Future Psychic Girlfriend demo has been put to bed. Had the idea to make it a New-Wave, Devo-ish track (partially, I think, because I heard Midnight Oil’s “Power and the Passion” while waking this morning), but, as things tend to go in the studio, it ended up pretty much completely different.

I did some midi drumming – working with three whole keys on the Casio/midi interface control this time. Then I added bass – finally put the mic to my Standel bass amp. I gently infused it with a little jagged guitar – a somewhat reggae feel? (I don’t like reggae, I love it.) Completed with some “warbling” & the sound of two hands clapping (not thrilled with the hand clapping). The result is kinda chunky, but I think it trucks along fairly well. Feel free to judge.

-Ed Judicated

Determined to record midi drumming, I approached my computer. I again tried to get a drum pattern going using the method described in the previously referenced tutorial, with no luck.

This part just ain’t happening:
“Play C3 on your MIDI keyboard, or hit the computer keyboard’s “A” key. You will hear the corresponding drum sound immediately, and again once every bar. Every note that you play will be captured in the new pattern and played once every loop cycle.”

I hear the drum sound, but it does not repeat or record. Perhaps it’s because I have the “lite” version. I decided to just hit record on the track – like I do when recording any other audio track. Voilà! It records what I play. One teeny step forward. I picked a sound that I liked for a possible 80’s sound for Future Psychic Girlfriend and tapped a single key on the keyboard for the proposed (possible?) length of the song. I said in a previous post that I was going to have some fun with this one. That said, I preceded with a quick mess of guitar, organ, & two vocal tracks, each panned to a separate side, with reverb & compression. I make no apologies for the “Crazy Love Mess” mix  linked to below.

-MessEd Around

I see a lot of (sea?) change coming in 2016. I will do what I can to help make it positive change.

The world lost Bowie. I have been a fan since I can remember & had the privilege of seeing stops of two tours – Glass Spider & Sound & Vision. I know him only through his music, but was certainly saddened by the news of his passing. The incorporation of almost any style into the various phases of his career is probably what I admire most.

As I joked about the Trump song with my Get-Up band-mates, I was reminded that I need to start practicing the band material as the yearly Farmhouse weekend in April “approacheth.”

Today started with me grabbing my phone & jotting a few ideas down. I’ve included a bit of lyrics to a new song, Fictional Life, below.

Then it was time to tune the guitar, look to Google Drive & bring Future Psychic Girlfriend back into my consciousness. It’s more of a snippet than a full song right now, but hear ye the start:

The lyrical beginnings of “Fictional Life” (as promised from “above”):

Fictional Life

Don’t read biography
Or watch documentary

TV program
It’s a novel life

It’s not a lie
Just pretending
Escaping all the time

Virtually
Augmented
Reality