Latest Smaragd News

Monday, August 23, 2004

Today I returned to my "real" job after a week of vacation which was substantially spent working on the music for mythconception. "The Long Day of Gamayun" now clocks in at 4:46. Barring the possibility of adding any sound effects at the beginning or end, that will probably be the final length of the song. The mix is rough—some of the tabla drums need to be turned up, and the vocals are not yet properly processed and mixed—but it sounds great already. "Coyote" is still just a simple bit of synth padding which, as I said last Wednesday, will provide a "canvas" to support the chanting and other instrumentation. The only song which does not have any recording done yet at all is "Arrest." I've got a little chord progression which will be placed somewhere near the end of that song, but the music is otherwise not written yet. I have no concern about it, though, since the creativity is really flowing right now, and since "Arrest" is going to be in familiar musical territory for me—plodding, heavy flat-fours with a heavy Floydian feel.
Meanwhile, here's a challenge and a clue for anybody reading:
In "Crucifixion In the Garden" there is mention that, just prior to his torturous execution, the Knowers stuff Krist's mouth full of moss. Why? And why specifically with moss? What does moss represent?
For a clue, read Theodore Roethke's poem "Moss-Gathering." Once you understand the significance of moss in that poem, you should easily find the answers to the questions I posed about the role of moss in Krist's execution.

11:32 PM (0) comments

Friday, August 20, 2004

This morning I've been working on "The Long Day of Gamayun." It's sounding just plain incredible! I laid down the guitars and bass. There's a pair of guitars, stereo separated to the left and right a bit, with the bass in the middle. All three instruments are playing the riff in sync. Sounds great!
If you're wondering, Gamayun is a prophetic bird from Russian mythology. Victor Vasnetsov painted a picture of Gamayun in 1897. The great Russian poet Alexander Blok wrote of Gamayun:
Gamayun, the Prophetic Bird
On the glassy surface of the endless waters
Which the sunset has clad in purple,
It prophesies and sings,
It doesn’t have the strength to lift its agitated wings;
It prophesies the yoke of the evil Tartars,
It prophesies a string of bloody executions,
And upheaval, and famine, and conflagration,
The strength of the wicked, and the destruction of the righteous...
Enveloped by the presaged horror,
Its splendid face burns with love,
But resounding with the truth of things prophesied,
Its lips are covered with blood!
Gamayun is a storyteller and a tormented prophet—much like Krist. It is because of the metaphical resemblance of Krist to Gamayun that Gamayun is referenced in the song's title.

12:25 PM (0) comments

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Okay, I'm jazzed.
The disappointing bit came at the start: I started to record the vocals for the "The Decision: Blasphemy" and discovered that, regardless of how many times I've imagined the vocals in my head, I'm going to have to both (a) physically practice them, and (b) really learn the melody well. So I just did a crude "guide vocal" for myself. I'll be listening back to the guide vocal for a while. Once I'm very familiar with—and comfortable with—the melody, then I'll make an attempt at recording it "for real." That was the disappointing bit. The rest was fantastic....
Next I began work on "The Long Day of Gamayun." After a bit of work, I now have a really amazing-sounding percussion piece making us for African and Indian percussion, as well as a nice sitar drone as well as a sitar lead. The heavy guitar parts haven't been started yet (although I've done some experimental jamming to look for the right groove and riff). All I have now is strictly 1:28 of ethnic percussion gradually building. This will serve as the foundation for "The Long Day of Gamayun." It sounds... amazing! I've been hearing all sorts of ethnic rhythms and ideas in my head, but what's actually coming together sounds better than anything I'd imagined. So yeah, I'm jazzed all right!
I also did a tiny bit of work on what will become "Coyote—Bringer of Fire." I just laid down a very simple, minimalist bit of synthesizer padding. Atmospheric and sparse. Very nice. It will provide a "canvas" on which I can built the chanting.
It's been a productive afternoon, and I'm really happy with the results.

7:53 PM (0) comments

Monday, August 16, 2004

The progress keeps progressing. I'm on vacation from my regular job this week, and am devoting the spare time to furthering the Mythconception material.
Today I made some really good progress on "The Decision." The piece now runs all the way through from the start of the "Frustration" section to the end of "Blasphemy." The latter section is a sort-of reprise of "Stigma," although it's musically quite different. I was planning to lay down the vocals for "The Decision" tonight, but it's a little too late in the evening now.
Aside from the progress on that track, I've also organized my ideas and noted them so there's now some musical direction and clarity about the tracks which I haven't yet started to record:
"Coyote—Bringer of Fire" is going to be almost a strange, mystical sort of chant. The middle section in which Krist tells how coyote stole fire will have a Native America "world music" feel. I also plan to put my Australian rain stick to use in that track, as well as possibly some other odd acoustic instruments I have around.
"The Long Day of Gamayun" will alternate between a percussion-heavy "world/ethnic" sound on the verses and some hard-and-heavy guitar/drums/bass during the chorus sections. I'm planning to speak, rather than sing, the lyrics on this track.
"Arrest" will be a somewhat Pink Floydian tune based around a moderately slow 4/4 rhythm. I'm planning for it to be in the style of what Rick and I used to do all the time as Jawbone, but which I haven't dealt with much since, especially in the Mythconception project.
With those guidelines noted, things are taking shape for the "missing chunk" of the album. If things go well and I'm able to achieve the level of productivity I'm aiming for, there might be at least rough, basic versions of all these tracks by the end of the week. It will sure be nice when I can listen through all the tracks from beginning to the end and see how the album holds together!

10:57 PM (0) comments

Monday, August 02, 2004

Sure, I haven't posted any news in over a month, but that definitely doesn't mean there hasn't been progress! Tracks for Mythconception have kept moving along. "Digital Jesus" has been entirely remade, and is now—dare I say it?—finished! "The Apotheosis of William Harvey" is very close to done. Finishing up the solo section is the only significant thing left for that track. Aside from a couple sound effects and possibly re-doing the vocals, "Stigma" is finished. "Palingensia" is also right on the cusp of being finished. And again, the same goes for "Sarah In the Garden," which will probably need another go at the vocals, but otherwise sounds finished. "The Decision" has been expanded and developed quite a bit since the last news update, and has some fantastic bass work I'm really pleased with.
I've also moved ahead to work on "Crucifixion In the Garden", which is clocking in at slightly over eleven minutes long! Right now, "Crucifixion" is moody and beautful, but hasn't got any of the guitars yet. And just last night I cut together "Mythogenesis," which sounds great. (I never really liked the version which turned up at the end of the Suchness EP.)
In all, things have progressed beautifully during July, to the point where I've put together the unfinished project under the title Preconception: Mythconception In Progress. This "test album" will be distributed to only a very few people whom I like and trust. In fact, I only have six copies of it, and one of them is my own! There are more people whom I like and trust and would really love to give a copy of the album, but I'm not yet sure if I'll make additional copies or not.

5:39 AM (0) comments

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