It take VERY little credit for this one. It’s a fairly straightforward arrangement of loops in GarageBand, deliberately trying for a more mainstream sound. It’s more of a production exercise than anything, but I do like how it came out.
Playtime with the World Music JamPack
I didn’t perform any of the parts here; it’s a bunch of loops from GarageBand. The arrangement of those clips, however, is distinctly mine.
Bumpercar Speedway
I used to list Tchaikovsky as a musical influence, ’cause that sounded more legit than “8 bit video game soundtracks.”
Really though, who are we kidding?
Char Man
The stories of Char Man are wide and varied, but they all seem to agree on two details: the guy burnt to death, and he’s still around.
There’s a stretch of the 118 freeway where he’s said to jump onto passing vehicles, spraying blood and fire on the windshield to create unsafe driving conditions for the unsuspecting motorist.
My friend Kurt and I were driving that road at some obscene hour, and it occurred to us that we didn’t want to experience this. It felt very likely at the time that we were about to.
So, I did what you would probably have done; what anyone would… I wrote him a theme song.
I guess I thought this would somehow re-frame the experience; give us a new perspective so we don’t panic like other drivers when he chooses to introduce himself. And let’s face it — everyone needs a theme song.
We sang it again and again until we were safely out of range.
This is that song:
There’s also a followup piece, “Char Man’s Holiday” (for the unproduced sequel).
You can listen to that as well:
two more quick sketches
I bought a guitar simulator for FL Studio, and did roughly what you’d expect from that combination.
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Same tools, different atmosphere:
I should revisit that last one, develop it further.