Remix #2: Android Girlfriend

Remix #2: Android Girlfriend

Android Girlfriend is not really a remix. It could be considered a mash-up of sorts, but by combining elements from four different musical sources, remix master Teru has created a completely new piece of music that stands on its own merits.

The song begins with a sample of windshield wipers rhythmically swishing across the glass. Teru then chopped a two measure sample of the acoustic guitar part from "Rachel Rosen" and digitally slowed it down to match the tempo of the windshield wipers. He then layers in some snare drum roll samples and a snippet of my electric guitar slide to complete the groove.

What I find most interesting about this piece is that Teru took the "She's just an android. She's not alive" counter vocal from Rachel Rosen , and used it as the hook/chorus of his piece. This type of re-purposing of musical material is what makes releasing one's music under a Creative Commons license so rewarding. That counter vocal is such a small part of my original piece. It only appears at the very end of the song. Teru made into something completely different.

The verses of Android Girlfriend are comprised of a spoken word bit. They tell the story of wanting to live on the moon with your robot girlfriend. It's really funny. When you hear these verses followed by my vocal melody, it almost seems like these two parts were composed by the same person. It is a perfect fit.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. Check out more of Teru's music here.

Want to do a little remixing/mashing up yourself? Check out my ccMixter page here for the individual vocal and guitar tracks of Rachel Rosen and a few of my other songs.

John

New Posting Schedule

For those of you who have been following Sci-Fi Songs, you may have noticed that I post every Monday evening. I try to post a brand new song every other week, filling the alternating week with a link post, a round-up post, or a remix.

I am going to stick to this pattern, but I am now going to post on Thursdays instead of Mondays. This should allow me a little more time to write and record the new songs.

This coming Thursday, September 25th, I will post a new remix/mash-up of "Rachel Rosen" by one of the great remix artists over at ccMixter.

Two new original songs are slated for Thursday, October 2nd and Thursday, October 16th. I have one word for you: Vampires!

Have a great week,
John

Sci-Fi Song #8: Summer Glau

It is quite obvious from the title of this song that the subject of Sci-Fi Song #8 is actress Summer Glau of Firefly and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles fame. There is a pretty interesting story behind the creation of this song.

The lyrics of "Summer Glau" were penned by John DeNardo of SF Signal. After John was kind enough to put a link to Sci-Fi Songs on SF Signal, I e-mailed him to say thanks. In his response, he jokingly asked if I'd like to take a shot at recording the "Summer Glau Song". This was a set of lyrics that he wrote to the tune of "Summer Breeze" by Seals and Crofts. I didn't have much interest in recording a parody, but I asked him if it would be OK to write an original tune to his lyrics. Here is the result.

I'd like to thank John DeNardo for generously supplying the lyrics that spawned Sci-Fi Song #8.

Here are some of the tools that I used to record the track:

1. Martin Acoustic Guitar in standard tuning with a capo at the third fret
   
2. G&L ASAT (Telecaster) Electric Guitar
3. Washburn Bass Guitar
4. Rode NT-3 microphone (to record the acoustic guitar and my vocals)
5. Apple Logic Pro 7 recording software
   1. The EVB3 software instrument plug-in for the organ part in the second verse
   2. Logic's included compressor, delay, phaser, and reverb plug-ins
   3. The electric guitar parts were recorded through Logic's Guitar Amp Pro plug-in
   4. The drum parts were created using Beta Monkey's Drum Werks V loop collection
      

Hope you enjoy it,
John Anealio

Summer Glau

lyrics by John DeNardo, music and performance by John Anealio

See the girl curled up in the cryo
Not a stitch of clothing found in sight
Mal is ticked off wond'rin' 'bout the Doctor
I don't care, cause I'm feeling alright

See the tree branch lying on the cold deck
She picks it up, maybe thinks its fun
Snap us back to now, see the worried crew
Don't look now but River's got a gun

Summer Glau, she makes me feel fine
I can't shake her image from my mind
Summer Glau, she makes me feel fine
I can't shake her image from my mind

See the angel punching and a kickin'
Not really sure what she could do
She's a weapon, a source of destruction
She's a vital part of Malcolm's crew

Summer Glau, she makes me feel fine
I can't shake her image from my mind
Summer Glau, she makes me feel fine
I can't shake her image from my mind

Remix #1: Rachel Rosen

Rachel Rosen (radiotimes remix).mp3

I love to hear a different interpretation of a familiar tune. In the past, the only way to do this was to "cover" the song. When I perform in coffee shops, I usually play a bunch of cover tunes. I perform in a somewhat laid back, folk, finger picking guitar style. Any song that I choose to play at a show comes out sounding like that. If you ever clicked on my last.fm page, you've probably noticed that my taste in music is quite eclectic. My shows have consisted of folk versions of songs by the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and James Taylor to Led Zeppelin, Rush, and Whitesnake (I'm not kidding, "Limelight" and "Here I Go Again" make excellent folk songs). Here are a few links to some great cover song blogs:

1. Coverville
2. Cover Lay Down
3. Fong Songs

Another, more modern way to interpret a song is through a remix. A remix is when a musician takes the actual recording of a song (usually the individual tracks; vocal, guitar, drums, etc.), and mixes it up with other original material. Sometimes remixes can be as simple as substituting a new electronic drum part for the original beat, other times it can be a completely different interpretation, where the remix artist creates a whole new track underneath the vocals.

There is a wonderful music community website called ccmixter.org. cc stands for Creative Commons. All of my songs are released under a Creative Commons license. Basically, this means that my songs are free and can be freely posted on blogs and podcasts or used as a soundtrack to some one's video or remixed.

ccMixter is a site where musicians can post the separate tracks of their songs for other musicians to remix in any way that they would like. radiotimes is the moniker of a very active remix artist at ccMixter. He did an excellent remix of my song "Rachel Rosen", which is the song that you can download at the top of the post. He took my guitar part and vocals and added a completely different drum beat and bass line. He also added all sorts ofsynths, sound effects, and reversed cymbals. I love it. Check out some of his other remixes at his ccMixter home page here.

Here is my original version of "Rachel Rosen"

If you or anyone that you know enjoys remixing other people's music, head over to my ccMixter page here. This is where you can download the individual vocal, guitar, and drum tracks to some of my songs. Check it out, and feel free to do something creative with them.

Hope you enjoy it,

John

Sci-Fi Song #7: Merithyn's Promise

Merithyn's Promise.mp3

Sci-Fi Song #7 is a solo acoustic guitar piece played in the DADGAD tuning and was inspired by Elizabeth Haydon's Requiem For The Sun.

My initial interest in fantasy literature was fueled by the experience of reading Elizabeth Haydon's original Rhapsody trilogy. I vividly remember ordering the first book from Amazon when I discovered that the main character was a musician. For me, this trilogy functioned as a gateway to the works of Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and Tad Williams. Here are a few links to a series of excellent reviews of the first three Rhapsody books at Dragons, Heroes, and Wizards.

1. Rhapsody: Child of Blood
2. Prophecy: Child of Earth
3. Destiny: Child of Sky

Merithyn is a character of great importance to the history and backstory of the Symphony of Ages series. Merithyn's Promise refers to the oath that the sailor Merithyn made to his lover, Elynsynos, swearing that he would return to her from his long voyage at sea.

Hope you enjoy it,
John