Crushing Krisis

Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand

my music

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One thing i’ve started to notice after relistening to both of my previous demos as well as the 7-hours of audio i’ve got lying around on my computer is that my songs always lack momentum when i first play them. Sure, i’ve established a rhythm, but i’m more concerned with singing the melody well for the first time that i am with finding the frenetic pace that suits the song the best, and it shows: “Bridge,” “Deadweight,” “Under My Skin,” & “Lost” are all noticeably lacking in momentum in their early recordings. However, what they do clearly possess is a sort of naive take on the melody of the song that i can never retrieve; certain inflections become locked in after the early performances of the song, but if you catch one of the early ones you catch what my first songwriter instincts were before ease of performance and repetition takes over. The question is: which one is more desirable? Is the naive melody just me figuring out where a song needs to go, or is the gaining of momentum just my tendency to race faster and faster as i get more comfortable? Maybe there’s some sort of middle ground where a song should be recorded for posterity; even slow songs like “Crashing” have picked up several beats per minute since first recorded, and i’m not sure if i can slow them down enough for this record. [for proof of this momentum stuff, listen to a Trio with “Lost” in it, and then go listen to “Lost” at AMkitchen. Trust me, i’m not imagining it…]

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2857422/

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The first time i ever played “Under My Skin” fully on my guitar it had barely been written. Some lyrics were still not solidified, and it hadn’t really been laid out over its chord progression. But, that wouldn’t be so hard to do, i thought. So, i cued up my computer and recorded my first time through the song. It’s really awful and painful to listen to because i have no semblance of a rhythm established and i seem to be highly resistant to actually hitting any notes. The only two copies that exist are (1) on my computer and (2) in Laurel’s cd collection for posterity. However, there’re some shining moments within that naive melody, like where i sing the “unstylish clothes” bit for the first time, or where i ad-lib the entire refrain (don’t ask me how that happened, because i’m still not really sure). The second time i played the song was much more coherent and i wound up putting it on my last Demo just for the sake of it. But, that first time … scary stuff.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2857325/

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Damn, that post took about as long to get right as “Under My Skin” did today. Obviously my brain is fried… or perhaps we tripped my “perfectionist” switch at some point today. If that’s the case, someone really ought to turn it off. (postscript: Of course, in classic fashion, none of the changes i made to the post are there anymore, and i’m not making them all over again. So much for that perfectionist theory…)

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2851180/

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With the aid of the intrepid Bill Hull today in the recording studio, i complete not one, not two, but half the vocal/guitar tracks for my newest demo cd. Towards the end of the session we recording “Angel,” “Lost,” and special guest-star “Bridge” all in a row with a single retake on the former two just to be safe. However, the highlight (as well as the major time-consuming task) of the day was “Under My Skin.”

Bill had heard “ums” enough to have an idea of what i wanted to do with it, and we agreed that we needed to get the basic guitar track down first because anything else in the song would be based around the nearly-random guitar solos i’d invent while playing. I think we made an attempt at getting the basic tracks for an entire hour, and nothing would work. Even when i could get through an entire take the song just didn’t ring true. Suddenly, into the studio popped Laurel, who came to hang out at Bill’s request. Bill and I idly chatted with Laurel for a few minutes while cuing up a tape, and then i launched into the song once again. There was a moment in the beginning where i almost aborted the take because i did a line very late (which came back to bite me in the ass when we overdubbed background vocals), but i hung in and finished; i don’t know if it was because i had an “audience,” or if it was because the audience happened to be the girl who the song was written about, but everything clicked. When we listened back to the track, Bill turned to me and said “we’ve got to keep these vocals; you’re really feeling these words.” And i, of course, agreed.

Then the fun began: it took thirty minutes (at least) to lay down a bass track after i fumbled twice during the solo. While i was playing bass, Bill kept gesturing to Laurel, who was quietly singing along from her seat. With much maneuvering (much to my delight as i continued to play), he got a mic in front of Laurel so we could hear what she was singing. As we finished the bass i turned to Laurel and said: “You’re next.” So, with much coaxing and with me singing along kareokee style in my own mic, Laurel and i made a few passes at the song in harmony (yielding some really scary bits where there’s two of me singing the wrong thing to each other), and then Bill and i left Laurel to her own devices to add a last vocal track onto the song. At this point the three of us had heard about as much of “Under My Skin” as we cared to in any given day, and so we put it aside and moved onto the other things mentioned above.


Tons of fun. “Never Say Goodbye” and “Crashing” will be valiantly attempted at some point tomorrow (as well as the equally intimidating “Relief“). Audio of “Under My Skin” by this weekend’s Trio. Awww yeah.

https://www.crushingkrisis.com/2001/03/2850678/