Here's track 10, "Octopus Zoo".. the title track of the album. This is a reworking of a song I recorded as StrawBerry Yoga back in 1993. I think I gave out maybe two copies of that album ("Garbage") on tape. It was some lo-fi noise freak-folk kind of something or other. It's a strange song, seeming to meander a bit at the beginning, until it takes off into a danceable pop bit and destroys itself in a climax of noise and confusion. The bonus song is a different mix of "Octopus Zoo" that is just even noisier and stranger.
"Circles" is a laid back song with vocoder vocals. It has a bit of a 70s era Kraftwerk/Jarre vibe to it. It borrows some phrases from the classic "The Spinning Song" by Albert Ellmenreich. For that reason, the b-side is a Vacant Sky Parlor arraignment of that piano classic.
"Honey Lamb" is sort of bit of a hopping groovy song of sorts until the halfway mark it jets off into a rising barrage of descending chords and percussion.
The b-side is a lo-fi sounding alternate mix in an attempt to emulate the sound of an old cassette tape copy of a vinyl record.
"Eyelids Blossom Tulips" is sort of a trippy song mostly based on my love of a cup of tea, and other ideas sort of thrown in. I like the music in this one a lot.
The b-side is a song from the scrapped "hype!" ep project. It's an instrumental song that I feel is kin to Eyelids.
"Nor a Drop to Drink" is one of the longer songs on the album. It goes through several sections and, I think, it is a bit of journey from start to finish like a storm building.
The b-side is a stripped down mix revealing primarily the background instruments.
Song 5 is here. Thumping bass and some simple and somewhat silly lyrics, with toy keyboard leads, and some latin percussion because I can. The b-side is just some toyful playing around with the same setup.
Track 4 is now available. It's a noisy synthesizer freakout laid atop of frantic distorted piano and some driving drums, with a short break in the middle for a nervous interlude. Pick it up!
The b-side is just a little extra noise to get you through the day.
Here's the music I did for the short film The River's Edge.
The movie we did as part of the 48 Hour Film Project, as part of the Digital Media Program at AB Tech. Basically, people form groups, and on Friday night are assigned a prop, a character,a genre and a line of dialogue. They then have 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and score a short film. I post the movie here, and all the music I wrote for it. If you want just the stuff that's in the movie, then get River Scene and Driving Ditty. I'm doing this music under the name of Clara Kirkbride.. maybe I should go with Robert, or Douglas or something.
I have completed work on "Eyelids Blossom Tulips", excluding some final mixing/mastering changes that may occur. This is one of my favorite songs from the 'Octopus Zoo' album I'm doing as Vacant Sky Parlor. I wrote the lyrics during the summer after reading an interesting story about Bodhidharma cutting off his eyelids to prevent himself from falling asleep. In the legend, it is actually a tea plant that grows up from the eyelids, but I liked the wordplay of tulips. It is actually my love of tea that lead to me reading the story though.
Original, it was not going to be a song, however.. I was very disappointed with the song "In The Dust". So, I decided to scrap it. I had tried approaching it different ways, and was not happy with any of them. So, I decided to try lifting "Eyelids Blossom Tulips" from my notebook and turn a short little poem into an actual song. And it ended up being one of the songs I like the most.
There's a handful of other songs I wrote during the past 9 months for this album that got scrapped along the way, but none that I despised as much as "In The Dust".. which is funny in a way, because I conceived it as being the opener of the album to start it off. Some of them will probably show up on little free downloadable MP3 EP zip files I plan on releasing through 2008.
Finally, and it's about time.. I am releasing for MP3 download, the first track of the VSP mini-album 'hype!'. This little instrumental opening track is called "Mind Your Hats". It's just a simple thing loaded with reverb and overloaded through the mixer (or at least a simulation of such) to give it a washed out noisy sound. While it's not too entertaining or exciting, it would complete the set if you wanted to have the whole album, which will be served up in pieces over the next few months.
You may recall that 'hype1!' is just a little collection of goofy songs I did to take a break from working on the real album 'Octopus Zoo'. I really look forward to sharing 'Toolbox' with you, cuz it's the silly one with a good groove (I actually read a several articles and tutorials on Salsa rhythms before writing it)
Well I am trying to get a college group at the uni where I work and promo the cause in 5 towns. So I am mustering all the resources I can. I will promo the blog and add to it as well as my own stuff.
WIDGETIZE