Comic Books, Drag Race, & Life in New Zealand
by krisis
If you were hoping to slag my new song and tell me how muddy the metaphors are and how derivitave the guitar work is, go say so at the Ani DiFranco Muse Board. The way i see it, either they’re going to say exactly that or it’s similar enough to Ani that they’ll like it :p
by krisis
My emotions flow out like sand in an hourglass filling up the past. They’re from a beach full of grains, like a pallet of colors, but this is what i’m left to paint with. I used all of my red to make a beautiful heart – that’s where it all started. And i lost the black and blue painting it to match you, and wiping out all the working parts. I had a rainbow of colors to paint our love, but now it’s just sand through my fingers. I’ll be lucky if i’m left with the grey sky that it was cast against to paint what lingers. I gave you my first times and I gave you my trust, and you just smoldered like a furnace. We were hot enough that all we did was combust, and ashes are all we’re left with. I had a rainbow of colors to paint our love, but now it’s just sand through my fingers. I’ll be lucky if i’m left with the grey sky that it was cast against to paint what lingers. The enormity
of you and me made me colorblind. And now that that we’re through I’m scraping together all that’s left over of the colors i can find. I found a discarded green: the color of your envy. I’ve got white for my spotlight. ‘Cause you were center stage; you stole the applause from my life. And i’ve got just enough left over to paint a four leaf clover. Yeah,
I’ll need all the luck in the world. ‘Cuz i’m standing here drained of all of my color, and my hourglass is shattered – it will never be the same.
by krisis
SavvyMel on my recent trends of songwriting: “Well, after one’s suffered like…masses of depression you’re suddenly flung into a realm of euphoria or so I’ve observed. But this is freaking cool because you’re peppy songs are turning out to be great ventures of musical experience.”
Um, Mel, was that a compliment?
by krisis
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…]
by krisis
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.