Here’s a treat.

I recently found an old VHS copy of a video my band Happy Panic shot for one of our songs. I believe the intent was that we would enter a Conan O’Brien related college band contest by submitting this video. We did not win. Or if we did, no one in the band told me and I missed the trip to New York.

Everybody singing. That’s me on the right.

Instrumental break. That is still me on the right. It is really remarkable that I did not get more girls when I was in a rock band with fancy cornet moves like that.

Here’s the video, in its entirety, recorded live without a drummer in one of Northwestern University’s film studios. Watch for Vince to wing a tennis ball at the camera towards the beginning.

I’m Always Getting Hit in the Head [WMV, 3.9 MB]

Continuing the Miracle keyboard tribute.

This time, a treat: a brand new song. Well, it’s not really brand new. I wrote it in 1998 or 1999 (I never put dates on anything) and have occasionally revised it since. But it is the first time I’ve ever recorded it. I think. This time around you are not hearing Miracle keyboard sounds, but you are hearing MIDI bleeps and bloops that were programmed in with the valuable assistance of the Miracle, as I bought some fancy sequencing software (and, perhaps more importantly, a MIDI to USB cable) and have put it to use.

Vocals were recorded using Belkin’s voice memo attachment for iPod. It’s a roundabout way to record vocals, but it was the only way I could get any volume at all – my laptop’s mic port leaves much to be desired. But as a result the vocal track is at a low resolution and sounds a little like old-timey radio.

This song, like many of the songs I write, could stand to be a little more dynamic, but the lyrics do exactly what I want them to, and if I held off recording songs until I wrote bridges for all of them I would never get anything recorded. (This song originally had a bridge but it was stupid and I got rid of it.)

Here it is, for your listening pleasure:

Quietly Quick [MP3, 2 MB]

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So, continuing this week’s tribute to the Miracle keyboard, which I have resumed playing after years away and will continue to do so until I get bored of it, here is another Miracle-enabled song.

And when I say “this week” I really mean “over my next several posts, whenever they are”, in the same way that “The Daily Hey” means “The Whenever I Feel Like It And Probably Not Even Then Hey”.

I wrote and recorded this one on my four-track one night in the dorm during my junior year of college. Check out the drum solo in the middle (also Miracle-enabled).

I’m So Vain [MP3, 2.9 MB]

The title, of course, refers to a famous Carly Simon song. At the time, I don’t think I’d ever heard the song; I just knew of its existence, and I liked the title, and decided to appropriate it. I thought it would be fun to write a song where the narrator keeps getting distracted and interrupting himself.

Lyrics after the jump.

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I am pleased to announce that, after a six-year sabbatical from the music industry, I have resumed playing the keyboard. Not just any keyboard: my old Miracle Piano Teaching System keyboard. After a few days of intensive/obsessive rehearsal, I have managed to relearn almost everything I knew how to play before. Granted, this does not equal a high quantity, nor quality, of material. But it is truly a strong testament to my desire to find creative ways to avoid doing schoolwork.

So now I can finally get around to recording all the songs I’ve written since 1998. And all the songs I wrote before 1998 that I never recorded. First, though, I have to figure out how to record stuff from the keyboard without also recording the sound of my fingers clacking against the keys. I don’t think it’s supposed to do that when you’re using direct input.

Anyway, to celebrate this probable creative reinaissance I am devoting this week to songs I’ve recorded using the Miracle Piano Teaching System keyboard. Keep in mind that many of these were not intended for public consumption, but nevertheless I was proud of them that the time. Nowadays when I listen to them I have to stop my larynx from reflexively trying to fix my pitch.

Anyway, here’s a Miracle keyboard track, one in a series. Fresh from 1996:

Moon Rocks [MP3, 2.9 MB]

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