August 2007
BK Performs: I'm Not Living Here
I'm still arranging and recording, this time with an obscure piece from an obscure band. All the Garageband exploits of the last week seem to be affecting my iMac, however - it emits strange, whirring noises now.
"I'm Not Living Here" is from the 1966 Present Tense album from Sagittarius - a short-lived studio group created by Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher. The lyrics are pretty amusing, but unfortunately I can't really do Boettcher's falsetto for the chorus. The original is unabashed, up-tempo sunshine pop, so I arranged a more... dialed down version.
- I'm Not Living Here (3:02, 3.5 MB, written by Sagittarius, performed by Brian Kobashikawa)
BK Performs: The Brakeman Turns My Way
Here's yet another foray into covering some of that indie music the kids are listening to these days. Crazily (and perhaps embarrassingly) enough, I continue wading into Garageband by venturing into vocals territory... using a microphone that's designed for Karaoke Revolution (see right). It seems to work pretty well for a $20 purchase - but it often clips and captures a lot of extra noise, which can narrow ones dynamic range (and tuning) a bit. Hopefully I can re-record when something better comes along.
Anyway, this is a cover from Bright Eyes's recent Cassadaga album. I picked up the song one day and recorded it the following day, and did the vocals earlier today.
- The Brakeman Turns My Way (4:39, 5.4 MB, written by Bright Eyes, performed by Brian Kobashikawa)
You'll Eventually Throw Out Your TV
After being an avid TV watcher for close to 30 years, I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that there's a point where TV just... won't matter any more. I'm dreading that day, but it probably relates to the profound correlation between increasing consumption and decreasing interest in the content offered.
As you can see below, erudite hipsters - driven by the confluence of BitTorrent, NPR, and a general distrust of the media - unsurprisingly lead the way. (There is that notable faction of hipsters who watch TV strictly for ironic purposes, something that requires more study.) And when Tom Bergeron starts providing wacky narration on YouTube, it's pretty much all over.
BK Performs: Considering August
It's been a full year since my last entry? Amazing. Anyway, here's something of a rarity: a new arrangement of a piano composition I wrote way back in 1994. Back then, I aspired to be a film scorer, and wrote a couple of pieces for imaginary films, which were often a string of musical ideas sort of glued together. Usually I would sequence the thing in Cakewalk, outputing it through my SoundBlaster card with a WaveBlaster daughterboard. Garageband generally sounds better.
Aside from a modified intro and ending, the piece itself hasn't changed all that much after all this time. Maybe I can dig up some other high school compositions later.
- Considering August (4:58, 5.7 MB, written and performed by Brian Kobashikawa)