https://the-serendipitous-cacophonies.blogspot.com/

Getting Bread

When I went to school....wait.....let me clarify. When I actually bothered to go to school, I really liked the "craft" lessons. particularly "collage". I suppose I could have done Latin and French but I chose "craft" and I am a better man for it.

This is my musical collage of 2016 so far (Jan 10th). Recorded today and tomorrow...January 9th into January 10th.
So much has happened already, 
Memories of Christmas - laughing from "Creature comforts"
A TV advert for  hunger monkeys - "Doot"
Theme from "Police squad"
December maggots, January flies
A short Talk box solo.
The flu
Being pulled over by the police - "good evening all"
Telling police that I am insured
Police telling me that they suspect I am not insured.
Me saying (not out loud)what the fu..............
Police towing away my van 
Me saying (not out loud)what the fu..kin...fu.....
then me saying (out loud)what the fuck is going on, you bunch of bast........etc  and ending up in jail.
My van is insured, I am so righteous.
When I am free I thrust the insurance documents under the policeman's nose, he says " bear with me Mr Dazzled, I will contact your insurance company to confirm your details",
 I say (out loud) Thank you Mr Policeman, I am very grateful",
Under my breath "I curse this pip squeak of a man....then he returns... " Just a few more minutes Mr Dazzled and your paper work will be ready"  .... I reply " Will I be able to get my van back today? and then (not out loud) "you poor excuse for a pip squeak" ?... "Yes" the pathetic PC pip squeak replies. 
"Well thank the fucking donkeys for that" I said (not aloud). 
He said "pardon?" 
I said " I am so grateful for the effort you are putting in to sorting out this dreadful mess"
He nods and turns away, relieved to break the steely stare I have just inflicted on him. He knows he is a piece of cold dog shite who has falsely accused a handsome Sound cloud veteran  of driving a transit van without insurance.
In the foyer of the police station I meet an Amy Winehouse look alike, stick thin, and freshly robbed by her now ex boyfriend, we swap injustices, she sits next to me, offers to drive me to where my van is imprisoned, I say out loud  " we'll see how it goes" She looks down 
Then Cledwyn enters the foyer, owner of a local Bed and Breakfast, In his 70,s and full of stories, some of them are true. He has been robbed but quicky brushes over this to tell two eager young policemen, and me ,about the several funny stories he has memorised.
PC pip squeak appears, gushing with promises of my imminent freedom, I stand, defiantly,  and nod enthusiastically at the torrent of vacuous nonsense this imbecile is projecting at me. 
"Thank you" I say, "It won't be long" he says, and I say (not aloud) Why don't you....etc. etc.
The  Amy Winehouse look alike has disappeared, but Cledwyn is telling his third story about a Ronwy, a policeman in a wild west wales town called Carmarthen. I know this Ronwy chap and we exchange hilarious stories dating back to the 1980's, happy times.
The Amy Winehouse look alike walks out with her ex boyfriend, I look down. 
Then PC pip squeak hands me the document of freedom and I stare at him intently, he looks down and retreats,
Cledwyn offers to drive me 7 miles to where my van has been unjustly imprisoned, I accept, We genuinely laugh and joke through the journey, he wants to tell his stories and I want to get to my van, we are brothers.
We arrive in very good spirits, Cledwyn tells all his stories to the garage owner, my smile is wearing thin but my destiny is in sight, I endure and finally pay £150 to get my van back,
hall.. eh...fuc..kin ...leu..leah.
I will get my £150 back from the dumb insurance company, but my freedom is priceless.
Cledwyn has wandered down the village to tell his stories to someone and I am now without purpose, what an absolutely glorious feeling.
Then I went to Morrisons, had supper, drank wine and beer and did this,
The end.


Always a freak, but never a hippy. (2016 so far)

There is now a better mastered version of this track featuring an excellent intro on Phil's page here: https://soundcloud.com/phil-mcwalter/song-for-a-fallen-rockstar-with-overture-1 which I would definitely recommend over the version here.

I wrote this song after David Bowie died – started out with a lot of lyrics – which I later worked into sections, then wrote chords and melody lines and kept on going with more sections until I’d run out of energy. Didn’t have a chance to record it until Easter when I did a basic arrangement with piano along with some strings and simple brass.

I then ran it past Phil McWalter (@phil-mcwalter) – who very kindly offered to do some guitar parts, and also had a lot of other ideas – and – to cut a long story short – Phil has since put in loads of work on the track and has developed it with enormous energy and enthusiasm (and stoic tolerance for my pickiness and un-adventurousness). We’ve ended up with a truly collaborative result that is hugely more entertaining and substantial than my first version, and Phil’s vision for the track has brought out meaning in it for me that I don't think I'd seen properly when I was writing it. Thank you so much Phil - for all your time, and all your patience!

Also many thanks to Jonathan Beckenstein (@jonathan_beckenstein) for his thoughtful and encouraging feedback on this track in both its later version and, crucially, on its first version.

---

@wheelwright: Words, vocals, chord structure and vocal melody, piano, some strings and a bit of rather dull brass here and there.

@phil-mcwalter: Guitars, trumpets, drums and percussion, bass, choir, bells, snyths, cello, extra strings, general production on all parts, and mixing.

---

Well there's a danger
If you're a rock star
And you live too long
They'll say you died too late to save your reputation

But what do they know
They still played the songs you sang
And printed photographs
Of you when you were young

Oh what do they know
Yeah what do they know
There can be no music in their souls

Just for a moment
Seemed like a star shone
Brighter than the sun

But on the next day
It was all explained away
And life just carried on

But this unbearable
Sense of impermanence
It builds us up
It cuts us down

But when the air is still
Just before the dawn
I think maybe
Oh just maybe
I could find my way back home

Then all the bad girls sing along
Coz all the good girls couldn't come
To your performance

And as the closing credits roll
All the kids get up to go
Oh maybe someone shed a tear
But we'll never know
And I begin to realise
I'm not so good at letting go

They'll try to break into your mind
They'll try to steal away your strangeness
But there’s no future with no engine of desire
Oh who’s going to paint those pictures
Who’s going to set the world on fire

Oh who needs structure for the sake of structure
Who needs love for the sake of love
When your daddy said history repeats you said
I don't want to hear about that

And when they took him away he said
Please don't test my blood
In case it's already cold

And we made up all these stories
But they turned out to be true
But we’ve got to make a new life
Anywhere but here

And we ran before the flood
And we thought our hearts would burst
But it turned out we were young
And so we didn't die

And we ran before the flood
And we thought our hearts would burst
And I took your hand in my hand
And we ran for miles and miles

And I'm dreaming that I'm lying here
With my back against the snow
I'm reaching for the stars
But the earth won't let me go
They say there's nothing left now
But something still remains
Yeah

There's something out there



Song For A Fallen Rockstar (Wheelwright & Phil McWalter)

This track did not make it on my album https://tcfsr.bandcamp.com/album/between-awe-and-rawness because of legalities. No download for this one therefore, and may be available for limited amount of time.

Music of the Spheres

Improvisation 11.05.2016 (pad+ version)

From the album 'Fretboard Challenged', available to download (full CD packaging artwork included) or stream absolutely FREE from ...
http://steamabacusproductions.bandcamp.com/album/fretboard-challenged

As a denizen of thefretboard.co.uk guitar community I
have been a regular contributor to the periodic 'Fretboard
Composition Challenges' under my forum username of
SteamAbacus.

Every 2 or 3 months there is a new challenge with a
different remit - these can range from as simple as
(Challenge #11) -
"Freedom! - Record whatever you like! No time
limit!"

through the more technical (Challenge #3) -
"Chord Fun. Create an audio track a minimum of 1
minute and a maximum of 2 minutes in length using
only the chords Bmaj7, Gmaj, Esus4 and the notes
within them"

to the downright silly (Challenge #9) -
"They said it couldn't and shouldn't be done but to
save the world you must compose the ultimate funky
folk mash up song! Go forth and ruin music forever,
good people!"

My compositions have ranged from simple guitar &
looper based recordings to fully-fledged tunes multitracked
on the computer. Part of my motivation in undertaking
these Composition Challenges was to familiarise myself
with my 'new and improved' computer recording set up -
which, for me, actually means a WindowsXP computer
running CubaseSX! Not without reason do these
productions go under the name 'Steam Abacus'.

This collection is a chronological record of each of my
submitted compositions and my struggles to embrace
modern (or not-so-modern) digital recording technology.

My thanks to Sheldon (Antique_Guitars on the forum) for
organising and to all the other contributors to these
Fretboard Composition Challenges.
- Steve Baker, 28/05/2016


© Steve Baker 2016

I Have A Door! (from 'Fretboard Challenged', FREE album at steamabacusproductions.bandcamp.com)

This recording is about 4 years old I found it and thought =I'd post it

GOING DOWN

Tom said "Fancy doing Superstition?"
We all said "YES!" 
Tom put an initial music bed together which was amazing, of course! Hedd sang the heck out of it and Rick laid some serious drummage on it. I added my stuff and here we have it... enjoy strutting your funky stuff! "Remember! Free drinks tonight!"

THRP were Tom, Hedd, Rick & Phil (RIP Hedd 2021)

Vocals: Hedd (RIP) @Randy-Hedrick
BVox: Tom @Tom-Roxx
Guitars & Synths: Tom & Phil @Tom-Roxx @Phil-McWalter
Drums & Percussion: Rick @Rick-4-1
Bass: Tom 
Brass: Phil 
Final Mix and Mastering: Phil

(If you are interested in guitars: I took the first solo/harmony section 2:05-3:04, Tom the second from 4:00 and out. Tom played all the funky rhythm stuff too :-). Please share some love on Tom's page too: https://soundcloud.com/tom-roxx/superstition-with-phil-rickhedd-and-tom-new

SUPERSTITION - THRP

I record music just for fun. 
12 guitars, E-Bow, Line 6 pods, TH2 amp modelling, Roland XP30, Omnisphere, Trilian, Stylus RMX, EZ Drummer, drum sample Cd's and Ableton Live Lite 7. Influences include - Guinness.

Always a freak, but never a hippy. (2016 so far)

Deeply Dazzled