Shmeless Plug.. thoughts/comments appreciated

Posted by: Stevedog on 30 October 2005

As some of you old timers might remember i've been working on an album for a lass from Vegas for over a year now. It's the first project i've done totally at home on my own gear so its been a slow ,at times bloody frustrating process. I took a few weeks off to do deal with personal stuff and have returned this last couple of months to review re-mix and in some cases completely re-vamp some of the songs.

Anyway i now have 5 of the tracks for your perusal on a site all dressed up in their Sunday best.

http://www.musicnoyz.com/artists/bands/9/ <----- Broadband users can stream dial up just download

As far as the songs go a brief introduction

Dark Erotika.. Eastern groove..."If Carlsberg ran a brothel in Beirut this would be the advert theme music" as one wag commented..... cries of you "bloody 'ippy" are fair enough..

Torn.... Being an old git i reckon it has a Sabbuff feel.... anyone under 35 reckons it sounds like *Garbage*... the band not the placky bin in your kitchen before some wit pipes up with that one.

Burn... Short to the point punky lil thing with a catchy chorus... Major re-vamp on this Bel allowed me to re-record all the guitar parts.

Taking Me.... Hmmmmmmmm think Curve/Nine inch Nails.... and you're in the same ballpark

Parapsychology.... Started off as sorta *Kashmir homage*... was listening to Free one day and an idea struck me. Ok lets think how the wunnerful Kossof would approach this on guitar and take it from their. Totally changed from a slightly pompous staid mid paced rock song to something decidely funky. Dig that 70s wah wah guitar maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan..
Posted on: 30 October 2005 by u5227470736789524
I got them downloaded .... thanks, will comment after digesting them.

Jeff A
Posted on: 30 October 2005 by graham55
Does a "shmeless plug" cut down on unwanted vowels then?

G
Posted on: 30 October 2005 by u5227470736789524
I am pretty much more the singer/songwriter type and this is certainly a bit away from that.

Interesting beats, ambient sounds, rhythms, and the voice has a nice quality. Do I understand that this "performance" is being channeled? ... Interesting. Shall explore she (and you) futher.

Thanks for the experience.

Jeff A
Posted on: 30 October 2005 by Stevedog
quote:
Do I understand that this "performance" is being channeled?




On the album some yes. The spoken parts to *Taking Me* were just literally off the top of her head. The whole of the melody and lyrics to *Parapschology* came out as a stream of melody and lyrics so to some degree the songs are built on that basis.

No matter how many times Bel would try to re create it it never quite had the right feel so i built tracks like *Parapscychology* around her performance.


It was the same with much of the lyrics to the track "Dark Erotika".

Bel underwent extensive study and tests as a young child and teenager both in the USA and England. Probalby the most fascinating piece i've seen was an appearance on Mexican television where she played and sang a song completely off the top of her head.

The host then goes on to say how he hadnt heard that song since he was a child and his mother sang it to him. Bel speaks very little Spanish herself, and certainly not enough to be able to phrase the song as naturally as she did.

Probably the most fascinating expeerience i had with her peronally, was when one night, she sat down and played piano and sang. She was singing in *Old French*, something i happened to recognise because i have studied some of the history of the troubadours.

Bel herself has never had a formal days schooling in her life. She was brought up in Beverly Hills in a showbiz family and yet, she taught herself HTML from a book in less than a month.

Probably the most time consuming aspect to the recording was finding the right feel and sounds for each track and then fitting them together as whole without losing the original inspiration.

There are a futher 5 tracks on the album ranging from a simple piaon and voice piece to one track that has strong echos (sic) of Pink Floyd and yet they are all very Belita.
Posted on: 31 October 2005 by u5227470736789524
What recording forum did you meet Bel on ?

Jeff A
Posted on: 31 October 2005 by Greg787
It took me 10 seconds of listening to "parapsychology" to realize I needed to download it.

Based on your commentary I assume Belita is a firm believer in reincarnation? I may have totally misinterpreted your commentary but that's what I gather.
Posted on: 31 October 2005 by Stevedog
The forum we met on is now sadly gone ... *audiofreaks* if memory serves me right.. The best ones currently running i know are *Gearslutz* and *Sound on Sound*.

As to reincarnation, might be worth a topic all in itself. We have spoken briefly about with reference to string theory and the idea that multiverses are constantly weaving through eachother and the possibility some people may be able to *tap into them* as it were.
Posted on: 01 November 2005 by u5227470736789524
Perhaps Bel has a highly developed pineal gland ? A very powerful and little understood part of the brain.

Jeff A
Posted on: 01 November 2005 by MichaelC
This is my type of music - I guess that is the kiss of death commercially though!

My thoughts as the songs play:

Dark Erotika - sorry but I find this dull.

Torn - I like the driving ryhthm and the guitar. The vocals remind me somewhat of Rosie Vela (take that as complimentary). I like the differentiation between the quieter passages and when the guitar/drum kicks in. 3.5/5

Burn - I immediately thought this reminds me of something. But not sure what. Something from the eighties but what??? Recognise that rhythm guitar style. Not too sure about the door closing. 4/5

Taking me over - Good intro. Again I like the changes between the upbeat passages and the quiter vocal passages (although vocals a third of the way through didn't quite work for me - she went too low). Good spoken bit two thirds of the way through merging into the guitar/drums. Like this. Scope for a ten minute alternate mix of this. 4.5/5

Parapsychology - A more laid back song. I like the vocals over the beats and the guitar in the background. Laid back late evening song. Perhaps a few more musical contrasts/breaks to make the song a little more interesting. Very Rosie Vela again. 4/5

I'm a hard task master though! The acid test is would I buy this. The answer is yes.