I am not trying anything traditional here, I’m just doing my take on things.
I hope you enjoy it.
January 18, 2009
Two of Spades: Merry And The Swede
I was just about to finish reading a book when I wrote this song. I won’t say what book it was but I know that, for those who have read it, it will be pretty obvious. I did this at the practice space, which I’ll call “the space” from now on with electric guitar. I’m not sure if the author, or other readers, would agree fully with all the sentiments expressed here but I think it’s pretty close to the general idea.
January 14, 2009
King of Diamonds: It’s Good To Be King
I chose Tom Petty’s “It’s Good To Be King” for the first song to cover in The Deck. I didn’t start at Ace because I thought that King would be more fitting for obvious reasons. I did this at home with acoustic and electric guitar, bass, and reason for the keyboard and drum sounds.
January 11, 2009
Ace of Spades: The Beginning
Here is the Ace of Spades, the first card of the Deck. This song is aptly named “The Beginning” and is a simple song with a couple acoustic guitar tracks and a vocal. Here we go…
January 1, 2009
This is The Deck
The Deck is my attempt to create a lot of music in 2009. The plan is to put a deck of songs together made of songs I write and songs I didn’t write, but record a version of. The songs I write will be the black cards: spades and the clubs. The cover songs will be the red cards: diamonds and hearts. The goal is to have two decks by the end of the year. Or at least two decks’-worth of spades and clubs, because I am going to concentrate more on original songs. I’ll fit in the covers as I can (I’ll take suggestions for cover song ideas as time goes on).
Ten years ago, my friend, Michael Zapruder, wrote 52 songs in one year and I would say that that is definitely part of the inspiration for doing this. Another inspiration is that I really wanted to force myself to make music this year and something structured like this is the only way I know how.
I really don’t know what’s going to happen, how well it will work, if I fail or succeed, or what any of these songs are going to sound like. I have no set agenda of making any number of any kind or genre of song. I may or may not end up with a group of songs that could later become an album. Some songs will have vocals, probably most, and some will be instrumental. Along the way, I will probably have friends play an instrument or sing on a song or a few. I am as in the dark about what the results will be here as anyone else. So, off we go!
I will start posting the songs here very soon.