Day 254: Headstock And The Kitchen Sink

Had to head out early this morning to play at the Headstock festival with the young people from the workshop I did the other week. They did really well and there were a few star performers that really impressed me. (Was nice to see one of Nottingham's best cafes, Homemade keeping the bacon cobs coming). Then off to Shabby Road for some more recording.

I wrote Eleven Sweets right at the end of FAWM. Zeppo told me about her adventures in sunday school and I set them to music. I wanted to get her to sing it but just ran out of time. But we redid it this summer and tonight I added the finishing touches – piano, penny whistle (aka irish/tin whistle), recorder, shaky egg, electric guitar, synth, samba whistle and snare drum. Or 'kitchen sink' as it's known in the trade.

I accidentally hit on a fun way to work without getting bogged down with second guessing or over engineering. Just leave you power cable at home. Watching that little battery icon turn red really concentrates the mind. I finished with 2% left.

I'm really pleased with the way the track has evolved from 'acoustic Green Day' to 'crusty reggae' (see Noah And The Whale for further details). All thanks to a bit of uke and a funky recorder lick. It's still a home demo with a 6 year old lead vocalist but now it's a lot more fun!

Hopefully I'll have the mix up tomorrow, but starting back at school might knock me out!

Jo Co Bo Rap

Really enjoyed this piece from American Songwriter about Queen's Greatest Hit. Both the videos are worth watching. The Beatles were their 'bible' and Freddie wrote out all the vocal parts? Impressive. The guy was a true musical genius.

Revisiting Jonathan Coulton's Thing A Week I have to lay some love on I'm Your Moon. Not many  people could write a song about the downgrading of Pluto from the point of view of Charon and create a love song that people would sing to their newborns and request at their weddings. And once again, click here, find the smily face and you get a free download. He's a nice guy. Maybe you should give him some money anyway?

You Like Sarcastic Signs?

So do I. No, really.


Free download: Never Be Silent
Other free songs by Matt Blick