Back On My Feet

This is the final song on this album.  More will be discussed in class.

Unfortunately I cannot provide a link at this time as I have lost access to my myspace page.

I will hopefully get one up by the time I have to present in class.

Back On My Feet

Art is dead and no one cares
It died with money, and with prayers
But this I do declare:
I'm back on my feet again
And I can feel the wrath of men
Well, I may be a schizophren, but...

I'm back on my feet again
And I know that I'm my only friend
But this cannot be the end

All the angels and the gods
They threw me down, against the odds
They sent for me their Art Death Squads
But now I've risen from the ash
And I have smoked all my hash
I may  be headed for a crash, but...

I'm back on my feet again
And I know that I'm my only friend
But this cannot be the end

'Cause I'm back on my feet again
The world is beautiful once again
But I will never say "amen"
'Cause I'm back on my feet again
I have the power of the pen
I'm back on my feet again

This may have been a waste of time
But it was not a waste of mine
For now, I'm doin' fine

'Cause I'm back on my feet again
The world is beautiful once again
But I will never say "amen"
'Cause I'm back on my feet again
I have the power of the pen
I'm back on my feet again

Me, Right Now (Over a Period of Two Weeks)

The song I made for this assignment is a fifteen minute-long improvisational instrumental piece entitled "Me, Right Now."  In an attempt to satisfy the identity assignment, I recorded an improvisational bassline two weeks ago and let it sit until last night, when I recorded the lead guitar, piano, keyboard, and percussion parts.  The song has no real plot or purpose other than being music.  That being said, though, there are some very cool sections and theoretically speaking the song is extremely interesting ('theoretically' in this instance refers, of course, to music theory).  I will post a link to it here, though I do not expect it to be played during class because it will not be appreciated for what it is.  Also, we do have different plans today that would keep it from being paid attention to.  Basically, playing it would be a complete waste of time.

http://www.myspace.com/capgrasx13/music/songs/me-right-now-82596393

Out of Control/I Believe In Anarchy

This was not originally intended to be the fulfillment of this assignment.

I have been planning on recording a punk album for quite a while, as I have some very poignant philosophical and political things to say that don't exactly fit into the album I'm making for this class.  I could very well put them there, and I have slipped a few subtle ones in, but this isn't the place for the words I have to say about things that matter to society at large.

The only problem with making a punk album is...I've never played punk before.  Well, sure, I've accidentally wandered across the riff for Blitzkrieg Bop while messing around on my guitar, but who hasn't?  So, I had to teach myself how to play the punk that I wanted to play.  And the band that epitomizes the style of punk I want to play is The Exploited (an 80's Scottish punk band, for those that don't know).  So I decided to cover one of their songs.

The song Out of Control on their first album (Punk's Not Dead), released in 1981 is the first punk song that really "clicked" with me.  Perhaps because it has psychological lyrics (mentions of schizophrenia and other signs of insanity abound).  The rhythm is infectious, like an evil twin to funk.  Also, the riff took me about three tries to figure out.

So I recorded my rendition of Out of Control.  But when I got done, I still had the punk rock flowing through me, and I plowed through another of The Exploited's songs off Punk's Not Dead, a song entitled I Believe In Anarchy.  This song is pretty self explanatory, but it epitomizes punk rock.

Thanks to recording these two songs, I was able to set up all the instrument tones I need for recording my punk album (to be titled The Wahrheitssucher, which translates from German as "The Seeker of Truth"), and I was able to teach myself how to "sing" punk vocals.  It took me a few tries.

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After recording these songs (which are combined into one track, totaling 5:10), which I had intended to be covers appearing on The Wahrheitssucher, I laid back and listened to the music and thought.  What I realized was that recording these songs made me extremely happy.  In fact, I was giddy with exciting.  Then it hit me:  this isn't a song for The Wahrheitssucher, this is the song for the Bliss assignment!  As it turned out, I had taken most of the day on Wednesday to record these two songs, which made this conclusion make even more sense.

Then, having put this song into the context of the class, I began to contemplate on it more.  I realized that what had inspired me to record this song was Bill's mulligan on his fear assignment.  There are very few things that a person can do that can instantly earn them respect, and that song he sang was one of them.  Then, in the discussion after, we learned that he was in a punk band named The Blacklisted (which is, as was mentioned, probably the best name a punk rock band has EVER had), it made my mind wander back to actually attempting the punk album I've been conceiving.

So, as pertains to the last paragraph, this song is dedicated to Bill.

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Out of Control/I Believe In Anarchy

(Originally by The Exploited)

http://www.myspace.com/capgrasx13/music/songs/out-of-control-i-believe-in-anarchy-82401421

Out of Control

I'm out of control

My mind's a mess

I'm starin' at you

A man possessed

My mother said

That's the way I am

The Father said

That I am damned

Out of Control, Ah you're a mess

Out of Control, I am a mess

I'm Out of Control

LSD

Killed my head

Schizophrenia

'Round the bend

Schitzo-fuck

And they don't know

Serial Killer

We're after you

I Believe In Anarchy

I believe - in Anarchy!

Let's see you pogo!

Go!

I'm not ashamed of bein' a punk

And I don't care, I don't give a damn

And I don't care what you say

'Cause I believe in Anarchy!

I'm not afraid

And I'm not ashamed

'Cause I still believe

In Anarchy!

Go to the pub to pick up a bird

Take her back to your council flat

Drive her home in your old man's car

Better go to the doctor 'cause you got a sore

I'm not afraid

And I'm not ashamed

'Cause I still believe

In Anarchy!

I'm not afraid of having a fight

And I'm not ashamed about getting drunk

And I don't care what you say

'Cause I believe in Anarchy!

I'm not afraid

And I'm not ashamed

'Cause I still believe

In Anarchy!

Pharmacophobic Psychosis

[perhaps a bad acid trip]

When we were given the assignment to do something with fear, and it had to be a somewhat "experimental" project, I knew that creating a song for this assignment would be interesting.  The last four songs I had created all used mostly standard instruments for me - that is, guitar, bass, piano, and various drums and synthesizer sounds from Garageband.  This song, I knew, had to be quite different.

Thus I set forth creating a song in Garageband that would instill "fear" in those who listened to it.  Using music to actually create emotions in listeners, especially one as strong as fear, is no small feat.  You have to break all the rules of music.  So I knew what I wanted was something extremely dissonant, with a distinct rhythm that was just a little off-kilter (I used a 12-bar progression, with tritone intervals moving up at minor second rates.  Basically, it was really dissonant).  On top of that, I heavily modulated each tone to make the "music" sound non-musical, though it definitely has a rhythm and a progression.  This song is definitely a "song," just as definitely as it is "music."  I doubt many people would agree with that statement though.

http://www.myspace.com/capgrasx13/music/songs/pharmacophobic-psychosis-82221274

After the spoken parts at the beginning (that are, "So, you've finally awakened, and just in time.  It's time for your next injection...This is a new drug we are developing for interrogation.  You will soon begin to feel it's full effect...This drug is called Phobioneurolin.  It is designed to simulate nightmares..."), the music begins to slowly fade in, in an attempt to recreate the feeling of the creeping-in of a drug's affect.  After expanding and becoming more chaotic for some time, the music cuts to a clean guitar arpeggio with a low-bit ocarina floating around the background.  During the first section, the voice from the beginning speaks about nightmares being where our true fears present themselves, and that fear can be used to control and enslave.  After this, a single, heavily modulated voice sings "You are all I ever wanted, I would do anything for you.  But you'll never love me.  I can never have you."  As soon as the word "you" is muttered, the music from before cuts back in, this time with two driving guitar lines and a heavy-industrial drum line.  This music continues for a short time then fades out as the drugs wear off.  At the end, the voice says, "You've done well.  You taught us quite a lot indeed.  Get some rest.  Your next trial begins soon..."

Obviously, this song was intended to cause unrest in the listeners.  There were some parts put in to attempt to get some "jump factor," but most of the music is simply intended to be disoriented and uneasy.

The reaction I got from the class was somewhat ambiguous, though I saw that the effect I was attempting to create was conveyed, whether it drove itself home or not.  If I could change something to better the effect, it would definitely involve a better sound system, so that the deep, minute changes would be obvious and the panning effects would be noticeable - that was one of the most important parts of the song.

Something I think I'm noticing is a tendency among the audience to listen to the "music" more than the "feel" of the song.  This is neither here nor there, as I quite enjoy having my compositional skills critiqued and paid attention to.  But this song is a song that needs to be listened to in an experiential listening mode.  I'm not necessarily implying that that was not the way it was listened to, but it is definitely the better way to listen.

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The part of the day that affected me the most was Sofia's.  The reason it had the greatest effect on me was because it was totally unresolved.  Knowing your fears is one thing, that makes you capable of avoiding them or approaching them in an attempt to conquer them.  But unknown, which we all have, are the most terrifying. As a human, being creatures of habit and control, the unknown in and of itself is frightening.  But when that unknown is fear itself, it's hard to imagine anything other than a self-perpetuating cycle.  This is a grossly poetic idea, unknown fears being the most frightening.  That could show up in a song with no problem at all.

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Since we didn't have an assignment for this week, nor class on Monday, I took it upon myself to compose another song for the album.  Though it is not for any particular assignment, I decided that this is my album, and I can add a song to it as I desire.  Not that there would be a reason why I couldn't, but I had planned for this album to be just a straight in-order list of songs that I made for each assignment.  But Sunday night a song came to be and it seemed to fit perfectly after Pharmacophobic Psychosis.  Placed as the sixth song on the album, after five songs that were relatively in-your-face, especially the fifth, I decided it was time for some laid-back, pleasing music.  Thus, Ain't It Sad was born.

http://www.myspace.com/capgrasx13/music/songs/ain-39-t-it-sad-82221248

Just a guitar and a harmonica (with a fuzz wah effect on it) fade in playing an Am-CM chord progression followed by a Dm-Am progression.  When the vocals start, the first verse is a short verse I had written on my wall in chalk, that goes like this:  "Hi there, what is your name?  I am Albert the Fish.  How is Albert the Fish?  I am doing quite well.  That is good to hear, goodbye."  This was supposed to be a somewhat Carrollian verse, full of nonsense and with the only intention of word flow and rhythm.

The next verse are two lines I had written on the back of a pay stub while I was walking around downtown one day, and they go as follows:  "If a baby bird falls from its nest to its death, does its mother cry?  Do the stars in the night shed a single tear of light when their best friends die?"  This is followed by the chorus of "Ooh, ain't it sad?"

This song is supposed to be just really a reflection song.  When I came up with these lines, I was just trying to come up with some cool lines that had an interesting message, some double meanings (perhaps, that's up for the listeners to discern), and good flow.

Quit Your Day Job

Ugh.  I missed the noon deadline after class again.  It's difficult when you have to walk half a block for internet.  But I digress…

The reason I missed the deadline again today is because I've been busy.  And this has everything to do with class.

Yesterday after I left class and boarded the bus on my way home, I started thinking about quick and easy songs I could write for the "play" ideation we'd been given.  What's the most fun type of music for me to play?  Blues.  Period.  It was easy.  I started out playing guitar in the school of blues, not rock n roll or heavy metal or funk or any of the other styles I've come to love and exude.  When I play a guitar solo, whether it's obvious or not, I'm playing a blues solo.  It's all I really know.  Everything else just flows through the blues for me (and funk, but those are basically the same thing played different ways).  So I knew I wanted to play the blues.

The only problem is...what is the blues?  There are so many different kinds of blues:  Chicago, New Orleans, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, England, Tennessee (yes, blues is most easily defined by its region of origin, but that's true of a lot of kinds of music).  Then I remembered one of the last albums I recorded before I began my "serious" writing era.  A collection of 7 songs, it was entitled ElectroBlues.  The concept of the album?  Update the blues.  We're moving into the future of music and blues hasn't changed in 80 years (well, that's not entirely true, but most blues songs tend to sound the same - within their subgenre).  I wanted to incorporate modern musical motifs (such as techno) into blues to help it move into the future.  So that's the kind of blues I settled on (plus, it's not like I really have a choice anyway).

So now that we have a basic musical idea, what are we going to write the song about?  Hm.  That's not so easy.  For the first two songs on this album, my muse came to me without any effort, as if she was walking by my side the whole time.  For The Last Day On Earth, I had to coax her to come out of hiding (granted, it was because I was sick and she's shy around sickness lest she be infected herself, but I digress).  Sometimes it's best to let ideas develop by themselves, so I wanted to see what time I got off work the next day (to see how much time I would have tomorrow to devote to writing music).  When I pulled out my schedule, I noticed that my boss had scheduled me for a double shift (a rarity for me) ON THE DAY BETWEEN THE TWO DAYS HE KNOWS I HAVE CLASSES.  Unacceptable.

Well, if it isn't obvious by the title, over the next night and morning this line of thought transformed itself into the fourth song for my album, Quit Your Day Job.  Just some good (not so) old fashioned upbeat, fun blues with quite a bit more drive and energy than usual.

Okay, so I quit my job and wrote a song about it.  Great.  But what does that have to with this class, and playing?  Well, it's quite simple.

When we were given our assignment, we were told to take something we take seriously and mess with it.  I thought to myself, "What the fuck do I take seriously?  My mohawk?"  Well, turns out the only take I took seriously was my job.  No matter what, I would not miss a shift (well, I missed one Saturday because I was spewing various bodily fluids [haha, that's such a disgusting statement]).  Well, I suppose quitting your job is messing with it, especially if you've been there for two years and have taken it very seriously.

Another side - writing this song was extremely fun.  I had the most fun playing this song out of all the songs I've written for this class so far.  I've gotten away from the blues as a musical venture recently because playing "the blues" is rather limiting as an artist.  It felt so good to get back to just playing some fun little blues progressions and beating the shit out of my guitar just because I can.  Music is fun when you make it.

[Yes, I actually did quit my day job today.  It's something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  In fact, if you just read the lyrics to this song, they're pretty much a true account.  I mean every single lyric that I put into songs, and each of them have extremely important meanings to me.  Analyzing my lyrics could probably illuminate a lot about me.]

http://www.myspace.com/capgrasx13/music/songs/quit-your-day-job-82073114

Quit Your Day Job

If you wanna fuck the Man

You've got to have a plan

You've got to get up every morning

And do all you can

Fill your time with work

And your work with play

Find a new job with better pay

Buy some new shoes

And maybe a watch

Dress yourself up

Maybe a notch

You've got to go out and get

What you need to be got

You've got to keep it in mind

Or you'll find you've forgot

If you wanna have fun

(Quit your day job)

If you're lying in the sun

(Quit your day job)

If your rabbits have run

(Quit your day job)

Quit it, Quit it

Quit it today

I've been talking the talk

Now it's prime time to walk the walk

On down that lifelong sidewalk

With that goddamn orange piece of chalk

You've got to let them know you're there

Or they'll never care

You've got to rub it in their faces

Leave your dust in the air

Oh, and never look back

Never, never look back

If you do you'll have a semi-sentimental heart attack

You've got to keep your eyes

On the prize up ahead

You've got to keep your teeth sharp

And your vision always red

If you wanna have fun

(Quit your day job)

If you're lying in the sun

(Quit your day job)

If your rabbits have run

(Quit your day job)

Quit it, Quit it

Quit it today

How To Make a Hit

 

It should be painfully obvious by now to even the most casual observer that my intention for this class was as a means of expanding my creative flow, specifically in the area of music.  Even more specifically, I am using each meeting of this class as the jumping-off point for the inspiration for each song of an album.  The working title of this album is "Seeing Sideways" (for obvious reasons), though I can't guarantee whether or not that will be the final title.

This gives this class an interesting opportunity:  observing the development, from beginning to end, of a full album.  Imagine having been there for the recording of Dark Side of the Moon or an other seminal album, and it should be apparent what an incredible experience this could be.

Now, it may seem like this is just a project of creating a few songs in response to a class.  But it's more than that.  It's an album.  Each of these songs will appear on the album in the order they are written.  Should the album ever become well known (which, in your humble narrator's opinion, would only be just), this song order will be extremely important in the listening experience.  Perhaps that's something of the past - track listing.  Back when music only appeared on vinyl, you had to listen to the album all the way through (once they started making albums that is, singles are just tedious to listen to), you didn't have a choice.  Nowadays we don't buy albums anymore; we just go to iTunes and buy it or (more likely) just download it off the internet for free, usually with incorrect information and occasionally even listed as another song (I once had a friend who downloaded "Another Brick In the Wall Pt. 2" by 'Alice Cooper').

Perhaps this makes me a bit old fashioned.  If I'm going to sit down and listen to music (hell, defining "listening to music" as an activity practically makes me old fashioned), I'm not going to listen to a playlist of my current favorite songs.  No, if I have the time to listen to music, I use it to listen to albums.  A full album is a piece of art; a song is just a corner.  If music were literature, albums would be novels and songs would be their chapters.  Granted, most songs can exist on their own, but without the context of the album you can never really understand the full meaning.  Even if the album is not a "concept album" (that is to say, an album with a coherent story or message), it still represents one unit that some musician or group of musicians put out.  Therefore, it should be taken as a whole; otherwise there would not be a whole.

There are two ways to go about writing a song (music first or lyrics first).  Likewise, there are two ways to go about writing an album.  Every album that has ever been written exists within two categories:  concept albums and collections of songs.  A collection of songs is just what it sounds like; still an album, but the songs that appear are in a relatively arbitrary order and having little to do with each other.  Albums like this usually appear in bands that have a very strict sound or genre.  Bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Aerosmith (just to pick a few monsters) tend to put out collections of songs, though they do have some albums that seem to have a theme running through them.  On the other side of the coin, bands like Pink Floyd (from Dark Side of the Moon on), Nine Inch Nails, and most prog-rock bands (such as Dream Theater) tend to write concept albums.  These albums tend to flow together musically better, have lyrical themes that appear in multiple songs, and/or follow the progression or story of some ambiguous or definitive protagonist to their end (be it good or bad).

[if you ask me, albums that aren't concept albums aren't worth listening to]

Most artists tend to be either a writer of songs or a writer of albums.  The former will just write songs as they come to their mind or as they figure them out (in a band setting, this would usually take several months as the guitarist teaches everyone his chord progressions or the singer tries to get the bassist to write a line to fit his new set of lyrics, ad nauseum).  The latter, the group to which I belong, tend to write songs one at a time, but always have an overarching vision of the end product in mind.  Occasionally, albums are planned out before the music is ever even conceived (one of my favorite ways to make an album is to get the idea in my mind, figure out the general progression that it will follow, then name each of the songs - but name them only).  Thus, each song is important not only on its own but also in the context of the album - each song inherently has two purposes.  These albums will follow the natural ebb and flow of any great story and occasionally have better storylines than most of today's blockbuster movies (think The Wall or Tommy).

As I stated at the beginning, this class is presented with an interesting opportunity.  Not only are they being played a series of songs that are being composed for no reason.  Each class meeting the class is being read a new chapter from the novel.  Each song played is the next progression of the story.  And yes, I can already see a story in the three songs that have been written.  It has a story, and a main character, and a plot.  There are eleven chapters to this story.  It follows the protagonist through his world as he learns to open his eyes and see that everything around him is made of magic and that, if he chooses to, he can live in a world that is magnificent and glorious.  If it's not obvious yet, the main character is actually your humble narrator.  Yes, this is my story.  This is the story of my creative development.  I just can't fathom the final song...

The Last Day On Earth

Only the good go to Heaven.

(Such an ambiguous statement).

This song, The Last Day On Earth, was written on May 22nd, the day after the world was "supposed" to end (or something).

Though this song is not necessarily breaking any of my rules, it does celebrate rule-breakers and the creativity they produce in groups (and alone).

[I would have written the song on the 21st, and thus have submitted it on time, but I was extremely ill all day and was only able to begin working on this song on Sunday.]

I'm going to betray the magician's secret and explain some of the influences for this song, something I would normally not do, because I think it's interesting:

The Last Day On Earth - Marilyn Manson

Love and Hard Times - Paul Simon

The End - The Doors

mAke beLIEve (Zombie Robot Aliens Mix) - Capgras

The first song is obviously where I got the title from.  Taking titles directly from other songs and seeing how I would write a song with that name is something I quite like doing, and have done many times.  Who's to say only one song of each name can exist?

I recently read a Rolling Stone interview with Paul Simon and gained a large amount of respect for him as a musician, and then I learned that he had recently released a new album (So Beautiful or So What).  I happened to be at Starbucks buying a drink with a gift card my sister had given me for tutoring her (for finite math...ick) when I saw the cd in the little racks they use to sell music, so I bought it.  I have never heard a Paul Simon song before, and could only identify some Simon and Garfunkel songs from cultural memory.  This album opened my musical horizons quite a bit, and this song in particular (being about God making a visit to Earth, etc.) helped formulate the idea for The Last Day On Earth.

The End is a wonderful song.  For those who have never heard it, you should be rushing out right now to find it.  This song is about the end of the world, so The End would naturally be an inspiration for it.

And finally, the remix I did of mAke beLIEve was a huge influence on this song.  This is where the true "rule-breaking" comes in.  In making the remix, I broke several of my rules of writing music - mainly that I usually don't mix guitar/bass with synth sounds.  In writing The Last Day On Earth, I used several of the things I discovered while remixing mAke beLIEve (a remix I am extremely happy with) and also used a new song-writing technique, wherein I would record one or two lines of music with my guitar/bass/piano (i.e. my organic instruments) and then would interrupt (intentionally) my creative flow to go into Garageband and add synth accompaniment to that part.  This helped to create a very cool atmospheric and rhythmic effect (I used several different "steppers" - synthesizers that have a percussive feel due to their repeated staccato bursts) that I am very pleased with.

Due to time constraints, I was not able to make a video for this song (as I've said before, the videos are for convenience and lyrics), so I'll just provide a link to the song from myspace and the lyrics.

http://www.myspace.com/capgrasx13/music/songs/the-last-day-on-earth-82055185

The Last Day On Earth

This is the last day on earth

I know because they told me so

I hope the Lord can see my worth

I hope he says that I can go

I never took heed of their words

I just laughed at skies so black

I never saw the dying birds

And now I'm lying on my back

I came to the edge of town

I looked up as the sky fell down

He smiled and turned my frown

He made me wish that I'd been drowned

I walked up to the savior man

I asked him where to get in line

He looked at me and shook his head

He told me that this death was mine

[Only the good go to Heaven

Those who follow the rules

You never learned to count to seven

Never followed the fools

Only the good go to Heaven

We haven't got that much room

You never learned to count to seven

We are the hand that guides the loom]

He told me there was somewhere else for me

Deep beneath the sky

When he pointed to the fire

I didn't ask why

Hell was made for rule-breakers

The rebels and their kin

You'll feel much more at home down there

With all the filth and sin

[Only the good go to Heaven

Those who follow the rules

You never learned to count to seven

Never followed the fools

Only the good go to heaven

We haven't got that much room

You never learned to count to seven

We are the hand that guides the loom]

As I descended the stairs down to my new home

I looked up at the Lord and how large he had grown

Maybe I'm not good enough for the castle in the sky

But I'd rather be living than with those who wait to die

It's a party all day long

There are no fucking rules down here

Satan and his evil throng

Supply all the whiskey and beer

The Fire and Brimstone burning

Keep the music nice and hot

It may not be Heaven

But boring, it's not

As the fires burn down to the ground

We gather in a ring

All the demons and the sinners

We all start to sing:

[Only the good go to Heaven

Those who follow the rules

We never learned to count to seven

Never followed the fools

Only the living go to Hell

The ones with thinking minds

We think our home is swell

Thought it's all just lies]

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So what does this song have to do with breaking rules?

Obviously, there are references to rule breakers going to Hell in the lyrics, but this seems to be a preferable fate to going to the rule-followers' Heaven.  [Let it be noted that this is obviously not supposed to be religiously accurate, since it's based on the end of the world - which hasn't happened.  I'm not suggesting Hell is a place of partying and fun, but I wouldn't be the first if I am.]

This song arose because of some rule-breaking I did of my own.  This is the first song I've ever written that actually has "God" in it (I've written songs about vaguely religious topics but never actual religious figures...to my knowledge).  The only reason I used the sounds I used in this song is because I remixed mAke beLIEve, something I did in response to the comment that I should "mix up" my music.  So, this song is a culmination of everything that has been running through my head this week.

Also, time-wise, this song is breaking some rules that have been set by precedent so far for this album.  Just three seconds under ten minutes, it's nearly three times longer than both the song that precede it (RIP Bert and mAke beLIEve).  That being said, however, this is much more typical a length of song for me to write.