naviarhaiku605 – just inside the fence

naviarhaiku575 – Even though afar

The haiku shared by Naviar Records this week came with a description of the poet that illustrates how deep the form is with history:

Kagami Shikō was a Japanese poet, considered one of the ten outstanding disciples (Shōmon jittetsu 蕉門十哲) of Matsuo Bashō. He was in turn the master of the famous poetess Fukuda Chiyo-ni.

It's an evocative image for me, as someone who still misses the crispness of mountain life.

This week I've been engaging in my annual pedal board patching, so I took the opportunity to record a jam across the upright bass and electric guitar using the two effects arrays on the former and looping facilities of the latter.

Noon sun

naviarhaiku512 – Endless echo

The haiku shared by Marco this week is one that he wrote.

It surprised me to see it echoed one I wrote recently, as well as his account of cleaning his mother's place as that's the subject of a story that I began writing recently.

So I took the opportunity to record a jam on Moogs.

naviarhaiku327 – meandering through the city

My 110th video for Naviar's haiku prompts.

I liked the idea of creating a piece that could be looped, much like the drive around a city.

Firewire for vintage sound

Saw this post recently joking about "vintage sound" and kinda caught myself mid chuckle.

While the idea of using older USB for the quality of audio is ridiculous, it reminded me that I'm still rocking Firewire 400.

Firewire 400 was a feature of my MOTU soundcard, then my Mackie mixer.

I've been using 400 ports for about 15 years.

Recently my Mackie's "Hi-Z" inputs weren't working and it turns out the parts aren't easy to replace.

So I bought a brand new Mackie mixer, which had been sitting on the shelf for a while.

It's old enough to still have Firewire 400 inputs.

Gated baritone ukulele

Ran my ukulele through the re-patched gated effects rig.

Sunrise

Playing with a few recordings and using the drums as a gate for the bassline, which has also been warped up a couple of octaves and reversed.

Hairy tunnel

Some months ago Gavin was offering this big hairy kick drum and I had to have it

After a detour in Melbourne and some uncertainty about whether it would make the trip to Leeton, I've been recording with it.

The sound in this video came off my Rode Videomic, then passed through EQ and compression.

Drum kitted out

Had a minor epiphany this week when I realised that owning two drum kits means I can have one really big drum kit.

Now adjusting my fills for those extra toms and cymbals.

Warpaint

Reigning Monarks

You Clear Distraction

Feeling an increased sense of affinity for four-stringed instruments after buying a Kala U-bass recently, I bought an ukulele on a whim.

It arrived yesterday and, without knowing how to play it, I googled ukulele tuning to tune it up and recorded the first thing that came to mind.

Then I added Valhalla Shimmer to get an effect like a synth because it sorta sounded like sloppy mellow drum and bass.

I was pleased when my partner described it as "demented Cafe del Mar"!

Birthday Suit

It was my birthday on the weekend and I was sad as previous years had celebrated this event coinciding with Burning Seed, which was cancelled due to rain.

So I put on the onesie I'd bought to keep warm on the paddock and played with myself.

There are three takes of acoustic guitar, two takes of four-string guitar, one Nashville-tuned guitar, one MIDI-equipped guitar, two basses, two melodicas and two takes of drums. All are single takes, many first takes.

Indian Ocean

Cutting the rug

Hadn't had a jam on the bass for a while, so I recorded drums and improvised a bassline to go on top.

Then added a bunch of glitchy effects, particularly Audio Damage's Replicant.

Nashville tuning

That Naviar haiku track I recorded yesterday is possibly remarkable for the guitar for the wrong reasons but I wanted to record it to hear the 'Nashville' tuning.

If I remember right, it's the use of thinner-gauged strings to transpose the lower three. The EAD moves up an octave to kinda compete with the GBE. Each time you strum through a chord, you something more like a melody than steps up a scale.

It sounds really interesting too. When I play the 'Nashville' tuning I hear a lot of recorded guitar parts from soft rock tunes. I think it is meant to be good for recorded music as it clears lower frequencies without the need for EQ.

I murdered Mark Sandman

A friend reckons that 1993 was the greatest year in music. It's a strong argument, I think.

When I remember 1993, I remember great music and this includes Morphine's album Cure For Pain. In fact, looking back there was so much good music that I feel I took it for granted and, in a way, took Morphine for granted. Like, I never bought their music because they were always on the radio. And I never saw them live either.

When I watched The Sopranos on DVD there was a Morphine track that gave me something of a '90s flashback. Then last year I saw the doco on Sandman where Les Claypool sang his praises and began thinking about the economy of the songwriting, as well as the economy of guitar strings.

This week I've been listening to Morphine and feeling restless to make music. It came to a head yesterday with this attempt to cover 'Eleven o'clock' from Morphine's 1997 album Like Swimming. As usual, I've spent more time editing video than rehearsing, performing or producing the audio. Might remix bits yet.

The video has been edited because the final section fell into disrepair. It was messy. My drumming is clearly challenged by the idea of playing behind the beat. I totally murdered Mark Sandman!

Smoke

Was at a loss today, so I thought I'd improvise a song. As usual, I ended up spending more time producing it than spent playing or writing it. So it's not that great and seems to need something more, other than smoke.

Naviar haiku 068 In midst of the dark

The haiku this week shared by Naviar Records grabbed my interest.

I'd been covering the Beastie Boys earlier in the week and 'Lighten Up' is one of my favourites. I was stoked to see them play it live.

The haiku reminded me of the line about looking up at the night sky when you are troubled and imagine one star as your problem, then looking widely at the sky and adjusting your perspective. So 'lighten up' seemed appropriate but I took some liberties as my vocals were boring..