That Dog. - Until The Day I Die

4:18 for April 18th

Sometimes I’ll sit and listen to a song on repeat for a long time. This one fits the bill.

iTunes tells me I listened to it thirteen times in a row last night; it felt like one.

The Cars - All Mixed Up

4:17 for April 17th

She shadows me in the mirror
She never leaves on the light
And some things that I say to her
They just don’t seem to bite
It’s all mixed up

Foo Fighters - Everlong

4:11 for April 11th

This is 15 years old and it still sounds as fresh as it did the first time I heard it. I think it deserves a place among the greatest rock songs of all time.

Pedro The Lion - The Longest Winter

4:11 for April 11th

In time memories fade, senses numb.
One forgets how it feels to have loved completely.

40in40:

Jesus Christ Superstar - The Last Supper & Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)

Go big or go home?

I originally planned on doing only The Last Supper, but it felt completely empty without Gethsemane, so I did them both. Doing both those songs would’ve been tough enough with my original plans - in which I thought I’d be able to spend a full 7 days working on them. Then my family came to visit for 5 days and so I actually only had 2 days to complete all of this. So much for seeing how much better I could do at a leisurely pace!

Skipping all the piano and orchestra parts meant both songs ended up a bit more “rock and roll” than their various original versions, as I replaced that stuff with some crunchy guitars. I would never pretend to have even 10% as much vocal talent as the great Ian Gillian, or Ted Neeley, or Murray Head, or Carl Anderson. Their performances are legendary and I tried not to imitate them wherever possible, though some of the crazy-high melodies are essential to the production, so I did the best I could do. Go big or go home. With these two, more than any of the previous 40, I surely can’t be accused of not putting myself out there.

So, after two solid days of recording and mixing, I thought I was done. I exported a version and while listening I heard a few things that I wanted to tweak, so I reopened the session and as I got to the end of Gethsemane I noticed that the drums, bass, and guitar tracks had vanished. I have no idea what happened. It may well have been my mistake, though it feels like a technical error. Regardless, the session is mostly lost and we’re left with this original export. It has everything in there and it’s good enough to get my point across - though it’s mixed a little rougher than I’m happy with, but as it’s nearly 3:30am, I’m going to chalk it up as a loss. Jesus might have resurrected, but these lost tracks certainly won’t.

This is the end. Thanks to all of you for joining me on this insane journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. Happy Easter.

Originally recorded: April 21-23, 2011

1 year later and I’m still happy with how this turned out, warts and all.

(The rest of 40 in 40 can be found here.)

The Milk Carton Kids - I Still Want A Little More

Monday afternoon I heard these guys on World Cafe. This style of music isn’t particularly up my alley, but sometimes a song just hits you right where it counts and you can’t help but stop whatever it is you’re doing at the time and surrender yourself to its undeniable beauty.

I mean… these guys aren’t exactly breaking new musical ground here, but seriously, how great is this? So great.

They give their albums away for free. Go get ‘em.

Superdrag - Nothing Good Is Real

FMGreen - Yellow Plants

4:01 for April 1st

When was the last time you heard any of the following used in a song?

• Slide Whistle
• Flexatone
• Whistling
• Coconuts

Press play and you’ll soon be able to answer the question “When was the last time you heard all of the above used simultaneously in one song?”

Why haven’t you bought a copy of Victory! yet?

Pedro The Lion - Magazine

4:01 for April 1st

This is the song that originally hooked me onto Pedro The Lion (and subsequently David Bazan). It’s also my favorite song to play along to on the drums. If you’re ever interested in diving into the PTL catalog, the album Control is a good place to start. 

Wouldn’t you love to be on the cover of a magazine?
Healthy skin; perfect teeth; designed to hide what lies beneath. 

Pixies - Hey

3:31 for March 31st

Hey!
Been tryin’ to meet you.

Fiona Apple - Limp

3:31 for March 31st

So angry. So great.

Ozma - Domino Effect

3:31 for March 31st

As Rivers Cuomo once famously stated: “Ozma does weezer better than weezer.”

Toadies - I Burn

3:30 for March 30th

One song. Two chords. Never dull.

My favorite thing about this song is that they spend two minutes adding layer upon sinister layer and then suddenly, just when you think things can’t get any darker, the tone changes at the 2:10 mark, the song simmers for another 45 seconds, and then finally ignites before exploding, collapsing in on itself, and snuffing itself out.

Or maybe I’m just over-thinking it.

Van Halen - Unchained

3:30 for March 30

“Come on Dave, gimme a break…”

In my eyes this might be Eddie’s most impressive riff. Above all else it highlights the fact that he is more than just a virtuoso lead guitarist; the rhythm guitar performance is what makes this song so special.

Also… I absolutely love that his guitar is hard-panned to the left channel for the whole song while the rest of the band is centered throughout.

Imperial Teen - You Hoo

3:30 for March 30th

One song. Two chords. Never dull.