HOSTS- Jeremy Burns, Matthew Scott Phillips
TYPE- Special Topics
DURATION- 102:56
BUMPER MUSIC- "C.A.S" (Michael Chapman), "Don't Fear The Dead, Fear the Living Instead" (Stefan Jacques))
It is time for us to give a listener to another round of fantastic listener compositions!
They work hard, that we may listen hard! So let's listen!
This episode will feature the original music of:
Michael Chapman, Pasi Pasiaala, Dane Howard,
Melody Brook Gibson, Adam House and Stefan Jacques
"C.A.S. (Covid Ain't S**t)"
Michael Chapman- beats, lyrics, vocals
Krysten "K-Ritty" - hype woman
Michael teaches a seventh grade music class. The focus for this group is hip hop! He wanted to show them what could be done with a tablet device. With the help of his partner, Krysten, he created this "Covid dis track" to inspire and entertain the class! This piece is mainly in Fm, with a C in the bass, and was created entirely within Garage Band!
LYRICS
Krysten:
What up BGC?
It’s your girl K-Ritty.
Check out this new boom-bap from tha M-Chaps
Mike:
Remember way back in 2 thousand 19
We were innocent and we were living in a dream
And 2020 came and suddenly it seems that
everything we don’t need now became reality
I’m looking at the world and hatin what I see
I’m looking round and there’s no social distancing
I’m looking up and hopin for some policy, instead
I’m looking up and all I wanna do is scream, because its
This situation got me with a sore oesophagus
But not because of what you think, not your hypothesis
I’m sick of wilful ignorance and the incompetence
Gathering without a thought to what may be the consequence
A fascinating field for future anthropologists
Looking back at what went wrong with ancient hominids
To them I bet we look as simple as a nautilus
Too divided to decide a flawless metamorphosis
It’s a monotonous apocalypse in this metropolis there is no stopping this
Populace homogeneous anomalous incompetence crossing lots of continents
Idolatrous monuments to tautologous apologists
Social network synonymous with idiotic dominance
You’ll never be as cool as when you lay in the necropolis
You know it’s true when they say if you want some prominence
You gotta break a couple eggs to make some om-ah-lets
So every single one of you who do the things you do
Like nothings changed cos you don’t care what others are goin through
Imagine this was something that was inescapable
Would you change your ways would you change your attitude?
So obscene to see the scenes a simple selfish few
Hoardin everything as if they need it more than you
Justify it with some properly poor excuse
Punch a pensioner and tell yourself you had to do it
Truth.
"Desparate House FIve"
Pasi Pasialla- guitar, sequenced bass and drums
Pertti Lamberg- saxophone
Pasi wanted to experiment with odd time signatures. So he landed on 5/4 for this pleasing little number! A play on words from a famous reality show, this number has a pleasant hook on the saxophone that will stay in your head! Within all of these changes and chromaticism, we determined this to be in Am, moving to C major (the relative major) in the change up. We get a sense of nostalgia from the television theme music of the early 80's. How does it make you feel?
"Love, Gratitude and Deep Sleep"
Dane Howard- synth, piano
At the time of this recording, Dane had not been playing music for more than a year or so. Yet he has found a way to mesh music with meditation, two of his passions! This piece is quite meditative indeed. One of his many "sleep tracks", "Love, Gratitude and Deep Sleep" meanders back and forth from D to G and focuses on a three note motiff that varies as the piece matures. The relaxing pads take you away. The droning tones keep you centered. The pianos, lushly colored in delay and reverb, keeps you interested!
"Ashes To Ashes"
Melody Brook Gibson- piano, synth
Melody wrote this piece as a comfort for a friend of hers who was going through a difficult time. This progression repeats 3 times:
C - Em - C - Em - C - Am - F - Fm
I - iii - I - iii - I - vi - IV - iv
This piece begins very sparsely and continues to swell with tremelo strings and piano embellishment.
The sparkly piano parts represent ashes drifting away to nothing. Notice the emotional effect of the IV moving to iv and resolving to I.
"Don't Fear The Dead. Fear The Living Instead"
Stefan Jaques- guitar, vocals
Stefan constructed this sullen public service announcement over the course of a year. The music came first and the lyrics followed. The "dark and brooding sound" is accomplished thanks to many minor and diminished chords. There are also some very tense moments that only chords like the C# add 11 (b9) can provide. Take head and enjoy!
CHORDS:
Intro
4/4 G(b5) | Gdim | G(b5) |2/4 Gdim |
3/4 ‘diminished riff’ |
Verse
4/4 ||: Em | F#7/E | Em | F#7/E |
Chorus
Bm Bm/D | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
Bm | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
Bm | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
C/G | Cm/G :||
Bridge
Gm | Gdim7 | Fm | Cm |
F#dim7 | F#dim7 |
Em | F#7/E | Em | F#7/E |
Chorus
Bm Bm/D | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
Bm | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
Bm | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
Vocal solo
Bm | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) | repeat as many times as necessary
Outro
Bm | Bm / Bm/D C#11(b9) |
2/4 ‘diminished riff’ |
Bm(add#4) |
LYRICS:
Don’t Fear the Dead, Fear the Living Instead
How very much have you to learn, my dear
Grave are the trespasses of Man, I fear
No, child. Don’t fear the dead,
But fear the living instead
But fear the living instead
Gone are the days of childlike innocence
What I will tell will haunt you decades hence
No, child. Don’t fear the dead,
But fear the living instead
But fear the living instead
Now, sleep will give no more rest
Enter the place where all the darkness nests
You have come with me deep inside the wound
From which oozes festering evil still
Boiling and bubbling living hell
O darling. No, child don’t fear the dead
But fear the living instead
But fear the living instead
But fear the living instead
