The Song-a-Week Podcast

Chris gets (relatively) funky, employing rhythms and guitar stuff never before seen in one of his songs. But what does it mean?

EMH contemplates the idea of being set in one's ways, especially if the ways aren't that beneficial.

OK, so the SAW has slipped to a schedule that might be more aptly termed 'occasional', but we're still determined to get caught up. For this week, Chris cuts it up with a KLF/JAMs/Timelords-inspired dance number containing little other than drum loops and samples from other sources (and some other synths to round things out). The samples included come from CDs by Consolidated, Shawn Colvin, Ashley MacIsaac and Leonard Cohen. How's that for an eclectic mix?

Still behind schedule, but destined to catch up (someday), SAW plows forward with this EMH contribution. Enjoy the Bruce Springsteen inspired vocal performance in this rocked up acoustic gem of mixed metaphors.

Vacation, desperate illness, writer's block ... These all had a hand in much delaying this latest creation from Chris. He says he's really sorry. This difficult slice of soul-searching was written at the guitar in a few minutes and recorded in under two hours. After weeks or months of desperate nothingness, this is a good thing. The arrangement is pretty spare ... just guitars, bass, piano and vocal. A bonus song will follow within a few days, then Erik will be back next week to get us back on schedule. Cross your fingers!

Chris finally gets a break with this song from the NyQuil-addled mind of Richard. He blames illness for a lack of polish and weak vocals ... Honestly, though, he sounds fine!

'There Are No Words' is more of a description than a title for this one, but titling instrumentals is always tough. Chris offers up his second-in-a-row SAW, this one a blatant attempt at dance pop, only without words.

Chris lopes slowly into view with this laid back slice of weirdness. A sparse arrangement and more comfortable songwriting ground than his previous couple contributions. He had trouble coming up with a title for this one -- it was almost called Song 17, but that seemed a little too 'Blur'. By the way, have you checked out the SAW Blog yet? www.haikurd.com/SAW ...

Enjoy this poetry inspired folk song of how waiting out corporate downsizing is something akin to riding a slow and demented train ride.

Says the composer: "Let's see: Melody and title came to me while driving and notated on my cell phone. Not safe, don't recommend it. Debut of my mandolin (if I remember correctly) in the SAW, hello to that - not safe, wouldn't recommend it. That's about all I gotta say about that. Be safe, y'all."

After a week or two of ingesting entirely too much John Foxx (in his ambient music mode) and Throbbing Gristle, Chris offers up this ... um ... 'song' to a weary world. Lacking a fixed structure, melody, lyrics, or even an identifiable chord progression, this one certainly falls into the experimental category. Thoughtful, urgent at times ... and far too short.

Chris set off with a few things in mind ... A title, a first line and a determination to do an '80s techno-pop style ballad. While this one, like his last couple, wandered off in some unexpected directions, he was at least closer to the neighborhood he had in mind than the last couple times. Consider it also, in some ways, a tribute to one of his favorite bands, Spandau Ballet, who announced their reunion today after almost 20 years apart. Probably has more in common with Pet Shop Boys, to be honest, since it's 100% synth driven. He had a busy week ... this one was cranked out in one long, feverish evening. He wants to redo the vocals.

Richard makes use of hand-brushed acoustic, strummed acoustic, solo electric (x2), three vocals and bass to prepare what might almost be termed a .. erm ... happy song!

This number by Mr. Hendel examines the attitude of the modern home owner.

Nothing about this offering from Chris came out exactly as planned. Slow, meditative fingerpick? Gone. Lush, dense arrangement? Gone. Happy, uplifting lyrics? Oh, so gone. That said, this sparse piece of lovelorn desperation features Chris's first ever guest performer, the fine fiddler Becky Wolfe from his regular band, Inis. The fiddle bits were recorded on stage between sets at an Irish pub and hence are a bit rough but add a nice touch. And lest his recent string of love-gone-wrong songs give you the wrong impression, HIS relationship is just fine! It's called imagination.

Richard pinch-hits this week for Chris, who had to leave town on a family emergency and then for vacation, for which Richard has Chris's undying gratitude. This week, he offers up 'Salt Bones', which he bills as 'kind of a love song to my wife.' He continues, 'I set out to play with finger-picking, and, well, mischief managed.' Oh, dear.

This contribution was written to be an up-tempo duet, but conflicting schedules couldn't get the other vocalist recorded for this week. So, Erik makes a new arrangement of the song and sings it himself, with a cold. He wasn't doing a Tom Waits impersonation. Really. And this vocal was done in almost one take ... because he couldn't possibly muster up a second one. (This also explains why there are no back-ups or harmonies.)

Quoth Richard: I set out to finally use my Long-Scale 3 String Chromatic Strumstick in a SAW! Hooray me! I actually tooled around with 2 other mellow singer/songwriter type songs, but neither came to fruition, so I returned to an instrumental that I had done late last week. I filled it out, but it still wasn't quite busy enough to be JUST and instrumental, so I put some fitting lyrics on the first part. And VOILA: SAW! I also finally employed my Boss DR-670 drum machine, marking its SAW debut as well. To not terrible effect, I think. But I freely admit that I have a thing or twelve to learn about using it. Anyway, enjoy!

This song wasn't supposed to turn out this way! The lyrics were written first, and the guitar-composed music seemed to point to a sensitive singer-songwriter approach. But the thematic similarities to the Pet Shop Boys' 'You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk' and the general PSB-like melody eventually saw Chris's comfortable guitar strum give way to this more lush, mostly-electronic arrangement topped with four-part harmonies. He's almost unbecomingly proud of this one.

With this week's SAW, we are pleased to welcome a new contributor, Portland's renowned Son of Rust! 'Where the Grass is Greener' is a buzzing, urgent and oddly tuneful bit of synthpop reminiscent of She Wants Revenge, Nine Inch Nails on a (relatively) calm day or Depeche Mode on a fussy one. Comparisons to Camouflage, Cause and Effect and Information Society, while warranted, don't give SoR enough credit! Learn more at www.sonofrust.com ... you'll be glad you did.

For week three, yet another former Haiku Rd. alum offers up his song, 'Attach Another Line'. This song seems to be about a girl, but it is really about an addiction to that series of tubes we call the Internet. Or, if you like, it could be about cocaine ... or a girl.

Welcome back for another installment of the Song-a-Week Podcast! This week, former Haiku Roadster and current Portland, Oregon, resident offers up his song, 'Stand Up', without further comment. Punctuated by various bursts of guitar noise and echoey background vocals, the song's arrangement is spare, bordering on ascetic. Stay tuned for next Wednesday, when we learn if 'EMH' stands for something only Star Trek geeks would get, or if they're the initials of a Phoenix-area singer-songwriter-guitarist-etc.

Richard rounds out one whole year of creativity-with-a-deadline with his new Breedlove guitar (thanks Santa!). Unfortunately, he cannot finish due to the arrival of his newborn daughter, Desert Rose! As you listen, know that we thank for you interest in our year-long new-music project and hope that you'll be hearing everyone who participated again very soon.

Better late than never, we welcome a newcomer to the SAW fold, Michael J. Munn. This one's a slow-burning acoustic pop song with an almost bluesy feel, emotional delivery and instantly hummable melody. Enjoy!

Chris pulls out a squeaker, uploading this one just before midnight Monday! Truth be told, it didn't look like he'd finish in time, what with the holidays and the parties and all that rot. This one was inspired by actual events -- waking up in the middle of the night realizing his life was probably close to halfway over, his useful years coming to an end far sooner than that, and so much left to DO! It has a happy ending, though.

Erik went back to a full band production for this number and lyrically, it is more literal than most of EMH's past works. Enjoy this acoustic rocker with a beat James Brown would feel right at home in.

Nothing much special about this, in the songwriter's opinion. Still, an interesting counterpoint to the other contributors, Richard delivers a dirty-sounding song about dirt. Not dirty like 'don't tell your parents' dirty but like 'look before you put it in your mouth' dirty. Ahem. Anyway, enjoy! And don't tell your parents!

This week's SAW represents a number of firsts for Chris. Inspired by the psuedo-retro sounds of bands like Franz Ferdinand, the song is the first he's ever written about sports ... specifically, soccer. Even more specifically, Sunday's MLS Cup game between the Houston Dynamo and the New England Revolution. Instrumentally, you get some Irish bouzouki, some bass guitar (rare in Chris's songs), some retro keyboards and a decidedly Franz Ferdinand-like drum loop. As another first, the lyrics and vocals were almost entirely improvised, which goes a long way to excusing lines like 'Taylor Twellman, take me home and do what you will'. Ahem. Anyway, Chris favored the Revs in the game, which is, of course, why they lost.

Erik is at it again with the digital delay: *Alligator Pan LR* with a bit of distortion. Anyway, this started out as an attempt at some soul flavored R n' B (and still could be, with the proper production) but turned into something more early '70s Rolling Stones inspired.

Like a forgotten track from Springsteen's Nebraska, this number captures the raw emotion of an unfortunate--yet undeniably American--situation. For all the latest from Dick Newhard and the Mad Saxons, visit: http://www.myspace.com/dicknewhardandthemadsaxons

Richard writes a song! Then he plays it! And records it! And it is good! Yay Richard! Go, Richard, Go!

Chris sets a new personal best with this song, cranking it out in slightly over one and a half hours. Don't ask. He's had a busy week. This all-electronic extravaganza owes a debt of gratitude to a lot of the over-the-top synth-pop of the '80s, and was inspired by the recent glut of Republican hooker scandals. At first, though, it sounds like a typical '80s relationship-trouble pop song. Oh, and any resemblance you notice between the verses of this song and the verses of his previous SAW contribution, 'This Human Race', are completely in your own head.

Erik scales down the production and goes bluesy (again), but with the added touch of a nice warm delay on one of Mr. Devine's acoustics. (For those wanting to know the specific guitar specs, it was run through a Dean Markley Promag acoustic pickup into the good ol' Digitech DSP 21 Legend -- specifically, preset #24 by Steve Morse: "Morse Chord Snd"). And, like Erik's last submission, this one qualifies for "Song-a-Day" status.

Richard returns with a case study in procrastination. This intricate interweaving of bass, delayed distorted guitars, drums and many-layered vocals clocks in missing more than half of the instrumentation and stealing lyrics from TS Eliot. Other than that and a resultingly lackluster instrumental bridge, it's a great song! Keep it up, Richard!

Our newest podcast contributor returns with this song. Though comical at times, it contains an element of truth ... that is, if you've ever met anyone suffering from this affliction. Nice acoustic flavor!

Yes, it's true! The only member of Haiku Rd. still using only his first and last names returns with a slightly delayed SAW contribution (thanks to new SAW contributor DIck Newhard and the Mad Saxons, who gave all the Roadsters a breather). In keeping with recent SAWs, and in sharp contrast to most of his more recent contributions, this is a stripped-down acoustic number that would fit well in a movie soundtrack -- you know, in that inevitable scene where the hero is sad and dejected and walks out to the shoreline and stares pensively at the horizon? Two guitar tracks, a first-take vocal and some whistle to spice it up. That's it!

This week's SAW sees Erik trying the Dylan-esque technique of playing and singing live (this was the third take), and only going back to overdub the harmony vocal. This could be good preparation for his upcoming solo shows at the end of the month. See myspace.com/erikhendel for more info.

Our latest SAW comes from a new contributor, Dick Newhard and The Mad Saxons (which is really just one guy from Youngstown, OH). Though this is a rather stripped down arrangement, it captures the power and determination of someone who is, as the song title suggest, afraid of airplanes. Enjoy the lyrics and the great vocal layering.

Richard's labor day plans are scrapped due to the stomach flu. We get to share the joy.

Just for fun, Richard pipes up with a SAW supplemental about... Blood? Something. Could be about unborn babbies. Maybe not. He doesn't think too hard about these things.

What the ... ? Chris leaps gleefully off the deep end with this dramatic epic construction of electronics and electric guitar. Widely renowned for his hatred of software for pitch-correcting vocals, he nonetheless makes use of the same, with all the knobs cranked to 11 so that the vocals sound almost robotic. Despite the fact that he feels the track is unfinished (he had many ideas he didn't have time to implement), this is his most elaborate Song-a-Week production yet. Listen to it loud on good headphones.

Returning to some funky, bluesy flavors of his previous bands and musical endeavors, Erik sprinkles this number with a spicy sauce about half-way through it that might just conjure up the sounds of instruments that weren't actually played. The lyrics: there are always two sides of a conflict and nobody wants to be in the middle.

Previously, on Song-a-Week 2007...: Richard turned in a SAW that had been recorded over the course of 5 days, but they were spread out in two groups across two weeks. Alas, some scoffed. So here is 32a, called 'Beneath this Moon', where Richard FINALLY gets to whistle! Yay!

Richard comes in for #32 with a heavily distorted atheist anthem. HOWEVER, while this song was written and recorded in less than seven days, they were not consecutive. Some have scoffed at this supposed bending of the rules (the rules that Richard made, that is, haha), so in penance he will be delivering another SAW in the next couple of days. Enjoy!

Chris is back with a track that started out meaning to be a sort of electric-guitar rocker and then got a bunch of keyboards draped over top (surprise, surprise!). There IS live bass guitar, though, for the first time in a long time. The song is an ode to Phoenix's summer monsoon, and ironically he worked all the way through a rainstorm to complete the song and completely missed it. Oh, cruel fate!

Erik dials up the tempo for this metaphor-filled number and there are lots of musical flavors in this pepped-up, peppery SAW. And if you don't care for any of those, you can always entertain yourself by counting all the different “-tion” ended words employed in the lyrics!

Richard comes in with a very distorted, bass heavy piece about... Saying please. Richard says that he's pretty happy with the guitar solo and all that, but the lyrics and vocals... Well, let's just thank him that they're low in the mix.

As if he weren't already weird enough, Chris presents another first ... a Song-a-Week tied into a blog entry! Oh, and electric bouzouki. Special thanks, too, to Kathy, the Mac Speech voice. Find the original text at www.haikurd.com/yanli/yanli.html, and follow the link for 'The YANLI Manifesto'. Some of it is total bull, and Chris doesn't even totally stand behind it now, but says it was fun to write.

Erik returns with this slow-burning, blues-inflected number with some ambitious production touches and catchy guitar work. The sort of thing you'd hear from a blues-rock trio at 3 in the morning after the party is very definitely over.

Richard moves to a new house, and in the midst of many boxes, with a microphone held together with a precarious bit of electrical tape, records the SAW regardless. What a show of musical prowess! What skill! What aplomb! What a handsome man! -- (totally written by Richard. PS, he got a kitten.)

Chris thought he'd try something novel and interesting this time around: Actual songwriting! Further, this one's a little more peppy than a lot of his songs. In stark contrast to his last SAW contribution, he's responsible for EVERY note and noise in this one, including the drums. Still not sure what the lyrics mean, though.