demo #22: screwed up

this was meant to be really catastrophic sounding, with fuzzed out guitars really saturating the sound. while it seems to exist in the same genre as other early post-rock bands that started off around the same time, it would actually be a few more years (mid '99) before i learned that the genre existed and was rapidly developing an audience. i point this out to avoid easily constructed misconceptions about where the sound in the track came from. while it's certainly happening in parallel to the developing post-rock sound, and is perhaps best categorized that way, i was not yet aware of it. i was still just an alt rock kid, at the time.

there were drums recorded, but i mixed them out because i found they added too much lift to the sound. the intended aesthetic was catastrophic: dreary, claustrophobic, hopelessly noisy. it's sort of meant to be a bit of a lucid experience, looking back at myself through a haze. who knows what an oobe actually sounds like, but this is a guess. so, the drums were just getting in the way of that. the absence of a rhythm may give the impression of slowing the track down, as well. headphones are a good idea to get the swirl and compression.

lyrically, this is actually one of a handful of songs that is explicitly related to feeling transgendered. you have to read into it a bit to get that. it could be about anything, really. but, gender issues are what it was *actually* about. that's not something i talked to anybody about for several more years. i was probably more of a dour realist then than i am now; by 16, i had actually resigned myself to the seemingly clear truth of there not being anything i could realistically do about it, except write mopey songs about feeling like i was living a lie.

recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 6, 2013.

demo #21: circus

so, we all know what the most important thing that happened in the 90s was....

yes. oj. you were expecting this, admit it.

i feel that, despite the myriad of angles and analyses, the most important question of all was never asked: what would homer j simpson think about the trial of orenthal j simpson? this answers that question, by exploring the optics around the whole thing from the perspective of homer.

seriously.

ok, so maybe the oj trial wasn't actually a joke, but it certainly seemed like it was. and that's actually kind of what i'm trying to get across here. i watched far more cnn than the average 16 year-old (note the particularly egregious decision to rhyme "menendez brothers" with "unabomber"), but i was still mostly getting my news on the topic from conan. on that level? it was, in fact, a joke.

thinking back, we were all so ridiculously obsessed. the school (this is the second half of grade 10) actually arranged to have live televisions on every floor to broadcast the verdict. classes were suspended to watch, then cancelled to discuss. like, did that even happen for the fucking moon landing?

so, i'm sort of mocking the whole thing. yet, i'm also mocking the idea that it was somehow turning oj into some kind of role model. 'cause it definitely wasn't. well, unless, maybe, you think on roughly the level of homer j simpson.

i spent a lot of time trying to clean the audio on this up and eventually concluded that i can't do much besides boost the mids. if you listen closely, there's some neat guitar harmonies, but they're really buried and i just can't get them out. i don't remember most of the lyrics, exactly, and can't really make them out well.

there is a frank zappa sample at the beginning of the track.

recorded in march, 1997. remastered on nov 6, 2013.

RE: point form update

From: the initial landlord
To: "'Jessica Murray'" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>

Jessica, I have just started this morning to read my e-mails since last week....sorry. I see your many e-mails. I will stop around this morning some time before noon to look at all the concerns.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/11/05/doug-ford-calls-on-police-chief-to-step-down-accuses-him-on-conspiracy-against-torontos-mayor/

yeah, they're like $10. k. bit of a project, but clear resolution.

if i ever decide to get a smartphone (i'll probably get an android eventually), i should be able to hook it into this for cheap talk and text, then rely on free hotspots for data. but i currently have no desire for this.

wait. usb. obviously.

hrmmn. second thought, those voip phones are a lot. laptop it will be.

laptop is good for skype and shit, too.

so, again, can i convert a modem into a wall plug that connects through voip? seems exotic, but not impossible.

i know, headset, but there's something comforting about having something that actually rings.

yeah. i probably wouldn't need the laptop at all, actually, if i just get a voip phone.

ok. problem solved. for now, anyways.

no google voice.

no skype-in.

why, thank you, bell-rogers corporatocracy!

currently? a little irritated.

there are potential workarounds, but they're annoying.

for now, this looks like a better idea than getting a sim card at the 7/11. 0.25 v 0.01 is a big difference, and the monthly cost for the number is less than 7/11 will charge for 9-11 access.

http://www.voip.ms/features.php

on average, that's going to cost me about $1.05/month. i put $20 down in credits, it'll last me well over a year.

google voice would be ideal, though - wouldn't even cost that - because i really just need a voicemail for people to leave messages (chances of answering the phone are zero). the site up there has the voicemail-to-email feature that converts voice messages to text messages, which i really really like....

i don't want that software on any pc i'd use for anything else, though. luckily, i have an old laptop i can convert into a dedicated, glorified phone.

last thing to check is if i can integrate this "normally" into an ip phone through software on the laptop.

last night, it was merely a soundtrack to a dream. those are the best dreams.

and this is one of the best songs.