Photos of Studio T

A Fistfull of Demos

Here are the first three demo tracks for the album. The opening track is one of two bookends that kind of reflect back to the early albums. I call it 'En-trance'. The second demo is 'Poseur'. The first half is coming together nicely. The second half? Not so much. It's pretty gritty. The third song is 'My Name is Raul'. There are no vocals yet, but if you've heard the original, you can probably guess that that's not going to be a big deal. The bass lines and most of the synth/sample work on these are pretty rough. They'll be cleaned up, and Guitar (and maybe more drums) added. I wanted to put all three up, because I think they make the direction of the album seem pretty obvious, even if they're (very) rough at this stage.

En-trance (Demo).mp3
Poseur (Demo).mp3
My Name Is Raul (Demo).mp3

Give a listen. Let me know what you think. Unless what you think is, "Thom's strange..." You don't need to let me know that, because I already know that.

SOTP! State of the Project!

So from the perspective of the blog, February seems like it may have been a pretty inactive month for the MION RB project. Fortunately, looks can be, and in this case, are, decieving. Things are happening on two fronts. On the one hand, I'm in the process of acquiring gear...primarily for the purpose of getting some decent drums recorded, but also because I love new gear. I've got an Alesis Multimix 16 on order, and have seriously been looking at both new keyboards, and also the possibility of an electronic drum kit.

At the same time, I haven't slacked off writing, either. Poseur is, for all intents and purposes, finished. I'll put up a clip of it later tonite, so you can hear a rough version of what it sounds like. (At this point, all of the recordings I'm making are demo recordings, not the real deal yet. I have chord structures for 'My Name is Raul', 'Creation', and 'Trashcan Blues' and hope to record demos of Raul this weekend. There's also a bridge between Poseur and Raul that I've been thinking about.

Although I haven't given much thought to some of the later tracks, the album is starting to form in my head, and it's really becoming more of a pseudo-concept album. By pseduo-concept album, I'm thinking in the sense of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Zappa's You Are What You Is, where each song isn't necessarily about the same topic, but there's some unity and flow from track to track. ...I'm not, by the way, comparing the *music* I'm coming up with to either of those fantastic albums.

And so it goes...

I spent part of this weekend tracking drums and writing a bass line for the first revamped, song, "Poseur". I've actually been pretty good about writing notes and ideas down while I was going through listening to the tracks, so I had an idea about what I thought the music should sound like.

One of the obstacles I face when I write music, however, is that I'm primarily a bass player first, guitar player...like...8th. This is not to say that there's anything wrong with being a bass player. I LIKE being a bass player. The problem with it in regards to song writing is that I'm a very drum focused bass player. My lines will invariably follow what the drums are doing. (The most important job of the bass player is, in my opinion, merging the percussion with the melodic instruments.)

So without drums, I have a hard time coming up with interesting bass lines. This makes the drums the first task for any given song that I want to create. Remember when I said I was a bass player, not a guitar player? Well, I'm also a bass player, not a DRUMMER. In the old days, we used 'Bill the Drummer' for everything, which made things easier.

Bill the Drummer (We called him something else on the first album, but I believe he was Bill the Drummer after that...) was the Yamaha SHS-10 keyboard. It was actually a 'keytar,' really. (Trivia: When I first fell upon doing this project, I was going to buy another SHS-10 and use it's generic drum beats for all of the percussion on the album. This plan was scrapped when I found out that the Yamaha SHS-10 was selling for 150-250 bucks on ebay. I should have kept that thing.) We'd pick a beat set the tempo (usually really fast) and start recording. (You can hear how 'quality' this method was in the first couple of tracks I posted about earlier.)

For this project, though, I've got a couple of friends who actually play drums who are going to help me out. Rather than just have them come over with their kits and jam while I come up with some interesting music, however, I'm trying to come up with general representations of what I feel the beat will end up being. This gives me something to play bass along with, and it'll give them an idea of what I want them to play when we record them.

So, the long and the short of it is that I spent the weekend banging out drum lines on the keyboard, going into staff view (in Sonar) and 'fixing' the time on them so that they actually sound coherent.

For the record, here's a clip of the drums I did for "Poseur" which amply demonstrates that I am not, in fact, a drummer: WhyIAmNotADrummer.mp3

Track 15 - The Flight for Height

Here are the lyrics to "The Flight for Height" off of the Friendly Agrarian Tower album, as transcribed by Mark Rathke in 2005:

Remember the silos from before
I can see them outside my door
They store the grain and maybe seed
But elevation is what we need
I see them rise, everywhere
But they just don't surge
Like the one in the 'Burg
All of the farmers in the land (egos abound)
Want the tallest silos in demand (all around)
When it is all said & done
There is only but one
They can try to make theirs high
But the grain elevator
Can't be denied

And here is an MP3 of "The Flight for Height" that Mark pulled off of the CD:
TheFlightForHeight.mp3

This little ditty is off of the first and, I'll wager, only concept album written about the feed mill that stands in the middle of Harrisonburg, VA. It's a sad testament to nature of Harrisonburg as a 'city' that this building is (by far) the largest man made structure, and I believe that the second highest building is also a grain elevator as well. Interestingly, I believe that part of the problem with the economy in Harrisonburg (indeed, in the United States in general) is that agriculture is become less and less of a viable means to make a living, and the farmers seem to be vanishing, as is the need for feed towers. I'm not actually sure if the one in Harrisonburg is even used anymore.

Anyway, enough about that, onto the song. What can I say? It's a song. It's metal. It's about a feed tower. And egotistical farmers. I'm considering recording this as a 'doo-wop' number. Maybe lay down a bit of harmony on the vocals, and make it (largely) acappela. Seriously. That's what I'm considering. Is this the way the album ends, not with a bang, but with a doo-wop? We shall see, my friends. We shall see...

In any event, this wraps up the 15 'song' posts concerning the new album. The creation of 'new stuff' has already begun in earnest. Expect to see some sound clips, video clips, and image scans of content being liberally dumped into this project in the near future.

Track 14 - Dorothy's Peculiarity

These are the lyrics to "Dorothy's Peculiarity" from the Megland album, as originally transcribed by Mark Rathke in 2004:

Dorothy - your so beautiful
With your yellow spots and white gloves
Dorothy - wearing you're summer hat
And nothing else and that's a fact
But Dorothy I've just gotta know
Where did your lower jaw go?
Dorothy - with you're sharp teeth
You're Australian accent is really neat
Dorothy - just 5 years old
Not extinct, but rather bold
When you eat you're roses how do you chew
Without a lower jaw, I'm really confused
Dorothy's teeth shine so bright
But there's something that's just not right
Peculiar as I've said all along
Her lower jaw seems to be gone

And here is the mp3 of "Dorothy's Peculiarity" that Mark pulled off of the original album:
DorothysPeculiarity.mp3

I like this song a lot. Granted, I won't pretend to understand what it's about. It almost sounds like it's about a fossil or something. We'll have to get Mark's input on the lyrical meaning. I like the first guitar riff, and the synth work is interesting. It seems a bit stilted, flow-wise, but that almost works with the lyrics. The song is a bit...unsettling. It kind of reminds me of one of Danny Elfman songs off of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It brings to mind one of those situations where you feel like you should know what's going on, but you clearly don't.

In fact, the whole Megland album is like that. I'm pretty convinced that it's Mark's best solo work to date. Almost all of the songs have that same whimsical feel about them. In terms of the remake, I want to keep the guitar progression at the start, the synth feel, and of course the kid saying, "Dorothy! He-he!" I wonder if Mark still has that kid? In a dream situation, I'd also get a recording of Larry G. saying "Dorothy! He-he!" I doubt that'll happen, though.cd

Track 13 - The Riddle of the Septadigit

These are the original lyrics to "The Riddle of the Septadigit", from the Element of Suprise album, as transcribed by Mark Rathke in the liner notes, circa 2002:

The second glass of milk
In the second letter round
It turns out to be the one
That makes this very sound
The prefixed situation
A deuce sandwiched between
A pair of rotated infinite signs
That's the digital scheme

And here is a copy of the "Riddle of the Septadigit" MP3 that Mark pulled off the original CD:
Septadigit.mp3

This is, presumably, a song about Mark's telephone number. I'm not really sure of the how or whys of the whole thing. The song itself is a bit heavy for my taste, but I like the intro and the coda. In fact, I REALLY like the intro and the coda. Perhaps Mark can shed some more light on the subject of the lyrics. They're trippy and abstract. I dig them. They're the reason I picked this song off of this album. (Stereotype being a close second.)

That said, I really didn't see myself doing a song about Greenpeace, or Rastafarians, or Mark's brand of reality, or Double H... Actually, I was a bit disappointed when I realized that Double H referred to a person, not a cup size. In any event, Septadigit is what I picked, and Septadigit it will be.

Track 12 - The Rising of the Baboon

These are the original lyrics to "The Rising of the Baboon", from the Baboon Rising album, as transcribed by Mark Rathke in the liner notes, circa 2000:

Over all the years some things stay true
Fads they come and go, others they stay new
Time and time again hobbies never die
Though mediocre perseverance lies
All joking aside more are to come
Sloppiness is to blame that's what makes it fun
The epitome of nausea not likely to get known
Stripped of any dignity all that left at home
What should be embarrassing is embraced with joy
Rising up like a baboon in what makes no sense at all
Things all thrown together like a dumpster at the mall
It's not the most talented act at the show
It never would have even made it in the know
As bad as it is and as sick as it sounds
Time has a way of sticking around
Though this is the case of the rising baboon
There is more to this animal than you hear in a tune

And here is a copy of the "Rising of the Baboon'" MP3 that mark pulled off the original CD:
TheRisingOfTheBaboon.mp3

This track is a fantastic demonstration of the 'new' Baboon Rising sound, versus the old one. The same irreverent lyrics about an inconsequential topic (in this case, Baboon Rising itself) are there, but the tone of the song is a lot more serious. In fact, I'd wager that if you heard that song playing in the background, and couldn't make out the lyrics, you'd probably think it was about something a bit more serious than it actually is.

It's also interesting that the lyrics of the song are so dismissive of the musical construction and content of Baboon Rising overall, yet at the same time, given the history of the band, this song itself stands out as a contradiction to that. It's actually well crafted, well played, and well recorded. Even the vocals, while not my cup of tea, are well done. Was it recorded with that irony in mind?

I've said before that Baboon Rising reminds me a bit of Ed Wood. The passion becomes more important than the output. Ed Wood movies are interesting, however, primarily for just how awful they are. BR can be pretty awful sometimes, but the difference being that the Wood movies were attempts at legitimate film, whereas Baboon Rising not only recognizes it's sloppiness, but in fact (often) relishes in it. Or, as Mr. Rathke put it, "Sloppiness is to blame, that's what makes it fun!"