Where Would You Go (aka Kebab Dylan does his best sparklehorse impersonation)Here is a new ditty that I just finished and am very happy with.

Download “Where Would You Go” Now

Songwriting

This song just kinda plopped out as I was writing trenches and warfare (see previous post). The opening chord is the first chord of the chorus of that song.

I was going for simplicity here which I normally don’t do. I wanted a quite moody song with just a very simple chord progression. The verses are just a walk down of four chords in standard 4/4 timing. Having said that, like other songs, this is in FACFAE tuning and I didn’t know “what” chords I was playing at first. It just sounded nice to me.

The element on the verse that I like the most is the chords blend into each other. Essentially it is F D# Dm C#. A pretty strange combination of chords. It’s held together and made to sound “normal” by the singing melody. The chord progression allowed me to hold notes that where shared by the following chord. IE (I would hold the “F” while transitioning from the C# back to the first chord F. Or hold the F while moving from the Dm to the C#.

The other trick is that the way I am playing them, the bass note for each chord is not the the primary chords note. (for instance, the base notes for the verses are actually C A# A G#)

The chorus took a little bit to knock out but from the get go I liked the dropping down a half step into it. Makes it both a new chord introduced but also a logical progression from the verse with its decending chords. The chorus is also some really strange chord combinations held together with the melody. (C Am Gm C# D# D Gm C# C).

The bridge was going to be instrumental and is the most conventional part of the song.

In the middle of the song, it turns from sleephead to sonic youth. I’m pleased with how the “loud” part is transitioned into. Although some of the “music” gets lost in the distortion, the base chords actually sound pretty good just on an acoustic guitar.

The Recording

With this song, I knew I wanted it to be quite and moody. The chords just called for it. I made a concerted effort to keep this song as simple as possible. I generally have never met an extra track (guitar or otherwise) that I have not liked, but I limited myself. There are three midi tracks. one is just a synth pad that smooths out things and two strings. The guitars consist of a double tracked rythem and one extra track that goes in and out. The mid section does pile on the guitars but its short lived.

I also added a bass guitar track (sort of) by using a pitch shifter and dropping it down an octive. I came up with the little bass line and I liked it a lot so I felt I should add it. I’ve been meaning to put bass in my songs for some time. I usually just use some deep midi instrument to fill that space.

To simplify it even more, the chorus consists mostly of one hit of each chord, leaving a lot of open space. The drum track also, I intentionally made very simple. As a result, I think the drums sound better than most of my recordings (my biggest weakness, according to many). I think I am getting better at mixing them to get a nicer more real sound. Still fake as can be, though.

I double tracked the vocals with one track slightly distored (a common trick of mine). and added one harmony part to some of it. I knew this song would be quiet so I went for the quite almost whisper singing style that I think works quite nicely with the whole feel of this song. I couldn’t stop thinking “this sounds like sparklehorse” the entire time and ended up embracing it. For those who are familiar with sparklehorse, you probably know what I mean.

Lyrics

I had a hell of a time with the lyrics. Hated Hated Hated them. I was going nowhere but I knew I wanted to record this song. When I first started working on this, “where would you go if you had to go” was stuck in my head and it made no sense. And it went no where. I then settled on “laughing like girls in the after noon with the blinds open wide”. Once again, made no sense and wasn’t going anywhere.

As you can guess now, this song is completely meaningless. Which leads me to one of my songwriting traits - lyrics. I rarely write “about something”. Almost never ever start off with anything in mind. I generally use images or sounds t evoke emotion that resonates with me (hopefully others as well) but without making any statements or getting personal.

With this song I was struggling through coming up with the words until the last verse where “where would you go” popped back up and I got an idea about what this song could be about. Think illict/illegal relationship at stuffy or religious boarding school in up new york state. I went back and added lyrics to the bridge to emphasis this kind of reading.

Download “Where Would You Go” Now

So I hope you enjoy this one.

OK. So it’s been a while. I have been somewhat out of the loop lately and although I have many half finished songs stacking up, this one cut to the front of the line and I cranked it out over the span of a weekend.It’s called “trenches and warfare” or “OMG kd wrote a 3:30 minute song”

trenches and warfare

Two things are a change for me. 1. The brevity, it really is under 3 1/2 minutes which I can’t remember doing ever. and 2. I began writing this song with a topic in mind. I wrote a song “about something”. Usually lyrics come last and they are more about feeling than a subject matter.

As a side note, the first two comment I got from this one was a comparison to dire straits and the beatles. go figure. I don’t understand either.

Common Themes

This song shares the same tuning as “closed circuit” and “break you down” (FACFAE). I am still loving this tuning and have another song half written in it.

Like Closed Circuit, I really didn’t know what many of the chords were as I was writing it. I knew it was in F. But it wasn’t until I started laying down keyboard parts that I fully understood musically what was going on.

And despite the shortness of the song, I still managed 2 (count ‘em 1-2) tangents. They are short and sweet and don’t seem out of place. They are both based on the verse structure but both move away from it in their own special way.

New Direction

As I stated earlier, I began this song with an actual topic in mind, something I rarely do (i.e. never). I won’t go into the details of the subject matter other than to say the song is based on a recently rehashed biographical incident from long ago. As with my less focus lyrics, I attempt to evoke an emotion from the lyrics not tell a story or pronounce great wisdom. I am not bob dylan. One of the first comments I got from this one focused on the lyric, which I find interesting.

Vocals

I think this was one of the easiest songs for me to sing. Others can attest, vocals are hard to deliver well when recording. Even for those that can sing well (unlike me). There is something about when the button is pushed and the head set is on, just a strange situation. This songs vocal tracks were recorded pretty quickly with very few retakes. Even the harmony part on the section prior to the second chorus came easily. I did cheat a bit for the harmony track by playing the melody on piano as a throw away track. I have also come to the conclusion that a.) I may be getting better at singing more naturally and b.) my sense of melody sometimes over reach my ability to sing it.

The last several songs I have recorded were less ambitious with singing melodies and I think I am better for it. the current song I am recording is really really hard to sing. I am approaching it as just a big ole challenge. we’ll see what happens.

MIDI

I am starting to love the midi! This song is 21 tracks with about 10 or so being midi. There are seveal tracks that are just soft synth types that create a nice background wall on which the guitars and vocals are laid. I should really try to be more creative with those tracks, but I’m not. There one keyboard track more noticable and I can’t recall off hand what instrument it was, but I should look it up for later.

trenches and warfare

so sit back and enjoy this short little song…

Brace yourself for “Singer/Songwriter” Kebab! This weeks song is another experiement. Actually recorded prior to the last song, but still needed some work. My self-set rules were 1. use standard tuning 2. use standard chords 3. no distortion. I ended up with a couple guitar tracks and a handful of midi tracks. The current mix has the guitar parts even lower in the mix that I first had them (I am still working with the mix so I may or may not post a version 2 at a later date).

Download Time Takes Your Chances Away

When I sit down with a guitar I am usually pushing myself to find something new and interesting. Whether it’s messing with tunings or throwing in strange chord changes or odd notes, or building the singing melody into it or work off the singing melody. I certainly am not inventing anything new. I would consider my songs pretty much within the traditional song structure bucket, but I hope that I add a little flavor to that bucket.

The Music

So for this song I gave myself the challenge of writing a song using basic chords in standard tuning. The melody will be sung over said chords. I obeyed those rules for the most part. The outro is a little unusual but for the most part we have ourselves a very straightforward, out of right-field song.

It all started with the opening melody and the words “say what you want to say” From there I just played what seemed completely predictable but pleasant chords. One thing very new for me was that I was struggling with the chorus and ended hashing that out sitting at a piano. I am not a piano player by any stretch, but I’ve become competent enough to be able to tinker. I find the piano is very good for working melody into songs or build chords around a given melody. Whereas the guitar is pretty much a good base to add melody on top of.

That’s about it for music. The outro, as I said, is a little more out there but not really (from C#minor to B i added a Cminor so it is a series of half steps). This song in general is part of my getting to know MIDI exercise and the so there is a lot of MIDI in it. I particularity like the ending where i have two keyboard parts playing the same three notes of what ever chord but in different sequences. They kinda fit together to create a single sound but in different speakers.

The Lyrics

I wanted to mess around with the lyrics a bit due to the song being “not messed with”. The idea was to have a “carpe diem” type song but inverse the mood and meaning. I think of those types of songs as “go get ‘em tiger” positive type songs. And while there is some value to that approach to life, it is also not without issues. It can be an extremely selfish way to live.

So I tried to lyrically have the words start out being that type of song, but the song to actually be somewhat depressing and resigned. The first verse is “say what you want to say, until you’ve said it all” and “take what you want to take, until you take it all” I thought the second line should raise an eyebrow. Not necessarily the best advise to just take anything you want. In the second verse, I go further. the last line is “Break what you have to break”

The chorus is based on something else. I wanted to continue with the reversal of traditional meanings. The lines are “She was an angel hanging by a thread, and I was the candle burning bright and burning red”

Angels are generally symbols of helpers and savers, in this instance the angel is in need of help. Candles are symbols of hope and faith, but in this instance it is more ominous, burning strong and about to consume the thread the angel is hanging on.

Download Time Takes Your Chances Away

Good times!. So give it a listen and please comment, even if you hate it.

Kebab Dylan - In Threes

In short, this is an experiment and not necessarily a good song. I attempted to build a song from the ground up. The verses where based on the bass line and then I began layering keyboard on top of it. I was also trying to really understand the whole MIDI thing and get familiar with the tools. The drum part is a 123 123 123 12 12 pattern which is also the bass line. I called the drum wav file “in threes.wav” and that stuck. So the verses are constructed with three chords repeating.

I came up with the melody by playing a piano part until I liked it. Then wrote the lyrics which are pretty much throw aways.

—– a continuation ——–

here was the process for composing this one…

Started out with an old song that never had lyrics or anything, just a guitar part (verse chorus), so I took the chorus and made it the current pre-chorus, and the old verse and made it the chorus. The verses of this composition was just one element of the prechorus. I started with just that repetious bass line.

first track was a midi one with (ha ha) distored guitar sound. Doubled that with actual distorted guitar.

From there, I decided to jump on the in threes motif and began layering synths over the driving bass line in a slow manner. My goal was to make the changes seem very slight almost non-existent. I got an organ in there and a “warm pad” what ever that is. Another pleasant keyboard part during the singing walks up on note at a time in the first verse and then walks down in like manner the second verse.

With basically a very non-descript chord progression as the underlying music, I decided the melody of the verses should be a single non-repeated line. I thought about making the second verse, yet another unique melody, but thought better of it.

I added the extra guitar in the second verse just for some value add. decided to mimic it with yet another keyboard part (it actually comes in earlier though)

By the end I have two extra counter melodies going on with “atmosphere” and something other instrument , the yummy choir Ohs. Lots of stuff. A bit ole happy midi family.

The lyrics were inspired by 2 things. One is a story related by a friend who was put on corrective action at your work because (i kid you not) “you are struggling with 20% of 30% of your job”. They went on, not to give her concrete examples and action steps to fix the situation but intead told her “there must be something wrong with you, inside or something in your history” — say hello to mr. lawsuit.

I took that and the fact that I was going to name the song “in threes” and added a slight to myself and began approaching “there is something wrong” to the actual song.

I end the verses with “so you might as well stop” and immediately, it’s just guitar. Eventually, they decide to be friends so the chorus is equal parts midi and guitar.

The chorus is the for the listener. “to tear this song apart couldn’t be that much work”

Kebab Dylan - In Threes

As a side note, this is the debut of a new drum sequencer called Hydrogen. It’s open source and free and I actually like it better than fruity loops. I’ve decided that I need to keep drum parts more basic than I am inclined to.

as i stated this is sort of an experiment. I wanted to do something different than what I am used to. I have one more experimental and not very good song that I will post next week. So get ready for the kebab as singer/songwriter as he performs what can only be called a boring song.

 

This songs comes to us from yet another novel. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a tale of an autistic kid who finds the neighbor’s dog murdered (with a pitchfork, no less) and his attempt to track down the culprit, Sherlock Holmes style. Although it sounds gimmicky, the book is from the perspective of the autistic kid and is extremely sad, funny, and enlightening.

Listen & Download Bury It

This song is also my rediscovering standard tuning. After years of almost always screwing around with my strings, this is the first of several (more to come soon) songs written in good ole EADGBE.

Lyrics

Leave well enough alone and drop it
If you knew what the neighbors know, you would drop it

Machine hum in head
Reading letters from the dead
Machine hum in head

Liars lying low
Criers crying home
Liars lying low

When you found it all alone, and you carried it
If you knew what the neighbors know, you would bury it

Liars lying low
Criers crying home
Liars lying low

Origins

So some of you are [ familiar with/actually in ] the detholz!. A primo band from chicago. beside being a good band with good songs, they have a special talent at deconstructing bad 80’s songs and reconstructing them into horribly complex and, well, good songs. I have a deep love for reinterpreting, in a semi ironic manner, popular songs as well (more on that some other day). Anyway… I got the idea of taking detholz songs that tend to be more complex and good, and turning them into simple and bad pop songs. I think i have successfully done that to one of them. Sometime I do plan to commit my singer/songwriter version of “behold the man” to .wav

Anyway I had the idea (and it sounded great in my head at they time) to turn the song “sunburned in the sun” into a green day song. When I sat down and tried to get it working, well…, it didn’t… at all. So I ditched that. But immediately came up with the guitar part for this song. It’s in Eb and even has a G drone through a lot of it ala SITS. Other than that, the song doesn’t sound anything like it or have any other similarities. But that is its auspicious beginnings.

Music

The song starts with a muted plucking of the primary chord. Between each verse and between the various later sections, it keeps returning to it. It ends as well, just as it begins, with a muted guitar playing that chord. The song wanders off a bit in the second half so that was a way to keep it anchored.

There are a lot of half steps in this song. The chorus melody is mostly half steps by using augmented and diminished chords (i think that is the technical term) as well as at one point going from Em to Eb. From verse to chorus, it goes from G# to G, another half step. At the end there is a guitar line that walks up mostly in half steps. Can’t say I planned all the half steps. But as I have listened to it, it’s something I have noticed.

The verses have a distinct progression but the notes (in the first part of each verse) are all part of the Eb scale, so in the second verse, I decided to pound out the single chord on top of the mix (the C chord (pattern?) up on the 6th fret has a real nice sound to it with doubled notes.

The drum sequencing in my songs tend to leave a lot to be desired. I am a really bad drummer and tend to be over ambitious in sequencing drums to fit the specifics of a song. But in this case, I think the drum track actually adds to the song, giving it a good groove with its particular bam-bam … bam pattern

The mid section. I wanted to do two things. One is to have it be just a single chord (back to Eb) and have it be a groove. I was thinking Talking Heads (early stuff) like found a job where they build this great vibe with very little complexity going on.

I also had in mind to build it up (which i always seem to do) with a progressively noisier sound. I actually ended up playing one guitar part with a phone just to get a cool sound out of it. The little melody that starts off the mid section is another nod to the detholz.

At the very end, I start playing full chords (of the verses) with a melody over it. Second pass through, there is another guitar line (i mentioned earlier). I ended up turning some chords minor where it would be natural to be major and also the other way around, which actually allowed me to do that half step walk up I mentioned earlier. It did not affect the melody of the song, so I could still sing the same thing over it.

The last half of the song sort of juts off into its own territory without returning. That was inspired by the book. In it, without getting into details, the kid starts investigating the murder of this dog, but in that, other secrets are discovered and his search goes somewhere completely else and the murdered dog turns out to have nothing to do with the second half of the book. I was attempting to do the same in the song. Although, I ended up putting the vocal parts at the end to tie it up and as it turns out, is my favorite part of the song.

Listen & Download Bury It

So here is a song I just re-recorded. Originally recorded maybe two years ago, the original had some issues with hiss and a general “doesn’t sound very good” problem. I also lost the source files. It happens to also be one of my better songs, I think. So I decided to just re-track the whole damn thing. I’ve become more adept at producing this stuff, so i thought I’d give it an update. For the most part I didn’t change things around. It even uses the same drum track (the only thing left of the original).

This is my Stephen Malkmus song. I am a huge pavement fan and this song certainly reflects it.

Listen & Download Had a Revelation

About the Song

One of the few songs that actually means anything. I think of it as an anti-anthem. A warning to myself and others (specific or not) to not take ourselves too seriously. What you (I) are doing is not going to change anything and no one really cares. Happy stuff! I find it delightfully ironic that one of the few songs that have any serious thought into the lyrics rails against itself.

Lyrics

Not everyone is seen
You’re not the exception you thought you would be
Holding on to all those half brilliant tomes like the manufactured homes
with rooms to keep your luggage in

If they threw you half a boquet
You’d lay it down like the lion’s prey
Oh the comfort of those tiny hands a-clappin
Like the insects all a-thrashin
beneath the wind and the rain

And I had a revelation
and I thought that you would like to know
You wore a blank expression
As you watched yourself sinking like stone

You didn’t hear it from me
but I have it on such good authority
Only likes five minutes to say what you want but a lifetime
to try and explain what you mean

And I had a revelation
and I thought that you would like to know
You wore a blank expression
As you watched yourself sinking like stone

Music

The song is one of many written in some variation of D A C# F# A E. I became very familiar with this tuning and wrote a whole slue of songs in it. One thing I do on this song that I do quite often is to include the melody in the primary guitar part. Almost every note I sing is there. I like doing that because 1. It’s easier to sing and 2. sounds cool. I generally work on the melody and chord structures at the same time so it only makes sense combining them this way.

One thing that I did change was during the verses, I was playing harmonics. With an open tuning like this its easy to take advantage of open strings. So in each speaker I am playing harmonics in the notes the end on and the notes I’m singing usually coincide.

So song’s chord progressions are pretty standard though they are not played that way. I threw in one bizarre dissonant chord near the end for emphasis.

The lead guitar part at the end takes advantage of the tuning. It was very easy and natural to play half notes together to get a dissonant sound . It walks up a note at a time with a half note following. Gives it a muddy sound for lack of a better word. The last two times through the lead just plays a very simple descending run until it hits the base note. I then bend it up slowly and back down causing it to get lost for a second. It reminded my of one of my favorite pavement songs “grounded”.

I also added some keyboards to the mix. Mostly its just background stuff that makes up for no bass. One touch that I like is that at the end, i double the riff (or whatever you would call it. its not led zeppelin or anything) with a harp sound. I’m pleasantly surprised with how it sounds.

So enjoy…

Listen & Download Had a Revelation