Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

demos

Regrets

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Regrets [3.1MB] (Demo)

I claimed to want to record this all last month, but i just now got around to it. It’s still rough as hell, but it sounds exactly like what i’ve been hearing in my head (every fucking day) minus percussion. I personally prefer the version that clips my speakers so bad that i think they’re going to explode, but this one is more appropriate for general (non-destructive) consumption.

For those keeping score, that’s 3 of the new 18 songs recorded – except, i wrote a new one yesterday. So, 3/19.

A Trio of Rejects

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In and effort to get more Trios done (rather than just started), i’m going to start posting my aborted attempts and outtakes rather than hording them for months, all the while wondering what i could’ve done better. Here’s a trio of them (ironic, no?).

Just This Once (Original Demo)

Across The Universe (Live Take)

No Proof (Unfinished Demo)

Tomorrow i’ll be attempting my new Trio policy of recording and mixing all three songs in one day and posting outtakes if i fail; if Glenn can do a fucking album in one day, i should be able to do a damn Trio. We’ll see how that goes.

The Bitch is Back

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Jett Superior, one of my all-time favorite peddlers of snark, is back online with an astounding new layout. While she was on her extended hiatus, she asked her readers to put an old set of her lyrics to music, promising to post them upon her return. She hasn’t yet, but here’s my version.

Here at CK we don’t go on hiatus, we graduate, take long naps, try to buy cell phones that take pretty little pictures that we can display while not on an aforementioned non-existent hiatus, and play City of Heroes until 4am (thus necessitating longer naps). We pretty much being me, along with my omnipresent sidekick slash new roommate slash built-in fanclub Elise.

She finally met my dad the other week, he who owns a gun shop and a flock of plastic lawn flamingos, and makes “boop boop” noises when he pulls a U-ee in the middle of Market street. She has not met my cousin Cary, age seven, but the lass is nonetheless intrigued by the concept that my partner/roomie/stalker has “Chinese Eyes.” My aunt claims that this, though perhaps verging on offensive, is a reflection of unspeakable jealous curiosity, as said eyes are a particularly fashionable favorite of my cousin’s. In the car on the way back from the el Cary politely enquired if “Have you kissssssed her?,” to which i responded “Oh, a few times.”

Otherwise, life is similar to how life was last time i mentioned life, except for the piece of parchment with the shiny Magna Cum Laude sticker sitting on my mantel and what seems like eleventy-thousand people trying to make me feel anxious about whether or not i really have a job (don’t worry, it’s not working). I think Elise is appalled at how much time i spend a) listening to music, b) doing nothing but looking productive, & c) being so frighteningly productive that i cannot stop talking or moving, sometimes all at once. Still, things are fine, especially now that i unpacked my Ani DiFranco mugs.

Transmissions from the planet Peter.

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I have to wonder what i’ve been doing with myself when i look here to see so much empty space. This is supposed to be my one true love, as much as looking in a mirror is. Right?

Ahh, but i am too tangled in this crazy race towards graduation, now a mere eight weeks away, trying so hard to escape. What is there to talk about? Met with Advisor X today, meeting Advisor Y & Z tomorrow, avoiding Advisor Q like the plague. Conducting interviews with people from China and Brazil (know any?) for two classes, designing an entire new domain for a third, and reading lots of books for a fourth. And Senior project, endlessly revising the same damn outline, trying to make my thoughts make sense in a tangible way that can be graded.

Two news songs mixed … a complete Moscow, Idaho as well as a drummed-up Bucket Seat (on which the vocals seem totally out of place).

Forthcoming: new apartment, new job, no more school.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2004/04/108150204608701963/

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For Creative Writing i had to put together a portfolio of all the work i did this quarter, and at the last minute i decided to substitute some recent lyrics in place of a second free-verse that i wasn’t especially pleased with. Theoretically this was entirely fair game, but the thing about my lyrics is i didn’t really revise their content so much as i revised the context in which i used them. So, teacher’s pet that i am, i turned in a cd along with my final portfolio. On it were the following four songs… first grabbed out of their respective trio appearances, and then in these more essential versions.

Until You Awake – This is a song that was always meant to be delicate and intricate, but i never got the chance to strike the right balance in my previous attempts at it. Here is sounds nearly as i imagine it… cascading and balanced. I’m very happy with it.

(just an) Excuse – This is actually the original demo of the song, predating this season’s first Trio. However, it displays some of the directions it was meant to go in a little more accurately than subsequent recordings because here i had more time to prep the guitar-sound and recording range. This isn’t evolved the way “Awake” is; instead, it is more of a suggestion of where the song could be going.

Tangling – This is like a tease of a song… quiet and faded around the edges where the song is usually rambunctious and crackling. The reduction does it some amount of good … you can more easily see what i’m trying to achieve without having to look past the clipped microphone and stressed vocal chords. “Tangling” could very well be the simplest thing i’ve ever written — a sort of retro Beatles-imitation that pits that nebulous concept of “word on the street” against the notorious unnamed “girl.” I know for sure that i like the song, but i suppose the whole point is going to be where i go with it; this could be your only chance to hear it without having to be pulled in all of the various directions i’m trying to go in.

Tangled – Written as a twin to “Tangling,” this song got lost in the rush that was vying for a spot on Trio, yet somehow managed to turn up this week in (what felt like) an incredibly solid rendition (considering i had only played it once, previously). This version is perhaps more tentative then the Trio recorded the day before; it wasn’t meant for display the way the Trio was. This is a more static version, less magnetic … i am settling into the space of the song instead of filling them up so they can be better heard. It’s a simple thing, and much like “Tangling” it’s eventually going to become more about what i can add than about what i can strip away. For now, though, it’s as bare as the day it was born.

This is a nearly definite third of the material that i’ll be recording whenever i finally haul my ass back into the studio, and i’ve tried to distill it down to the most basic of its elements. As such, anything you might have to say about it will be welcome.

https://crushingkrisis.com/2001/12/7777772/