The New Batch

For whatever reason, there has been music videos coming out of the Nestor Studios at a furious pace these days. No need to stand in the way of progress, better to let the furies loose. I have done more music videos in the last six months - significantly more - than in the last seven years, or whenever exactly I started this tomfoolery. These have always been secondary to making music, but with such a huge backlog of material, I decided to have some fun, damn good taste!

I'll start with an apology, since the first tune needs it. Honestly, I did not realize when I was writing the following song, 'Jennifer', that I was borrowing so liberally from a certain Allman Brothers song. What I was trying to do was write something for the Dobro that didn't use the slide. I had done it once before, but the action on that instrument is pretty high, making fretting a problem.

For the time, back in 2010, I did a pretty good recording an acoustic instrument, as well as a decent job on drums. For once I kept the bass simple, accenting the beat, more of an additional percussion element. The song was done in honor of a dear friend, a mother of three who was dying. It remains a tribute to one of the most courageous people I have ever known. The actual footage, of what you can see behind the psychedelic garbage, is Monserrat, with an active volcano.

Since I've talked about Donovan recently on this blog, time to show how he has influenced my own playing and music creation. The song 'Colours' comes from early in his career, during the mostly acoustic phase. It's pretty simple in structure, but when combined with a dropped 'D' tuning, which I suspect was used on the original version, it allows for some pretty nice picking. I'm not naturally drawn to country music, being a punk form Long Island, but this is a pretty good attempt.

It was also a song that I played when the family was gathered round, my daughter young and living at home. It has that kind of feel to it, a camp fire sing-along. It also comes from 2010, also from the album 'Low Hanging Fruit'. Again, I keep the backing simple, and people really responded to this one, especially my wife, who still thinks it's a Johnny Cash song. She keeps asking me to do more like it, probably because it was perhaps the first time I sang openly about love. It doesn't come easy to me, let me tell you. Not my personality, but a spark does lurk in there.

Keeping with the acoustic theme for a minute, here is a rare gospel song from me, not because I don't like the music (I do very much), but because it sometimes seems inappropriate for a sinner like myself to venture into such spiritual territory. I actually first heard the Ramsey Lewis jazz version back in the 1960s, a minor hit. As a tune, it's great; as a message, it's even better. I let the Dobro be less abrasive this time, strumming with my fingers instead of a pick to make a quieter sound.

This was the last song recorded for my second blues album, "A Mess of Blues'. The rest of the sequence had been very electric, at times pretty heavy. This was meant as a tonic, something to chill out with in the middle. I also had just purchased a five string Fender Jazz bass at a bargain price in a pawn shop. It was used here the first time, really the inspiration behind doing the piece in the first place. It is a curious mixture of jazz syncopation and gospel.

'Bongae' which follows in a fairly early number, from around 2008, typical of the high voltage rock that I churned out regularly back then. The drums were created from loops, a pretty good job of keeping things from being too repetitious. The really outstanding aspect of this song is the interplay between the guitar and bass. I'm obviously ripping the opening off of the Band of Gypsys' 'Message of Love', but after that, it's all mine.

Don't want to boast, but that's a terrific bass line. The song keeps building from one section to the other, changing gears, not becoming too repetitious or stale. It only took a couple of hours tops, apart from building the drum loop part. That could take weeks, one of the reason I started drumming. Glad to dust old but really powerful stuff like this off and find a visual accompaniment.

The following, 'Jonham', is a retread from 2012 of a song I originally did in 2009. The first time, all the parts were there, but it's such a tricky little bastard to play that it kind-of fell apart in the middle. Using the same drum part, which gives the song its name, I redid it to better effect. My piano skills had improved enough in the three years to navigate the piece properly.

This time, while there is a Dobro, it is used a support to the piano, which gallops along with the drums, competing for lead instrument and focus of attention. It's a really nice song, not specific to any genre, completely it's own thing. Every part, even the bass, was a bitch to get right. This is the kind of song that can give you nightmares getting right. But it's necessary to rise to a self-defined challenge every once in a while, push you skill set a little.

Keeping the piano theme is 'Obtuse Angles' from 'Remains', originally on 2012's 'Zaftig'. For some reason, that was the year that my keyboard skills seemed to blossom. There were so many top notch key driven songs on that prog album that I sent one to an album sequenced out of leftovers and bumped songs. It was hard to pick one; I really like this, especially the bass.

This one uses the piano as a percussion instrument alternately with some more melodic sections. The tension between the two sections is what created the interest, and it works very well. The bass also adds to the percussive elements with the picked harmonics, making this a jazz funk workout. With a feeling of constant motion, I tried to replicate that in the video, which really piles on the normal psychedelic gobbledygook extra high. This one's a real winner in my book, an example of how even an outtakes album can have grade A material on it, not be underestimated.

Another piano tune, and another partial retread, is 'The Pearl'. I'm surprised that it has taken so long to do a music video for this time; it was the centerpiece of all the work I did in 2009. I was going for a slightly pompous, bombastic sound. The first time, the bass and especially the drums didn't quite get there, due to my inexperience. Three years later, those were the only parts I replaced, to much better effect.

Using the footage from Venice, mostly shot on the Grand Canal around the Rialto Bridge, I tried to make something equally majestic visually. It was on songs like this that my musical ambitions revealed themselves. I'm playing way over my talent level, but that's the point of these exercises, anyway. You have to move out of your comfort zone to find out what you are capable of.

This next one is definitely my happy place; 'Dig the Slowness'. Despite sounding just like a Bo Diddley number, this is yet again Donovan. Eric Burdon and the New Animals used to cover this; you can find a version filmed live at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. It's been a favorite of mine for decades. From 'A Mess of Blues', I decided to go over the top on this one, traveling to full psych freakout, complete with slide guitar madness.

It works like a charm, even my fumbling attempt at using a double bass drum. Not subtle, and neither is the video, but every once in a while you have to travel the Road of Excess, supposedly to arrive at the Palace of Wisdom. Or so they say. I have my fun, but there is an element of reserve in my nature that prevents me from harming myself or anyone else. Here's a chance to go those extra steps, in a metaphorical way.

If we're talking about taking it beyond a reasonable limit, then I must include 'Yeehaw Mofo', another retread from 2012 of a song first done in 2009. The original was a train wreck, done at the end of a long project, much better in concept than execution. I seemed to run out of patience, dumping the last few songs in really half-assed incomplete versions. Not being able to properly drum was probably a big motivating factor behind this.

That was also the reasoning behind the 2012 album 'Retreads'; a chance to fix old mistakes, which is where this version comes from. Instead of sloppy and stupid, it's now goofy and fun. Again, county is not my bailiwick, but I do like rockabilly and bluegrass. Punching the piano in the mix, using that to push the arrangement, was a big improvement as well. This may be the most startling of my retreads, the difference between night and day, and it remains one of my top ten personal favorites.

Going into the heavier stuff, we have 'Punchy', a reduction mix of an earlier song called 'Nocturnal Emission'. The bass and drums were so hot and tight that I really couldn't do much on guitar. There is an old maxim that says that the bass must be simple for an effective lead guitar to lie on top. Normally I ignore that, having my way with the bottom end, but this time I think that saying was true.

Why not get rid of the most offending part? In this case, that would be the guitar. It works great, a short burst of adrenaline helped by a slightly uneven bar structure. I tried to match in the visuals the total assault; it's all eye candy, not a political statement. Together, this goes from a small side bar to a major statement about my ability to weave my way through a percussive mine field.

Since things are getting heavy, might as well open up a major can of whoop ass with 'The Walrus Experience'. Another retread from 2012, the original version was only two years earlier, from 'Low Hanging Fruit'. A major mashup, I always noticed that the two songs in question were both written and recorded at about the same time, using the same strange quasi-military beat. I only replaced the bass and drums this time, but what a difference it made, turning it from lame to frighteningly intense.

Like 'The Pearl', this was a major statement for the time, seemingly slightly beyond my reach. I'm also poaching a guitar line from a Yes song as the linking device, and with a patina of hallucination, this makes a hell of a music video. Crushingly heavy, yet I'm successfully holding back from going too over the top with guitar solos, waiting for little breaks and a section near the end. In a sea of excess, it's strange how too little can be enough.

Since we're talking excess, a subject that I have a doctorate in, might as well cash in all my chips. 'Drone Wars' resided in my computer for at least eight years, at least the guitar part, which is most of the piece. Deeply and obviously influenced by Robert Fripp's ironically named Frippertronics, this was an experiment with lopping a guitar signal. This was done in my own unique way that I frankly can't recall, using an effects pedal that burned up upon re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. There are some synth pads in there, some strange chugging percussion, and a bass line added in 2016.

The totality is terrifying through repetition, a journey to the heart of the machine that rules us all. Improvised one long forgotten night long ago, along with a companion piece called 'Hell's Bells', the sounds bounce around the inside of your skull in a most disturbing but artistic way. For a change, I do a completely abstract visual accompaniment instead of messing with existing material. Seems the only way to present something so out there.

As a bonus, even though I did include it at the end of another blog post last month, 'Wishful Sinful' really belongs here. A Doors cover, a band that I really loved as a kid and continue to listen to on a regular basis to this day, it comes from the controversial 'Soft Parade' album. There was a lot of horns and strings on that album, and in particular on this Robby Krieger song.  I wanted to strip it down, reveal the beautiful melody lurking underneath.

What I didn't count of was the Jim Morrison vocals, which always sounded great when I sang them in the shower. Not so much in the cold light of day; I found that my voice was the weakest link here. Nevertheless, I used the song to showcase some footage of fascinating Venice right after I came back from vacation. It's not bad, but for a cover, it doesn't really do anything beyond what the original version did, and must be considered a failure in that respect.

Anyway, there are a dozen music videos done in the last month or so, some using my updated editing software. Another outlet for creativity, even if I insist on a level of surreal chance in the combination of visual elements and the synchronization of those to the music in the background. Sometimes there is a plan, mostly it's just gut reactions to what might work. Ultimately, it's a way to get my music to you. Don't feel obligated to watch, but do listen.