writing

Can’t Stop Doing Monkee Math

Can’t stop doing Monkee math. It seems important right now.

See, my kids are being raised as anachronisms; mostly ‘cause I always wanted to be one myself. Little seventies Zoom kids, their impression of popular culture is limited to the popular culture of other decades. They watch Frank Capra movies and goofy crap like The Cat from Outer Space; their favorite tv shows are [Read more…] about Can’t Stop Doing Monkee Math

Milan (Throwing Muses demo) Track

This Month’s CASH Track: Milan (Throwing Muses demo)
[audio:http://s3.amazonaws.com/cash_users/throwingmuses/demos/Milan_128.mp3]

Coals

Coughing engines, hot coals, mid-air explosions and all the other alive, inanimate happenings that press into existence…plus a buttload of tambourine (Bob Mould: “When in doubt, tambourine!”)

After the frenetic intro, the bass becomes the star of the show, settling the song into its long-winded pocket. “Coals” demanded an extremely standard treatment: build the verses at the midway point, chorus must be anthemic (of all things) and come at the usual time (of all things), beefed up by creepy old distorted bass organ and then, of course, allow a French film score from the sixties to guest star on the bridge, for some reason.

My favorite sound in the song, though, is the diminutive lead guitar. Crunchy yet sinewy, murmuring not unpleasantly throughout, then bursting into tiny song at the end…more a ramble than a rant, a sputtering little engine that could.

Love,

Kristin

Find this song and all my recent work, in multiple formats – including lossless, free for download on my CASH Music pages. Information on how you can support the creation and distribution of this music by becoming a subscriber is here.

The Bay Never Freezes

“The bay never freezes,” observes little Bodhi, “until it’s frozen.”

And he has a point. Waves are crashing on the sand at the beach down the road, but the boats in the harbor aren’t going anywhere. Trapped in the ice, their goofy names are barely visible on their snow-encrusted sterns: “Aunt Edna” and “Fortitude” are now just “t Ed” and “tit.”
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Gin

I met Gin in Sydney; a two-parter, both casual and complex. Called Rizzo right away to book time, telling him to be prepared for a nocturnal me when I got home from down under. “Great!” he said. “Looking forward to it.” Rizzo himself is a night creature, a gentle vampire.

Gin is also a night person, and a good way to begin the CASH year, I think. A New Year’s Eve song containing an exceptional Bodhi quote: “Here’s the plan: I don’t go out of my backyard.” Good plan. Great plan. A resolution to end all others.

Gin says that it isn’t the shock, it’s not even the aftershock, but the shock that follows that. I hear ya, sister. Aftershock shock shows up when the lights go out; when there’s nothing else to look at. Which is okay, I guess.

Aftershock shock demands attention not ’cause it’s bitchy, but because it’s real. The point that gin makes, though, is not for you, but for others. Remember their midnights.

This was the first recording session for The Guitar that Love Built and it shone. Both percussive and melodic, depending on what I asked it to do, it played tame wildly and tamed wild…whoo-hoo! I was charmed, Rizzo impressed.

I would love to hear Throwing Muses play this song someday. Night people, they step in when they get the chance and compress hours of darkness into moments of clarity. Sometimes they have to stay up all night to make this work, but their midnights are valuable, worth sharing.

As Gin asks, “Are you completely numb?” and then answers, “mmm…probably not.” In that case, playing for each other is the least we can do.

Love,
Kristin