July Song Announcement!

It's become a tradition that for July we do cover songs.  The reason is that July is usually a very busy month for every one and it will (ideally) take less time to just rework an existing song than write a new one.  The only stipulation is that you make some sort of change to the song.  Sing it in French, meld it together with another song so it is a medley, whatever.  So there you have it, the song announcement for July...

May's Winning Song!

Squeaking in and winning by a single vote was Danny Imig with his awesome song "Teenbeat Heartbeat Backbeat."  Danny really achieved what I wanted from everyone in May with singing and smacking his stomach and a box.  It came out to be a great recording.  Congratulations Danny!

If you hadn't heard the song, here it is!

Don't forget about your songs for June!  The month is winding down!

May's "No Real Instruments" Songs!

I think my inspiration for May's "no real instruments" stemmed from those Jimmy Fallon videos where they use toy instruments and cover popular songs.  Only in the instance of toy instruments, a lot of those could be made at home, so that was the idea.  After getting it in my head, I started hearing sounds I wanted to use everywhere.  From the texture on the side of a red solo cup to the sound floss makes when pulled out from between your teeth (seriously).

Tom Waits was talking about the "organic" sound of his album Rain Dogs once and said:

If I want a sound, I usually feel better if I've chased it and killed it, skinned it and cooked it. Most things you can get with a button nowadays. So if I was trying for a certain drum sound, my engineer would say: "Oh, for Christ's sake, why are we wasting our time? Let's just hit this little cup with a stick here,sample something (take a drum sound from another record) and make it bigger in the mix, don't worry about it." I'd say, "No, I would rather go in the bathroom and hit the door with a piece of two-by-four very hard."

I wanted to include technology in the scheme as well since I planned on using some looping in mine.  So I included sequencers, drum machines and just for the hell of it, kazoos would be allowed.

Anyways, enough of the explanation.  Here are the songs that were submitted.  I hope you enjoy them and make sure you vote for your favorite.

Danny Imig - Teenbeat Backbeat Heartbeat

My comments:  Danny made a cool call and response, megaphone cheer type song.  Using a box, his stomach and vocals only (and all recorded at once in a single track) it definitely is what I envisioned with the songs.  It may be a simple song but it's very effective.  I like it!

Eric Peabody - The End of Depression

My comments: This song does have the sound of real instruments but Eric created the entire thing on a sequencer, which I allowed.  With a more focused ear, those "guitars" really just are some sort of a crunchy sounding keyboard.  Either way, Eric did a great job as usual with his songs.  It is catchy, fun and short but to the point.

Brian Salapek - Ketchup Covered Kids

My comments:  I think the most fun I had with this song was making the "instruments."  I built a tongue drum, filled 7 glasses with water and "tuned" them, and just had fun finding sounds I wanted to use.  I think it gets a little chaotic but wanted it that way.  In the end, some elements are a little sloppy but I am happy with the whole.

Rene Zansman - Self Realization (a capella)

My comments:  Rene took the original a capella idea behind this month's song and ran with it.  I was very happy to see that he took that route and ended up with a pretty successful song.  Rene has always done well with backup vocals so this was a natural progression and I really like the end result.  Great job!