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StuartEstell

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Posts posted by StuartEstell

  1. Just for fun - "Video Games" by Lana Del Rey, recorded on my Jeffries duet. Finding that Eb7 chord at the end of the chorus is a swine.

     

    https://soundcloud.com/5357311/video-games-lana-del-rey-cover

     

    As I've posted on SoundCloud, I don't feel the need to switch gender perspective here - I sing enough folk songs which are narrated by a woman, and as far as I'm concerned this is the same sort of thing.

     

    Great song - really looking forward to her next LP.

  2.  

    a fella on a Mccann duet...

    Guess who... :D :D :D

     

    ... and well done it is once again, fella!

     

    Ha! Thanks Wolf.

     

    In another musical life I'm a drone/doom metal tuba player (http://oretubadoom.com) - we have frequently played both Seven Angels and Ouroboros is Broken by Earth as a tuba duo with various guests (my favourite line-up was a gig we played in Bristol - two tubas and a contrabass clarinet). Dylan Carlson is a great melodist, I think.

     

    The electronic tanpura I use is the iPhone app iTablaPro as the tanpuras are extremely configurable - plus you can add shruti box and swarmandal if the desire takes you.

  3. "Kick out the Jams, er, brothers and sisters..." - I presume we'd have to sing that version on a family-friendly forum such as this...

     

    Various songs I've covered on concertina over the years:

     

    Hurt - Johnny Cash (Nine Inch Nails)

    Wouldn't You Miss Me - Syd Barrett

    Ocean Rain - Echo and the Bunnymen

    Effervescing Elephant - Syd Barrett

    The Gunner's Dream / Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

    Bill Is Dead - The Fall

    Girlfriend in a Coma - The Smiths

    Velocity Girl - Primal Scream

    Sister Ray / Venus in Furs / All Tomorrow's Parties / There She Goes Again / Waiting for the Man / Heroin (in fact most of the banana album at one time or another) - The Velvet Underground - Sister Ray is particularly hilarious on anglo...

    Army of Me - Bjork

  4. Hello all,

     

    Further to reading the "what pop songs do you play" thread - which I'll go and add to shortly, I recorded this version of "Ocean Rain" tonight just as a bit of fun. I must admit I struggle with the Big Finish, but then Ian McCulloch has to really force his voice up there these days too...

     

    The Bunnymen marketed the Ocean Rain LP as "the greatest album ever made" with typical modesty. And if that's the case then this is the greatest song from the greatest album ever made. Just one verse and chorus, repeated in different moods, perfectly balanced. I love it.

     

    https://soundcloud.com/5357311/ocean-rain-echo-and-the

     

    Played on a 36-key G/D Norman anglo.

     

     

  5. Thanks Matthew. The Jeffries duet just felt right for this song - I had previously been trying it on C/G anglo for fun (still in the original key of F) but there are passages which simply don't work very well on anglo as you end up either with the bellows on the pull for too long, or with some rather unsatisfactory chord voicings.

     

    As for working out the arrangement, I confess I didn't - and often don't - really. I work very much by ear with this sort of thing, I'm afraid - although it could certainly do with a bit of refinement.

  6. It struck me when listening back to this that I haven't really sorted out how to sing Dire Straits songs without the vocal sounding very derivative. It's his rhythms and phrasing, particularly in the unpitched lines - they're so distinctive that they almost suck you into using an embarrassing fake Geordie accent.

     

    Anyway - Romeo and Juliet from Making Movies is one of his songs which is just perfect. For many people of my generation in the 80s liking Dire Straits wasn't really "allowed". I always had a soft spot for Making Movies and Love Over Gold though.

     

    I make no great claims for this, but it's a bit of fun:

    https://soundcloud.com/5357311/romeo-and-juliet-dire-straits

     

    I intend to do Telegraph Road at some point ;)

  7. I agree - even in Dire Straits there was a really strong folk element in Knopfler's writing. I don't know the original of this one, but it feels to me as though it ought to have a similar feel to "Brothers in Arms" (the song) - I agree, I'd take it slower, and possibly strip down the accompaniment a little.

     

    But that aside - nice work Wolf. And you've spurred me into recording a rough draft of Romeo and Juliet, which I'll post separately.

  8. Mike, Dave - I absolutely accept that mine isn't geared towards playing for the figures of the traditional dance that goes with it, so no criticism taken! To be honest I'm also fairly careless about the use of the B music when I play the tune - often its shape ends up being 2A 2B 2C 2B in my hands. :)

  9. I'd offer a note of caution with scale-changer harmoniums - they can be a bit flimsily built, and the scale-changer mechanism can cause more trouble than it's worth. Better just to practise your ragas starting with "sa" as plenty of different pitches.

     

    Incidentally, unless you've got a fully-microtonal set of reeds in there, and the keys on the keyboard to go with them, the usual scale-changer setup will only have the 12 chromatic notes of the usual Western scale. They're not particularly sophisticated - all that happens is that the keyboard shifts bodily to the next lever.

     

    The other thing to bear in mind is that many Indian musicians you speak to will think in terms of 12 steps, not 22.

  10. Fantastic Barbara Allan!

     

    Since I'm just making first steps in self-accompanied singing (see link below) I take further inspiration from this. Love that meditative, hypnotic style!

     

    Thank you for sharing!

    Best wishes - Wolf

     

    Thanks, Wolf. Glad you enjoyed them.

     

    I'm very keen on keeping accompaniments as simple as possible. It's very easy to over-complicate things, I think, and I've certainly been guilty of that in the past - so I've been consciously paring everything back to essentials only.

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