Fifth in an ongoing series of nearly 40 pieces collected so far and counting, loosely(obvs)...

Interlude #5

Sixth in an ongoing series of short improvisations on a 9-course archlute, with nearly 40 pieces collected so far and counting loosely(obvs)... 

Interlude #6

This began life as an étude for classical guitar that I wrote when I was about 23, and maybe only once was I able to make my way through the entire piece in one go. Since I was a bit OCD about writing down my music at the time, so it would be legible for other more practiced musicians—then I learned over the years that apparently all musicians can't read music! When I blew the dust off my manuscripts several years later to try my hand at arranging, it was quite easy to enter into the MIDI sequencer, then take off in exciting new directions with a battery of new instruments, adding new passages and movements. The title is of course, a silly and wee bit naughty pun. Watch out for the Haydnesque "surprise"...  ;->

Orchestration:  piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, French horns, trumpet, tubular bells, glockenspiel, strings, Celtic harp, harpsichord, tympani

F*** d'Overture

Did you know that the term "interlude" originally referred to small pieces composed on a lute? (from the medieval Arabic instrument "al 'ud", now called the "oud")?

This, and several other interludes were all played and recorded from 'Whispering Muse', the archlute I built as a labor of love over several years and modifications. It has eight courses and one bass drone—a total of sixteen strings. It has been said for centuries that lute players spend half their lives tuning their instruments and the other half playing out of tune. They are temperamental things, but the sound and feel of one in your hands is rewarding beyond description. Listen with a forgiving ear, please...

Interlude #10

Interlude #1

Interlude #2

Interlude #3

Interlude #4

A theme idea I sketched out on guitar and bass in September 2005 got a key-change from E to F and a revamp from grunge-punk to acousto-pop with woodwinds and African percussion a few years later. I gave the tracks another fresh-up in 2011 to see if I could put a little more space in it. But of course, .mp3 still compresses out most of the fine detail that a proper 16- or 24-bit .wav file delivers.

Newsie Land (2011 acoustic remix)

Everything I've uploaded so far has been acoustic and fairly easy on the ears, or arranged to fill a concert hall, but make NO mistake:  I like to get down in there with an axe raining fire and molten metal to _tear_that_shit_UP!  A LOT.
So this demo I recorded in September 2005 when I had to evacuate from Katrina for several weeks, carrying the barest complement of instruments and computer to a farm in the Midwest, with hours of recordings as a result. I was inspired by the Husker Du's garage-core spirit, given the spartan circumstances of my "studio" at the time. This was about an afternoon's work laying down the rhythm tracks on a borrowed Strat, then taking a few dry passes at them before charging into the solos, where I had begun experimenting with a bottleneck slide that became available. 
I did an acoustic remix of the first part, "Newsie Land" (yeah, I've discussed the punny titles), but the original version here segues into an ostinato riff of dim-seventh chops where I could try to see just how far out I could go and return, while the intensity increases with determination, as though warning of something impending, a malevolent force approaching just beyond view.

NEWSIE LAND/They're Coming, They're Coming! (krunge demo)

Composer, musician, luthier, and visual artist. I write for, play, and build a diverse range of musical instruments from the ancient to the present, for the future.


Objector Snark