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lemonstar

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Posts posted by lemonstar

    What are you listening to right now?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I feel like I need something slightly more challenging to listen to ATM - there is too much good music around these days. I remember buying albums that I found I didn't like as uch as I'd hoped but albums were so expensive and I had so few of them I made myself listen to the damn things until I liked them.


     

    Your favourite bass YouTubers ..

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by lemonstar

    I'm in need of these YT channels - it's hard not to come across Scott Devine 
    but I've enjoyed the clarity and emphasis on teaching (i.e. not showing off their own skills) of Yonit Spiegelman (she teaches on-line on a platform called LessonFace) : e.g.

     

     

    What are you listening to right now?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by lemonstar

    Destroyer - absolutely terrible name that does the band no favours - no wonder no one I know has ever heard of them (largely a one man band - Dan Bejar - but he keeps denying it) - several albums are really great IMHO and hold together so well as whole albums - Kaputt has washes of synth, strange noises mixed in on top of a standard rock band sound along with sax & flute - it's a complex rich sound - so many different styles and influences - it's a summery and hazy album. It's a toss up if Kaputt or Poison Season is the better album - I'd recommend both.
     


     

    What are you listening to right now?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Selling England by the Pound -actually enjoyed most of it - haven't heard it for a long time - I'm not saying it sounded fresh but I was surprised how relatively little of it sounded truly dated - I just listened to it on my mp3 player while out walking the dog today. Being an ELP fan originally I sometimes find Tony Banks chordal keyboard work a bit uninteresting TBH (his lead lines aren't too bad imho) but there are so many great melodies in both the music and the vocal lines and some great performance moments from PG. Even though I have the remastered recording I still find the sound quality and even the mixing a bit disappointing.

    • Like 1

    What are you listening to right now?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by lemonstar

    11 hours ago, Nail Soup said:

     

     

    That first piece reminded me of this obscure classic: Athletico Spizz 80 - Clocks Are Big

     

     

    I was at this eventful Siouxsie & the Banshees gig in 78 when Spizz Oil were the first support act on, Human League (they only had Being Boiled out at the time) were the main support... I won't bother repeating the details - you can see my comments about it here...

    Victoria Hall Hanley - Siouxsie and the Banshees

     

    • Like 1

    Songwriting issues

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I'm glad you created this thread @AndyTravis - it's interesting because the problem of creating new songs must be one that haunts most bands - the one thing I've wanted for years was some kind of writing partnership and I guess we all feel we'd like that because we've all got our limitations and get stuck or run out of ideas or steam. There is a load of good advice and ideas in this thread that's why I had it in mind for a while to come back and  go through it and read everything again - I liked a lot of comments first time through and liked a few more this time round.
     

    The drummer sounds great so I'd focus on trying to work with him and I think you'll just have to try and accept the limitations and lack of useful feedback and engagement from the others - there are plenty of decent musicians and singers who just aren't interested, able or willing to get into songwriting - it's often not a simple or straightforward thing to do - it's difficult. You probably stop at some point because you aren't sure how best (or whether) to proceed and this is where you could just try and work out what input of feedback you want from the others - sometimes it helps to narrow down the problem for them. Do you just want the singer to write some words or even just work out a melody. I'm think it's hard to be too definite about rating fragments of songs - even with a few words - I've found it can take a very small change, a spark of imagination, to save something that seems to be going nowhere; those sparks often come through persistence imho. 

    I have a lot of unfinished songs where I have a verse, maybe 2 and maybe even the bare bones of a chorus - I'm good at starting things - OK on the words, melody, singing, finding chords but I'm not good at creating great rhythms or riffs or at finishing things. Most of the time I have no idea what a song might be about - I make up words and chords by improvising them both at the same time - I get a few more chords then add a few more  words with a melody and this prompts a few more chords, the structure starts to evolve - it's all very ad-hoc - I never write all the music or all the words first. My closest musician friend of nearly 19 years now is completely different - he composes and records all the music for one song (often has the melody completely worked out too) then frets (he says) over the lyrics for weeks but then seems to write them relatively quickly - he doesn't do what i do and flit from one new song to another when I run out of ideas for one song. We both have our limitations but overall, he is far more successful than I am - I had hoped we would manage to work together on his or my songs but it's never happened - I'm confident sitting down with a guitar and blank page and I just don't think he would feel comfortable putting himself on the spot to work that way yet he's a good musician, singer, songwriter - we are just different. I send him fragments as I go along wondering if he has much to say - I'm open to suggestions; he sends me songs that are completely finished and really he is not open to any feedback at all but all credit to him - he gets the job done - I'm an admirer even if I think some of his songs could be improved with a bit of feedback earlier on in the process.

    So - the conclusion I've come to - and I think this is where you might be too - is that, if I want a supportive songwriting partnership - I need to find the right person or people to work with or just try and do the whole thing myself - could you and the drummer put your own band together or is there enough of what you want and need in the rest of the band for you to stick with it?

    If the singer has only contributed a few songs in a a couple of years I think you can just forget about trying to involve him. Does your band play many covers? Does the singer suggest any? If that's more in line with his background singing covers - maybe he can focus on that, finding interesting, possibly little known songs, or thinking about ways to bring something new to old songs - I liked Noel Gallagher's version of Help - using a lot more minor chords to suit the lyrics better - even a mashup. 

    What's happened anyway - any progress or how you are going to work with your band to satisfy your want to create more original songs? You sounded a bit frustrated you just hadn't had any help or feedback from the band that was that useful. The limitations of the lockdown aren't likely to be helping - I've found my friend most helpful when we've been in the same room together and I have his full attention on a fragment I've started on - he's nowhere near as engaged when I've emailed over an mp3. 

    Keep us posted!

    cheers

    Neil

    • Like 1

    What are you listening to right now?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I've been listening to some of these sound recordings on the Nomadic Ambience YT channel - for videos around an hour you can rip the audio easily (and set the quality) using

    https://youtubetomp3music.com
     

    But for the 2,3 and 10hr videos it's easiest to download the video (I use the VideodownloadHelped browser add-on in FF) and then use VLC to strip the audio off the .MKV video file (drop me a msg if you want to know how - it's not too difficult once you've done it once) - I use it to fall asleep to. Ever since I had a radio as a teenager I've listened to something to fall asleep to (e.g. John Peel 10-midnight) - it seems weird when I can't do it like when I'm away and have forgot my mp3 player)

     

     

     

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