On the evening of Friday the 29th of July I gave my good friend Joe (Aka "Nil Recurring") a ring on the old telephone. We'd both been suffering from a lack of inspiration lately, so we devised a plan to kick start our creativity! A music battle!
To make it a proper contest we laid down some rules...
The Rules:
- You must write one original song (from scratch - that means no existing riffs or melodies you've been struggling to use until now)
- Tracks must be 2 to 4 minutes in duration.
- Any music created must be within the genre agreed when battle was declared- we agreed our battle would be a "Shoe-gaze" battle.
- All battles must have a time limit - we gave ourselves 2 days to make the tracks.
Super Cool Music Battle FAQs
How do you know who's won.
We just spent 2 days messing around and playing music, we already won. Though, I guess general consensus is an appropriate indicator of who is victorious...
How do you know who's won.
We just spent 2 days messing around and playing music, we already won. Though, I guess general consensus is an appropriate indicator of who is victorious...
What does the winner get?
Internet cool points - let's be honest they're the only points that count... just ask this cool cat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J---aiyznGQ
Is there only 3 questions in this FAQs section, including this one?
...erm...yes
The Tracks
Below this text you, the lovely reader, will find a link to both our tracks. Please feel free to make comments and pass judgement (I have also written a little about mine). As you will see, we both approached the Shoe-gaze genre brief with very different ideas in mind.
Joe's Track - "Matter "
My Track - "Stare at the Stars"
Joe's Track - "Matter "
My Track - "Stare at the Stars"
About "Stare at the Stars"
I had fun making my track. I do enjoy cutting loose and writing from scratch. However, I really missed my bass guitar on this one. I found it hard to write pure shoe-gazing/stargazing music unable to start from a grungey bass-line. Having said that, I did take the opportunity to play around with an electric piano, break from the norms of my own writing style and the shoegaze genre. I named the track "Stare at the Stars" because firstly, I was feeling pretentious and secondly, it's what I can't do beneath London skies. A glimpse of a single star in London is a rarity, stark contrast to dream heavy skies of the Lakes. I like to think if London had clearer skies its people might be less impersonal. If Londerners had opportunity to wonder at a glassy night sky I believe it would inspire a sense of togetherness. Perhaps it would invoke some sort of common fear of solitude, a feeling of loneliness only felt when you stare to the soul of the universe; a loneliness that inspires only one remedy - peace and camaraderie. Perhaps... I'm feeling particularly Romantic right now...
Anyway, back on track (literally):
I like to think had I written this song 30 years ago it could have been used in the darker scenes of this 80's bond film. I know, I know, its not a perfect fit.
I like to think had I written this song 30 years ago it could have been used in the darker scenes of this 80's bond film. I know, I know, its not a perfect fit.
On a side note: Timothy Dalton was the best Bond, and I love the Living Daylights soundtrack. If this musical challenge didn't involve writing original shoe-gaze style songs I would probably just have condensed the Living Daylights into 2 minutes and yelled "SHOEGAZE!" as an outro.
Plus, for the record A-ha are genius (you were thinking it, but I said it).
Plus, for the record A-ha are genius (you were thinking it, but I said it).
I also noticed something quite interesting when writing this song, not about music, per say, but more about how I felt about this track when I was writing, and when I was done...
When I write to a brief the music never seems to feel it has as much depth as the songs that I have written I feel I have personally invested in (I'm yet to properly record any of these by the way, they're not yet ready for sharing). I guess the shallow nature of music produced and not lovingly created is sort of to be expected. It probably also explains why the charts are predominantly filled with dancey music and flowery but relatively meaningless lyrics - if you get to serious, or personal, you start to eliminate people who can relate to your emotions, experiences, and tastes. By the end of it you have no audience... or in my case a lot of words in a blog, and no fan base.
I wonder how many musicians regret music they have released into the spheres because it is not representative of their musical aims and ambitions? Or how many musicians regret not putting enough of their self into their art? Is this thought too Dorian Gray? Perhaps. Maybe it doesn't even matter what the recording artist thinks; once the vibrations have been immortalised on recorded and released to the masses who owns that work? These works cease to change, but appear evolving in changing in contexts. Records are static dynamism embodied; a point in time that can be interpreted differently upon every occasion it is listened to and relived, yet exists in only one permanent form.
I wonder how many musicians regret music they have released into the spheres because it is not representative of their musical aims and ambitions? Or how many musicians regret not putting enough of their self into their art? Is this thought too Dorian Gray? Perhaps. Maybe it doesn't even matter what the recording artist thinks; once the vibrations have been immortalised on recorded and released to the masses who owns that work? These works cease to change, but appear evolving in changing in contexts. Records are static dynamism embodied; a point in time that can be interpreted differently upon every occasion it is listened to and relived, yet exists in only one permanent form.
Music is amazing.
*And yes, the above may be used as evidence of an inflated ego...
*And yes, the above may be used as evidence of an inflated ego...
both really different, but both really cool. joes is very joe, and yours is very you scott. i could have picked them out without knowing who wrote them. both good movie tracks! m xx
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