SqueakyAnimalStudio

Signing to Sarah: Guest Artist Week

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:13:00 +0000

Hey-yo! Sorry for the long silence hereabouts. Life intruded, and then there was the Great Studio Computer Meltdown of '09. Shudder. I've got a couple of more Milne songs in the pipeline, and even a non-children's composition or two. In the meantime, we've got a recording here from guest singer/songwriter Rachel .

Rachel was in town for a visit this weekend. She brought with her this little number, written for her nephew. Sarah, as usual, got into the spirit of things.

As always, click on the title link below for the .mp3; for those of you reading this on Facebook, remember to check out the Squeakyanimals recording archive. Whee!

The Bugaboo Song
Words and Music � 2009 Rachel Rosenberg
Vocal, Rachel; Guitar, Mark

When Auntie Rachel comes
She gets into her car
She drives a long, long way
Cause she lives so very far.

She walks up to my house,
And knocks upon my door,
And when I open up,
She says, as she has said before,

�What�s new, Bugaboo?�
I came a long way just to see you!�
And I say, �What�s new, Bugaboo?
That�s you and me.

I put on my shoes
And we go to the park,
Where I run across the grass,
Which is long and green and dark

I climb each red step
And bounce upon the bridge
I might go down the slide,
Please encourage me a smidge

She says, �Come down, Bugaboo!�
I love rhymes and goofy words, too.
�What�s new, Bugaboo!�
That�s you and me.

Once my Mommy said,
We could get in the car
And go see Auntie Rachel
Though she lives so very far

We drove a long, long way,
And ate food at the Med
Then I saw a nearby park
With a see-saw painted red

It had a sandbox and
Sand upon the ground
When I ran to the pirate ship,
I slipped and I fell down.

I looked up but Rachel
Seemed so nonchalant,
That I called out �Rescue me!�
Come, prove you are my aunt.

And she said, �What�s wrong, Bugaboo?�
She picked me up and started to coo.
�You�re fine, Bugaboo!�
That�s you and me.

�What�s new, Bugaboo?�
I say it to Auntie Rachel, too,
What�s new, Bugaboo?
That�s you and me.

Singing to Sarah: the Duke of York Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 03:42:00 +0000

Ok, I think this may be turning into its own little project. This is the third Milne poem from When We Were Very Young that I've set to music. Might have to do the whole book eventually.

What's that, you say? Third? Where's the second? Well, just like a Joss Whedon show, the Milne series will be aired out of order. The second piece is still being recorded; Joe and Isabel tracked some backing vocals last week while they were visiting, and now I have to fly the rest of the tune in. Soon, soon!

This one's short and sweet: page 81 in my copy, Halfway Down. Sarah cackled when I played it to her, but Marg thought it was too dirge-like with just electric piano (and she was right). So I layered some clarinets on top. She wanted Calliope, but I don't have one. So it goes.

Halfway Down <--get the song here!

Words by A.A. Milne, published 1924

Music� 2009 Mark Frey

Singing to Sarah 7: Special Georgian Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 02:49:00 +0000

This week's recording is an awesome guest appearance by Rho. She sings Shapenote and Georgian Folk music. The Georgian choir she works with recently did this piece in 3-part harmony, but I like the plaintive sound of one solo voice on the melody here.

This is a lullaby, traditionally sung to lure the evil spirits that cause infectious diseases out of a sick child. With any luck, it's also preventative!

Batonebis Nanina
trad. Georgian
vocal: Rho

New recording: Build it up

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:11:00 +0000

This week's song was begun about a year ago, born out of thoughts on the economic hijinks on Wall Street and beyond. Much of the specific inspiration, though, came from this piece, which was part of the fantastic comic-art show Marg had in 2007.

Seriously, a couple of years ago you couldn't swing a dead cat in this town without hitting a brand-new condo building. Giant barfing construction anime-critters are the ONLY POSSIBLE EXPLANATION. Most of these places never seemed to sell many units, and yet the developers made enough to take a vacation in Paris and then build the next one. Made no sense to me until everything went down the tubes.

I imagine something bigger and proggier for this one eventually, but this version gets the ideas across, I think.

Build it up (get yer .mp3 RIGHT HERE, folks. Step right up!)

Words and Music � 2009 Mark Frey

Build it up

then walk away

buy it out

then make them pay

fill it in

but never stay

build it up

sell it off

before it's done

burn it down

just for fun

write it off

while you're on the run

build it up

it's all we know

and change, change comes slow

these are the cards we show

it's all we know

grab a piece

but don't pay cash

wring it dry

and toss the trash

ride it high

then let it crash

build it up.

New Recording: Lines and Squares

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:57:00 +0000

Really, I'm not going to turn into a writer of children's songs. Promise. But indulge me this week!

I've been reading Sarah poems from A.A. Milne's charming "When We Were Very Young" collection. Fun stuff. Even though she doesn't get the words, she seems to like the sound of them. One day last week, I started singsonging a little melody to "Lines and Squares" instead of just reading the poem. This went over well with Sarah, and Marg liked it too. Then it got stuck in my head, and so I had to record it for y'all.

Lines and Squares (click for audio file)

Words by A.A. Milne, published 1924

Music � 2009 Mark Frey

Singing to Sarah 6: Cover Tuneage

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 03:48:00 +0000

I had an original number in progress for this week. However, despite a fair amount of effort it's not clicking yet. Can't figure out why, but it isn't. Maybe not enough cowbell. Hopefully I'll figure it out in the next week or two.

Instead, here's the next in the "Singing to Sarah" series of impromptu acoustic performances. This time I'm playing a cover tune that Sarah really seems to like. I've noticed she seems to prefer sad songs.

Using the first take on this one. I did a second run-through, but the baby noises near the end of take #1 seemed to fit the concept better.

Singing to Sarah 6: tiv.mp3

The ever-popular artistic delay

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:14:00 +0000

This week's recording will be a little late. My apologies! I'll have something posted by tomorrow or Tuesday; check back soon.

In the meantime, if you have not already: you can hear the fully collaborated version of Virtuell Speckfr�hst�ckskost, with vocal treatments by Gerhard Schinkenspeise, over here on his friend Tom's blog.

(I posted the instrumental bed tracks for this piece here a couple of weeks ago; Gerhard added vocal magic in his secret lair)

Singing to Sarah 5: Guest Artist!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 05:18:00 +0000

This week, we feature fabulous guest artist (but not exactly Special Guest, if you know what I mean) Captain Ambivalent in the Singing to Sarah series. He's got a delightful little ditty for us about love and redemption.

Precious<--Yesssss, clicksss here, Precioussss!

Words and music � 2009 by Dan Biemer

Singing to Sarah, part 4: I've got your toes!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 18 May 2009 03:19:00 +0000

Caution: contents may induce sugary coma. You have been warned!

This week's entry is a song Marg wrote for Sarah. It's a catchy little baby-cute number that she sings to her while holding and wiggling Sarah's toes, feet, arms, and so on. It's incredibly effective at distracting a baby in the early stages of fussiness. For now, you'll just have to imagine the visuals for yourselves.

I've got your toes! <--Click to get your .mp3!
Words and music � 2009 Margaret Frey
Vocal Marg, guitar Mark. Backing vocal Sarah.

Works in progress: German Synths!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Sun, 03 May 2009 18:14:00 +0000

I've been working on a collaboration with the enigmatic and reclusive German electronic music genius known to the world only as "Destination : Appointment."

This piece is a background tapestry I composed for a set of Herr Appointment's treatments called�Virtuell Speckfr�hst�ckskost. I'll post the final work when it is complete, but I thought you might enjoy this stage of the process as this week's recording.

Virtuell Speckfr�hst�ckskost (version)<--bitte, clicken f�r mp3

Singing to Sarah, part 3: Guest Artist!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:35:00 +0000

Matt came by and sang to Sarah yesterday, joining the Squeaky Animal crew as guest songwriter for the week. This number is a little cautionary fable about the evils of Rock & Roll. The important life lessons start now, little Sarah!

Photographic evidence of the session can be found on Sarah's Blog.

Rock Band [MP-three HEAR!]� 2009 Matt T. Mullane

Matt: Lead and backing vocals, guitar, wooden frog

Mark: Bass, organ, backing vocal, tambourine.

Into the archives!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:03:00 +0000

Well, it's been a hecka-busy week. Grant proposal, fussy baby, lawn care, fussy baby, and so on. By Sunday night it's become clear that I'm not going to write anything new for this post. So, INTO THE ARCHIVES!

This recording is pretty old. About 1991, I'd have to guess. At the time, I was playing in a very short-lived blues-rock outfit called "40 oz. Soul." I was the bass player, George was the guitarist. The singer, who really really wanted to be Jim Morrison, was Ryan, and there was a drummer whose name I've unfortunately forgotten. He was into Mr. Big. Ah, youth.

We cut a demo tape using my 4-track Portastudio and Dan Biemer's effects units/mixer. This song, "Crystal River Fantasy," was on it, in the straight-ahead smalltown blues-rock style that we intended to become famous for (maybe I'll post that rendition on some other day).�

One of the other things we apparently intended to become famous for was band members not showing up to rehearsal or writing/recording sessions (did I mention this group was short-lived?). On one weekend afternoon, when we were supposed to be recording, George and I found ourselves in my Mom's basement without a drummer or lead singer. Marg was visiting from Chicago for the weekend, though, so for fun we did a little (pretty loose in the bass and guitar, but that's what spontaneous is all about) mostly-acoustic version of this tune with her singing.

Oddly, this recording helped bring on the band's demise, which occurred not long after that weekend (announced by Ryan on stage at an open mic we were playing, with no advance warning!). I later heard the story from George, when he and I were both playing in better bands that shared a festival bill at the American Legion post. Apparently, Ryan heard this rendition by accident at George's place, and had some weird kind of ego-jealousy reaction that caused him to dissolve the band at the next highly-public opportunity. George's interpretation was that Ryan didn't like how our track was way better than the full-band recording. Of course, George could sometimes be a little snarky.

In retrospect, it's crazy how low-fi these Portastudios (4 tracks! on a cassette tape! awesome!) were. Kind of charming, in their own way.

Crystal River Fantasy (quiet version) �<---click for it!

music by 40 oz. Soul, lyrics by Ryan;

guitar, George; vocal, Marg; bass & keys, Mark

Singing to Sarah, part 2.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:32:00 +0000

This week we feature the second in a series of quick, no-overdub demos sung with the baby as audience.�

Today's post is a new song, an angsty little number about loss and doubt. The first verse had been in my head, with a different melody, for a while, but yesterday I put together a new tune and more lyrics. Practiced a bit, then played 3 takes this evening. This is the one I liked best, warts and all.

The baby fell asleep during the recording. I suspect she's going to keep doing that until I write some songs FOR her, rather than just bringing her in the room while I'm playing.�

Diary [Get the .mp3 here]
� 2009 Mark Frey

There's a dog-eared page in my diary
from the day I first met you
I've been back there more times than is healthy
trying to get a better view

Even now, I've no idea
if I did all that I could
should I have pushed through your defences?
would it have done you any good?

the bright light of our history
is like a burning sun
focused through the lens of what came after
I scramble for cover, finding none

my hindsight is as blurry
as a Tarot stained with red wine
you left this blot on my memory
in a shape I can't define

so there's a dog-eared page in my diary
from the day I first met you

Singing to Sarah, part 1.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:56:00 +0000

Yay, new baby!

Time has, of course, become limited. However, I'm told that's no excuse for not keeping up my blog. So we're going to try a new format. Yesterday, I plopped Sarah down on her BoppyLounger in the studio, and sang to her. Guitar and vocal, no edits or overdubs, one set of live mics and a baby as an audience. This approach and variations on it are likely to dominate the blog for a while. Plus there will be some shameless mining of archival recordings.

Anyway, this week's presentation is a cover version of a favorite song from 1980. Get the .mp3 of my rendition here!

Then go watch the video for the original version on YouTube. It's awesome.

Welcome, Sarah!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:14:00 +0000

No new recording this week: I'm taking this one off to celebrate little Sarah Ann's birth. Plus, she's taken absolute control of the household and my attention.

Posted recordings will resume on the first Sunday of March, probably in a very stripped-down form for the next few months. Those of you who like one-take, warts-and-all acoustic recordings are likely to be pleased.

In the meantime, here she is, holding court in her BoppyLounger. I don't know why, but there's something in her expression in this one that says, "I am TROUBLE!"

New Song: Airwaves

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:18:00 +0000

This week's tune is an homage to the glory days of FM radio. Something about the connection, however tenuous, to a real person in a little booth in a city sixty or so miles away always struck a chord with me whilst I was a misfit teenager in medium-town Indiana in the 80s. These days, I suppose blogs and Twitter and Facebook serve a similar function. But it's not the same, somehow.

Airwaves [Get the .mp3 here!]
(c) Mark Frey 2009

Deceiving the static, we tune automatic
dial in the notion of connected emotion
turn up the sound 'til that voice comes around
superlative reflex in an unchanging index

Out in the night we receive
and believe
it'll be all right

Under this sky we can cry
and take comfort
from strangers

Immersed in the airwaves
breathe in the airwaves

Losing all fear, drawn out of the hear
without wondering how, in a crystalized now
Anonymous noise, genuine joys
radiation that sings, a message that rings

Ephemeral visions of better conditions
repeating the signs over invisible lines
glamorous stories of intangible glories
under the cloud, shouting out loud.

Fun with iTunes Genius

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 03:34:00 +0000

Recently this gentleman made me aware of how much fun the iTunes Genius feature can be. It's a little bit like Pandora using your own library. Very good when you're in a specific mood--you only need to pick one song that fits the mood, then hopefully Genius takes over. It has some weird gaps (like, it doesn't recognize King Crimson? WTF!?), but it's pretty impressive nonetheless.

I thought up a little game to play with the Genius: pick two artists, as far removed from one another as you can imagine. Start with a Genius playlist based on a song from the first, and then pick another playlist based on one song in the first playlist. Rinse and repeat. See how many steps it takes to get from one to the other.

I got from the Sex Pistols to Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in 4 hops. Same era, but diametrically opposed with regard to musical ethos. Woot!

OTOH, I had to give up on my attempt to hop from Miles Davis to Nine Inch Nails. FAIL!

One tip I've come up with already: David Bowie appears to be the iTunes Genius version of Kevin Bacon; all roads seem to lead through Bowie.

New Song: Niagara Falls

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 04:24:00 +0000

On Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend last year, I found myself in a car with cs10, racing towards Burlington, Ontario to try and see a movie. We didn't get there in time, in large part because of the looooong delay getting over the Peace Bridge (and no, neither of us wanted to show up fifteen minutes into the film).�

Once I got over being annoyed by this, it occurred to me that this was a seriously modern problem: I was ticked off because it took me a whole forty minutes to cross the Niagara River while sitting comfortably in a climate-controlled box, shielded from the Buffalo winter. 200 years ago, the problem would have been arriving at the other side safely, let alone how long it might have taken.�

This week's entry is sort of about that.�

Niagara Falls {GET the mp3 HERE!}
(c) 2009 Mark Frey

mighty water rushing down in walls
her river tamed by Ellet and Roebling
and the turbines make her sing

modern day
cross the tumult on a blacktop highway
meanwhile, computer screens
console aging stockbrokers and anxious teens

and bit by bit all the barriers fall
and our world becomes terribly small
and still more barriers fall

everywhere
everywhere I go, they're there
high tension wires and concrete
grid by grid the towers repeat

stratified
streets and poles and lines we've tied
around the planet's growing girth
raw material in strange rebirth

and bit by bit all the barriers fall
and our world becomes terribly small
and still more barriers fall

So
so it's hard to ever get away, and how
how should we cope with it all?
miles of wire wrapped around a hollow ball

Ah, 1990!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:36:00 +0000

While cleaning up and trying to empty the house of things we won't need once the baby arrives, I ran across the pre-show mix tape cassette (!) I made for the University Theater production of Faust from my senior year in college. This is the show marg and I met on; she was the tech director and I was the sound designer.

Most of my work on that show involved special effects sound cues, like trying to make it sound like a cute little lap dog is transforming into a slavering Hell Hound behind Faust's desk. Mostly done on reel-to-reel tape; I was actually pretty good at splicing the stuff. Anyway, I also had to get a pre-show music tape together at the last minute, with my main instruction being to choose stuff "that people will recognize." Here's what I figured would do that job well, ca. early 1990:

the Spirit of Radio (Rush)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen)
in a Big Country (uh, Big Country)
the Big Sky (Kate Bush)
Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd)
Should I Stay or Should I go? (the Clash)
Don't Go Back to Rockville (REM)
Don't Go (Yazoo)

Good for a chuckle or two. I should point out that this was 2 years before the Wayne's World movie and a year or so before the re-release of the Clash single, so these songs were less iconic/overplayed at that point.

I'd probably make different choices today, but OTOH I still like all these songs too. Pretty sure they're all still in my iTunes library.

New Year, New Song. It's that simple.

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:46:00 +0000

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you had a good 2008 and will enjoy health and prosperity in 2009.

A lot of us worry too much. We worry about little things, we worry about big things. Sometimes we can't tell the difference. We like to talk about what we're worryin' on. I guess that's what this song is about. Sort of.�

Critical Issues (get the .mp3 here!)
(c) 2009 Mark Frey

Lint in my pocket,�the status of talks
noise that it's making,�child safety locks.
Which is the strongest,�who is to blame
where's my enigma,�does he love you the same?

Guns in our grade schools,�the price of the show
that dream that you're chasing
hey, no-one will know...

Critical issues,�these are critical issues
the meat of the matter,�a critical issue.

Drinking and driving,�embezzlement news
broken�colliders,�nothing to lose!
Blood on the sidewalk,�what we're having for lunch
framing the image,�spikes in the punch.

Whom did he sleep with,�when did it break
cultural cesspool
is it a sin to like steak?

Critical issues,�they're all critical issues
the crux of the biscuit,�a critical issue.

Randomized survey,�unstable market
which way is up,�where can we park it?
Junk in the sky,�ice in my drink
the color of money,�what will she think?

Trouble with OPEC,�fields of fire
reasons for leaving
the length of the wire...

Critical issues,�these are critical issues
the point that I'm making,�a critical issue.

Critical issues,�so many critical issues
the tip of the iceberg,�a critical issue.

Holiday Technology Meltdown!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 01:32:00 +0000

Yikes!

Just in time for the holidays, my studio machine melted down AGAIN. I seem to be having a poltergeist on the main system drive--this is the third time in 6 months, after no trouble in the previous 5 years. Boo. That's what I get for doing a system update just before I needed to record. Bad monkey!

I got it running again, but not in time to track anything this weekend--still have to reinstall all the recording software etc. So, as I'm wont to do in such situations, I fished through the archives. For your entertainment then, following in the theme of the recent Riley reunion: a recording of Riley playing Zappa's "Magic Fingers" live on WBFO from back in 1998 (I think? If not, hopefully one of the other Riley dudes will correct me).�

If my memory serves, only a few people have copies of this recording, so hopefully it will be of interest. There's also a clip of us playing this on YouTube�at the reunion show last month, but this one is ready to slip into your iTunes. Whee!

Everyone please have a safe and wonderful holiday; the Squeakytunes will resume in the first week of 2009!

Rockin' in the dark!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:07:00 +0000

The Riley reunion show over Thanksgiving was tons of fun! It was a little dark, though. For some reason the bar couldn't turn on all the stage lights--a problem we failed to consider while setting up, as there are LOTS of lights hung and pointed at the stage. Except, it turns out that only one set of them worked.

Which ended up being kind of interesting--it put this pool of light right in front of the e-drum kit, exactly where nobody was. Kurt ended up being pretty visible, you can see Mike's guitar's headstock sometimes, and Ken occasionally wandered over there with his stage-wackiness turned up to 11, which was awesome, but for the most part it was the four of us playing in the dark clustered around a pool of light.

It sort of screams "THIS IS ART ROCK!"

Anyway, Kurt's dad did an awesome job of videotaping the show under the conditions. I seem to recall him perched on top of the bar's Pac-Man machine, trying to velcro his camera to the wall or something to get a good angle. Heroic!

Here's one clip on YouTube (I'm the writhing shadow all the way over to the right); you can find the rest of the show easily from there if it strikes yer fancy:

New Song: Walk Away

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 05:00:00 +0000

But first: the Riley reunion gig over Turkey Day went really well! Lots of people there having a great time, the four of us on stage included. Special appearances included NSS and Tim O'Connell. Woot, and many thanks to all who were involved.

Oddly enough, after we got back, I ran across some old Riley videotapes while tidying up. I'm going to try to digitize them, and if it works I'll post some of the results here.

Ok, to business. Tonight's ditty is a cheerful little number written in reaction to the over-commercialization rampant in our world today. Get yer cynicism right here, in time for the holidays! Muahaha!

Other notes: for those keeping score (that would be, uh, ME, and, uh, ME) this recording represents the first appearance of Jody's awesome Kustom guitar on one of my tunes. Been meaning to use it for a while, and here it's holding down both the lead and rhythm. That Bigsby tremolo is just too much fun.

Walk Away (get the mp3 here! now with 100% digital bits!)<<<<<<<<<<
(c) 2008 Mark Frey

The hype machine is in overdrive
commanding attention now
promising good times will arrive
without saying when or how

the cola wars and the American Dream
have become the same
styrofoam-packed disposable lifestyle
soft focus in a neon frame

and we buy into their garbage
every minute every day
is it time to wake up?
is it time to walk away?

Ad men tell us when to be horny
when to fight, when to shed a tear
make us believe in the glories
of bigger TV and weaker beer

and we buy into their garbage
every minute every day
is it time to wake up?
is it time to walk away?

muscle cars and morning pills
every moment bottled and sold
focus groups with sound bite honesty
dreams and fears and greed uncontrolled?

the hype machine is in overdrive
craving attention now
promising good times will arrive
but not saying when or how

Two birds, one trusty old Rock

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 05:23:00 +0000

This week's recording comes to you in large part courtesy of an upcoming reunion gig I have with my old bandmates in Riley. We're doing a double show with another band that hasn't played in almost 10 years: edn, which contains Bill, Demus, and Tim, the other 75% of Two-Fisted Frogkicker aka Implied Trampoline (famed from prior appearances on this here blog).

To celebrate the upcoming show (and since relearning all my keyboard parts for the durn thing has taken up most of my free time this week), I decided to rework one of the Riley songs for a simple piano and vocal arrangement. This experiment allowed me to use my practice time as recording time, effectively getting a couple of extra evenings out of the week. Yay (no, you may NOT burst my bubble on that bit of fake math)!

Since I can't ever do anything the easy way, I chose as my target Riley's monster Prog-rock smackdown, Something Different (click for a sample, if you haven't heard it already). I, um, had to change a few things. Like take out all the awesome time signatures. And stuff. But I think it works fairly well this way, and it's interesting to see just how much you can change in a song and still have it be recognizable.

Something Different (Acoustic Version) mp3
(c) 1994 and 2008 Riley and Mark Frey

Go vote, dangnabbit!

noreply@blogger.com (Mark) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:44:00 +0000

Unless, of course, you already have.