Beats Or No Beats?

I wrote some lyrics for this new song and recorded them last week. They need work, but it's nice to finally have something.

Now that I've been living with this piece of music for a couple of months, I'm seriously considering removing the electronic percussion altogether. Tara said it sounds like really cool video-game music, but then I found out she thinks most punk/metal sounds like video-game music if you take out the vocals. And she's kind of right. But it got me thinking, would my music sound more genuine without the electronic thumps and cymbals?

I could add some tambourine, played with a drumstick, but I tried that last week. It was really hard to keep up with my very technical composition and its constantly changing time signatures. I could keep trying, though. Or I could just do without percussion, since only the programmed kind is in my wheelhouse. I could also add some cool reverb and other effects to my guitar and vocals, just for fun.

Something to dwell on. I'd welcome any feedback. I know it would help a lot to actually get to hear the music, but I'm not ready to share it with the world yet. I'll make it available privately to anyone who asks. The style is fast math/noise rock with a western vibe.

Broken Promises

I was close to becoming a country-music listener anyway, but Miss Lana Rebel and the Broken Promises have brought me over the edge. This stuff is amazing. Miss Lana was a co-founder of Last of the Juanitas, so it was only a matter of time before I finally gave them a chance. I'm hearing their album Mistakes We Can Live With on MOG.

Cool Toddler Rock-'n'-Roll

I had a pretty good idea yesterday in the shower, for a psychobilly album for toddlers, or "cool toddler rock-'n'-roll." I even got two song ideas in that same shower: "Graham Cracker Daddy" and "Last Train to Napville." Google didn't turn up anyone else with this idea, and I think it's a lucrative one. Unfortunately I'm not willing to put in the work or salesmanship it would take to make it lucrative, and I don't believe in copyright, so I doubt anyone would want to go into business with me.

But if I ever get the urge to work on these songs, maybe they'll get produced someday. I thought I might start today, but I heard enough Chariot and XBXRX in the car last night, going to and from Chipotle, that by the time I got to the basement this morning I just wanted to work more on my current noisecore project. I'm through working on projects I'm not continuously excited about.

The music for my first song is just about done, and I even wrote some lyrics this morning. I went with the idea in my last post, so it's basically my 19th-century Christian talking with an American Darbyite (or maybe Darby himself, since his ideas didn't spread to America until the 20th century) in the wilderness about how he sees the scriptures and the world around him. It's a start. I still don't have a title for this song despite having worked on it for two months already, but lyrics will help with that.