As stated in the Art page, I’d like to collect here some auditory pleasures for your enjoyment!
Wow! I can’t believe I forgot about this. Back around the same time I was doing these other ditties, I had fallen in love with the works of Vashti Bunyan and decided I wanted to try making my own rendition of Diamond Day on the piano. At the time I’d been really spending a lot of time meditating on life and how I felt about where I was at; ultimately trying to reach that lovely calm simple space I now have access to much more easily than I did in the past. Diamond Day was one of those songs that really grounded me and just felt so nice to take in. The piano bit came pretty easily, and to it I added guitar as well. It is very short, but it captured the original in a new interpretation that really caught how I was feeling at the time. Perhaps I can do a full cover of the music sometime soon. Enjoy!
Diamond Day Sample 1.44MB
The very first bit of music I ever improvised and felt was good enough to actually save and share is this one right here.
This was worked out on a Roland CM-32L and fullsize piano keyboard, improvised in two parts with the bells recorded as backing and the pipes put down on top. Maybe I’ll go back and record a more polished version, but it does convey the desired emotion.
Bells & Pipes 4.91MB
Or, if you prefer to share without downloading a file: The Youtube Version!
A late-night improvisation on the old upright Beckwith back in April of 2010; this was the sort of thing I got up to when the power went out or there was nothing else to do (there was often one, the other, or both of these in effect in those days).
I’m not sure that this had any sort of theme or intent; it just rolled off my fingertips, errors and all, on the spot.
Tuesday’s Ideas 13.9MB
130410a and 130410b… Yes I have the knack for naming music don’t I? Ultimately it means they were recorded on the 13th of April 2010 and that’s about it.
These are more piano improvisations on my 120 year old Beckwith piano, late at night, bored with nothing to do.
130410a 2.25MB
130410b 377kB
Friday night was a bit more special to me, although I can’t be sure why (it was eleven years ago after all). But listening to this now, I’d say it’s grown on me quite a bit. I should try to do more like this. I feel like it should be performed on the Koto.
Friday Night 5.62MB
I got so bored one day I decided to try playing a guitar… Which I’d never really attempted before… But I wasn’t satisfied with just playing the damned guitar, no, I had to add a giant hard drive magnet to the process. I discovered that the huge gently curved neodymium magnet clung to the strings in just the right way to create this wonderfully twangy slide-guitar sort of sound.
Here’s what I got…
Magnetic Guitar 4.25MB
This one was a real throat-gripper for me. I was dialing through the HF bands very very late at night, way back in about 2005, and came upon this serious creepy repeating sound. To this day, I have no idea what it was about, but I am glad I had a tape recorder connected to the radio at the time and managed to catch a copy of this. I let it go for a few repetitions and have asked numerous folks what the heck it is, but nobody has really any clue. I even sent it in to Art Bell at Coast to Coast AM but didn’t receive a reply.
Here it is for your enjoyment, or just to plain creep you out! (Just imagine, in the dimly lit radio shack, late at night, tubes glowing, nobody around, and this stuff comes blasting across the airwaves!)
Aliens 7.32MB