Gravitas

Here’s a song called Is This Your Brain? I just finished this 20th anniversary version. I don’t want to say it’s the definitive version, because that would mean committing. But I like it that much. For this version I went back to the original source TV show, because the soundbites I had originally used were a little bit Fawlty. (nyuk nyuk)

Scroll down further for the 2004 and the 1996 versions (audio only).

(YouTube link: https://youtu.be/vPUYyx89y84 )

The background video is from a film called “Frankenstein” produced by J Searle Dawley for the Edison Manufacturing Co. in 1910! The video cameras only had about twelve pixels in those days. Courtesy archive.org.

But wait, that’s not all! Next up is the 2004 version, which is utterly different. It uses those same English-accented soundbites, but is otherwise its own beast.

Finally, and originally, here’s the 1996 version, which provided most of the performance data for the current version, and still holds up well, I think.

SoundCloud link: soundcloud.com/rgdaniel

This one’s a bit of fun. Starts out sounding like a slightly adrenalized PBS documentary theme song, eventually sliding into the title mashup. There’s a Frank Zappa song called “In A Gadda Stravinsky” which mashes up Rite of Spring with the Iron Butterfly classic, more cleverly than anyone could hope to do anything. But that’s where I got the idea for the title.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/b06O27mF9Y4

Black like my mood, like my soul. Like Henri Le Chat Noir.

YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/WKCVIgigrEk

New song! This one, as the title suggests, features the recurring rhythmic patterns from the first and last songs (Intruder and Biko) on Peter Gabriel’s third untitled (face-melty) solo album. I used those drum patterns (played, not sampled), four bars of one, four bars of the other, lather rinse repeat, and added some other stuff on top only vaguely referencing the originals. So, like the Mike Oldfield thing, not a cover, more of a starting point and an homage.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/ruz9lxv33rk

Background video courtesy of zfootage.com

First song of 2016, for your listening or (odds are) ignoring pleasure. It’s called Seven because eight is boring. This is another from my 2004 archives. I’ve been poking at this one for weeks, looking for new ways to approach it, but in the end I made only very minor changes. I quite like this one. Actually I quite like all of them, but this one maybe just a teensy bit more than some.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/8pXjTDdFn9c

Background video courtesy of various royalty free sources:

YouTube Channel: “AA VFX” (Amitai Angor) ;
YouTube Channel: “Copyright Free Zone!” (www.free-video-footage.com) ;
YouTube Channel: “Royalty Free Footage” ;
YouTube Channel: “footageisland”

Not so much a cover of Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, but rather some new tapestries draped around the original signature piano riff (which riff I have flipped front-to-back, kind of, just to be contrary). This is my third version of this, using mostly the same performance data. First there was a perfectly good version in 1996 using the old Mac-based studio setup; then I redid it in 2004, which was quite different-sounding; and now this version, also quite different instrumentation. I guess when it comes to one guy building up individual musical parts to create an intricate web of interlocking sound, Tubular Bells is an understandable and appropriate obsession.

Sorry if you see ads on this… I got a notice that ads may appear because of copyrighted content… I’m not getting any ad revenue, I do not have monetization turned on… I hope some of that revenue finds its way to the original composer…

Also of note: this is the first of my interpretations to actually feature the titular tubular bells.

Background video courtesy of zfootage.com

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/b4wuHqN4F7E

Here’s a brand new song I just finished. It starts and ends with the sound of a wet finger on the rim of a wine glass. A persistent if subtly ambiguous rhythmic pattern carries it along. Authentic mellotron makes an appearance here and there, giving the whole thing a vaguely King Crimsony vibe (overall sounding more like Projekct-era KC than Court-era, and neither by design). It started as a utility song, just a way of building some instrument sounds into a single collection, for possible use in future “real” songs. But I liked the way they all sounded together, so I made THIS into the “real” song.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/SKhWtalaHYQ

Background video clips are from various royalty-free sources.

Sorry for the “cheesy” title, a reference to Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun which my piece in no way resembles, but which still came to mind for some reason when trying to think of a name. Something a little more peaceful, and a couple of centuries more retro, than my usual fare.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/abv_-F38yHw

Once again, here is a song from 2004, redone in 2015 with fresh ears.

The background video is from the famous 1902 short “A Trip to the Moon“.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/gTgJmv6XLQ8

Here’s a new version of a song originally from 2004. The background video is archival footage of a Chevy assembly line in Flint MI, circa 1936.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/KpC2dOwX1hM