el deth

Posts Tagged ‘beats’

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“The Suffer Dance”
“Don’t”
“Blue”
“Moments”

I think Consolation Prize is a fitting name for this session in so many ways.  To be a consolation prize, one must serve as a remnant of something that never was.  Consolation prizes, by name, are there to soften the blow when you ruin your chances of winning.  So here is a tender, melancholy set to help cope with losing.

This is Never Sorry with no Katie or Megan.  The funerary softness celebrates that (surely temporary) loss for sure.  The set also came on the heels of a dumb break up I had and there is plenty of therapy, musical and otherwise, being passed down from the Hills to me.  “Don’t” would be the most evident of this, with Dane making up the lyrics as we went.

The beat oriented songs act as bookstands around the soft inside of the session.  “Moments” was written precisely about that aforementioned break up.  The vocals are iffy at times as I try to sort through them, but whatever.  Some cathartic life force runs through this session all the same, as we dive deeper into this fresh minimalism.

Dane Hill – bass, glockenspiel, vocals
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, beats, programming, keys, vocals

These are possibly the best versions of “Laundry” and “Michael in the War” recorded so far.  We used beats on both of them, allowing Dane to jump on the bass.  I’m particularly fond of the break down in “Michael.”

“Moon Rest Over Trees” was our opening jam, but I felt it better positioned where it is in the line up.  The other improvisational piece is “Succumb When it Counts” and it features me on drums, Dane on guitar and Katie on the drums.  These are also the same play positions used for the session closure, a slowed down cover of Culture Club’s “Karma Chameleon.”  This cover was Dane’s idea.  He lead us through it and also sang.  I like it a million billion times better than the original.

Katie Collins – omnichord, bass
Megan Driscoll –  flute, tambourine, vocals
Dane Hill – drums, bass, guitar, vocals
Rachel Jae – auxillary percussion, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, beats, drums, vocals

Click to download the track:

“Devoured by Lions and Fish”

photo by Nathan Tipton

Sometimes stress builds beyond our borders and so comes a time to release it with a good ol’ fashioned beat session.  This one was recorded live one night when myself and Modifi were both in a fantastic, “fuck a buncha bullshit” mode.  We set up, played out, then broke down.  This is a continuous set.  No extra special post edits or attention to detail beyond bpm and maybe tonality.

However, I did think I had an issue with the mastering on it.  It sounded great in my car and in the studio, but in my office, some of the beats were lost in the mix.  I couldn’t figure out why.  I adjusted volume levels and remastered and reburned the disc at least six times.  It was the same problem every time and it was killing me.  Then I finally realized that I had my receiver set on a mono speaker output., hence causing some of the beats to phase each other out.  So all I had to do was hit a single button all along.  Totally lame.

In any case, the mystery has been solved and now you can listen for yourself.  I also have a bunch of unnecessary test burns of this session now, as well.  Some mastered better than others, but if you want one, email me or something.  I don’t know why you would want a CD, though, if you can just download it here.   The offer still stands.

DJ Modifi – beats, samples
Arrison Kirby –  beats, samples

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“House of Satan”
“Reading Rainbow”
“Single Politician”
“T-800″
“T-1000″

Hypencrunk is an idea that originated with Nathan Brown back when we still played in Obadiah together.  He would apply the title to any rare touches of upbeat electro we would explore.  However, it was never fully realized back then.  It’s undeniable, though, that this session is hypencrunk.

Nathan is going to join Never Sorry for our show at the Pilot Light on March 25th.  This session was supposed to be his first with everyone else, but everyone else bailed on the session for various legitimate reasons.  So it ended up just Nate and I.

We did two songs that Never Sorry often does, two dubstep improvisations and a slowed down cover of the Reading Rainbow theme song.  We did have a microphone and there were vocals when live, but I forgot to turn the channel input up on my board so they never got recorded.  I actually think this may be to the benefit of this session.  Maybe.

Nathan described this session as “two computers talking.”  Hence, we’ve named it the Skynet Session.

Nathan Brown – keys, electonics
Arrison Kirby –  keys, electronics, beats

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“What is This?  (David Dalton Returns to the Sea)”
“Life is Terrible”
“Party USA or Something”
“Stand By Me” (Ben E. King cover)
“Forecast: Marked”

This session began as a semi-regular Never Sorry set without Dane.  The girls and I were having some trouble breaking out of the mediocre, though we did get some newer versions of things in line for a good future nail down.  Basically, though, it was a short night that was more building than interesting.

Katie and Rachel cut out relatively early, each for their own reasons.  Not content to leave a record of practically nothing, Megan and I pressed forward with beat, bass and vocal improv.  DJ Modifi, again, was not present in person, but we used his beats for the final track.

The recording, itself, could have been better had I ran Megan’s microphone directly into the board, rather than into a board into a board as we usually do.  Here, it’s just too minimal for that and the result is this terrible hiss that persists throughout.  Eventually, you may forget that it’s there as you listen…but it drives me crazy.

“What is This? (David Dalton Returns to the Sea)” – Megan didn’t have much to say at first, what with me all but shoving a microphone in her mouth and demanding she say something.  I covered it myself by the second half, though.  David Dalton is one of my personal heroes.  I used to play in a hip hop band with him.  It was called Flashmob.  We used this beat relatively close to the end of Flashmob’s brief but powerful tenure.  So it’s natural that my own vocal musings would begin mentioning that.  Eventually it builds into exactly what it says in parenthesis up there in the song title:  David Dalton returning to the sea.  He is, after all, David Dolphin:  The Porpoise with a Purpose.

“Life is Terrible” – I may have to make an executive band decision that Megan doesn’t talk about her job anymore at sessions.  When such dialog bleeds into the music, you get this.  It’s nicely sung…but very depressing.

“Party USA or Something” – I let someone secret hear this one and they remarked that it sounded like a Miley Cyrus song.  I have to concur.  That sample is from the song “Dime” by Cake.  Also note my only vocals on this one:  an interpolation of “Sweet Jane” by the Velvet Underground.

“Stand By Me” – A cover of the Ben King classic.  She’s singing a lot better than I’m playing the bass.  For whatever reason, I thought it would make some dumbass artistic statement if I played the whole song on mostly open strings, focusing not on variety, but cadence of simplicity.  In the end it works…but I might should have actually stopped and thought about it somewhere in the five or so takes we did.  That’s the same beat from “Free Day.”

“Forecast: Marked” – This beat was created by DJ Modifi and I love it.  This is a mostly instrumental track and probably the best of this bunch.

Megan Driscoll –  vocals
Arrison Kirby – beats, bass, vocals
DJ Modifi – beat composition

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“Creep” (Radiohead cover)
“Move Her Aside”
“House of Satan”
“Translucent Corpses”

The instrumental tracks border on uplifting, as we continue down the experimental path we carved out in the last session.  The two with lyrics run kind of dark.  I almost thought about calling this session Apocalypse Light but I didn’t want the word “light” to diminish the gravity of “House of Satan.”

Katie is not on this session, as she was still visiting Peru at the time.  However, we were able to rope in contributions from Augustin Brally and DJ Modifi.  We also tackled a new cover song, but you can read all about that stuff below…

“Creep” – Ah.  Radiohead’s classic breakout jam.  It worked pretty well when I recorded it with David Davis.  So we got to talking about it and decided to give it a try in this arrangement.  Dane played bass.  Megan played the omni.  I trashed out my guitar.  Rachel sang, of course.  The beats come to us courtesy of DJ Modifi.  He wasn’t at the session, but he was the composer of those beats.

“Move Her Aside” – This one is well paced.  Punk rock stoner rock or something.

“House of Satan” – A song about the devil having a heavy heart, spilling it to you in the wee hours of the morning, after a night of partying with him.  The lyrics were complete improvisation, yet I think it came out perfect, but for one line.  I won’t say which, but it will be changed on subsequent recordings, most likely.  For the most part, this song sits very heavy.  The creepy theremin is being played by Georgia inhabitant, Augustin Bralley.  He also does a wee bit of knob turning around some of the synth effects.  This sounds like the song you play as the city you are in is burning.

“Translucent Corpses” – This was the pretty much immediate follow up to “House of Satan.”  It really let’s the air back in, thankfully.  I like the idea of translucent corpses following the devil’s moments of…uh…darkness.  This song is like a spaceship out of all that mess.

Megan Driscoll –  flute, omnichord
Dane Hill – drums, bass
Rachel Jae – vocals, auxillary percussion, omnichord
Arrison Kirby – guitar, beats, vocals
Augustin Bralley – theramin, effects
DJ Modifi – beat composition

Click to download the tracks:

“Free Day”
“Afraid of the Ghost (Hell)”
“Monkey Parade”
“People’s People”
“Tender” (Blur cover)
“Single Politician”
“Automobile” (NWA cover)
“Blue”
“Afraid of the Ghost (Heaven)”

This session was awesome.   Recording these things live, we have to have a certain degree of it set up and sounding right for the room before we even begin.  So I will be the first to admit that the vocals came out a little bit too quiet, and beyond repair…at least in my microphone.  Elsewise, everyone had their shit together and everything felt really full and booming.  This is the kind of spread that makes a person feel very lucky to be engaging creatively with these other persons.

We tackled two new cover songs in this session.  One by Blur and one by NWA.  I’ll spare you the details and give you the standard run down:

“Free Day” – Once again, our opening warm up jam works perfectly as the session opener.  Dane is rocking the mandolin on this one, Rachel took over omni duties.  Katie had not yet arrived.  I love how deep the beats are on this one, and how beautifully all the instrumentation builds around them.

“Afraid of the Ghost” – We had not done this one in a minute, but here are two new and very different versions.  The “hell” version is slow and moody.  It sounds familiar to me.  I initially want to compare it to Pink Floyd, but I don’t think that’s it.  The “heaven” version is a little crazier and certainly more fast.  I soaked out the beginning of this version with some pretty intensive electronic slamming.  Also, I’d like to note the perfect placement of Dane’s drumming choices on both versions.

“Monkey Parade” – This one gets better the more we do it.  I added keys to this one, trading off between them and guitar.

“People’s People” - We had not messed with this song in months.  Then suddenly, it pops up again.  I think it was Megan’s idea to take a current crack at it.  I gotta say…despite the inability to discern what the vocals are saying, this is possibly those most solidly formed, while still remaining upbeat, version of this we have done.

“Tender” – Alright!  A Blur cover!  The thing I love about this is that, when I introduced this song, I don’t think anyone else had heard the original before.  This recording is about the 6th take, at which point, they still hadn’t heard it.  So basically, that’s one more reason to love the people playing on this song.  And how about those vocals?  That’s Rachel on the mains, with Megan and I harmonizing as applicable.

“Single Politician” – Of all the ways we have tried this song, this is my favorite arrangement.  Dane and I actually fleshed this version out right before our show with Katie & The Bass Drums back in August.  This is just the first somewhat solid recording we have done of it.

“Automobile” – This is a cover of an NWA interpretation of a Parliament song.  Anyone that was in middle school when Niggaz4Life came out is likely familiar with this one.  It was the novelty “country song” from that album, chalked full of Easy-E and others spouting off embarrassing, gruff sexual yearns.  I thought it was important to keep all the dirt and smut in tact, though normally I don’t talk this way.

“Blue” – We did this version before Katie had arrived.  I must say, I completely adore this version for it’s minimalism.  And, damn, Rachel can belt this one out.

Katie Collins – omnichord, bass
Megan Driscoll –  flute, harmonica, vocals
Dane Hill – drums, bass, mandolin
Rachel Jae – vocals, auxillary percussion
Arrison Kirby – guitar, beats, vocals

Click to download the tracks:

“Aquanaut”
“Dive”
“Sea Leveled”
“Floating Ghosts”
“Dirty Ocean”

This is a session I recently did with the ever-so-underground, Inertia  (AKA Andy Jaynes) of Immaculate Hedz.  I have to give it to him.  He was definitely in control of the skeleton of this thing.

One commonality that he and I share is that we are both Aquarius by birth.  He digs into this right away on the opening track.  Keeping with the spirit, I took the liberty of giving each track a name that sounds watery.

Because this is more or less a DJ kind of deal (with live instrumentation), you’ll notice some of these mp3′s are long.  I wanted them to be downloadable individually, without disrupting the flow of the thing.  That’s why some are more ever-changing than others.

Anyway.  Consider this my going away present to you before I head up north to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.  Hope to see you there!

Inertia – records
Arrison Kirby – guitar, keys

Click to download the tracks:

photo by McKenzie Michaels

“Rub and Slip”
“Bristol”
“Family Affairs”
“Squeen”
“Sweet Times”
“Afraid of the Ghost”
“Asleep in my Head”
“Fucking”
“Sucking”

This session was without our beloved Katie, but we pulled through quite minimally.

“Rub and Slip” – We introduced the keys to the set up and opened with this reggae bi-product type jam.  I played those keys low to a slowed down version of the beat Obadiah used to use for the song “Same.”  Dane handled the bass good and dubby.  I think Rachel is hitting the drums.  This song leaves as abruptly as it begins.

“Bristol” – I replaced the electric guitar with acoustic to strip down this one.  Dane on the bass.  Megan and I singing of course.  Rachel is laying back on the snare.

“Family Affairs” – We did a better minimal version of this one in an earlier session which is pretty much lost.  This one isn’t all bad, though…just a few hiccups here and there.  Same set up as on “Bristol.”

“Squeen” – Another random looper pedal moment.  I almost silenced it, but Dane told me to leave it on.  He proceeded to build it up and over.  I joined in on keys as well.

“Sweet Times” – This was Dane’s progression.  He’s playing the acoustic guitar.  I’m playing the piano.  I’m a bit choppy at times (and bendy), but the little dancehall interplay around the minute twenty mark is worth the wait.

“Afraid of the Ghost” – First recorded version of this song with keys.  I was a bit uncomfortable playing the keys while singing on this one.  Hence, my voice awkwardly dips out several times.  Overall, though, this is a fun little version.  Megan’s flute mixing with the feedback reminds me of some of Roxy Music’s more experimental moments.  The beat was actually constructed by myself and David Dalton together.  We used it in the Flashmob song, “Tanya Tucker.”

“Asleep in my Head” – This is Megan and I doing a sensitive little flute and piano jam influenced by Carlo Gesualdo.

“Fucking” – I guess this is comedy kind of?

“Sucking” – This one isn’t funny at all.

Megan Driscoll – vocals, flute, tambourine
Dane Hill – bass, guitars
Rachel Jae – axillary percussion, drums
Arrison Kirby – guitars, keys, beats, vocals

Click to download the tracks:

“Family Affairs”
“Single Politician (one take)”
“Single Politician (another take)”
“Untitled as Yet”

I’ve been working on this project, playing music with Katie Collins and Megan Driscoll.  I’m glad to announce that Rachel Jae and Dane Hill are also involved and likely someone else soon, as well.  However, our weekly assembly  from August 3rd knocked us momentarily back to just we three for the night, as Dane and Rachel were out of town, filming a movie.  We worked on only a handful of things, including the performance of a new song, completed only the night before.  Keep in mind that these recordings are rough. Levels are not perfect. You can read descriptions of the surviving takes below.

“Family Affairs” – This is one I have been playing live for a while now. I’ve never been that great at nailing the chorus, vocally, and I did a piss poor job here. Plus my mic volume was too high and I was trying something different on the guitar than what I usually did at that part in the song. Each distracting. If you can suffer that, it’s all worth it for the gritty breakdown at the end.

“Single Politician” – This is a song I started several months ago and finished the night before this session. The girls picked it up really fast and the beat was just a straight and constant punch stolen from something else. Nothing fancy. Just a fun song. I posted these two different versions (of about eight) because they each have opposite strengths and weaknesses. On the first one, the vocals are better, but the lyrics have some mistakes and the omnichord and flute are not as present as they should be. On the second one, the vocals are a tad too loud and not always so tonal, but lyrically correct. The omnichord and flute are crisper. Take your pick.

“Untitled as Yet” – Another take of our new collaborative classic. This version is a bit grittier and clunky at times.

Recorded on August 4th, 2010

Katie Collins – omnichord, ukulele
Megan Driscoll – flute, omnichord, vocals
Arrison Kirby – guitar, beats, vocals