It occurs to me that I didn’t actually get around to posting this, for those of you who aren’t all that active on facebook or Twitter.
So: a couple weeks ago, I recorded a cover of the acoustic version of FBD’s Marianne (original here), with guest vocals and viola by my marvelously talented friend Sarah Rude. It’s pretty sweet, I think, or so I’m told. Check it out, and let me know what you think. :)
There’s somewhat more of a story behind my recording this than I’m going to tell here, but suffice it to say this is a pretty important song to me in a lot of ways. If you’ve known me for a while, you may remember me doing a much crappier cover of this back in college, mixed with parts from a couple other Laughing Colors songs. Now would be a good time to forget that.
Without further ado: here’s my cover of Dave Tieff’s “Smile Mother.” Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, I got the Decemberists’ “Of Angels and Angles” stuck in my head, in a serious way. I had been meaning to cover it since around when I first heard it, and recording is apparently my therapy of choice when I have a song stuck in my head, so I went with it (four out of five doctors/studio engineers recommend it!). Now I’m fully cured, barring future relapses.
Here it is. Enjoy!
This past winter, someone near and dear to me put in a request for a non-cheesy, non-bouncy, slow, pretty version of José Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad.” I’m highly suggestible, so I complied.
Here are the results. I suppose it’s kind of silly to listen to Christmas songs at the end of April, but whatever, right?
I should probably also post these here, for posterity’s sake, huh?
A week or so ago, I discovered that GarageBand and built-in laptop mics have much lower activation energy requirements than, y’know, real recording with ProTools and real mics and actual mixing. The differences in quality are significant (to me), but on the plus side, when going the GarageBand route, I actually get around to recording things. More often than once a year, even!
So. Here’s a cover of the last FBD song we ever recorded, Raven (original here), and here’s a cover of Anna Begins, the song that got me into Counting Crows after years of being unable to stand Adam Duritz.
More of these coming soon, I suspect, though you’d be forgiven for not believing me when I say that, given my track record. Anyway, enjoy!
Wow. This site has been inactive for a depressingly long time. Maybe it’s time to put something up, eh?
On that note, here’s a cover of the Mountain Goats’ “Woke Up New.” Enjoy! (And while you’re at it, make sure you watch the video for the actual song, directed by Rian Johnson. Totally awesome. Especially the zebra.)
Hopefully this won’t be the last recording I post this summer. I make no promises, but . . I’m pretty sure I’ll have more stuff up in the near future.
Two updates in less than a month? Let the gasping commence.
I started this recording somewhere around five weeks ago, but two rather long bouts of sickness and a certain number of other distractions have kept me from actually finishing the thing until now. Backup vocals are scratchier and less on-pitch than I’d like thanks to the Head Cold from Hell, and the mixing was a bit hasty, but I’ve reached the point where I just want a finished product. Despite the frustrations, though, I’m reasonably happy with the end result. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it too.
Download my cover of Girlyman’s “The Shape I Found You In” here.
It’s been a while. A long, long while. I think perhaps it’s time to repopulate the photo gallery, just a little bit. Here’s the newest batch of photos, culled from a couple of recent trips. Enjoy!
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Still haven’t gotten to the Next Big Recording Project, nor do I expect to until all the grad school apps are done (somewhere in the vicinity of late December/early January). As a consolation prize, I just put up a very brief and very simple recording of something else.
I am such a dork.
I realized today, during my search through saved academic stuff to find writing samples for grad school apps, that when I posted “In Series,” I didn’t post the revised version of it. I also realized that some of my other workshopped stories aren’t embarrassingly bad, so I think I’m going to revise them and put them up sometime in the near future. That’s my standard: one notch above “embarrassingly bad” is the minimum for posting to the site. I might also put up an academic paper or two–the more interesting ones, anyway.
I’ve also been working on the arrangement for my next recording project. Unfortunately the burden of grad school apps and cramming for the GRE subject test is making it rather unlikely I’ll get around to the actual recording part any time soon (i.e. before apps are in; most of them are due either in mid-December or around New Year’s). Still, something to look forward to, maybe.
I decided on a whim on Friday to record a cover of Jimmy Eat World’s “23.” This turned into an enormous project that consumed my entire weekend and then some, but hey, that happens on occasion. I absolutely adore this song, or I did before I spent ~36 hours working on recording it. Kind of ran out of time/patience towards the end of the mixing process, so some things aren’t quite right, but . . eh.
Still. Not bad, I think, for my first solo recording in over two years.
The move out to Lake Monticello has done horrible things to my productivity. Needless to say, I’m hoping to get my creative self going again soon. In that spirit, here’s the newest addition to the photo gallery.
The photo gallery was looking fairly empty, so I decided to post some old pictures, as there won’t be any new content for a few more weeks (i.e. until I’m done moving out). Again, posting the six “new” ones (that haven’t appeared online before) here, with links to the bigger versions in the gallery. Enjoy!
At some point I’d like to have this embedded in the main page, but for now, here is a brief listing of the things I’m currently reading/listening to/watching/meditating on/etc. With any luck I’ll remember to keep it updated, which should be no small task given the speed with which I’m breezing through my to-read shelves. Unless otherwise noted, you can safely assume that any books/movies/TV shows/albums/songs/objects of aesthetic appreciation listed there are highly recommended for general consumption.
This is rather outdated by now, but it’s the only solo recording of mine I feel comfortable posting as of now. I’m still proud of the recording quality, even if the vocals leave something to be desired (namely training/pitch control/a decent voice). Plans as of right now are to sell off some of my old recording gear by the end of the summer in order to pay for a new Mbox, so that I can get back to doing new recordings once I move out of my apartment. So rest assured that there will be bigger and better recording projects posted here in a few months.
Until then, here is the version of Flashbulb Diary’s “Dark Star” I did for my music class two summers ago. Enjoy.