The events of this week made what I’m trying to say with this song all the more poignant (not sure if that’s exactly the correct word, but I’m sticking with it). I thought of adding lyrics saying something like “shooting at a mass,” but they didn’t make this cut. I am very disturbed how people can use their religion, almost any religion – or hand-picked portions of it, to justify nefarious actions.

I am still working through this track, but it’s time to call it a demo or I’ll never finish this album. Acoustic guitar, piano and vocals this time. I had an idea to add violin or viola, but I haven’t tested the (muddy?) midi waters as of yet and my keyboards strings are really cheesy (I did use them to add little in the background for color).

This week also found my good friend Dave (DavidHusted.com) releasing his 2nd long-player. It’s available on Spotify and is well worth a listen.

Personal Demo # 5: (Am I) Dangerous

As I was setting up to work on the music this morning, Obie (in black) was keen on a game of hairband fetch (no, not chasing Poison). Ted (orange-flavored) was curious about the goings-on.

I went back to the keyboard to take (Am I) Dangerous a little further along towards the demo point. It seems the keys are in disagreement with the strings as far as the chords are concerned. Instead of Dm to C, G to F seemed more appropriate. I also experimented with the vocal phrasing a bit and trimmed them more in total.

It’s been over a year since my 1st post & I hoped that I’d be further along in the process, but I’m plugging along. Even though I haven’t been blogging, I have had my mind on the project.

Today I put a few of those thoughts into action by rearranging and updating some of the lyrics to (Am I) Dangerous – focusing and grouping the gun & religion themes.

Then, I pulled the acoustic from it’s sheath, performed a quick tuning and figured out the chords to the chorus (on the original sketch I played what sounded correct on the keyboard without actually figuring out the chords – I know, I know Al 😉 ).

I used the Four Tracks Lite app on my older HTC phone to get it down on “record.”

Here’s the partial (with the chords and lyrics below):

Dm      C
Am I dangerous
Dm      C
can I hurt your god
Em
Destroy your faith
G
Do you have any doubt?
Dm      C
Am I dangerous
Dm      C
can I hurt your god

G                                F
Just what are you protecting yourself from

For those expecting an update on “Future Psychic Girlfriend,” it’ll be a bit longer of a wait for that one. My muse has given me some fuel for Dangerous – now “Am I Dangerous.” I would like to say up front that I respect people of faith and their beliefs and hope they respect my humanism.

While not necessarily “shooting” for controversy, I understand that the lyrics for this one may stir some feelings.

Just piano and vocal as I present the first sketch.

Peace.

-Ed

We have demo. Putting Policy of Love to bed until I look to record the “real” version for the album. (Teddy, pictured up top, can relate to the policy and to putting himself to bed.)

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to cancel my plans to attend the Philadelphia Folk Festival. Missing Fest friends, but also appreciating taking care of everyone at home (human and feline) & managed to sneak in some time for recording.

After starting the morning with technical difficulties (missing DLL made it necessary to uninstall & reinstall my recording software), undaunted, I tuned my bass to the acoustic guitar track (I apparently did not make sure the guitar was tuned to anything other than itself) and recorded a track which I seem to have lifted partly from a Fleetwood Mac track – I think “Go Your Own Way”).

I then took to the mic and warbled some background which I pushed fairly far down in the mix. Not happy with them, but it is time to move on to the next track which most likely will be “Future Psychic Girlfriend.”

Here is the demo (from Soundcloud).

Been doing the only work on my album in my mind for quite a while. I had an idea for Policy of Love playing there which I’ve finally be able to get down on the hard drive.

“Make Love Policy, Love Making Policy” and the chords associated (A & G) have become an intro/bridge/outro. I mixed in a bit of the chorus (instrumentally) and I think the structure of the song is pretty close to where I want it. I think I’ve started to go in a Lou Reed-ish direction with it. Here is this morning’s take:

I also added a phrase/idea to the tentatively-titled “Dangerous”  (see Inviting All) lyrics:

“I’m having trouble understanding

Protect yourself

What do we really need to protect ourselves from”

Peace by Piece.

-Edicated

Yet another long pause in the symphony that is my project. I am determined, if not disciplined enough, to see this thing through. With thoughts of trying to go a little hippie-psychedelic on Policy of Love, I entered my home studio. Slowly it turned and then, I decided to slow it way down and experiment with vocals. I’m taking another step backwards with this one and perhaps slowing down the whole process – could it get any slower?

I’ve been thinking more about trying to set up to do some midi stuff (for drumming at least) and about fixing up the old electric. I think I’d really want it to do some psychedelic-sounding stuff.

Here is The Policy of Love (Vocal Experiment) – Listen at Your Own Risk 🙂

-CrackEd Voice

Awoke early this morning with the cats on and off the bed and circling in a pre-breakfast frenzy. I had some ideas for Policy of Love. I originally shared a sketch recording of this one in my very first blog entry. I’ve included it again below (I realized I called it a demo, but this was before I started my current project).

There is a risk here of the song quickly becoming dated, if it isn’t already. It was written while drones strikes were prominently in the news. The song has been called sappy by one. My songs are generally pretty straight-forward and I’m a fan of non-violence. Love is one of my favorite four-letter words after all. 🙂

At the risk of taking a step backward to go forward here is the hair in curlers/in pajamas/working the first cup of coffee sketch. (Note the bass intro – ran out of time to continue working on the bass part this morning – darn day job.):

I’m going to need to add some lyrics and am going to give some strength to the arrangement to try to drain some of the sap.

-Peace, Love & Ed

Original as noted above:

There is finally an “official” demo of Regular Folk! I used my trial and error from the various sketches and input from some, not quite as regular, folks and made a succinct demo. I felt that the harmonica was the strongest “color” component – the guitar and voice being the meat & bones. Then I brought in the mbira and, towards the end, a bit of didgeridoo. Percussion is the plastic container of picture hangers. I had an idea to use the didgeridoo as bass, but I need to be able to more consistently produce the drone to attempt it.

Here is the demo:

Next up is, most likely, “The Policy of Love” as it’s the most complete.

A few of you (which probably means all) are most likely tired of hearing my play around with Regular Folk. I’ll soon make a demo version, but I wanted to try it at a slower tempo as suggested. I don’t think I quite slowed it down to where the waltz model is, but I did work it down to more comfortable trot.

I also broke out my only harmonica and made a little noise with that and picked up a plastic container with some picture hanging hardware and tapped/rattled along.

Set plugins for the vocals as below:

And the audio:

Somewhat tunefully,

-Ed