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January 23, 2007

Song-A-Week 4: I Know How This Ends

Hello All - sorry its sorta late.
Didn't have time to get guitars in. You'll just have to imagine it huge and building I guess.

I Know How This Ends
(C) 2007 Matthew Good

And every story
has an end
this is it.
You're gonna get around this.
I've already read this novel.

And every chapter
upsets the others
before.
You're gonna get beyond this.
I know how it has to end.

Every sentence
another step,
Just walk.
You're gonna get through this.
I already know the ending.

Every word
weighs a ton
trips you up
You're gonna get around this.
I already read the last few lines.

Hey
I skipped ahead
I know how this one ends.
Hey
Its not so bad
I know how this ends.

Every heartache
has it's beauty
You're gonna make it through this.
I've already read this one.

Hey
I skipped ahead
I know how this one ends.
Hey
Its not so bad
I know how this ends.

Let me know what you think. I know what I think, I think, but I don't want it to tamper with what you think. You jive?

Posted by pedalboy at January 23, 2007 12:05 AM | TrackBack
Comments

Another good effort Matt. Getting to hear a new song from you each week is a real treat. I'm listening at work, so there a lot of things distracting me from giving a really thorough listen. But I do really like the abrupt ending of the song. That's a good touch. It also reminds me of someone, but I can't think of who. I know the obvious answer, with the piano and all, would be Ben Folds, but that's not it. Anway, keep it up!

Posted by: Dan at January 23, 2007 2:43 PM

I like the building idea. The harmonies are great by the way, the melody in the chorus is also nice.

I'm hearing the abrupt ending, but 2 measures (well, 5 beats, beats 2 and 3 after the last piano chord and another 3 beats) hearing the whole band jump in, drums, bass, guitar, piano and all, with a lead guitar playing a "solo" of the chorus. Could be cool, have it fade it. This could be a great last song on the album song.

Words, they're cool. I would like a bit more variety though. Maybe the repetition of knowing how it ends could be spiced up a bit. I kind of feel it takes away from the chorus' weight with all the end lines.

Another spot, the line "I already know the ending." and "I've already read this one" could use another syllable or two perhaps, could make the melody go with the music a bit more. Thoughts, just thoughts.

I had another idea for Worlds Unknown too. During the "Eliminate all the messy complications" part, you should have some staccato chords, and a moving bass line on the last measure/chord of each phrase. Could be cool.

Haha, you don't know how happy I am to be near the top of the comment list. I sometimes feel my comments will mean less cause you've already received so much feedback before mine.

But not today!

Posted by: Chase at January 23, 2007 5:45 PM

This song is pretty good, and i can see the beginning of a great song. I think it definitely needs some guitars for build up, it starts feeling a little repetitive without them. The ending section (from the final chorus to the abrupt stop) i think is my favorite part. my one biggest criticism i think is the final two lines of each verse seeming off. i don't know if its too many syllables or too few, but it doesn't sound right to me. Other than that, i really like the story of this song. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: mallio at January 23, 2007 5:55 PM

Oh Chase, i treat all my comments equally. Or something. In fact, I respect your musical opinion so much that I look forward to your posts with great anticipation. now that we have the butt-kissing out of the way...

I think this song is pretty darn weak. Notice, AIM friends, that this week you didn't receive a message from me to the effect of "OMG ANOTHER SONG-A-WEEK, it's so good, I am a golden god, go listen now, you peons!!" I'm surprised it got as positive a reaction as it did, actually. Aside from me not having time to flesh out an interesting arrangement (which will probably be a common thread on these monday-songs), I agree, the lyrics are repetitive and a bit dull. I think the premise for them is good but the execution isn't the most original take on it.... In short, this is probably my leas favorite Song-A-Week so far.

But that's what the Song-A-Week is about. It might blow. I can guarantee you that it WILL blow several times before this is all over, in fact. But the point is for me to force myself to do it, not unlike Dan's "National Novel Writing Month" experiment. If I didn't have this commitment forcing me to write a new song a week and demo it, I wouldn't have written "Worlds Unknown," which I think has a lot of potential. If I keep this up for a year, the next time I go to record an album, I will have no less than FIFTY-TWO market-tested songs to choose from, all with insightful comments from you guys. If only one in five is good, that's enough for a whole album. So that's where I'm at with this song and the project...

Chase I'll take your advice about the words if I work on this song further... I was aware of that when I was recording it but didn't have any better ideas at the time. What do you mean about the staccato chords??

Mallio, yeah, there's something not quite working there. Might require some reworking. Thanks for confirming that suspicion.

Thanks for listening, all!

Posted by: matt at January 23, 2007 10:46 PM

Yeah, this wasn't at the top of the songs of the week. I do like keys though, so if you can find ways of incorporating them in the future, do it.

anyway, friends are terrible critics. they tend to like things more than they otherwise would just because they know and like the person who did it. if we don't like something, we'll try to make it sound less bad than we really think it is, or try to say nice things, or not say anything.

I really do think this song has potential, but i also feel as it stands it is weak. However, the last one you asked us to ignore certain things because its just a demo, so i kinda went on that line of thinking.

Posted by: mallio at January 25, 2007 9:53 AM

i already AIMed you so here's bullet points:

I LOVE the melody and structure of the song. Overall, 2nd out of your 4 so far.
I like it without guitars.. they'd seem forced

workons:
the piano bites my ears
the words seem forced
install your MIDI driveR!!
shower daily.

Posted by: dan at January 25, 2007 6:11 PM

Honestly? I loved the vocals but overall I really didn't like the song much. Perhaps a guitar would help, the song definitely needs some development.

Posted by: Kristina at January 26, 2007 2:11 PM
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