010 Spiders and raccoons, I hope you're happy now (part 5 of 5)

Part 5 of 5 of Music For Spiders And Raccoons. Play in headphones or on big speakers.

5 (from Music For Spiders And Raccoons)

009 More drainage singing and keyboards and echo

Part four of Music For Spiders And Raccoons.

4 (from Music For Spiders And Raccoons)

008 Sewer song 3/5

Part three of Music For Spiders And Raccoons. FYI, there's a fair bit of low rumbling bass that probably doesn't translate well with average computer speakers. Good headphones or subwoofers are recommended.

3 (from Music For Spiders And Raccoons)

007 Drain music 2 of 5

Part Two of Music For Spiders And Raccoons.

2 (from Music For Spiders And Raccoons)

006 Drain music first of five

So if you didn't make it to gallerywest in November, there was a soundtrack to my show there. Over the last couple years, I recorded ambient sound and a bit of wordless singing while shooting photos in drains and sewers. I took some of those, plugged in a keyboard, programmed a few drumbeats, and ended up with an album's worth of music that I called "Music For Spiders And Raccoons." Here's part one of five.

1 (from Music For Spiders And Raccoons)

005 Tears Fall From the Face of God (Unnoticed)

Instrumental rock music, generally lumped into the category 'post-rock,' often involves long, melodramatic song titles. Well, I'm not one to stand in the way of tradition, so this one's title is extra dramatic.

The best part about instrumental music, for me, is that you can insert your own meaning into the metaphorical space the lyrics would have taken up, despite many bands' attempts to use song titles to influence your interpretation of a song's meaning. I like to think of this one as a religious-political love song about feeling disconnected from a modern world that's moving too fast. But maybe you think it's about a moment of grace, or a broken heart, or a missed opportunity; or maybe it's about that weird feeling you get coming out of anesthesia, where you know you're hurting, but everything's so fuzzy and dizzy that you can't quite wrap your head around the pain. Or maybe it's about kittens and balloons, you tell me.



Tears Fall From the Face of God (Unnoticed)

004 A bit of math

This one's called tens all over the place. If you're the type to count beats, you can probably figure out why. And with that, I will admit that I'm too tired to be writing anything more coherent at the moment. Enjoy.

Tens All Over The Place

003 Welcome To Smithers

So, part of the point of this here musical blog will hopefully be for me to track the evolution of songs, from first recorded ideas to finished song. This particular post is where this comes into play. 'Welcome To Smithers' was the first song I came up with in the week following our move here; this entire thing was composed and recorded in the space of a few hours while I alternated between staring out the window at the mountains and checking job listings online, wondering what I was going to do with myself (although that's another story for another day). Anyway, this is a more or less unfiltered musical expression of uncertainty tamed by incredible beauty. I know, it sounds sappy, but if you'd been here in the fall you'd probably just go with it.

Welcome To Smithers first draft

002 First Snow (original)

Sorry about that, I didn't mean to lose so many days in between first and second post...but I needed to find a decent player for the music. This yahoo player seems pretty good so far, let me know if you have any issues with it.

So, regarding the last post, this is the original electronic version of First Snow. Still recommended for walking around in snowfall at night.

First Snow

001 First Snow

Welcome. This would be the place where I'm going to share some music for the tens of you that might care. If you've found me by mistake, feel free to listen (and maybe enjoy).

I'm just going to jump right into it. This song is called First Snow (Guitar Version). It's an analog variation on an electronic song that I'll write a bit about when I post it. For now, enjoy. This is downloadable from my bandcamp site. Individual songs are free to download; if you really like the stuff, you can grab the whole album at once and give me a bit of money, but I won't be offended if you don't. For now, I hope you enjoy my musical impression of walking downtown streets during the first major snowfall of the season.

First Snow (Guitar Version)