Get It Here

Guitars!

Loud Guitars!

Singing! (or at least something vaguely like it)

The song itself is about the scientific method. Obviously.

Since this is the first song back from the synthland that was Project Vortex all my guitars got used. The first solo was me totally shredding on the Ibanez RG Prestige. The slide guitar solo was actually done on my Ashton plywood strat-o-crap with an allen key. The Squier tele’o'doom being used for the non-slide part of the second solo.

It feels good to rock the fuck out on the guitar again.

The final sample is partly a random explosion I found, and partly from the Mythbusters.

Lyrics:

Chorus:
Rinse and repeat (x3)
Let it wash the false away

Verse 1:
Consider the problem
Ponder the question
Pursue and answer
Form a conjecture

Verse 2:
Deduce a prediction
Based on the reason
Look for the converse
Testing all you can

Image obviously taken from xkcd

Mode: G Mixolydian
Get It Here

So…. we come to the end of our cycle through the modes with this piece. It is very much a fusion of different styles.

It is a little more ambient than the others…. but it still has a nice beat in a hiphop style. The chords, on the synth pads and arpeggios, are actually in a ragtime progression. The recurring washy “chorus” is actually sampled and heavily effected record scratches. The tinkly solos are from me improvising using the keys on my macbook as input.

The whole thing is kind of a chillout piece. At least I think it is. I don’t ever really listen to dance music. It just washes over you like a cloud.

The end sample is…. totally obvious and totally correct in its message.

Image exploded from NASA via wikipedia

Yeah, I was there.

Midsong costume change FTW!

Die! Die! Die! Motherfucker Die!

Mode: F Lydian
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This is me, completely stripped down. Just a piano. No synths. No guitars. No drums. Just the gravecembalo col piano e forte. Or at least a digital facsimile of a Steinway Grand Piano, and maybe a couple of effects to add a little character.

Anyway, this song was me aiming for something simple and pretty but with a haunting quality. Like daydreaming in a nice garden, but occasionally almost glimpsing something evil slithering in the shadows. The raised 4th of lydian combined with the sharp tone of the overdriven piano really provides that.

Or at least that’s what I think.

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A few weeks ago the Battlestar Galactica finale aired. It was ultimately unsatisfying because instead of tying up all the loose ends with logical answers, they just said “god did it” to explain every one. After 4 seasons of buildup we just had the rug pulled out from under us.

It left most people feeling ripped off, because “god did it” doesn’t explain anything. It is the ultimate non-answer. It is what we used to use as a placeholder for an answer before the truth was discovered.

For example:
We used to say that when it rained “god did it”. Now we have climatic models, the hydrologic cycle, synoptic charts and weather radar.

Now the majority of people check a weather report when they want to know if it’ll rain tomorrow, not ask their local prophet, shaman or witch doctor.

The problem is that a number of people are trying to use the “god” reason to push their views on the populace at large. Whether it is trying to get “god did it” to replace the thoroughly proven science of Evolution, or saying “god said don’t do it” to discriminate against gay couples…. it is still the same non-answer.

I’m not saying that a religious person can’t have an opinion, of course they can, but if they want to argue it in the public square they need to do so on the same terms…. Especially if they are trying to influence Government policy and legislation. A so-called holy book can’t be the basis of your arguments. If you want to use science, logic or reason to argue against gay marriage, or for us continuing to use christian holidays as the basis for public holidays then that is fine.

Just keep your God out of my Government.

Picture magically disappeared from here

Mode: E Phrygian
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Phrygian always makes me think of non-western music. It has an inherent tonality that hints at the music of India and the middle east. Something about the flatted second being only 1 semitone above the root, it brings to mind the disharmony of the non-western microtonal music.

This linked in well with Kushiel’s Avatar, the third book in the Kushiel’s Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey, that I was just finishing at the time. Some of the story of the book is set in the Middle East and Africa, and that inspired the song, at least indirectly.

In this song I really focused in on that with lots of drone notes and an almost excessive use of the flatted second that is at the heart of the mode. The drums are based on classic African polyrhythms, and some of the instruments (like the sitar) are all about hitting the clichés of the style. Of course my own style still shines thru with the rock organ driving the song along. Although it is much more sparse and texture-based than my usual melody driven instrumentals.

Image dropped out from here

So, last week I found out about a new service called RadarRadio. They’d posted an ad in the drum classifieds about artists submitting music, and I thought I’d check it out.

Firstly, its an Austereo digital radio station. The likelihood of digital radio taking of in oz is about -1, so submitting music there is as probably as good as just putting up on a random website in terms of getting it out there.

Secondly, the Terms of Service…. There is the usual royalty-free license:
# to access or examine any User Content;
# to use and reproduce the User Content and to communicate the User Content to the public, including but not limited to, on and in connection with any of our radio stations including any digital radio station established by us, on the Website or any other website operated by us and through any wireless service (including any service which enables material to be accessed on a mobile telephone or similar device or by podcast (whether such service is now known or hereafter developed)); and
# at our discretion, to move, remove or disable access to User Content which we consider, in our sole opinion, to breach any law or to be otherwise unacceptable

The usual stuff, but in this case it’d mean that if that song got popular you’d basically get no money from Australian Radio.

The next bit though isn’t so usual:
“To the extent permitted by applicable law, you unconditionally and irrevocably waive all moral rights you hold in the User Content in favour of us and our successors and assigns and you unconditionally and irrevocably consent to all or any acts or omissions by us, or any person authorised by us, in relation to User Content Posted by you which may infringe any moral rights you hold; including, but not limited to, your right:

* (i) to be identified as the author of any User Content;
* (ii) to take action against any false attribution; and
* (iii) to object to derogatory treatment of your User Content”

WHAT THE FUCK????

So if I upload a copy of my song Unicorn, then Austereo suddenly owns all rights to it. Which means they could then sue me for distributing my own song on chaotimusic.com.

Don’t listen to this bullshit, and share this with all your friends.