THIS HALLOWEEN I'M GOING AS YOU

Ian C Stewart "This Halloween I'm Going as You" MP3

At some point in 1995 or 1996 I had the idea to record a bunch of wacky acoustic songs about suicide, recorded on my Sony TCM-81 Cassette-Corder. The songs were basically improvised though I did usually rehearse them a couple of times to tighten up the parts once the parts were there.

The wacky lyrics about suicide ran out quickly. I think "Leaping from the Tallest Structure in Town" might've been the only set in the end.

During this time I was working third shift at Kinko's downtown. I'd get home around 8am or so, catch up on correspondence, eat a bagel. Take a bath. Maybe do some recording before going to bed at noon. It was a nonstop party being me.

The songs were recorded quickly & with even less regard than usual about production values or y'know, being able to understand or even hear the lyrics. Hence the title of the mixdown album..... Bullshit. It was a bunch of bullshit I threw together.

Oh yeah, & I loved Martin Landau in Ed Wood, when he said "bullshit! Let's shoot this fucker." That was funny.

this halloween I'm going as you
you're like a ten-car pile-up
your face is like dirty bathwater
and next year you can go as me

The other side of the tape.... Variations on a Theme... was recorded the same way & eventually was released by Mark Ritchie on his cassette label, KAW Tapes. Me, obscure singer/songwriter. Mark, obscure singer/songwriter/tape label honcho. That's a lot of obscurity there. I forgive the world for never hearing about any of this in any context ever.

Comments

Darrin said…

What in the world is that chord at the end (before all the screaming and kung fu movie sound effects)?

I think Cold Burrito and Dr. Pepper Saved My Life sound like cool songs.

And that restaurant is hilarious. I bet there are 100 of those restaurants in Tokyo.

July 9, 2007 at 4:47 PM

Ian Stewart said…

I'm not as organized as you when it comes to recording song ideas, so I have no idea what any of the chords are to those songs.

Cold Burrito is okay.

Dr Pepper Save My Life is a ballad.

:)

July 16, 2007 at 5:43 PM

THESE CHORDS ARE LIKE FAMILY TO ME

Ian C Stewart "These Chords are like Family to Me" MP3 From the 2003 made-to-be-made-not-made-to-be-heard album I Don't Know Why You Think I Won't Kill You .... this is the last song. This was the beginning of my dabbling with intentional randomness in songwriting. The lyrics for the whole album were compiled from albums by other artists that I enjoyed a lot, such as Adrian Belew's Twang Bar King , The Cure's Pornography , Voivod Nothingface , Mercyful Fate Melissa etc. I wrote out entire lines of their phrases and chopped them together. I think at the time I described it as 'sad psychedelic love songs about satan' overall, which is really being too generous. The music was also randomly chosen from tablature found on t'interwebs for favorite songs of mine. In general I played the chords in reverse order to the original songs but I can still kind of tell in a couple of places what the songs were. The titles were my own, obviously. Although I did cho...

Until 91

Ian C Stewart "Until 91" MP3 Even though I had a girlfriend, I wrote the occasional song about other girls. "Until 91" was one such thing. It was recorded on my brand new Tascam Porta 05 4-track. That thing was my pride & joy. I used it more or less constantly until it gave up the ghost in 1992. "Until 91" adheres to the strict 4 tracks/no overdubs idea, maybe I hadn't learned how to overdub by that point. My first Casio keyboard supplied the drums. It was a PT-something. Uhhhh, clean guitar = Jaguar. Fretless bass = Michael's black Ibanez, last seen onstage with Raymond & Devilcake in 1992. I'm not sure where the funky folky vibe comes from. Satan? You came into my life bringing mucho confusion I didn't know if you were real or just an illusion I thought I was happy as I screamed in pain You turned around and left as you came me drumming with XYCHQ!?, January 1989 This was my first gig playing drums. It was horrible, I was horrible...

CORNER OF THE SKY

that's right, this tape is for HIGH ENERGY MUSIC . Ian C Stewart "Corner of the Sky" MP3 Ianeffective is most of the In Bursts stuff. "Corner of the Sky" never wound up being released despite being one of the stronger songs of the era. It went through at least two musical permutations but I guess I was still unhappy with some aspect of it in the end. Which is strange considering how enthusiastic I was at the time about "William Carlos Williams," which is a Hugo Largo ripoff for two bass guitars and um unique vocal performance. ? Exactly. I think "Corner of the Sky," even at the time, felt like a blatant homage/parody of the Cure. Like, too blatant to be comfortable with, maybe. I don't remember. It's not a bad little song now, though. at the center of the sky is an escape loop for you and I climb on top because you can fly levitate and don't ask why Samarkand swirly sticker 1993 Making this sticker thrilled me to no end. That w...

Ian C Stewart Archive of Sound

Search This Blog