[np - Tori Amos - Girl (live)]

Last night turned into a rather productive night. I got in the groove for soundtrack composition, and ended up with a bunch of really good ideas. Yep, I'm still working on the Six Bullets soundtrack.

As the cut of the movie keeps shifting, I'm having to keep adjusting to new moods and styles. On the previous cut, I was kind of tied to a more conventional approach to the music. It was more of a straightforward film, so I had to be a little more conservative -- I wasn't gettin' all jiggy/crazy with the music. Now, though, it's become really, really experimental and non-traditional. The story is much less of a narrative now, meaning that the music is going to be the driving force of the mood. It also means I can get really left-field and do whatever I want, a dictum that was directly handed to me from the director.

These two new aspects left me a little daunted. Not only am I driving the mood, but I have to come up with a unique style to fit the film. I've been stewing and mulling it over for the past two months, not really getting anywhere. But I think I've hit the mark now, and I have the general vibe: dark, dark, dark, dark. I'm mixing traditional instruments like acoustic guitar, harmonica, and flute with some creepy-dark Absynth and Wavestation texture beds. Throw that over beats that are a combination of Native American hand drums and grungy old-school-sampler hip-hop drums, and you're getting the flavor of what's banging around in my head.

Dammit. I just want to go hide in my studio for a few days. :P

[np: The Cure - In-Between Days]

Just a short entry before I have to get crackin' on worky-work-work. I saw a rather cool quote while doing my morning surfing:

There are four boxes available to citizens to protect their liberty -- the soap box, the ballot box, the jury box, and the cartridge box, which should be employed in that order.

Lots of wisdom in that statement, I must say. With the upcoming election, this politics junkie has been casting a keen eye on what's going on and on my party affiliation. I think the key to a productive government is that the opposition needs to be keeping an eye on their opponent. When one party rules it all, they have no oversight and quickly become corrupt. Balance is the key here.

That said, I feel like this Nov. 7, I'm going to vote for who I believe will make a good leader, rather than vote against who I think will be bad for the community/state/country. I'm mainly thinking of the Wisconsin governer here, which is the choice between a nutcase and a creep. I'll take door #3, thank you.

[np: Tom Middleton - The Sound of the Cosmos]

w00t, on a roll, three blogs in three days! ;)

So I'm watching Grey's Anatomy last night... Fine, yes, I'm a chick, I admit it, just don't tell my Fantasy Football league, okay? You expected something else from a sensetive trip-hop musician? Anyway, it was the episode where Meredith and George finally hook up... And it left me distinctly disturbed. I've been swimming in an ocean of nostalgia ever since.

What can I say. I've been there, almost to a T.

Now, in TV-land, the two will reconcile, of course. There will be some tear-splattered episode where they decide to be friends again, all wrapped up in drama and sacchrine. Me? I pretty much never spoke to her again. A life-long friend abruptly left my life over eight years ago.

The distance of time has certainly given me perspective on the whole situation. The devestation wrought on me by this betrayal was almost soul numbing at the time, and it all seemed to come out of nowhere. From today, it is all so incredibly obvious. The twinge of anger I feel now is not that I was done wrong, it is that I was a fool and allowed myself to fall for it. To watch the drama last night was to revisit my own weakness, and it was not easy.

And yet, I don't regret anything. Wounds always heal stronger. I would not be doing what I am doing today had it not been for all the friendships, loves, and betrayals in my life.

The thoughts of today even take me back to my first ever performance in a band, almost exactly 10 years ago this month. A former friend sat five feet in front of me while I was performing, trying to psyche me out, trying to make me to fail at something for which I had a great amount of passion. We had fallen out of friendship several months before, and yet here he was, brought by some of our mutual "friends". In retrospect, I think everyone was looking for a big explosion or meltdown, but it never happened. The stage was a bulletproof shield for me, and has been ever since. I ignored the world and all the drama and just played. And have ever since.

There's a song in here somewhere. I'm looking forward to some studio time tonight.

nickout

[np - Joe Satriani - Ceremony]

So that song I said yesterday was going out the window? Waht a difference a day makes. I sat down with it yesterday afternoon, and just by changing the feel and sound of the bassline, I was able to completely salvage the whole sheebang. The problem had been a bit of a resonant tweak, giving the bassline that 80's *poink*. Smooth that out by lowering the cutoff and cutting the resonance, and you have smoove liquid bass-ey goodness.

That seems to be my MO in writing lately -- I'll pick only three instruments or parts for a tune, but I will obsessively tweak these three instruments until I am satisfied. Before, especially on the first album, I would pick a sound and roll with it, just adding more parts where I believed I needed a better sound. I think this new approach is going to really have an impact on how the next album sounds.

[np - Green Bay @ Miami]

Krikey. What a crazy last few months... I don't think I've ever been this busy or had this little spare time. I'm forcing myself to take a little time out here, watch the game, watch my fantasy game, and burn through my 60+ freind requests on MySpace... Next up, vacuuming the stairs! :P

Plenty to talk about -- our two shows went over rather well. We got a ton of positive feedback on our backing video, so I believe it is here to stay. We got to hang with our MPLS friends Mach Fox and Adam from Thosquanta, with whom we shut down the bar. The beer flowed freely... The Stout show was really cool too, playing at schools is always really fun because the people are so nice and chill. Blue Devil Productions at Stout has got some cool stuff going on, very professional folks.

Laura's debut with Somegirl was also a smashing success. These guys looked so damn professional on stage, and yet they had never even practiced together (Laura's probably more busy that I am). I'm looking forward to start cramming on some guitar parts and joining these guys on stage.

I finished wiring the studio at about 1am Friday night... Yeah, rather than having a night on the town and drinking too much, I was crawling around under my new desk cliping and tying wires. And drinking too much. Yes, the beer flowed in the studio. Seeing a pattern here?

I'm feeling like the worst is over now. Shows are done, studio is done, I've got my Korg Legacy Collection all set up... Nothing to do but write write write. I fiddled with a brand new track for an hour yesterday, but it didn't go much of anywhere. It did have a nice groovey beat, somewhat ripped from the latest iPod mini commercial, and an odd bassline. But the progression sounds a little too synthpopy to my ears, so I'm probably going to scrap the instrumentation and start again from just the bassline and beats.

Anyway, best go clean the stairs, then pound on some keys.

In closing, go Pack! :)

nickm