IndieBear

I’ve recently been working on a variety of projects; as a result, I haven’t been able to put up a new piece of music here every week.  Oh, I’ll still be writing here and posting music, just not on a regular basis.  Instead, I’ve started a website at www.chrisschuette.com which will have more of a music focus.  Oh, and I’ve also started a free music podcast on iTunes which you can visit by clicking the button below:

Did I mention it’s free?  Well, it is.

Oh, and just to prove that I’m still going to post music on this site, here is a piece I recorded with just guitar and strings.  It’s called “Soledad” and runs 1:08m

I really geeked out this week.  I was playing around with a phaser effect on the Rhodes keyboard, and I found a way to change the pitch in steps rather than in a smooth arc.  I then locked the steps to the tempo of the song and voila! “Weird sounding Rhodes.”  The rest of the song is almost insultingly simple.  I used a Jupiter synth patch and simulated Mellotron flutes (yes, the same ones from Strawberry Fields Forever.) with a basic drum pattern.  I call it “Eight Bits,” since it reminds me of an old video game. I hope you like it!

As a musician, I often hear voices in my head…I mean, “songs;” I often hear songs in my head.  I came up with this week’s piece while watching my dog, Bear kinda lumbering and snooping around the house.  I swear sometimes that dog has his own soundtrack.  It’s a really short musical cue at 44 seconds, but hey, I said what I wanted to say. Enjoy!

I know what you’re thinking: “Hey, he named this week’s piece after a battle from the early days of World War I in 1914!”  Well, yes; yes, I did.  Don’t ask me why (oh, for the love of God,please don’t ask me why!)

I actually came up with the drums first and filled in the rest of it while enjoying blueberry pie and coffee; that’s just how the creative mind works.  With any luck, the Christmas spirit will hit me soon and I’ll stop writing these darker pieces for awhile.  Hey, it could happen!

I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet, and at this rate, everyone will be getting a piano solo in their stocking.  Just kidding, I plan to think about considering an impending start to my shopping planning when I’m ready…which is likely be anytime now…but not yet.

…ahem. On to the music!

I was just noodling around with a Rhodes patch on my keyboard and recorded some improvisation.  (In other words, “Dude, I totally made this stuff up…totally!”)  Then I thought, “hey, maybe I could add some tremolo and reverb.”  Before I knew it, I had something that sounds like, well, “Styx.” circa 1979.  Not really my intention, and I’m taking steps to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.  As punishment, I decided to call this piece “Be Young.” It runs 1:17m.

Come Flail Away, people.

Patty & I went to the Science Museum of Minnesota last weekend.  It was my birthday, so for fun I like to ask what’s up with those dinosaurs, since the world in only 6000 years old.  They look horrified, I get a chuckle, and no harm done.  We also got to solve a murder, but before that we checked out the CSI:The Experience exhibit where you get to solve a fake murder.  They give you a clipboard, you look at “crime scene,” then do all sorts of sciencey stuff to figure out how the fake-person fake-died.  Pretty cool, although the mouth-breathers in front of us in line felt it necessary to bring a bunch of young children in with them.  I dunno, that seems a little intense for kids, doesn’t it?  Hell, I was slightly traumatized when I saw the witch melting in the Wizard of Oz (luckily it prepared for the sight of Nazis melting in Raiders of the Lost Ark.)

Anyway, I wrote some music in a style hopefully reminiscent of the music one might hear on CSI.  I call it “See a Sigh” ’cause I hate lawsuits.  It runs 1:08m and makes me feel like a big man.

I really wanted to write the perfect “Thanksgiving Carol” for this week.  You know, something that people could sing as a family while one member of that family has their hands in a dead bird.  Maybe after dinner, everyone would head out to sing my special Thanksgiving Carol for the neighbors while everyone starts to doze off during the incredibly catchy and somewhat annoying chorus.

Alas, I didn’t have time to write that Thanksgiving Carol this year…and not just because I’m not really a lyricist.  Truth is, I realized that no one wants to hear a Thanksgiving Carol in this day and age…unless it’s written by Adam Sandler, of course.

This week’s piece is a creepy little something I put together for another project I’m working on.  It’s called “Cobblestone” and it runs 0:48m. They’re coming to get you, Barbara.

I’m sitting in with The Kurt Jorgensen Band at Famous Dave’s in Calhoun Square on Friday night, November 21.  I don’t get out to play live that much, mainly because I’ve become more picky about schlepping my gear around.  Luckily,  Famous Dave’s has a piano and a Hammond Organ, so all I have to do is show up and for-Chrissakes not ruin anything.  I assume that won’t be a problem.  I’ll try to post some pictures of the gig…assuming the pictures don’t make me look like The Grinch.  Feel free to stop out, enjoy some BBQ and hear some great music from a bunch of young go-getters with hearts as big as the world. (Who writes this stuff?)

Since I’m such a moody guy, I’m posting a fairly moody piece this week.  It is part of an upcoming project and runs 0:52m.  I call it “Ruminosity,” because apparently I make up words at 3AM now.

Now that the election is over, I’ve been able to get around to more important things, like dreading the onslaught of another Minnesota winter.  We’ve already had our first snowfall and I’m starting to feel like Minnesota isn’t the paradise I thought it was.  At least I have more time to follow that exciting William Shatner/George Takei feud.  ‘Cause with all of the challenges facing our country at this time, the juvenile bickering of two washed-up and slightly creepy old guys is more important than ever.

I recorded this piece a while back, but I somehow forgot to post it.  It’s called FatCatWalk and it runs 0:51m.  It’s my attempt at cartoonish incidental music; the kind of background music you hear in a show while someone is sneaking around.  Share the warmth.

Like most people I know, I spent Tuesday night glued to the TV watching the election returns.  I fully expected to be there all night wondering who our next president would be.  I’m an Obama supporter, but I didn’t really believe he’d won until I saw McCain’s gracious concession speech.   Thank God I can finally get back to watching all that sex & violence on TV without those horrible attack ads getting in the way.

This week’s piece is called “Eventide” and it runs 1:34, with surprisingly little nudity.