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[Chicken Invaders!]

I've made a record. It's the product of 3 weeks of playing a downloadable minimoog synthesizer and a Fender Telecaster in my room. I think it turned out pretty damn awesome for a my first attempt at any kind of real music making. "Big Trash" and "No Mercy For Cleveland Tonight" are the tracks that I'm most proud of. so here, listen, and enjoy:





Download:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0DADAMH4

and here's a track by track run down.

01. G#1 (Better Version): The first version of this song was the first thing I ever recorded with my guitar. The lead was a bit off the beat of the rhythm guitar, so I re-did it and came out with this nice little ditty.
02. Big Trash: This is the most recent of any of these tracks, and it's probably my best. without trying to sound like a big douchebag, I think this track is fucking awesome. It's pretty much one chord the entire time (except for a bit at the end) but I just think this thing fucking kills shit. Recorded on the fly, I wasn't able to replicate this guitar sound which is a shame because I really love it.
03. Dirty Like The Bunker: Another one-chord-wonder, but there's an epic lead bit in there that I like a lot. Very much in the same vein of the second track but they sound great back to back.
04. G#4: One of the originals, this is just me improvising with two guitar parts in the same scale. Turned out nice for an interlude.
05. The Ballad of Sue Wiley: This is really a big mess of a song but I like how it turned out. I'm really influenced by Neil Young/Lou Reed with my rudimentary guitar playing and it's most evident here. And yes, I ripped off "Poor Places" by Wilco for the end.
06. No Mercy For Cleveland Tonight: Possibly my best work, I'm really proud of this one as well. Originally this was just the two guitar parts, but I was miraculously able to sync up the drum beat and the organ riffs to turn this into something really special.
07. G#7 (Version 3): A "pop" song, or something. some of the easiest listening here, perhaps the least interesting, but I do like the way it turned out. Revolves around an E chord drone.
08. Compound (Killer Version): This is definitely the track I've tinkered with the most. Like track 6, it started out as just two guitars but then I added the little blooping beat, then added a big pause with a big drum countdown before the really noisy part begins. It was pure accident that the song actually starts again, as the player was set to loop, but I think that turned out marvelously. I love this one.
09. July Stomp: The first real idea I had for a song, originated after I listened to a Beat Happening record for the first time. this is like the 5th version I recorded, with big sloppy lead playing over the top.
10. The Shop: Three guitar parts, took me a shitload of takes to get them all right. I messed around with the feedback and flanger options a lot and I think I came out with nice atmospheric sound on this one. I think it works well as the final track.

SO TO SUM UP, DOWNLOAD MY RECORD BECAUSE IT'S FUCKING AWESOME. THAT SOUNDS POMPOUS AND RETARDED BUT YOU WOULDN'T LISTEN TO IT IF I CAME ON HERE AND SAID "well I think these are kind of cool but they're probably not very good..." NOW WOULD YOU?

and it should be streaming in from the link in my signature shortly.

[undo]

Everyone, download this now. It's great.

[Chicken Invaders!]

Everyone, download this now. It's great.

[Chicken Invaders!]

man this forum is slow.

[Chicken Invaders!]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0G7209TL

New EP.


01. Indian Summer: One of my originals, neglected it for a while and forgot how cool it was. Very simple opening similar to the opening track from the last record. It's got a nice atmosphere to it I think, which carries through the whole EP nicely I think.
02. We'll Rock Through The Leaves: Another from the self title record sessions, went untitled for a while before I settled on this semi-gay one. Oh well. It's like Crazy Horse without the distortion I think, because I ripped some chords from "everybody Knows This Is Nowhere" or some other neil song if I remember correctly. There's another version that's all scraped up with distortion and it's good in its own right, but I think this one is better and fits more.
03. The Time You Were Lost: Good track here, I think it's got a nice 60's feel cause I rocked out the mellotron emulator on the minimoog. I like it a lot, nice bouncy driving feel to it.
04. Another Number: Another original scraggler, it's alright, not my best, but works here nicely and serves as a good little interlude.
05. Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again:Yes, it's a Bob Dylan cover. No, there aren't any vocals. It's pretty much just me riffing over the chords from the song, doesn't really sound anything like the original. Kind of masturbatory, but I really liked the guitar tone I ended up with and it feels right in this spot.
06. Crunch Time: Kind of out of place, but a tremendous closer with some sick feedback rocking at the end. Big walls of guitar. Title is very apt.

So download, everybody.

[Chicken Invaders!]

listen to this.

[Chicken Invaders!]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=V9I4X3I9

Here's another record.

I'm pretty confident that it's better than the last one. At least, I enjoy listening to it all the way through more than i did the last one. It's got a stronger set of songs, though they're not quite as structured as some of the stuff from last time. Most of them are a lot shorter, though "King of Trees and Rain" is my longest thing yet at 7:24. It's worth it though.

So, everybody listen to this new record because it's awesome.

Track by track rundown:

01. Bangs: This is just a stage-setter. Weird sounds guitar sounds.
02. The Estimation: Kind of sounds like "The Time You Were Lost" from the Indian Summer EP, mostly because I used the same mellotron emulator. But, it's different. Short and sweet, like a lot of songs on this record.
03. Letters From Athens: This is probably my favorite song on here. The bed of synths was pretty much an accident, but it sounds so sweet. I just threw some guitar strumming on top and there we go. No big leads or anything, I tried it and it kind of ruined the delicate feel this song's got going on
04. You're Getting Older: I love the big beat on the second half of this song. I tried to experiment with the different percussion sounds I could get on this record and this is the best result of such experimenting. The first part of the riff is stolen from a Spacemen 3 song, but it changes. The second part is a riff I've had for while but never worked into anything. So here it is.
05.Underwater: This is a song from the winter, or the Indian Summer sessions. It was originally like 5 minutes long and pretty boring because it didn't really deviate from what goes on during its now just-over-a-minute runtime. But it's cool now. Some backwards guitar, sounds slick.
06. The Thin Man: So, this song was a complete accident. Little did I know, my laptop has little a little microphone built into it, and I hit record thinking I was plugged in, but I wasn't...and I don't know exactly, but it turned out pretty nifty. I added the synth to flesh it out a bit more, and it still sounds pretty thin compared to the rest of the stuff here, but it's got a bouncy feel that I dig a whole lot.
07. Free Matches: Another one of the best songs here. Bain, the guitar sounds like Kevin Shields, deal with it. But really. I think this thing turned out awesome. More in the style than some of the louder tracks from the first record, but it's not as harsh and it's a bit more...uh, anthemic? Despite the lack of words. It's awesome though.
08. The End Of Something: The second half of this was originally another longer piece that I cut down, but I decided to add some quiet guitar noodling at the beginning. Really, the second half is one of my favorite things I've done. It's almost dance-y. Really cool track.
09. The King Of Trees And Birds: This was the first song I record for this record, and it feels more like something from the first record I think, but it's still awesome. This actually originated about 2 weeks ago when me and my buddies were tripping, jamming on our acoustics. One of them came up with the little riff that it's based around, and me and my other buddy just messed around over it. Hence, the triple writing credits.So, I tried to recreate that here, even though it sounds absolutely nothing like what was produced by the three of us a week or two ago.
10. They're Crashing: This was the product of almost pure improvisation. Possibly the weakest track here, but it's still worthwhile, I think. It's got kind of a Galaxie 500 thing going during the beginning.
11. Song in The Room: The main guitar part was something I've had in my head for a long time, and tried to record numerous times. Finally think I got it right this time. I used the same microphone that "The Thin Man" was recorded on, so it sounds similar. Pretty cool track, I think I got the lead guitar to sound pretty nifty with some tinkering.
12. Day In Bed: Contended for my favorite track on the record. This was the last song I recorded, and it turned out marvelously. The climax is nasty, and it was pretty obvious when I finished it that it'd be the closer.

[Chicken Invaders!]

You guys should all listen to this. Rave reviews:

Free Matches was sweet, loved the driving beat and guitar riff for the verses.

youre such a hipster, if youre going to steal Kevin Shields music, let me tell yout that this thing is so 90's and Billy Corgan did it already

I haven't listened to the album yet but the EP is pretty cool. I like We'll Rock Through The Leaves especially

This is pretty cool shit. You need to drop the bass, though.

[tweed]

I've somehow missed this. How bout throwing a track or two on divshare (or anywhere else where i can stream it from work)?

[Freddie Freelance]

I D/Led the Self Titled Record, it reminds me of The Red Krayola's The Parable of Arable Land.

[Chicken Invaders!]

I've never used divshare, let me see if I can figure it out. I'm sure it's not difficult.

[Chicken Invaders!]

edit: damn it.

[norton]

Or do you have anything on myspace?

[Chicken Invaders!]

No myspace. My sig is a link to my VIRB site though, you can stream them there.

[norton]

Thanks. Okay, this is pretty funny. I was listening to "Letters From Athens" at my desk, and my partner came out of his office looking around, wondering what he was hearing. He said, "What is that?" I told him I was listening to some ambient-kinda music, and he said, "Wow, I thought I was in a casino in Vegas." All he heard was the bright keyboard and it sounded like a room of slot machines. I guess I'd better listen more later. So far I was enjoying it, though.

[Chicken Invaders!]

Thanks. Okay, this is pretty funny. I was listening to "Letters From Athens" at my desk, and my partner came out of his office looking around, wondering what he was hearing. He said, "What is that?" I told him I was listening to some ambient-kinda music, and he said, "Wow, I thought I was in a casino in Vegas." All he heard was the bright keyboard and it sounded like a room of slot machines.

I guess I'd better listen more later. So far I was enjoying it, though.

Haha, that's funny. Thanks for listening, brother, I appreciate any feedback I get.

Honestly, that's a track that probably needs something. I tried adding whistling but it didn't sound too good. Maybe a vocal melody, but I don't sing/have a microphone.

[norton]

Thanks. Okay, this is pretty funny. I was listening to "Letters From Athens" at my desk, and my partner came out of his office looking around, wondering what he was hearing. He said, "What is that?" I told him I was listening to some ambient-kinda music, and he said, "Wow, I thought I was in a casino in Vegas." All he heard was the bright keyboard and it sounded like a room of slot machines.

I guess I'd better listen more later. So far I was enjoying it, though.

Haha, that's funny. Thanks for listening, brother, I appreciate any feedback I get.

Honestly, that's a track that probably needs something. I tried adding whistling but it didn't sound too good. Maybe a vocal melody, but I don't sing/have a microphone.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. You have a great foundation going, but I feel like the song needs to go somewhere further. I try to listen more and let you know if I think of anything.

[mouthbreather]

I'm checking out the Indian Summer EP right now. Getting kind of a Royal Trux vibe so far.

[Chicken Invaders!]

I'm checking out the Indian Summer EP right now. Getting kind of a Royal Trux vibe so far.

The first few songs on Indian Summer I'm happy with, but the rest are kind of throwaways. Interesting comparison, I've never listened to Royal Trux (nor have I ever listened to Red Krayola, who someone mentioned earlier)

[Chicken Invaders!]

It's here! A new record!

Well, this whole thing manifested itself far faster than I expected to. I started recording when I got home for the summer (date of the first track), and got together some cool stuff pretty quickly, but then I kind of lost interest for a little while. Picked back up, finished a few cool new tracks, unearthed some older stuff I did strictly with the Moog program because upon revisiting them I thought there was some extremely cool stuff going on...and all the sudden I had an album on my hands. So here it is, called Dr. Mercy & The Acronyms Of Disaster Are Dead. (It's just a title)

http://rapidshare.com/files/134859777/Dr._Mercy___The_Acronyms_of_Disaster_Are_Dead.zip.html

01. June 14th, 2008: Ok, so this is actually one of those older ones I mentioned. Back when I first downloaded that Moog program that I've used in the past (actually, it's only featured on these older tracks), I made up a hours of crap with some good stuff along the way. This is one of the good things. Mostly just ambient swells of organ sounding stuff, sounds very nice and leads into the next track....
02. Backyard (The One Before): This is one hell of a track, I think. Definitely one of my favorite things that I've ever done. The most immediately noticeable difference between this and any of my other records is this drum machine program that I found that can generate actual drum patterns as opposed to the simple "THUD...THUD...THUD" shit I've used in the past. Starts off simply and gently, then all hell breaks loose in the middle, then comes back. I love it.
03. Box Fan: More of the new drum machine. This has what I think sounds sort of like a Yo La Tengo style guitar riff, the simple epic shit like "I Heard You Looking" and that. Doesn't deviate a whole lot from the central motif, but it's got some cool guitar work. Used to be longer, then I cut it down with the fade. It's more effective that way.
04. Hot Tub Night: Brief acoustic guitar +whistling interlude. Not much more to say about this one. Leads nicely into...
05. The Fire Department Conversation:... what is easily my favorite guitar playing I've put down to tape. Works over a cool chord progression that I thought sounded a bit like something Paul Westerberg thinks up. This could be the best track on this album, I love the hell out of it.
06. Factory Thrum, Part I: Another "Box Fan" style track, but that kind of thing only stays interesting for so long, so I chopped it in half and put the second part later on the album. Mostly just goofing around in D, but it sounds cool for it's brief runtime.
07. The Wind + Everything: Here's the second old Moog recording. Just a...well, I forget what chord it is, repeating itself while a bunch of shit goes on around it. The end sounds like, well, the wind, hence the title. Leads into...
08. It Gets Fucked: Behind "Fire Department," here's my favorite guitar work. Just acoustic + electric working around a few cool riffs I thought up whilst improvising. Turned out better than I expected it too. Recorded live with the acoustic track playing through the stereo while I played electric. I mean, obviously as a bedroom record, the whole thing is lo-fi, but the acoustic on this one is REAL lo-fi. I like how it turned out, though.
09. Dirt Road: Here's another of those old Moog recordings. This is just nasty as hell. I pretty much completely forgot about this track until I was rooting around through my old files, and it just kinda conked me on the head. Really sinister, lots of cool synth keyboard fuckery at the end.
10. Firewood: This was one of the first tracks I tried with the drum machine program, thus why the drums are all crazy. I was just messing around. Turned out pretty cool, though, first appearance of slide guitar on a Dr. Mercy record ( though more shows up later on). The end I played the electric with my feet, I think... or it was on the next track...
11. Burning Said Firewood: This and the last track always went together because I used similar chords, and I think I recorded them right after each other. Again, I think this was where I played the electric with my feet while doing the acoustic with my hands... I mean, it's not anything impressive, just some background noise for the acoustic. Maybe this one's a bit longer than it needs to be, but we'll be alright.
12. Factory Thrum, Part II: Here's that second half I was talking about.
13. Deerfield: Old Moog strikes again. This is perhaps my favorite of the Moog songs. Honest, for the life of me I don't remember how I made these tracks. This one is probably the most complicated, and it's also probably the best. Lots of really cool noises and shit.
14. Day On The Street: Starts with some backwards guitar that sounds cool after the last track, then works it's way into a guitar riff that I've had in my head for years. Glad I finally worked it into a song. Drums come in later, as well as more slide guitar, which was pretty much an accident. I tried recording a normal lead which just sounded muddled, and picked up my slide and just fucked around for a minute and it actually turned out pretty damn cool. One of my favorite tracks here.
15. Post-Everything: Similar to "Burning Said Firewood" in that it's mostly just some acoustic interlude action, except it's got a cool drum beat as well. Doesn't carry on too long, either, and serves as a good preface for...
16. The Long Summer: This is the longest Dr. Mercy track ever, clocking in at 8:19. Again, some of my favorite guitar work. I think it sounds like a Velvet Underground song in the style of "Sister Ray" or something, so that's always cool. Also, used a sample for the first time ever, from a home video of my graduation party last year. Comes in at the end and is a nice way to close the song.
17. Looking For...: OK, this one's sweet. The first part is just some tremoloed guitar action, and it morphs into an ambient piece that also is from the Moog sessions. Said ambient piece serves as a very nice close to the album, I think, and I like how the noise in the middle leads into it. Had the idea for a track like this for about a week before I finally recorded it, and the finished product turned out very cool. The end![/b]


So this is for sure my best record yet and has a bunch of my best songs and everybody here should listen to it. I love everybody who gives me feedback and whatnot.