|
I didn't know what best to call this page so I just labeled it as Other Music. Before, during and after the Incubi days I would indulge in my own experiments with music. Some of these efforts were quite interesting however because it was an indulgence I never made a serious effort to progress them to completion, instead they remained as ideas often with no start, no end and no name. Most of the names you see here were made up for this web page. All music on this page is copyrighted © arthurguru. My Incubi keyboard player loaned me his vocoder one day, and because my voice was unsuitable I patched in my drum machine. After running through the presets I found a rhythm that worked and fine tuned it for the vocoder - and that was the point at which this idea was born. I called my keyboard player and asked if I could borrow his fantastic Juno-60 analogue keyboard and within my keyboard playing limitations created the melody. I was quite happy at what I created on my 4 track Porta-studio and it stayed like that for quite a while until one day I decided to put a guitar riff over the top. This was done in an hour or two with semi-improvised mucking around over the main chords. And not taking it seriously, I had the master mix occurring simultaneously with my live guitar directly to the down mix - the end result is that the mix down tape runs out, but I didn't really care as I probably didn't have an ending for this anyway. I've faded it out for the mp3 on this link. This track is entirely computer generated using professional software synths and Cubase software. It didn't take long to make however its mood is probably representative of the work ambience of the IT industry - I had no plan for this, it just evolved this way. Needless to say I have never bothered to do anything like this again. Compare it with the following two tracks which where created in 1996 using cut-and-paste of wave files with the media player that came with Windows 3.0. One chord that sounded really bluesy created this song - can you pick it? What a shame I wasn't into the blues seriously enough to actually make something of this song. Nothing original about the next piece but it is a fun guitar solo which I enjoyed playing and I actually discovered that I even bothered to record my own version of it. The minor pentatonic scale getting a major workout in this 5 minute blues solo over a something (I think it's seven) bar blues rhythm. Sometimes I wonder what solo will evolve against a basic rhythm, in this case a downbeat. The solo is all improvised and seems to work ok. It's presented raw and as is for this mp3. This was recorded before I had a drum machine (I'm tapping the microphone or something near it). I'm mucking around with fifths and sevenths over a repeating baseline and making it up as I go along with the second guitar trying to broaden the sound spectrum against the first guitar which was recorded without reference to it. Sounds kind of wierd. I wrote and recorded this when I was a teenager and it sounded like a song for Paul Kelly. It never had any words because I couldn't find an angle for the mood it generates, maybe its a journey song with something along the lines of no matter where you go you always end up back at the point you started from. The guitar solo is a tad long and the hand made drum sounds for this mix have been faded out. While I was putting together this web page I cobbled some lyrics as I imagined Paul Kelly would sing them. Maybe this is crap by his standards - who knows, maybe not. Journey man, when will it end.
A bluesy jazzy jam on the multi-track that finds a groove. Miraculously it all came together and worked which is amazing considering the whole thing was improvised on the spot. All done against a nice jazzy alternative drumbeat. A basic clean guitar melody contrasted with full overdriven guitar and a gentle touch. Barely discernable is me humming in the background (which I cannot remember doing) but it works for me so that's why I called it Humalong for this web page. Naaah naaah nah-nah nah nah... Funky imitation base line with soaring riff somewhat diluted with a cheesy jangly guitar. Laid back pedestrian beat strolling along with some clean and dirty guitars plus a keyboard helper. The solo arrives out of left center field just like a sidewalk mugging. Yep, another long improvised solo against a simple drumbeat. Some hasty Cubase editing performed to combine what were three separate ideas on the multi-track. An unassuming baseline chopped up with edgy guitar chords and of course the customary riff to wrap it all up. My guitar setup was very good at the sci-fi sound. Playing sci-fi is not really that easy but is exciting when an idea works. Lots of them good noisy punk sounds which end just when it warms up. Just a bit of fun on the surf. A quick layered build up to an end. Big chunky disco chords are just so funky! Just don't laugh. This is a bit of mucking around Hollywood style. Begin with a driving drumbeat, throw in some action guitar, tune into the police radio, and sprinkle with flatulence. Oh so very LA. Devo fans beware - I didn't have a whip, but I did have a rip and a snip in this inconsiderate and unsympathetic reproduction. This song is really an exercise in learning how to program my drum machine after which I had to do something with it. Then the Sunday newspaper in the corner made an entrance along with a pair of scissors. Further inspiration (or desperation to make something out of this) was borrowed from South Park. Finally some sonic Cubase twisting was added in the mix to try and resurrect any last vestiges of decorum. |