MySpace
myspace music my music  featured playlists  top artists  music videos  karaoke  shows  forums 

dldownbanner
MySpace.com | rss | sign in
DLDown



Last Updated: 12/8/2009

Send Message
Instant Message
Email to a Friend
Subscribe

City: Edinburgh
State: Scotland
Country: UK
Signup Date: 2/15/2006

Blog Archive
[Older      Newer]
 /  / 
Sunday, December 13, 2009 

Current mood:  lethargic
Category: Music
listen here and here You Come Running is basically a reprise of The Turning Song - the few times Tim and I played it live it was performed as one 8-minute piece (old live version here), and was in fact recorded as one long song. This arrangement of Amazing Grace is what Tim soloed around after Farther Up and Farther In on Puzzle. I love weird chords. You should have worked that out by now. Thanks to Lorna for singing this one so beautifully (I was getting tired of my own voice!), and to Peter Moles for lending Tim his soprano sax for the recording. Good Night is a little piece I’ve had lying around for a while now, but never knew what to do with. It seems a nice fit here for a gentle close-out to the album.
Currently reading:
Foundation (The Foundation Series)
By Isaac Asimov
4:39 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Wednesday, December 09, 2009 

Current mood:  amused
Category: Music
I had a gig last night. It was one of those ones that I wasn’t really looking forward to - uncertainty as to whether the night was actually on, coupled with the fact that they’d put me on at 10pm on a dark wet tuesday evening, meant I wasn’t really expecting much of a turn-out! And there wasn’t. But, bizarrely, that didn’t matter - I had a great time with the minute but enthusiastic audience - made up of the sound guy, the barman, a few members of my family, and a few members of the previous band’s entourage (Man and Superman - good old-fashioned fuzzy noisy rock - showing the Ark’s expertise at matching and sequencing similar acts - not. Nothing like a bit of contrast...) - who whooped, danced along happily to odd time signatures, bantered away with me between songs, and generally had a great time. They even demanded photos with me afterwards. In particular, one exchange which went like this: “Wooooah, how do you DO that?!” “Well, I’ve got this little pedal down here...” “I think there’s a frog stuck in the keyboard!” “Yeah, Loop Frog!” So, in honour of Man and Superman’s groupies, who made an empty gig worthwhile: Pedal, I dub thee “Loop Frog”. Setlist: Part Trust Insult Like the Truth (Charlie Peacock) Economology Icarus > A/D Loop Jam Lazarus Since 3 Days Ago Starmaker Puzzle Doubting Thomas (Nickel Creek)
Currently listening:
Official Live Bootleg: Live in Buenos Aires
By Rick Wakeman
Release date: 1999-03-29
12:11 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Thursday, December 03, 2009 

Current mood:  recumbent
Category: Music
listen here Putting your trust in something or someone is often easier said than done, especially when the person in question is somewhat intangible. This song comes from a beautiful section of something Jesus said to the crowds of people following him, recorded in Matthew 6:25-34. (Part of a larger block of things he said, widely referred to as the Sermon on the Mount - see Matthew 5-7).
 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  "And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
I think one of the hardest aspects of our human condition is the surrendering of our own plans - after all, who doesn't like to be in control?! Fiona plays some beautiful saxophone in the background of this one - I love those bends in the last chorus!
Currently listening:
Mezzamorphis
By Delirious?
Release date: 1999-06-08
10:32 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Friday, November 27, 2009 

Current mood:  hungry
Category: Music
For those of you who missed out, the soundboard recording of the launch gig is now up here. Most of you will probably want the mp3 files - right-click and hit "download linked file" to download them. (Audiophiles can grab the flac files and expand them to full CD-quality audio.) Setlist: Romans 7 Icarus > Reba Loop Jam Part Trust Lilies & Sparrows Come Awake (David Crowder*Band) Since 3 Days Ago Transformers Economology Farther Up and Farther In Puzzle Starmaker Angels with Dirty Faces (The Beulah Band) Happy listening! p.s. Dan Glover Band?, who opened the evening so tastefully, have a couple of their tracks up here.
5:10 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 

Current mood:  thoughtful
Category: Music
listen here (and download for free) The most recently written piece. All the other songs were in place in some form at least, but the album still felt incomplete. It wanted two more things: 1. a title, and 2. a song - for which I already had a semi-formed concept: I’m quite happy to discuss all sorts of things about God: complicated doctrine and theology and where dinosaurs might fit into the picture and something of what he’s like in a theoretical kind of way, but often pull up short of describing what he actually means to me at a more personal level (even now, I think only one of my songs mentions Jesus by name in the lyrics). So perhaps this one goes a little way towards remedying that. Then the other week Karl pointed out a little throwaway sentence in Genesis (v1:16b), which says simply “He also made the stars.” Incidentally. By the way. A little side-project because it amused him. Title and punchline wrapped up right there. From a musical point of view, this one was quite a challenge. The melody, chords and timing worked fine in the verses, but trying to work out just where to put the notes in the mid section and guitar solo was a total git. Now of course, I can’t see what the problem was, but at the time it was just brain-meltingly confusing trying to remember when to start the next phrase. Fun though! - I like 7/8. It was also nice to work on something a little different in sound - it puts me slightly in mind of 90s pop band Dubstar - anyone remember them?
Currently listening:
Disgraceful
By Dubstar
Release date: 2003-08-11
12:21 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Friday, November 20, 2009 

Current mood:  blustery
Category: Music
The three single from Also, He Made the Stars... are now available for free download at DLDown's download store - just click the images below. Also, just wanted to let y'all know that DLDown's physical and digital stores have now been combined into one. Practically this means:
  • CD purchases include an immediate download of the album.
  • You can preview both the songs and the album artwork before you buy.
Check it out here! J
Currently listening:
Hits
By Mike + the Mechanics
Release date: 1996-03-04
12:40 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Wednesday, November 18, 2009 

Current mood:  distractable
Category: Music
A couple of my blogging friends have kindly taken it upon themselves to include me and my music in their blog posts: 1. There's a smashing review of Also, He Made the Stars... at New Life From Old. 2. There's an equally smashing review of the launch gig (proudly featuring support from Dan Glover Band?, whom you should also check out) at Grace Note Showers. Muchos thankses. J
12:37 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 

Current mood:  artistic
Category: Music
listen here and here I think perhaps everyone feels like this sometimes - that lonely feeling of ‘What’s going on? And why have I been left to deal with it on my own?”. It was written more about my relationship with God than anything else, but I think the addition of Lorna’s harmony vocals accentuates the human relationships aspect too. (For any MBCers: cue hand movements. “...these-way relationships and that-way relationships and the-other-way relationships...” :o) ) I like the feeling of unresolvedness that's left at the end - these things don't always tie up as neatly as it might look like they're going to, or we might like them to.
4:57 PM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Saturday, November 14, 2009 

Current mood:  contemplative
Category: Music
A big thank you to all who made it out to the launch gig on Thursday. Here's a couple of wee videos courtesy of BrunetteKoala: Dan Glover Band? - One of Two DLDown - Since 3 Days Ago More videos coming soon courtesy of the mighty Faramir Chowyunthin Gamgee, hopefully with lovely synced-up soundboard audio... love, J
10:52 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 

Current mood:  pirate
listen here This is one of the very first songs Tim and I ever wrote, not long after we started jamming together in 2005. This one of course features Mr Buick’s mighty saxophony. The title came before we had written any of the lyrics: when we were working out the interlocking sax and guitar riffs at the beginning, we just couldn’t keep track of how many times we had played the phrase, and thus how to move to the next section together. Tim hit on the method of turning through 90 degrees each time through the riff, so when he was facing the right direction again we knew we’d done four, hence The Turning Song. Genius! Fortunately, we got a bit better at it than that before we ever played in front of any microphones... The lyrics sort of fell into place after that - something roughly along the lines of the parable of the lost son. As my old pastor Matthew said (I’m quoting roughly from memory, and he may well have been quoting from someone else): “There’s no good thing I can do to make him love me any more than he does already, and there’s no wrong I can do that will make him love me any less. He loves me because he loves me because he loves me.”
11:18 AM 
0 Comments
(Add Comment) |
Translate