Archive for January, 2010

Storm (Devin Townsend Band Cover)

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

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I’ve always been a big fan of Devin Townsend’s work, and Storm (From the album Accelerated Evolution) is no exception. Covering a Devy track is no easy job, there is absolutly no point in doing a straight cover, as the original is as near to perfect as it will ever be. No, so I wanted to pay tribute by looking at this song from a slightly different angle. There is a certain irony to an acoustic and gentle cover of storm which is not lost on me. But I really found the lyrics to this particular song quite relevant to my own personal life situations right now. So here is version 1 of this cover. This particular recording is meant as a sketch, for me to later re-visit and develop some more. As it stands right now, its just two guitars, one is finger picking harmonics on the 12th fret (which I used for keeping time), and the other is finger picking the song chords.
I actually cheated with the guitars, as I didnt know how many times it needed to go round. So i recorded them once, edited, and looped. Heheh! ;) The vocals were done ultra falestto because my parents were asleep, so I couldnt do them properly without waking them up. Whilst they are a bit flat in places (falsetto isnt my forté), there is a certain fragility to them which I do like. Perhaps when I have another go at paying tribute to this song, I’ll get them down better. As it stands now, there is 4 vocal tracks. 2 of each octave hard panned to each side.

Anyway… have a listen to this, then go listen to the Devin Townsend Band version, and see how it is MEANT to be done! ;)

Peace!

I Can’t

Wednesday, January 20th, 2010

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A very early sketch for something which i already know is going to change drastically in the next version. No equipment at this time to record it again, or indeed a guitar.

This song is called “I Can’t” for so many reasons, apart from the fact that I can’t finish it right now! I do like the chorus type bit though. It’s not like me to write a chorus bit these days, never mind liking it!

First draft of lyrics (subject to drastic change perhaps)

Am I deluded? (How can anyone know?)

This is a question almost everybody, if not everybody asks themselves at one time or another. It’s just life! Somethings just dont make sense.How can we cope in these situations? It’s impossible not to make mistakes as you go on your way.
And about regrets : how can we regret something we obviously meant at the time. Yet we still have regrets. How is that supposed to make sense? Cause and effect. Consequence. Why are these things sometimes not so important, yet at other times they are?
Don’t ask me, I’m just as useless at solving this shit as everyone else wants me NOT to be…
I just write my shit down and smash it into music. Like a square peg into a round hole, with a hammer.

It will all make sense eventually…

I – I can see clearer when I close my eyes.
Now nobody’s near me, then there’s no suprises.
I – I am away now, yet still someone cries.
I should see clearer, but it’s so hard to try.

Because I can’t…
Because I can’t…

I – I could see clearer when I closed my eyes
BUT I CANT CLOSE MY EYES!
Now nobody’s near me, then there’s no disguises.
I – I am away now, yet still someone cries…
I CRY!
I can’t admit it, but it’s so hard to deny…

Because I can’t…
Because I can’t…

So what have we learnt today?
Hopefully a combination of nothing and everything.
That might make no sense, or perfect sense, depending on your progress…
So will that…
Anyway, how can we adequetly describe what we are feeling when most of our words were built for describing physical actions, or objects?
It would be awesome if we could record our thoughts as they happened, so we could listen back to them later and have a damn good laugh. And we’d learn! But we can’t, so we are all on our own to figure it all out…

Previous Version(s) :

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Version 1 – Main guitars and “I Can’t” chorus only.
Version 2 – Added more guitars and first draft of lyrics.

The Last Time I Checked My Conscience (It Was Quarter To Guilt)

Thursday, January 14th, 2010

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This track I’m really happy with. It is just a stones throw from 18 minutes long, and I have an idea yet to add to it (which will be quite difficult to add because this track was not recorded to a click beat due to the irregular time signature). So far there is no lyrics written, but I plan to do this in the future. About the title, I asked on a forum for someone to come up with a name for the song, and my friend jef came up with this suggestion which I immediatly loved (cheers Zel!).

Update : Lyrics written!

Why don’t we ever know what lies ahead, awaiting?
Why can’t we ever do what we need to do to avoid it?
These are the questions we ask ourselves in hindsight…
These are the answers we seek to know… were we right?

Why is it we are judged by our decisions?
Surely we should be judged by our regrets!
How can we not respond to our feelings?
At quarter to guilt, we all know how we felt…

Bad, Mad, Sad…
Or were we glad?

It’s all about me, in my chemistry, can’t you see?
Didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t see it through…
And now it’s done, so many things went wrong…
And I still don’t know what to do, I still can’t think it through…

Cos I feel bad, mad, sad…
You feel bad, mad, sad…

Previous Version :

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Version 1 – Guitars only
Version 2 – Vocals added
Version 2.1 – Slightly more pleasant mix, nothing new added.
Future versions requires keyboards, ,more lyrics, vocal harmonies and general awesomeness…


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