MUSIC: Random Solo Recordings (2009)

I occasionally get the itch to put stuff on tape. (Well, it's 2009 now, so I'll be damned if I'm going to use actual tape. It's just an expression. What am I, a goddamned caveman?) Anyway, I record stuff once in awhile - it's sloppy & very unprofessional. I post songs here in a relatively raw form, with the hope that by making my work semi-public, it will somehow spur me to keep at it more consistently, or at the very least convince me that I need to learn how to use all this stupid equipment. Who knows. I don't know. This page has encouraged me to record six (6) mediocre songs so far this year, which sextuples my output from 2007 & 2008 (err, combined). So I guess that's...good? If you'd like to hear my full-band stuff, don't forget to check out good ol' No-Shadow Kick.

BUT IT GETS GREAT MILEAGE - Here's a song about my Ford Festiva, god damn it. I wrote it on Monday, demoed it on Friday, and recorded it on Sunday. It features a long, useless multi-tracked guitar wanking outro, which is quickly becoming my trademark. This song was featured on episode 200937 of NPR's Car Talk, Sept.12, 2009. Here's the excerpt from the show, which is sort of silly since you can hear the whole song. Did I cheat 'em? And how! (2:38 - August, 2009)

I WANT YOU TO MISS ME WHEN I'M DEAD - This is the first new song I've written in about two years. 'New' as in not-rehashing-old-material. Rather meager output, I'd say. Anyway, I have no idea what this song is about. Consumerism or doing chores or dying or something. This song is a three chord progression played over and over and over again. Strum along at home! (4:18 - May, 2009)

DON'T LOSE THAT FEELING - Here's another old-song-I've-decided-to-re-record. Harkening back to probably 1993-1994, Haverhill, Massachusetts. Back when I used to write fairly straightforward lyrics, sort of. Apparently. With the perspective of a decade-plus, I can say without embarrassment that I find this song to be somewhat charming - nothing like what I'd write now, so it sort of felt like I was covering someone else's song. Which is kinda funny. Sort of. (2:46 - Feb, 2009)

MODEL HOME - A weird instrumental track I recorded this past weekend, to be used as background music (hopefully way in the background) in a documentary about Arrested Development. It is appropriately repetitive and not too interesting and oddly upbeat. Ha. I did not 'write' it really, I just kept layering crap until it seemed suitably layered. Ho-ho. If you would like to hear this song and see some animation/title work I did for the documentary, please take a look at my portfolio. (2:16 - Feb, 2009)

INTRODUCTION - This is a song I wrote back in the mid-nineties. I unearthed a crappy demo of it on a cassette and decided it was sort of retarded but funny, so I decided to re-recorded it. It is a goofy song very much about sitting around at the Haymarket back-in-the-day (I'm talkin' old-school Haymarket, with the side room of books), nursing a long cup of coffee and drawing terrible comics. Oh, Smith girls. (2:48 - Jan, 2009)

CAN'T HARDLY WAIT - Here's a strange sort of hybrid version of one of my favorite Replacements songs. It is a combination of the Pleased To Meet Me album version, the Tim demo version, the Boink! acoustic version, plus a smidge of me fucking around with stuff. I recorded it because I felt like it. (3:54 - Jan, 2009)

Labels: 2009, Audio, Music

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Now You Know (Your Fucking Menu)

A song I wrote and recorded for Blommit.com, a site where contributors respond to a new topic each week, voted on by readers. This week's topic: Menus. Lots of graphic designer snob jokes. So sad. I wasted a whole day doing this. Jeez. Four standard-def clips equals HD! Whooo! Shot with a Flip Video camera, edited in After Effects, mixed in Audition. The green line down the right side is courtesy of lazy compression-setting. The bad singing is courtesy of lack of talent.

Labels: 2009, Music, Video

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NCTV Station ID (2007)

A station ID/promo for Northampton Community Television (Massachusetts) by Standard Design. A spoof of the classic old drive-in "Let's all go to the lobby" song. Music by Tom (that's me) and Sturgis Cunningham of The No-Shadow Kick. Drawn with Sharpies, animated with After Effects. Follow the bouncing ball!

Labels: 2007, Massachusetts, Music, Northampton, Video

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No-Shadow Kick Songs

A few tracks from good ol' No-Shadow Kick, a band I've been rocking with for a long time. Click to buy the CDs or go and visit noshadowkick.com

CHOKING ON THE BLUE HAZE - A song off No-Shadow Kick's 2005 CD Spatializing Sound in the Time Domain. Featuring Shawn Reynolds on guitar, Sturgis Cunningham on drums, and me doin' bass and vocals. It is sort of my theme song, yo.

IN THE SNOW (radio/web edit) - A song off No-Shadow Kick's 2001 EP The Promo EP. Featuring Shawn Reynolds on guitar, Jamie Gilb doing guest vocals, and me doin' bass and vocals.

SCARECROW WALTZ - A song off No-Shadow Kick's 1999 CD Basement Make-Out Party. Featuring Shawn Reynolds on drums, Josh Gilb on guitar, and me doin' bass and vocals.

Labels: 1999, 2001, 2005, Audio, Music, No-Shadow Kick

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Random Old Songs (1994-2007)

POP QUIZ ASSHOLE - From "The Vaults" - Here's an, uh, 'audio tribute' I cut together after The Matrix came out. RUN DMC + German Porn music = Magic. (1:34 - June, 2001)

STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS - Another one from the pile of old cassette mixdowns... an 8-track (ADAT) song from the mid-nineties. I was wearing my influences on my sleeve for this one, for sure. Very wanna-be Nick Cave/Tom Waits. I used to really like this sort of genre-mimicking, then I was embarrassed by it, and now I accept it as being a fine exercise and not much else. The screaming at the end is pretty funny. (3:52 - 1996-ish)

RED CENT - A Tom-oldie that I like. It's a rather flawed demo that I recorded quietly in my bedroom one night, trying to not annoy my housemate sleeping on the other side of the wall. Which really gave it a weird low-key thing that I have grown fond of over years of listening to it. I am bound to re-record a 'proper' version of this song eventually, probably ruining it in some undefineable way, but that's all right by me. The lyrics are sort of crap. (3:40 - 1995)

BIG STINKYHEAD KID - Here's a very old song I wrote before I ever heard Beck. It is rather short and nonsensical and pitch-shiftastic. (:50 - 1992-1994?)

EASY FEELING GOOD TIME - An instrumental track from, oh, 1992-1995ish? 4-track recording, sloppy, unrehearsed. If you listen closely, you can hear crap that was on the cassette before I recorded over it. Is that a fretless bass? I didn't think I owned a fretless bass back then. Weird. Likely to be resurrected in an upcoming radio segment as background music. (2:19 - 1994?)

Labels: 1994, 1995, 1996, 2001, 2005, Audio, Music

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TALLER THAN gOD - Stare Into Me (1993)

A music video project I made back in '93 or so for a class at Mass Art. The song is my old band TALLER THAN gOD, and the video is sort of boring (but sort of neat looking too) footage of Josh, re-videotaped off of a screwed up TV set. Some nice video feedback, too. The audio sync is all crazy and wrong.

Labels: 1993, MassArt, Music, TALLER THAN gOD, Video

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TALLER THAN gOD - Oedipus Complex (1993)

TALLER THAN gOD's first real show. Manchester, New Hampshire. January 2nd, 1993. The Empire Theater, which seemed like a condemned building with a PA setup. Straight, terrible video footage cut together in After Effects because I was bored this afternoon. The sound quality is surprisingly good, considering. I mistyped "Shawn" in the credits. My apologies!

Labels: 1993, Music, TALLER THAN gOD, Video

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