Ornamental Leaves

"Fuck off"...huh, I was an angry little fellow then, I guess.

Seems this is my version of Country Feedback, which I still love. I didn´t mean to

steal, though. Sadly, that means that this one will disappear in some drawer sooner or later.

A.

Yup, tomorrow´s date. Just a way of keeping my hard drive in order...

 

A. 

This one I wrote today - once again without trying to. Just wanted to try out some new VSTIs in Fruity Loops. 

It´s far from being good, but it´s nice when they keep coming easily.

 

A. 

An old riff, recorded so it doesn´t get lost.

 

A. 

wrote this in the last half hour - and can´t get rid of the feeling I stole it from somewhere.

 

A. 

Really, that´s all I wanted to say with that one!

Written today in about ten minutes and recorded right after that.

No good song I think, but I like the sound of the guitars on this one.

 

A. 

This one´s from early 2003, March I think. I wish I´d recorded a better demo of this in 2006.

Only recently you were the center of our talk for a minute.
We are forgetful creatures sometimes.

 

A. 

When weird English (this was written long ago) and bad guitar playing come together, expect nothing special.

Could be worse, could be better - much better, actually.

 

A. 

The working title for this one was Iceland, and that´s how it still sounds to me: a cold and lonely place, profound sadness...and my keys, first used as a makeshift percussion instrument and then mindlessly dropped on a table while the microphone was still on. 

The lyrics are not meant to make any sense, by the way, but they´re not subject to change either.

A. 

Quickly written and recorded on a ghastly day in January. No lyrics for the "verses" yet. 

 

A. 

No, it wasn´t Bonnie Tyler who sang that first verse.

Maybe this is a drop, quality-wise...but you´ve got to get them out of the system before they do any damage.

I should write some lyrics for this one, too...

 

A.

2006´s Christmas single. Will be revisited some time soon. The noise and the voice, the mix and whatnot. Also one of those songs written in hardly an hour. This is really fun to play and the lyrics actually mean something.

....is breaking a rule. I had meant to make this my journal of 2007, a place to post only newly recorded songs (even though they might have been written years ago), but I´m breaking my own rule this very moment.

The reason? I listened to Syracuse this morning, which reminded me of the hours during which I recorded it. These hours may not have been entirely free of bittersweet tears, but in retrospective they have that golden light of nostalgia to them (think Maxfield Parrish´s paintings...), just like the golden harp I picked out of maybe a thousand, in the dream that inspired the lyrics. Sounds even weirder than usual, huh?

While it´s not perfect by any means (what did I think when I left those lead vocals in?), it puts me in a good mood.

 

A.

I wrote this one today without actually trying to, it just came without asking my permission first, but let me tell you, I can live with that! 

There´s more complicated riffs &c., but to quote the divine Frank Black: "Embrace the cliche!". And while it might not be the greatest song, I´ve ever knocked up, the same old three chords still do the trick...

Since this one happened so fast, the lyrics are definitely experimental.  And that chorus made me go out of breath!

Oh yeah, the strings are off too, but you noticed that yourselves, didn´t you?

 

Gotta cook myself lunch now and enjoy the afternoon sun.

 A.

I came home late yesterday, cold and bone tired went to bed, almost fell asleep...and then remembered the riff I had told myself not to forget, a week ago. Glad I got up and worked it out; I even booted up the PC and recorded a quick & dirty version (and then went on to sleep like a dead man). The present demo, however, I have recorded this afternoon. There are quite some mistakes strewn all over the song, but who does really tune their guitars, or practice the new riff, or record the vocal tracks after some warm-up singing...or keep track sheets, for that matter? Yup, right: everybody does, except me. Grow up!

 

As for the lyrics, they´re not meant to make sense, just random catchphrases made up for the occasion. What´s important is in the chorus, just like it ought to be.

 

Don´t let conscience grab passion by the throat.

 

A.

I wrote this one yesterday night. How good I wasn´t too lazy to get up from the ottoman on which I´d resided, reclining, in pale but radiant beauty...umm, nope, not really.

Today (is there a better way of spending one´s birthday?) I made a couple of additions and programmed a simple drum track. As usual almost every track is a first take and it´s just a very very rough, open-ended demo, but It has its qualities, IMHO.

Enjoy!

The lyrics are about, well...

 

A.

A fresh start into the new year - with (you guessed it) just a demo! But I´ve been a prolific little ant and not a lazy grasshopper in the still young 2007. To quote Mr. McCartney: "You just wait!".

The lyrics for this one have been around for some years.

The riff came quickly and the melody had somehow been there with the words for all those years. I´ll be working on a new and final version soon.

And let's not forget the usual disclaimer: Most tracks are first takes that I made up as I went, no singing practice on that day, careless pronunciation, just a "musical post-it note" to myself, yada yada yada.

A.