I actually did this a while ago, but finally posted it up somewhere.
November from Raph Koster on Vimeo.
Stuff about music, either mine or stuff I am listening to.
I actually did this a while ago, but finally posted it up somewhere.
November from Raph Koster on Vimeo.
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.
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.
Just some figures that caught my eye while browsing a few different publications…
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.