My own compositions (prog/psych/jazz)

I am fairly new here, but Momentum really captured my full attention. Was any of it created through improvisation?

I also noticed your Bandcamp page, pretty sweet stuff. I am glad to see some publishing of tracks.

I also have a site there, under the artist name Faxotxoal. Hope you might be intoxicated by it if you take a listen.

Thanks for listening there in Norway! I appreciate the feedback. I'm not really sure about the circle of fifths comment, because sure, there is scattered usage of the 5th tonality throughout the song, but no more than just about any other song you might ever hear. This song is much more based around minor 3rd modulation, diminished ideas, and half steps than any "circle of fifths" concepts. Again though, I really appreciate your comments and I love seeing that someone as far away as Norway is hearing my music. Cheers

Thanks for listening! I think you're right about Trapavoid. The drums sound a bit too loud and the guitar could probably come up a notch too. Like I said, these are song models, so I really didn't put much time into the levels (although I suppose I should have before I put them up here. Ah what the hell, I'll get around to it someday). As for the bass line intro, this is an example of something that I think would be much more effective in a live setting as opposed to a computer instrument (duh!). It doesn't really capture the droning atmosphere that I was going for.

I recorded Waltz of Embers a couple months after I turned 17. I had been listening to a lot of The Mars Volta, Hella, and Zeppelin, and I was just starting to get into Mahavishnu Orchestra, Frank Zappa, KC, and a lot of jazz like John Coltrane and Charlie Mingus. A few weeks up to recording this particular track, I was pretty much obsessed with Hot Rats and I wanted so badly to be in a band just like Zappa's (who wouldn't?). So this song was sort of the product of my frustration with the lack of like-minded musicians around me. I whipped out the 8-track and stayed up all night recording. I decided to stick with a simple two chord vamp and just improvised a one take lead. I wrote the song as I recorded it (hope it's not too obvious).

Thanks for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated. I'm going to get some sleep now...

P.S. - check out the other 2 sometime when you get a chance. I have tons more songs that I'll post in the future, these 5 just seemed the most fitting for a prog forum.

Just thought I'd post some songs and song models on here for feedback. When I say "song model", I mean that these are songs I've composed on guitar, then transcribed onto a program called Reason to add ideal drums, bass, keyboards, etc..

3 of these songs ("Trapavoid", "Comets Chase Their Tails", and "Which Watt?") are song models I've composed for my band. We are yet to put these songs together, and when we do, I'll be sure to post them on here. I would consider these to be more or less prog rock songs.

The 2 others I've posted on Soundcloud are finished songs ("Waltz of Embers" and "Momentum"). "Waltz of Embers" is a psychedelic thing that features a backing rhythm and sound effects I created on Reason with a bass line that I recorded on top. I then recorded a lead guitar over the whole thing and added some clean guitar tones for the end. I've been wanting to redo this song because I'm really not happy with the "drums" that I programmed on Reason. This was an early Reason project for me (I was 17) and I've learned a lot more on Reason since. I'd like to think I've also developed on guitar quite a bit since this recording. "Momentum" is a tempo rubato piano piece I composed on Reason using an on-screen piano roll. It should be noted that none of this was played live (I wish I could play like this!). This particular song was largely influenced by Chick Corea and Art Tatum.

If you're only going to listen to one song (though I hope you check them all out!) Here's a list of the order I'd like them to be heard with 1 being the song I'd like you to hear most:

1. "Momentum" (most recent)
2. "Which Watt?" (unfinished mixing of levels on this one, sorry! still check it out though! *song model)
3. "Waltz of Embers" (me playing guitar at 17)
4. "Comets Chase Their Tails" (song model)
5. "Trapavoid" (song model)

Let me know what you think, and listen with headphones if possible!

http://soundcloud.com/echidnasarf


Edited by EchidnasArf - July 07 2011 at 02:55