Jump to content

Prime Mover and Shaker

Members *
  • Posts

    10923
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    5

Posts posted by Prime Mover and Shaker

  1. On 11/28/2023 at 4:01 PM, stoopid said:

    Since we're having this discussion of doom and gloom, I figure I'd throw some more prozac on the fire.

     

    I'm not impressionable, I'm stating this because the content of this video aligns with my beliefs on the topic and was watched during my recent decision making process.  It did not have much (any?) bearing on that decision.  Regardless, it's excellent insight into what we do, why we do it, and whether we even should.  It doesn't draw the conclusion that maybe you suspect it would.  100% worthy of the 15 minutes.

     

     

    Thanks for sharing that - I found it pretty damn insightful.

    • Like 1
  2. On 11/27/2023 at 9:01 AM, JARG said:

    I'm one of the guilty ones. :sad:

     

    My attention span is miserably low these days, so my consumption of new music is limited to the equivalent of "dropping the needle in different places" in each song. I tried composing some new material a few weeks ago and found even my own stuff isn't holding my attention.

     

    My theory is that I'm suffering from pre separation anxiety. This is the last year we have Emma at home with us and it's really hitting me hard. I'm very sorry if that has spilled into my relationships with you guys.

     

    It's not easy, and I don't blame you for wanting to spend as much time as you can with her!

     

    If I may, and maybe you're doing this already, but make sure you're spending quality time with your wife as well.  This change will affect your marriage, there's no way around that, but you can help control if that's a negative or positive change.

     

    We'll be here when you are ready!

     

    • Like 1
  3. On 11/17/2023 at 10:20 AM, stoopid said:

    Tough balance making music that's accessible and yet engaging enough for the musicians making it.  On top of that, we wanted the lyrical content and music to be cohesive and support one another.  In the past song ideas were rarely a precise vision from beginning to end, but with Scott handling probably 2/3 of the "this song's direction is going to be this" aspects, it allowed each track to form its own (complete) identity.

     

    As interested in prog as I am, it doesn't tend to serve the lyrical content / meaning behind the non instrumental music very well.  Keeping things rooted in 4/4 and fairly simple song structures is inherent in whether someone can follow along AND "get it".  Music intended for the masses needs to function on a base level, we usually only get one listen and sometimes not even a complete song to grab a potential fan.

     

    On that note -- from an objective growing the brand standpoint, this album was a failure.  We had more Youtube views but only a handful of complete song listens (based on the youtube analytics).  I ran an ad campaign to funnel potential listeners to Spotify, and same there.  It's tough to compete with establish artists and 60+ years of rock music at our finger tips.  Not to be overly dramatic, but this was the last hurrah.  We set out to make an album (really, the last two albums) that represented our vision for the music and brought what we could offer to the music community at the highest level we could reasonably offer.  It's largely fallen on deaf ears.  There's just too much out there, oversaturated streaming services competing for the same percentage of vaguely interested (and let's face it, aging) ears.  We did it for ourselves, and in my heart knew this might have been it, so we did it at a high level as a farewell.

     

    I hope doing it for yourself (and your goofy friends who appreciate it) can be enough.  That was the key for me - I never do anything with an expectation that anyone I don't know will listen, and owning that realization made all the difference for me.  I love writing and recording, even though I know sometimes I will be the only audience, or a member of a very small audience, who will hear it.  It still brings me a shit ton of joy.  And that's a lot!  :P

    • Like 2
  4. On 2/14/2023 at 10:04 PM, stoopid said:

    I ripped Putin Out to mp3 for the car, where I unfortunately do most of my music listening. When I shelved the disc I counted 6 releases, in like 4-ish years.  Wow!

    There are seven, actually.  Let me know which one you don’t have:

     

    Sloppy Foot Cowboys (self titled) 

    Marmalade

    Quaranteenager

    Saved by Harpsichord 

    Comical & Disturbing

    A Harvest of Haggis

    Putin Out!

  5. On 2/4/2023 at 9:04 PM, stoopid said:

     

     

    Yeah that pedal nails the gritty Ged sound.

     

    Mix is good, can hear everything real well and nothing pinned my ears back.  The drums are less 'clicky' but still very drum machine soundy.  Might not be avoidable with the process you use to program them, but improvement nonetheless.

     

    Not sure about the song other than it's a thing.  Eager to hear some other tracks, you guys are usually good for some interesting lyrics and vocal compositions.

     

    It's been long enough that I'm not quite remembering how we shared the albums here in the past.

     

    Paul - what did we do?  Soundcloud or something?  Or was it Bandcamp?

  6. The new album is finished, it will be up on iTunes, etc in a matter of days.

     

    Here's a preview:

     

    I had a discussion with Tim Starace (bass/YYNOT) show last year & as a result ended up getting my hands on the Ged Pedal. Tried it out on the following track - excellent pedal!!!
    The new Sloppy Foot Cowboys album is finally finished! Available on iTunes very soon. Here is "Dead Man's Dunnage", an instrumental that features the Tech 21 YYZ SansAmp bass pedal.
     
    • Like 1
  7. Thanks all for giving it a listen! I watched a shitload of Youtube videos about using Logic Pro X to record and master. (there's a channel by "musictechhelpguy" that is particularly thorough).

     

    The vocal levels were a bit tricky - I put what I thought was a good deal of compression on them, didn't want to overdo it, but maybe I needed more.

     

    EP and Fridge made this a very enjoyable project!

    • Like 2
  8. Sounds great.Right off the bat - Looking Glass is an exceptional song. It's a really great composition, R.E.M..totally stand out track. Melody and conviction. :o Wow! with that one. That's a special song.

     

    Only thing I would say mix wise, is the kick drum (+kit) sounds out of place on some tracks. Suits some but not others.

     

    The whole album reminds me of Husker Du (Warehouse). Not musically but in its searching nature...if that makes sense. Other tracks that stand out are; Swing It Over, How Do You Like it? Vile And Splendid. It's a cohesive album with many melodic vocal hooks/guit solos(that I like) and no track seems out of place. All have attractive qualities in varying degrees.

     

    I do think its the best entry so far. :D

     

    Fantastic work guys! :haz:

     

    Thanks!

     

    The original version of what would become Looking Glass was very different, including lyrics and vocal melody, and goes back to the mid-90s.

     

    Several years ago I had submitted a skeletal arrangement of the song where I used synth piano as a placeholder for guitar parts that would come later, with new lyrics being provided by PM&S, but at the time of that submission, SFC didn't exist, so it really just going to be a "JARG song". Other musical projects/songs came along and this never got out of the "what do you think?" stage, and to be honest, I kinda' forgot about the song.

     

    Then a few months ago PM&S approached me about resurrecting the song and including it on the album, keeping the piano-to-become-guitar parts as piano (PM&S has a friend who's quite a good pianist), so I changed up the arrangement a bit to better accommodate a dedicated piano part and rewrote the piano part to be, well more of an actual piano part. The pianist took what I wrote and made it better. Far better. (Not that hard to do since I'm just a lowly guitarist!). I personally don't get an R.E.M. vibe from it (I usually only hear Rush influences in my songs), but I think it's cool that you do.

     

    Here's how the song originally sounded. Yeah, I think we improved the hell out of it.

     

    http://youtu.be/NaCB3uaSoHg

    Do we know anyone playing with you on this?
  9. Sounds great.Right off the bat - Looking Glass is an exceptional song. It's a really great composition, R.E.M..totally stand out track. Melody and conviction. :o Wow! with that one. That's a special song.

     

    Only thing I would say mix wise, is the kick drum (+kit) sounds out of place on some tracks. Suits some but not others.

     

    The whole album reminds me of Husker Du (Warehouse). Not musically but in its searching nature...if that makes sense. Other tracks that stand out are; Swing It Over, How Do You Like it? Vile And Splendid. It's a cohesive album with many melodic vocal hooks/guit solos(that I like) and no track seems out of place. All have attractive qualities in varying degrees.

     

    I do think its the best entry so far. :D

     

    Fantastic work guys! :haz:

    Thanks much!!!
×
×
  • Create New...