Dan Hewins: The Deck » drum machine

Nine of Diamonds: South Carolina

hewins — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:54:29 +0000

The Nine of Diamonds is essentially a Neem song. The Neem, my band back 10 years ago in St. Louis, wrote a bunch of State Songs (before John Linnell) and we got through only about eight or nine, seven of which we recorded. (New Jersey is lost forever.)

So this song is about South Carolina. I got some facts from the internet and from my brain and went for it.

I sincerely hope you enjoy... South Carolina.

Five of Diamonds: Moving On

hewins — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:38:00 +0000

The five of diamonds is an instrumental piece made with a drum machine, guitars, and a keyboard.

I'm moving on!

Four of Diamonds: Bosch Loopers (Runners of Woods)

hewins — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:31:41 +0000

It's been a tough late-summer. I've been out of commission for most of August and September. But! I fully intend to come back from the dark territory and regain control of this beast called The Deck.

The latest installment was made on September 29. It's called Bosch Loopers, which means runners of woods in Dutch. I'm reading Gotham, the history of New York (until 1898) and I found it in there. It somehow seems appropriate. Or maybe it just sounds good to me.

Three of Clubs: After A Day At Coney Island

hewins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 03:39:24 +0000

It was a beautiful day. It felt like Summer had come ahead of schedule this year. I spent the day in Coney Island with my fiancée and some friends from Boston. I've been living in Brooklyn for about 9.5 years now but I'd never ridden on the Wonder Wheel until today. I am glad we did it. And of course we took a ride on the Cyclone; that is not to be missed. After a Nathan's dog we came back to my part of town.

This 'song' was made all in one take. There are no overdubs at all. I did it at the space this evening. I've been into Robert Fripp and his "frippertronics" in the last several months and this is influenced by that in part. Also, if you've seen Up The Empire you might have seen me do something similar to parts of this at points in the set with my bass. Things that I would recommend checking out if you like this: Brian Eno: Discreet Music, Fripp & Eno: No Pussyfooting and Evening Star. Those are all excellent albums.

(the crackling you will hear on the left side at about 8:10 is the signal coming in too hot. I could choose live with it or do the whole thing over again. I chose to live with it.)