Sorry for the “cheesy” title, a reference to Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun which my piece in no way resembles, but which still came to mind for some reason when trying to think of a name. Something a little more peaceful, and a couple of centuries more retro, than my usual fare.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/abv_-F38yHw
Once again, here is a song from 2004, redone in 2015 with fresh ears.
The background video is from the famous 1902 short “A Trip to the Moon“.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/gTgJmv6XLQ8
Here’s a new version of a song originally from 2004. The background video is archival footage of a Chevy assembly line in Flint MI, circa 1936.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/KpC2dOwX1hM
Here’s a fun new song that features somebody “talking in tongues” (hence the title) as a kind of voice-over or voice-under, here and there. Some of the voice clips are forwards, some are in reverse. It’s hard to tell sometimes. I may use these clips again, they amuse me.
The source for the glossolalia was found on archive.org – it is about a one-minute clip which had been reversed before posting. I snipped it up into twelve discrete segments, and reversed them back again. This left me 24 individual clips to assign to their own keys in the virtual sampler, so I could just play them into the song.
YouTube page: https://youtu.be/018zJVK5Sg0
Green kaleidoscope background courtesy of zfootage.com.
Another from 1995, although this one was never finished. I only had the MIDI file, no MP3 or anything, so I’m just recently hearing it myself for the first time in decades. Needed some work, maybe still does, but I’m calling it done for now. It’s kind of a melancholy piece, which if the music doesn’t convey that, the photos certainly hit you over the head with it. Just missing a sad clown face…
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/OKkEt6ohBWc
Photos are by me: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rgdaniel/
2015 (via 1995) Another old MIDI file dusted off, imported into modern(-ish) software, and cleaned up. This one goes back even further – it’s based on a riff I used to play on the piano at home when I was in high school, maybe 1972. The 1995 version was awash with synths, and this one started out that way, but then I decided I wanted to nod back to its piano origins. It’s a bit relentlessly ostinato, not unlike myself, but it has its moments.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/XsFWqK8rfHU
Background video courtesy of zfootage.com
Another new/old song from 1995, redone recently. I’m having great fun cleaning up these old MIDI files, although that can also sometimes be a pain. The title is a Flintstones reference (their stone age version of Atlantic City), and also because the pace is rather frantic. I had no idea Frantic City was also a Teenage Head album until today. 🙂
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/3y3nhBAPPpA
Background video courtesy zfootage.com
Here’s another re-working of a twenty year old song (see yesterday’s post). The title is a reference to an earlier song called “The Stuff of Legend”, available on my album “Gravitas” from online retailers everywhere-ish. This song is a sequel to that one in no way whatsoever except chronologically, and in that they share a mock-proggy grandiose sounding title and atmosphere.
YouTube link: https://youtu.be/TB85VjWfaVM
Background again courtesy of zfootage.com.
Another day, another new song! (A pace I will not commit to, but I’m on a roll for now…)
This is actually a reworking from the original performance data of a track from my album (available wherever these things are usually available). Against all odds, I had the foresight, back in the 90s, of exporting my songs from Opcode Vision as SMF (standard MIDI files) in case I was moving to different software. It may have been when it was announced that Vision was not going to be supported or developed any more. Thanks a lot, Gibson.
Anywho, I’m now on different software on a different platform entirely, but those little midi files will bring me hours of tweaky fun, importing into the new software, assigning instruments, remixing, and in some cases re-imagining. While the performance data is all there, some lot of the controller data (like program change commands) did not survive the transition to and from SMF format. So hours of world-ignoring fun “rebuilding” the song.
Once again, ambient background courtesy of zfootage.com
(YouTube link: https://youtu.be/-8-StSTZ6tQ )
Another new song! This one wants to be a blues song, and at its heart it more or less is. But it adds colour and texture that is not exactly canon for blues purists, I expect. This is blues the way that Jimi Hendrix’s Star Spangled Banner is an anthem. I know, I’m no Jimi Hendrix. I don’t even have a guitar. But I got my own way to shred.
The title is the name of one of the virtual instruments. In the software, the “o” in Malstrom has the heavy metal umlaut over it. But for simplicity, and because the software itself doesn’t use the umlaut in practice, I’m spelling it the whitebread way, no umlaut.
Once again, ambient background courtesy of zfootage.com.
(YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suB09p7Pas0 )
