Category: Song Writing

Song Number Eight

Eight down, six to go. One of those six is ready to mix (I think) and two don’t exist at all yet. Things ain’t looking good for FAWM, but the RPM Challenge is looking nice and rosy.

Song Number Seven

I started noodling out this little rocker this morning after going grocery shopping. The lyrics were recorded while sitting in the car outside of my step son’s guitar lesson. Later, after going to my nephew’s 4th birthday party, I recorded the guitars. Then after a break for some TV time I mixed it.

Not that good, but it’s there.

RPM Song #5

So if you take a four bar segment of GarageBand’s drummer, cut it into four individual pieces, and set the fill to maximum, you can almost trick garageband into giving you a drum solo. Almost.

A song about being depressed about winter. Sort of the anthem for all Bostonians these days.

Song #4

Four songs done. Six to go. (10 if I haven’t given up on FAWM, which I might have done)

I made it all the way to the fourth song before writing a lyric about worrying whether I could finish RPM on time or not. It’s like an annual thing now.

Two Songs Down

I mixed my second RPM song tonight. I liked it a lot more before I realized that the guitar part was stolen from Tanya Donelly’s song “The River” from the absolutely Earth shatteringly brilliant Throwing Muses album House Tornado. I feel like a tool now.

Rock Star

I just received an email from hearthis.at basically telling me that I am a freakin’ Rock Star:

#4

Critical Mass
in Rock

Congratulations Robert,

Critical Mass is #4 of the weekly Rock ranking:

#1 Mouse and the Traps – Maid Of Sugar, Maid Of Spice by On The Flip-Side
#2 The Wig – Crackin’ Up by On The Flip-Side
#3 Mouse and the Traps – I Am The One by On The Flip-Side
#4 Critical Mass by Robert
#5 The Esquires – These Are The Tender Years by On The Flip-Side
#6 The Outcasts – 1523 Blair by On The Flip-Side
#7 The Outcasts – Smokestack Lightning by On The Flip-Side
#8 Dj MasterBeat VS The Mastermixers -the AC/DC megamix by DeeJay MasterBeat
#9 wreally wrongkey queen by Des Harmonic
#10 The Esquires – Judgement Day by On The Flip-Side

Listen online: https://hearthis.at/?type=trending&category=rock

Wishing you a nice weekend!

Benedikt Groß
hearthis.at

So how about that, huh? You didn’t realize you were dealing with a giant of the German Rock World, did you!  Me and the Hoff, just owning all of Germany!

Granted, seeing as seven of the top 10 spots are from the same band, that might tell you more about rock music on hearthis.at than seeing a doofus like me on their weekly chart.  Maybe I should check out On The Flip-Side.

Do you think this is just a way for the site to sucker people into using up my 5000 plays so that I will have to either pay up or stop uploading files?  Could be.

An Unusual Thursday

Today has been a weird telecommute day.

I came home from dropping the kids off before school and put on a load of laundry and filled up the dishwasher.  I made myself a little breakfast and sat at my computer looking into blogging options (svbtle isn’t a free service?  It used to be free, wasn’t it?).  I read a news story about Pixies front man Black Francis.  I read up on the Orion launch situation.  At about quarter to nine I logged into work for the morning.

At lunchtime I made myself a half cup of quinoa and a bowl full of green grapes.  I also took a shower.  I usually sacrifice my morning shower time slot to my step daughter on telecommute days.  I then told a Comcast door to door salesman that I wasn’t interested in switching off of FiOS and folded that morning’s load of laundry.  Now I am writing this in the last few minutes of my break before getting back to work for the afternoon.

Now you may be asking yourself, what’s so weird about all of that?

Well, I’ll tell you.

I haven’t tried to write or record even a single note of music.  Since February 1st all of my free time at home on telecommute days was spent working on a music project.  It’s December 4th now and I haven’t started a new project.  December has been free of original music so far.  I don’t know if it’s going to stay that way or not, but it might.  I have a left over song from November, another from October, and that big 20 minute sucker from September.  Maybe I’ll finish those this month.  Maybe not.  I’ve thought about re-recording a couple of songs from the distant past.  I’ve also been thinking about covering a Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd song.  Maybe I’ll do it.  Maybe I won’t.

Maybe I’ll take December and January off from writing projects and stick to learning songs for the band.  We’ll see.

Another Song

Just a few minutes after I told myself I was done with bluesy songs this month I came up with this thing. It’s like I don’t even pay attention to my own ideas. What a jerk.

Just a note, alonetone seems to be lagging like crazy tonight. I’m not sure if this one is going to be playable. Good luck. You’re gonna need it.