I actually did this a while ago, but finally posted it up somewhere.
November from Raph Koster on Vimeo.
The Sunday Video: November
(Visited 6205 times) Music
Aug 172008
Music
Stuff about music, either mine or stuff I am listening to.
The Sunday Song: Dadgaething
(Visited 5746 times) Music
Jul 272008
This is a very old guitar instrumental of mine, and a very old recording of it, originally. You can hear the aquarium in the background… that would be the fish tank we had back in Austin. In fact, this was probably grabbed off of four-track tape at some point. I’ve always liked it, even though it’s rather quirky and in an odd modal mood.
It got its title from the tuning that it is in: D-A-D-G-A-E, a tuning I used to use a lot but don’t much anymore. I started messing with it on the piano, after the “chorus” part came to mind this evening, and this is the result — just some orchestral instruments layered on top of the original recording.
The Sunday Song: Midsummer
(Visited 5181 times) Music
Jul 062008
I finally got my recording setup sorted out. It was the stupid webcam. The control panels all said that my soundcard was selected as the input, but guess what — when I unplugged it, the issues went away.
Anyway, I wrote a weird little instrumental thing this morning, which didn’t really go anywhere. But I kept noodling with it first on the acoustic, then on the electric when my fingers got sore. Then I went back to the acoustic and started to build this up in layers. I called it “Midsummer” because I didn’t have any clever ideas for a title.
This is played in standard tuning with a partial capo at strings 3-4-5 on the second fret. There’s two acoustics and two electrics on there.
Jun 262008
- Number of users in Habbo Hotel worldwide: 20,000,000
- “Hottest” book in the US last year according to Time Magazine: 1,500,000+. (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
- Best-selling graphic novel in the US last year: 80,000. (Naruto)
- Digital sales of a hit song: 2,100,000 (Leona Lewis, “Bleeding Love”)
- Average downloads of a downloadable Rock Band track: 100,000
- Viewers of the #1 show on US TV (including DVR): 28,800,000 (American Idol)
- Viewers of the #150 show on US TV: 2,400,000 (Gossip Girl)
- Users of World of Warcraft in North America: 2,500,000
- Monthly uniques for Gaia Online: 2,000,000+
- Total number of movie tickets sold in the US in one year: 1,400,000,000
- Estimated tickets sold to the new Indiana Jones movie in five weeks: 42,290,849 (using 2007 average US ticket price and grosses to date).
Just some figures that caught my eye while browsing a few different publications…
Crooked Still
(Visited 5151 times) Music
Jun 102008
It’s been a while since I called out any music that has caught my attention — so I wanted to mention Crooked Still.
The press is labelling them as bluegrass. I suppose — though to me they sound like Alison Krauss’ voice melded with some of the classical/newgrass crossover of Appalachian Journey, though less angular. And in many ways more in the folk tradition than “normal” bluegrass (if such a thing exists anymore). The songs are arranged for double bass, cello, banjo, fiddle, and voice — and they’re all traditional songs taken to the point of unrecognizability at times. Really dark deep tones and really hypnotic.
The first two albums are Shaken by a Low Sound and Hop High. You can hear what they sound like on their MySpace page.
