A disturbing AI-generated image of a faceless man, potentially wearning a suit, falling into some grass as seen from above. He seems to have more limbs than one would expect for a human.

This song is about growing through failure. Similar in spirit to what Adam Savage of MythBusters has said about “embracing failure.” In the fine tradition of these sorts of challenges, I didn’t really have an idea so I took an existing one (hopefully it’s obvious, “Learning to Fly” by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) and used that as the basis for something new. Similar to “Uncomfortably Numb” by American Football in terms of execution (but not in terms of sound).

I wanted to do something in a minor key and almost got there, settling on the Dorian mode because that little tiny extra lift in the raised sixth (as compared to natural minor / Aeolian) fit the mood of the song better. For this one I also wanted to do a bit of multi-tracking, but I probably took it too far as the recording process extended a few minutes past midnight. I don’t consider this a cheat because the song itself was written well before 12 a.m. came around. This one was recorded in my home studio, with acoustic guitar, electric bass, claves, tamborine, a shaker, a electric guitar solo, and some harmony vocals.

This is a pop-punk song intended to be about the classic trope of “Splitting a Room in Half” (time-waster warning: TVTropes link).

I imagine a fully fleshed out version would be something like a downtempo Ramones-inspired pop-punk tune, like “Crying in My Beer” by Screeching Weasel or “Number One” by the Queers. I had come up with a little lead guitar line and intended to do a tiny bit of multi-tracking, with the recording uploaded being an earlier demo. However, I ran out of motivation and had to go with what I had. So imagine the “Na na na’s” that open the song are instead a lead guitar line. Since I was still forming the song in my head when recording this version, I also had forgotten the fully riff by the time I got to its second repetition. Bottom line is, this recording’s a little rougher than I’d like. This was recorded on my trusty Hohnrt HAG-250P half-size guitar, which is just incredible for expressing ideas quickly, and is the type of guitar it’s totally fine to take to beach and get sunscreen all over.

Continue reading “Jamuary 2023 Day 4: “Half a Room”” →

A calendar where the grid is ocean water, and some days are tropical islands with palm trees sticking out of a small hill of sand.

Being the first day back to my day job after a nice late-year break, I couldn’t help but think of how we sometimes get into “survival mode,” hopping between isolated islands of events to look forward to. There can be a therapeutic element to writing songs. I get hit pretty hard by post-Christmas blues for a number of reasons, so the month of January can really be a struggle for me. It’s a combination of not having holidays to look forward to, having work spin up again after lots of people have been out, and probably a bit of Seasonal Affective Disorder — I do live in Seattle, after all, and our January – June timeframe can be… bleak, to say the least.

The original idea for this song, the “spark” or “seed,” was to do a Bob’s Burgers end credits style song, with a call-and-response portion. Something like, “Visiting the park with my family / that’s an island in the week / Playing music with my friends / that’s an island in the week.” However, by the time I had the rest of the material it didn’t really seem to fit, so I had to leave it on the cutting floor. It still did its duty, because I’ve been finding that a huge part of writing one song a day is coming up with something to write about.

Recorded live with just a ukulele as accompaniment, into the mono microphone on my laptop.

Continue reading “Jamuary 2023 Day 3: “Islands in the Week”” →

A dream-like kid's nursurey, with a milky way of stars shining on some tiny, kid-sized houses.

 

This is the first song I actually wrote and recorded on the day, after taking a late start. I have a young child enrolled in school, and as the winter break progressed, we lapsed on bedtime, letting it slip later and later. As the 2nd was the last day of Winter Break, it was a struggle to enforce the usual school day bedtime. I realize this can be hard on kids, especially with the excitement of a return to school coming. This song is an appreciation of the attempt to get to sleep, even though young ones often feel compelled to move their bodies, fidget, and make up excuses to delay bedtime.

Recorded with a ukulele as accompaniment using my laptop’s mono microphone.

Continue reading “Jamuary 2023 Day 2: “Thanks For Trying To Go to Sleep”” →

Cover image: A small boat like a canoe, parked on a beach at a small lake.

This song’s about a local Seattle conservative radio personality who passed away right at the end of 2022. When people with disproportionate power use it to harm the less powerful we need to discuss that harm; death is not a shield from one’s misdeeds in life.

My buddy and bandmate Nathaniel suggested we do Jamuary together at our New Year’s Day party on January 1, and I didn’t get around to actually writing and recording anything until the January 2, after I recovered from my hangover. This is the first of two tunes written that day. Recorded live in mono on my laptop microphone with just a ukulele.

Continue reading “Jamuary 2023 Day 1: “Ditching Dori”” →