Another two takes of a piece off that poorly-labeled worktape. The bass is this wonderful string bass sound from my Ensoniq Mirage that I'd been fooling with for a while. The guitar lick was originally SS's but we'd been working together for several years at this point so I'm not sure if it was 100% his or a joint-inspiration. Anyway, my apologies if he's recorded & copyrighted it elsewhere but I'm certain any version he did is different from these.
This sounds sloppy as both takes were live w/no sequencing whatsoever, both takes a bit different as well. Note that only take 3 has a break. No click track, either, as my studio at the time did not have the capability to do a click that wouldn't also appear on tape. We did this in 'free time', something I'll say more about when I get to the "S'not Tuna" tape, but for now let it suffice that I have a very strong sense for the rhythm of a piece of music and do not need a drummer to play in time. Most likely recorded fall of 1992.
StringBass T3
StringBass T4
23 September 2008
DumDumDum-96KB
Now kids, let this serve as a lesson to you-the only version I've found of this nifty piece is off an old worktape labeled "Dum Dum Dum Deh Dum De Dum Dum Dum". Yeah, no kidding. Please label your stuff and if possible, please document it at the time, too, you might want to know this crap 16 years later, ok? Especially if your SMPTE sync gets hosed making your master tapes unusable...
Bass is Ensoniq Mirage, much Poly-800 & Casio sounds as well, all sequenced. Sounds like the Alesis D4 drumbox as well. SS is playing his heart out on the guitar w/his Digitech rack effect. The 'vocals' are me reading something, most likely H.P. Lovecraft. This was likely recorded summer of 1992, probably direct to 2-track casette.
DumDumDum-96KB
Bass is Ensoniq Mirage, much Poly-800 & Casio sounds as well, all sequenced. Sounds like the Alesis D4 drumbox as well. SS is playing his heart out on the guitar w/his Digitech rack effect. The 'vocals' are me reading something, most likely H.P. Lovecraft. This was likely recorded summer of 1992, probably direct to 2-track casette.
DumDumDum-96KB
22 September 2008
mystery 100991
Don't remember the details of this one, either, except that I liked it a lot. (probably 1991/2) While I respect the blues, I do not think this white anglo can play them correctly so I defer to the masters. That said, this one is intense. I definitely remember recording a version of this w/a keyboard lead, will post that one here if & when I find it.
Update - 27 Oct 2008. Found the original composition date at least....
mystery
Update - 27 Oct 2008. Found the original composition date at least....
mystery
042892
Hi, welcome to yet another experiment, it's also known as "Lament for America" and was recorded in the spring of 1992. Most of the details are again lost to the mists of time except I think the initial keys were my Poly 800 and I know that part & the bass part were MIDI, the other parts were live at some time. Yes, my vox were supposed to be submerged in the background. And this is only an excerpt, the only other version I've found is instrumental and about 5 minutes longer. Aren't echo vox fx wonderful?
04289 - Lament For America
04289 - Lament For America
16 September 2008
040293-96KB
Another strange one. I'm afraid the exact details behind this are lost to the mists of time or some other such nonsense. The primary noise was created by playing a synth into one of the stranger patches on a Lexicon LXP-5. The finger snaps were from a drum machine through echo. Judging from the date I'd guess this was another late-night exploration... I have posted this as a 96KBS file to save space on the server but if someone wants the 128KBS version (or for that matter, the *.wav file), just ask.
This piece is one of my very few that actually got some airplay albeit in modified form. It was the 'entry noise' at the '98 Haunted Trails spookhouse at the Wild Basin.
040293-96KB
This piece is one of my very few that actually got some airplay albeit in modified form. It was the 'entry noise' at the '98 Haunted Trails spookhouse at the Wild Basin.
040293-96KB
021896
Maybe this could be called "Interstellar Lament" as it's practically a dirge. It's also unique in that most of the parts were tracked live, the only sequenced part I hear is the wheezy accordion sound at the beginning. That's me playing synth bass and the wordless vocals, POV playing keyboard drums and him on, believe it or not, an acoustic guitar w/a pickup! If my memory serves me right, this started w/bass & drum parts against the sequence, then my vocals and finally him on guitar. The date on this one is the day it was recorded.
If the song itself wasn't enough of a downer, it was probably also the last time we worked together as I was getting very tired of the 'bedroom rock' and wanted to 'see the world' whereas he did not. Ah, well...
021896
If the song itself wasn't enough of a downer, it was probably also the last time we worked together as I was getting very tired of the 'bedroom rock' and wanted to 'see the world' whereas he did not. Ah, well...
021896
121095-The Noise Version
Something with its original dated title! The date is the day I started working on the midi parts, the actual recording was probably late December or early January. That's me on bass, probably the S.D. Curlee->Big Muff->Alamo tube amp. Drums are sequenced and the noise parts are probably from a Sequential Pro-One through some rack fx.
121095-The Noise Version
121095-The Noise Version
08 September 2008
KOOP Party Theme (Excerpt)
A million years ago or in 1993/1994 (?) I was an integral member of the engineering collective that put KOOP radio on the air. Not only did Bob, myself & others in the collective build their first studio, their original mixing desk (from KMFA) first came to life on my workbench at my house. No, I had nothing to do with them getting their FCC license, that was solely due to Jim Ellinger's hard work, all I did was help them get on the air. But like all 'pioneers', all of us who founded KOOP radio were kicked out in a coup from the 'leftier than thou' cadre - once they had secured the efforts of our money & hard work they decided they had no room there or use for straight white males at their 'community radio station'. Last thing I heard, Mr. Ellinger is still banned from appearing on their premises although after his ten-year fight to secure the original license, while he was perfectly within his rights to have kept the license in his name, he graciously put the license in the name of the KOOP board of directors which proceeded by means of rigged elections to shut the original people out. F*ck 'em, my last involvement with 'em was in '97 or thereabouts and I haven't listened to 'em in over a decade.
Anyway, this piece dates back to a fund-raising party thrown by the engineering collective which quite possibly was the very first fund-raiser for KOOP thrown by KOOP at the KOOP studio. Through 400' of single-pair shield wire that night I sent a sub-mix of our audio directly to the control room and out on the air. I was demoing a Sequential Circuits Six-Track keyboard at the time which I brought with me and composed this piece on the keyboard's internal sequencer as the party was beginning to start, December 16, 1995. The next morning I recorded it to 2-track cassette. The original is over 16 minutes so I excerpted it but as it's an ambient piece there's not much in the way of changes in the missing 12+ minutes. The music did what it was supposed to, it helped a small group exhausted by setting up 400 lbs of PA gear chill out & catch a breath while soundchecking the PA and greeting the early arrivals. It was the only ambient music of the night.
KOOP Party Theme(Excerpt)
Anyway, this piece dates back to a fund-raising party thrown by the engineering collective which quite possibly was the very first fund-raiser for KOOP thrown by KOOP at the KOOP studio. Through 400' of single-pair shield wire that night I sent a sub-mix of our audio directly to the control room and out on the air. I was demoing a Sequential Circuits Six-Track keyboard at the time which I brought with me and composed this piece on the keyboard's internal sequencer as the party was beginning to start, December 16, 1995. The next morning I recorded it to 2-track cassette. The original is over 16 minutes so I excerpted it but as it's an ambient piece there's not much in the way of changes in the missing 12+ minutes. The music did what it was supposed to, it helped a small group exhausted by setting up 400 lbs of PA gear chill out & catch a breath while soundchecking the PA and greeting the early arrivals. It was the only ambient music of the night.
KOOP Party Theme(Excerpt)
05 September 2008
Takings-The POV Version
I've worked with a number of musicians over the decades, unfortunately I've lost contact with them all. Not knowing their current states of existence, I am choosing to err on the side of their anonymity as somehow these days some might be doing, say, xtian 'music' and would so be possibly hurt by their earlier contributions being posted here. Since by far the people I've worked with I bear no animosity towards, I'll do the best to keep their privacy WRT their work with me. That said, it seems a good thing to differentiate them from others. The other keyboard player I'm working with on this cut we'll refer to as POV. He did the lead parts on this. POV! Send me a comment if you should ever find this website, I'd like to work w/you once more...
This is one of the few songs I've written that had a name as opposed to a date or numeric title. It was inspired by some ugly legislation WRT to property owner's rights under the 5th amendment to the Bill Of Rights which I'm not opposed to in principle but am opposed to in effect as the legislation's only purpose was to to benefit a few already wealthy landowners and keep the state from doing things that needed to be done. I wrote the midi tracks in 1990 or thereabouts and the composition does owe a debt to RevCo. This recording is most likely from 1994 or 1995.
The other keyboard player I refer to as POV was the person that gave me the tracks that became AIRCH. He is playing the lead. The vocals were samples of my voice I put into the Mirage. The strange voice track in the intro & outtro the piece are real tape loops played on a Wollensak open reel recorder sitting upside down w/ the tape hanging towards the floor. Not sure of the piece I was reading but most likely it came from H.P. Lovecraft's "Charles Dexter Ward" novella. This was most likely tracked & mastered directly to my Sony TC-KE500S 3-head cassette deck.
Takings-The POV Version
This is one of the few songs I've written that had a name as opposed to a date or numeric title. It was inspired by some ugly legislation WRT to property owner's rights under the 5th amendment to the Bill Of Rights which I'm not opposed to in principle but am opposed to in effect as the legislation's only purpose was to to benefit a few already wealthy landowners and keep the state from doing things that needed to be done. I wrote the midi tracks in 1990 or thereabouts and the composition does owe a debt to RevCo. This recording is most likely from 1994 or 1995.
The other keyboard player I refer to as POV was the person that gave me the tracks that became AIRCH. He is playing the lead. The vocals were samples of my voice I put into the Mirage. The strange voice track in the intro & outtro the piece are real tape loops played on a Wollensak open reel recorder sitting upside down w/ the tape hanging towards the floor. Not sure of the piece I was reading but most likely it came from H.P. Lovecraft's "Charles Dexter Ward" novella. This was most likely tracked & mastered directly to my Sony TC-KE500S 3-head cassette deck.
Takings-The POV Version
03 September 2008
91st-The Dennis Version
If you've ever worked with musicians, you know that talent doesn't always cohabit with nice or even decent. Such is the case here. The guy was a real jerk but damn, he could play guitar. And here's proof. But I won't work with him ever again...
This song started life as 91st meaning that its composition dates to 1990 or thereabouts. Late one night in Fall 1995 (?) I dug it out and he added guitar, lyrics & vocals. There's a load of production tricks in here including actual backwards echo created by threading the master tape backwards and adding echo to the vocal tracks then rethreading the tape the right way & continue to track and sweeten. The vox 'yelps' at the beginning are from my Mirage sampler. It was tracked on the 8-track and mixed/mastered to the cassette deck.
Please excuse the delay, life intruded for a couple of weeks. Regular posting shall resume shortly.
91st-The Dennis Version
22/09 Bonus! I found a version of this I did w/a previous guitar player whose initials are SS. This probably dates from from late 1992, the analog noises were overdubs & $$ to donuts, these came off the the ol' four track... Unfortunately it's only an excerpt, but sometimes you have to settle for what you can get, eh?
91st The SS Version
This song started life as 91st meaning that its composition dates to 1990 or thereabouts. Late one night in Fall 1995 (?) I dug it out and he added guitar, lyrics & vocals. There's a load of production tricks in here including actual backwards echo created by threading the master tape backwards and adding echo to the vocal tracks then rethreading the tape the right way & continue to track and sweeten. The vox 'yelps' at the beginning are from my Mirage sampler. It was tracked on the 8-track and mixed/mastered to the cassette deck.
Please excuse the delay, life intruded for a couple of weeks. Regular posting shall resume shortly.
91st-The Dennis Version
22/09 Bonus! I found a version of this I did w/a previous guitar player whose initials are SS. This probably dates from from late 1992, the analog noises were overdubs & $$ to donuts, these came off the the ol' four track... Unfortunately it's only an excerpt, but sometimes you have to settle for what you can get, eh?
91st The SS Version
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