Heave Media

You're Only As Good As Your Latest Song

Another Day On Earth writes and records a new song every day – and HEAVE gets a weekly update on this adventerous project.

Hello there. Since January, because of a girl or something, I've been writing and recording a song each and every day. This has allowed me to get to know my therapist better, and to realize he owns a Sigmund Freud action figure. Anyways, I post the tunes on a "blog," http://anotherdayonearth.net. I'm using this space to review the week's songs. I promise to be scathing when necessary, after all, like any of us loathsome "creative types," I am my own worst critic:

Saturday, August 22nd - little soul

After the end of the last week, I wanted to get back to "my roots." So I made this no frills simple folk song. Also, I ate 9 bowls of Cookie Crisp and watched Transformers for 3 hours. My roots run deep. All in all, I think it's a nice little melody. Not perfect. My voice wavers a bit and the production is barer than my Uncle, the nudist. Some songs obviously benefit from that kind of sparse production. I'm just not sure if this one does. Doing this project, it's hard to tell sometimes. I think I decide that a song "needs" sparse production based more on my burnout level than what the song actually need. And as said last week, I have been burnt out lately. I'm working on it. I got a French press, although I haven't quite figured out how to use it yet. I'll get back to you on that one.

Older song it reminds me of: cradle of life

Sunday, August 23rd - lottery

This song has absolutely muddled and awful production but there's still something about it I still like - just a sort of dark dance song. I wish it sounded better, but I'm recording on approximately $18 dollars of equipment so beggars can't be choosers. But wait, I'm not begging for anything. In that case, poor people can't be choosers? That doesn't quite have the same resonance.

The only part of the song that works to me, sound wise, is the last 30 seconds or so. I like the grizzled and gross guitar at the end. The beat is nice too. When I do these dance-ish songs, I always cook up the beat first, then I just sort of sit at the synth or keyboard with the beat on repeat just to see what I come up with. I have done it the opposite way a few times but it's usually frustrating to match a beat to something that is already in my head, and at this point in my blog life I'm trying to avoid frustration. I am just about 8 months in, so I am just about in my golden years. The blog has officially become my garden, and I am it's old man attendant. Hey kids, get off my lawn.

Older song it reminds me of: old haunts

Monday, August 24th - days of the sun

This song is great for the first 2/3rds or so. It has a weird Neil Young meets Grandaddy vibe complete with interesting harmonies and nice downbeat guitar picking. It all went south after that, though. I had this ending coda and I just couldn't figure out a good arrangement for it. So I kept it plain, only being as how it was coming off of the rest of the song, the plainness just sounded stupid and only worked to highlight the faults with the entire track. It sounded ok at the time, but in retrospect, I really s hould have worked harder to make that coda better. I did throw on one simple harmony on the second half of it. So, what I should have done (woulda, shoulda, coulda.). is throw that simple harmony on the first half, then concoct something more intricate for the second half that used the first half's harmony as a jumping off point. Do you see what I mean? When I redo this in 2011, that's exactly what I'll do.

Older song it reminds me of: a little world

Tuesday, August 25th - days of the moon

See what I did there? It’s a bona-fide sequel so close to the original. This is like when those last two Matrix movies came out within months of one another. Too bad they sucked. I can honestly say, even though I a propensity towards self-criticism, that this song is much better than those two Matrix movies. It has a neat beat, and this snake charmer vibe running throughout. It sounds like belly dancing music. I've never done anything quite like this before, so that in itself makes me happy. This is exactly what I needed to make me excited again. Doing a song every day creates it's own double-edged sword: You get so sick of your "template" but at the same time that template is the least time consuming thing to draw from. Rinse and repeat.

It also has a similar ending to "Lottery," in that layers keep coming and going. I wanted to repeat what I did there only with a much better song. I think I succeeded. Even though the only reason it's a sequel at all is because I still had the phrasing from yesterday's song in my head. That happens sometimes. My head can only hold so many phrases and melodies in it at one time. It has such a tenacious grasp on the ones it does hold on to that if I don't record a melody the second I think of it, I usually lose it.

Now, I don't have an iPhone. I have a crappy Motorola Razor. So when I'm out in the world and I dream up a melody, my only option is to call my voicemail and leave myself a message where I stand on the street humming the melody like a buffoon. Couple this with my avoidant tendency to never check voicemails (how many telemarketers and college loan people can one guy listen to?) and the fact that the phone's receiver makes everything sound like a garbly mess, and you can imagine how well this works. What's a song a day blogster to do? Never leave the house? Done and done.

Older song it reminds me of: anyways

Wednesday, August 26th - miracle music

This is a simple acoustic song, like so many others before it. But, it's kind of misleading. I actually have some neat guitar work, only I buried it in the background and brought the vocals way up to the front so it's hard to find. If you wear headphones you should be able to make some of it out. I did this because my voice was really on that day. I don't know if it's all the wine I've been drinking, or the packs of slippery elm lozenges I consume daily. Actually, once I read that cigarettes help your singing voice too. Now, if only bad nachos and watching streaming tv shows on the internet helped your voice. I'd be the next Pavarotti. Still, for whatever reason, I sound really good on this song. So, I said, to hell with the backing tracks, let's pull a radio rock and put my voice front and center. My whole life I've been against that, for the most part. I come from the "Sorta hear the vocals but not well enough to understand what they are saying" school. Superchunk always did that well. So it goes against my judgment to put the vox up front, but still, my judgment is not always correct. I can't let myself think things are "right" just because that's the way it was in the stuff I liked when I was young. That's the very definition of ignorance. So, thanks blog. You have managed to teach me something, after all!

Older song it reminds me of: country music and poetry

Thursday, August 27th - fallin' thru

Or maybe not - I buried the vocals so low in this song you can barely make them out. I'm just trying to do an early Teenage Fanclub demo here, complete with an overstated guitar solo and tons of feedback. I didn't give it enough time to make it great, obviously. It's basically two guitar tracks and two vocal tracks, and that's it. I loaned my bass to someone a few months back and never got it back, otherwise this would be the perfect song for it. This is something I could work on later on and make a fun live song. As it stands now, it's more or less a snippet. Still, could be worse. I could have gone for an early Nickelback demo.

Older song it reminds me of: songs against songs

Friday, August 28th - if i was an alien

This is kind of a throwaway pop song. I had to work that day. The kind of work that makes it so I can, sorta, eat. I like the choruses but otherwise it sounds amateurish and ridiculous. The guitar solo is kind of fun. But check that voice, geeze. Sounds like Tiny Tim getting kicked in the nuts. And no, I'm not going to make a "But Tiny Tim sounds like that regularly" joke. Respect the dead, people.

Older song it reminds me of: open up and say blahh!, bref, i wish i had a piano

Ok. I'm done for this week. I'm going to go trip on acid and change my whole perspective on shit.

Posted by Lawrence Bonk on Sep 01, 2009 @ 12:00 am