Monday, March 18, 2024

Little Jobs, Mister Moan Production, Open Mic

First, an odd dream last night.

I was taking part in Celebrity Big Brother, but I felt ill, and so was running late. I joined the cast late and remained quiet and unconfident. One other contestant was Tracey Emin, and she remarked that she had hoped that I'd be a fellow artist companion, but that in reality I was not artistic. I felt irked and slighted, but held my tongue. One challenge was to apply fake tan, and many of the contestants did, and one put tanning cream on my face. It was white and porridge-like, and it covered my face rather than tanning it. Later, my right arm erupted in horrid haemorrhoid-like lumps, then at my joints other huge oblique lumps like mussel shells. I said that I had smallpox and everyone ran from me. We tried to contact the people in charge of the show, to escape, to seek treatment, but we could find nobody. The place seemed to be a like a huge warehouse, with cupboards of equipment inside, but no people.

I then awoke.

A full day of little jobs. Started by writing yet another enquiry about why, after at least 6 weeks (the painting was sold in January), I've not been paid by The Macc Art Lounge for my painting sale. This is a continual source of annoyance. It may be rudeness on their part, it may be incompetence, or even (doubtfully) malevolence, but it could also be innocence misunderstood due to a lack of communication (albeit an inexcusable lack, in my opinion). I must think well of Ché, but the situation is not good, and I have and would never treat someone I owe money to in this way. Never. There comes a point where someone is so unreliable that they become impossible to work with. This threshold has been passed.

Then, assembling some poems for the Morecambe Poetry Festival Anthology, which is calling for submissions at the moment. I wrote a new poem for it, but it was rather dark, and although on the theme of rebirth, was not (I judged) the sort of thing for this, so I send a few older and unpublished poems of greater brilliance.

Then, new rehearsals of 'Hitler in High Heels' and 'Passive Aggressive' for Tuesday's open mic event. This time things worked brilliantly and sounded great. I tried to perform a completely unplugged version of 'Hitler', but it sounded much better with a backing track. I can play a few extra parts live, and am playing the main bass, the organs (and adding more to the intro), and electric lead. I've also played organs for the 'men or women' part at the end, which improves it a bit. It's odd how, sometimes, a live version can be different from, and better than, a recording in terms of composition (not mere expression). This is interesting.

All is set for tomorrow.

I/we was/were sent some photos of Saturday's event in Winsford by the wonderful and wonderfully nice photographer Peter Robinson, who was there taking pictures for the organiser, Motherwell CIC:

Then, work on Mister Moan. The intro melody, which was a piano, was changed to a flute, and I added a violin too. It took a long time to work out these instruments, then work of the music itself, which played between some strings and the flute, a double melody. I removed the section between the first and second verse, and added the strings, flutes, and violins to the rest. For the first 'chorus' (it's not really a chorus) I added a piano to the shuddering sforzando strings, then switched this for the second chorus and made the pianos march while playing the piano part in pizzicato strings.

At 13:30 Deb and I went out for a break, on this, the first sunny day of the coming spring. I bought an amazing bargain of some leather shoes for £8, which were once £55, then reduced to £25, then to £20, then to £10, and today to £8. Both smart and a perfect fit, I was lucky that this last pair were in my size.

Finally, changes to the Mister Moan tempo. I like to change the speed subtely with most songs, as this is a crucial way to create mood. A steady regular march always sounds robotic; though this can be useful, depending on the tune. 'Hitler in High Heels' works well with a robotic march for example, and I recall that Phil Collins' Mama used sequenced drums for this reason, to create a feeling of relentlessness.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Mister Moan Drafts

Started work today on a song called Mister Moan. Like many of my songs these days, it had no music and was written primarily as a poem, with the music to be added later. The words have changed a bit today. The first draft was:

Mister Moan (Draft v100)

Mister moan likes to moan
about the weather,
about the people that he'd like to know.
Likes to moan about his neighbours
his relatives and friends
he doesn't really like them
just pretends

Mister moan likes to moan
about the gov'ment,
about the lateness of the buses and the trains
He likes to moan about the telly
and his many aches and pains
he moans about the summer sun
and moans about the rains

Don't get him started!

I wonder if he thinks he makes the world a better place?
He probably doesn't care about himself or the human race.
Or realise that everybody moans about his face
When they see him coming
for to drone, that Mister Moan.

And one day, god with beams of divine providence
pointed down and out his life was snuffed
and everyone who knew him said how sad, he would be missed
but he liked to moan
he's probably better off six-feet under where he is.

Mister moan likes to moan
about the weather
about the people here in paradise.
Likes to moan about the service
as they roll angelic eyes
he's off again
it's no surprise
to them.

In my head, the music was a bouncy 2/4, something like Maxwell's Silver Hammer or, perhaps more relevantly, the oompah accordion music of Velvet Gelt which I was playing yesterday.

As I worked on the melody and backing, however, it seemed to lend itself to a piano ballad with a sad and romantic feeling, closer to Imagine (or, I may say, Calling Mister Wilson). I changed the words of the second half to fit the melody. The middle parts above were too awkward in scanning to neatly fit, so these needed re-writing.

Mister Moan, middle part (Draft v101)

...

And I wonder if he thinks he makes the world a better place
Perhaps at night he moans about himself
Does he realise that everybody moans about his face
When they spy
him on the way
to moan.

On one fateful day a holy bolt of lightning came his way
and out his life was snuffed, he will be missed (they said)
and everyone who knew him said he's better where he is
six-foot low
and in heaven's glow

... (3rd verse as above).

The touching middle parts added much more pathos to it, and the comic elements felt harmful, so I re-wrote the ending. The 3rd (current) draft is therefore:

Mister Moan (Draft v103)

Mister moan likes to moan
about the weather
about the people that he'd like to know
Likes to moan about his neighbours
his relatives and friends
he doesn't really like them
but still pretends

Mister moan likes to moan
about the gov'ment,
about the lateness of the buses and the trains
Likes to moan about the telly
his many aches and pains
he moans about the summer sun
and moans about the rains

Don't get him started

And I wonder if he thinks he makes the world a better place
Perhaps at night he moans about himself
Does he realise that everybody moans about his face
When they spy
him on the way
to moan.

On one fateful day a holy bolt of lightning came his way
and out his life was snuffed, he will be missed (they said)
and everyone who knew him said he's better where he is
six-foot low
where the
lonely go

Mister moan liked to moan
about the weather
about the people that he did not know
Liked to moan about his neighbours
his relatives and friends
We used to roll their eyes and say
he's off again

I've spent all day so far composing the words, melody, and the bass and piano parts. So far the new album is about half complete, despite many weeks of solid work on it. I now have a structural outline; a first half of character tropes and observations, and a second half with a cat sort of theme. I smiled that my Cat Phone Song may have been ideal for this album, as it would be nice to add a sort of folk jaunt to the mood for variety's sake, so I sketched out a new cat song in that mood, a somewhat saucy song with a nursery rhyme feeling called Have You Seen My Kitty Cat.

I must work solidly and get this music completed.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

USB, Gunstorm v1.08, Music, Guitar

A slow day yesterday, I've worked solidly but seem to have got little done. I must remind myself that, if I have continued to work, it is good progress irrespective of feelings of completeness, or even of visible results.

I started by creating two new USB sticks for the MODX, two identical duplicates for live performances so that if one fails or if I lose one, I'll have a spare. In live music, it's a general rule to have two of everything in case of a failure.

After that I launched Gunstorm v1.08 and announced the Steam Spring Sale. I need more sales here.

Then, work on MODX instruments for 'Hitler In High Heels' and 'Passive Aggressive' for the open mic next Tuesday. So far I've used quite a lot of backing tracks for my live performances, perhaps half of the sound (on most tracks) was a pre-recording, but next week I'm thinking of playing it all live, at the expense of some instruments being missing, so a sort of 'unplugged' version. With the MODX I can still include quite a lot of sounds.

For 'Hitler' I duplicated the bass sound (which is simply two detuned saw waves, one an octave above the other), the 'siren' sound, the organ for the refrain, and a synth lead for the solo. The modulation wheel can be used to fade out the siren and organ, and fade in the synth solo on the right half of the keyboard, with the bass remaining on the left.

For 'Passive' I did something similar. Most of the tune is an acoustic bass line. I've added strings for the 'Don't be sad or sorry' part, and made those fade out too, with a mock-guitar for an optional instrumental.

It's a real challenge to sing and play these, and swap between all of the instruments. This is why I'm doing it, to improve these skills in an environment which forces such improvement.

After lunch I got started wth sorting out the new album, re-examining tracks. The first half has a sort of 'broken love' theme, and the second a a few tracks about cats. This broad idea allows me to organise them. The album reminds me a little of The Beatles' Revolver, a wide mix of short songs, not too complex or showy in themselves. These concepts and that link gives me a few clues on where to go next. The song 'Walls And How To Hit Them' is more personal and slightly different from the others, so I may save that for another album.

I need to extend 'Pictures On My Telephone'. It's only about 1 minute long and would benefit from being longer.

In the evening Deb and I watched On the Waterfront. Deb commented that it was dramatic at all times; true, and that made me think that this dramatic power should be ever-present in all art. I'll try to increase this in these songs.

One last thing I did was start some guitar practise; working though a book How To Play Guitar In 14 Days. It really means 14 lessons, as each lesson would ideally take many hours to practise and perfect. The first week uses an odd tuning, but I'm ignoring that and will ignore the end sound, aiming only for clarity and the correct motions.

Today, our Fall in Green performance in Winsford. It's our first performance of the year (excluding the open mic events at the Red Cow).

Friday, March 15, 2024

The Gravity of the Past

Occasionally the gravity of the past slows our progress but the future must remain our target; reached for, strived for, charged into. We must be pulled towards our destiny by the gravity of our future star.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

What Happened To All The Good News, Tuner

A slow day because I'm near the end of the songs in my list, a time or reflection. I need to charge forwards, but need more of a plan where, so I need to decide what other songs to create; if I continue to create songs. The songs on this album are great so far (or at least I'm happy with them!) it's certainly a step up from We Robot, this is always a key criteria. They are, however, rather short.

Today I did a bit of work on a song called 'What Happened To All The Good News'. The backing began as a jazzy, slow, instrumental tune called Jazz Cats (and something else before, I forget what) which has been around for (literally) years. I thought I'd use it here. It's rather sad and discordant in mood, slow and late night.

The first verses follow an odd chord arrangement of E-minor, D-minor, then C-minor, Bb-Major, G#-Major, G-Major; but I'm stuck where to go next melodically. I don't want to continue in this mood to much as it's too slow and strange, and could verge on the boring. So, I'm now thinking of imagery and melody, and ignoring the words for now. They are, so far:

What happened to all the good news?
Did it get lost going home?
Have you seen it in the alleyways
among the foxes and the dandelions

What happened to the future?
Did someone drink it all away?
I think I saw its honeyed bottle
in a dream of yesterday

The cold cloak of the night
surrounds us like castle walls
and the orange autumn fire
welcomes ragged animals who have lost their way

The endless sky of nothing
is velvet to my calls
the fire is burning low
and we've nowhere else to go

so we reminisce about the start of spring
we watch the clouds for clues
and sleep to seek the child
of good news

This was/is a poem, not a song, so the scanning isn't quite right. I need to think of musical precidents to match and better.

I've also added the vocals to Cat Parasites, that works as planned and is now complete. So, lots of songs are finished. It's unusual for me to have got this far and still feel directionless. The shortness of the songs means I need to add more, but the lack of structure makes it difficult to see what and where. The completed songs are (at 26 mins): American Lawyer, Cat Covid, Cat Parasites, Excessive Consumption Has Laxative Effects, Go To Bed And Miss Me, I'm In Love With My Car, Pictures On My Telephone (not quite finished), Style Guru Fashion Queen, Thinking About The Cats I Used To Know, Walls And How To Hit Them.

The tuner has arrived. In retrospect I should have bought the CA-50 tuner rather than the CA-2, but the only key difference for me is that the CA-50 has a stand. I've connected it to the Studio 26c headphone socket and it now shows the pitch of any instrument (or vocal!) played on the computer; nice!

I feel that time is short. I've spent so very long, so many weeks, months working on these songs, this transient medium that pays so badly in both financial and critical terms. I feel more able than ever as a performer and producer, and I'm making better music than ever, so in a way it's a sort of duty to make lots of music now while I'm at my best; it would be silly to stop and make my inferior music of the past my main legacy, but perhaps this is a workaholic's trap. There isn't much incentive to make music but this, very solitary, feeling, so I'll continue.

I'm full of art ideas of all sorts, including two ideas for books, and for a painting series, as well as the game ideas and updates... what to do? Why to do it? In art, anything is better than nothing, and it doesn't really matter what. Everything, provided it is one's best, is good. It would be good to produce a hit though; something popular, something appreciated, something worth money, as well as being my best.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Tuners, FIG Rehearsal, John Lindley

The day started by finding a tuner to add to my audio system, which I've ordered but am yet to test. Guitar tuners are cheap and common, but this chromatic tuner is designed for any instrument, and (crucially) has a line input, so I can attach it to the output of my audio system to view the exact pitch of any sound played by the computer. This would help with guitar in particular, though it's a pity that the tuner can't be exclusively attached to the input and exclude the output. I can tune the guitar before playing of course, but the intonation, the tuning over frets, is rarely perfect, and it can be useful to find the exact tuning of any sound being played.

When buying any audio equipment I have a simple principle: if it will improve things by 1%, or even have a chance of doing so, it is worth buying. Over time, those %1s will add up. A new tool can by an easy way to get better at something, and over the years some have been transformational, from my 'Chicken Pick' guitar picks, to my keyboards, to my gold coat. At times money is wasted on useless gizmos, but such spending rarely, if ever, makes results worse.

At 11, Deb arrived for a Fall in Green rehearsal for Saturday's performance in Winsford. This will have an unusual set-up, just the Reface DX, and a Zoom recorder for some backing tracks.

Then, off to Congleton Library to see a John Lindley poetry performance, the pre-event event of the weekend's Congleton Unplugged Festival. A great show, it's his rhythm and style which gives the performance panache, but that aside the poetry itself is outstanding. It was lovely to see a few friends there too.

Thus the day has flown on these practical and social matters.

The weather is annoyingly unpredictable, except for the certainty of rain showers at some point in each day. Intermittent showers are forecast for the next 10 days, so work on the mural is hereby postponed. Painting a wall of solid colour is quite possible in light rain, but with a white on black design like this, even one water-drop on the wet paint will cause a streak, even discounting problems with mask adhesion, temperature conditions for the paint etcetera. I, and David, await a dry week in this exceptionally wet March.

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Walls and How to Hit Them Vocals

I was due to paint the town mural today, but rain was upped to 48% probability, and worse for me, the temperature for the next week is forecast to drop below 5 degrees, which is the minimum recommended temperature for the paint. I only need one dry day, or even light rain with temperatures over 5 degrees, but it looks like every day for the next 10 days will be wet. Sigh; and to think I was ready to paint this in the first week of September (though much procedural box-ticking was needed).

Anyway, this frees up my week for other jobs. I need to be productive and have today recorded vocals for 'Cat Parasites' and 'Walls (And How to Hit Them)'. I had just one hour alone to snatch these vocals, and I felt rushed and uncomfortable. There is a lot of preparation and filing work for vocal recording. It's surprising how much of the job is about organisation and filing. So many takes, snippets, edits, all need working out and storing in an easy to find way. Backing tracks to sing to need preparation, often preparation for each different layer.

I've spent the day adding the vocals to Walls. I don't tend to like layered vocals, two or three of the same note, I prefer a single vocal line. This is partly because layers are a sign of vocal weakness, a crutch I don't like the idea of. Two of my favourite singers, Kate Bush and Freddie Mercury never really used two layers on a lead vocal (lots of harmonies of course, that's different). Elton John used two layers on Goodbye Yellow Bruck road, but I don't think it helped. On a philosophical level, it can interfere with the directness of emotion in a song.

The plan for Walls had one main layer all through, with more emphasis on the 'and how to hit them' line, so I added more layers there and a high harmony. Some other parts benefitted from being filtered and having a few bonus effects added. Overall, it sounds ok, better than I expected for such a metallic song.

Here are the words:

When I was young
the universe was scary
spent my time
putting up defences
wasted time
trying to protect myself
from the crushing social forces

I only wanted happiness!

Starting to become an expert in
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls!

Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls!

And now I'm old
and everything is holding
on to hope
and money really matters
trying to cope
scraping for stability
in the cruel confusing world

I never wanted money!

All my life I've been an expert in
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls!

Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls!

All my life
All my life
All my life

I navigate society
upon a ship of industry
and in the vast and fearful sea
I find an island me

An expert in
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls!

Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls (and how to hit them)
Walls!

In other news, I note that the ink on my lino-printed CDs is still wet! This is a little disturbing. If it were oil paint (it is water based) it would take a week or two to dry, so I'll leave it for that long before trying again. I need to sell, share, distribute more CDs.

It's been 23 years since Synaesthesia; my first CD, and the only one to be released by a record company (REV Records) in the summer of 2001. I've re-recorded that album 4 times in total. The latest one, the 2020 remaster, is certainly the best version, and the whole album is still rather nice. Perhaps it's time I made a new CD version, my first CD pressing of the album since that 2001 one. All I need is money and the possibility of selling or distributing some.

Tomorrow, rehearsals for Saturday's free performance in Winsford.

Monday, March 11, 2024

Gunstorm Updates, Wall Preparations

I decided to update Gunstorm 1 and 2 today, so spent the morning adding inherent multiple control schemes, and removing the optional controls. Now both games will support mouse, controller and keyboard at once, at the cost of having no customisable key settings. I don't particularly like the inefficiency of checking 4 or 6 keys for each action, but it does make it a bit easier to play. The update will go live on Friday.

I had a useful email regarding tomorrow's weather, which looks like heavy rain, so I decided to postpone the mural installation until Thursday. Wednesday and Thursday look like the only remotely dry days for the next ten days (all days have some chance of rain). I have tickets to the Congleton Festival for Wednesday, and a pause after Tuesday's rain to dry things out would be beneficial. Looking at the weather, it's possible that nothing starts until April.

In the afternoon I bought some extra paint for the grey background. I had hoped to use the existing wall as the background, but parts of it are in poor condition, and some grey for other aspects might be useful too, as drips or mistakes would stain and be impossible to fix without overpainting. I'd have liked some orange for the bee, but the smallest tubs are 2.5 litres, and I'd only need about 100ml or so. If David was up to speed (his only comment is about how he hasn't been paid yet, but I'm sure he will be paid. I tell myself that I'm sure I will be paid by Ché, who 5 weeks after my invoice and many reminders and excuses later, still hasn't paid me the money she owes me for the sale of the Stone Wasp painting) he could buy that and we could share some. I'm still wondering if I should ignore the recommendation for masonry paint and get some artists' acrylics in the correct colour. The art would benefit from some colour.

At 4pm I did more work on the song 'Walls And How To Hit Them', extending it. It's an odd song in every way, and a bit out of keeping in mood and theme compared to the other songs for this album, but it, fun, bouncy, and a paragon of surrealistic music.

Onwards we charge with joy!