[sparklehorse rip-off]: New Track - The Horse That Sparkles

[TristezaOrange]

Today, some strange dust of some kind enveloped Athens and obscured the sun, making everything red and a bit depressing. Probably Sahara sand, we get that kind of thing in Cyprus all the time.

Anyway, with the day being the crappy day that it is [was] I decided to write a matching depressing track. The result sounds so much like Sparklehorse that I decided that it couldn't be called anything else than The Horse That Sparkles


Only 1:34 but it's probably been a couple of years since I did anything longer I hope you'll enjoy [i know sparklehorse fans will come after me for this ] - I enjoyed recording it.

Stuff:

Fender Squier Strat + Fender Frontman 15R amp recored with a cheap and crappy mic

A bass drum and snare drum sample lo-fi-ed to hell.

CM-101

Comments welcome. Encouraged even.

[mn]

Can't wait to hear it, I me some Sparklehorse. d/l now.

edit: yeah, it does have the atmosphere of some of Sparklehorse's slower stuff, I could hear Mark's voice coming in over some of that. The more distorted guitar almost made it sound a bit Pixies also. The time stretched drums at the end are a little too lofi.

Anyway, not sure if this was a tongue in cheek shot at Sparklehorse (since you said Sparklehorse fans would come after you), but that happens to be one of the things I love about them, Mark is one of the few songwriters who is not afraid to write (and perform live) something terribly slow and barely able to maintain its momentum.

[pHz]

me like tris (although longer WOULD have been better to get into the kind of hypnotic mood i get from the slow sparklehorse stuff) ... not convinced by the drums here either TBH but i like the simplicity of the whole thing... reminds me of some of the stuff ive done with my mate dunc on guitar (like the track on the resonance CD)

slainte rob

[Funkybot]

Downloading...downloading...

Ya know, while I'm donwloading, I've done a few way too Sparklehorse-ish tracks in my day. They're a lot of fun to make and muck up, and sadly I lost a few after a hard drive crash last year. I just finished one a few weeks ago though that sounds kind of like the Daniel Johnston cover "Go" that he did with the Flaming Lips (grab it off iTunes if you haven't heard it, great song). Once I get a broadband connection I'm gonna start posting some songs, I'll be sure to mention Sparklehorse in the title of that one too. Ok 76%, I'll shut up for a while until I hear it...

Ok, heard it! Sounds like an interlude off of Goodmorningspider. I'd just add a bass track, drop the drums a bit, then bring up the synth sound in the background before having it eventually fade into a noisy mess by screwing with a delay effect (love MDA dub delay for that type of work). Cool track. I like the just audible humming of the single coil pickups too, you don't hear enough of that shit on records anymore.

[TristezaOrange]

Can't wait to hear it, I me some Sparklehorse. d/l now.

edit: yeah, it does have the atmosphere of some of Sparklehorse's slower stuff, I could hear Mark's voice coming in over some of that. The more distorted guitar almost made it sound a bit Pixies also. The time stretched drums at the end are a little too lofi.

Anyway, not sure if this was a tongue in cheek shot at Sparklehorse (since you said Sparklehorse fans would come after you), but that happens to be one of the things I love about them, Mark is one of the few songwriters who is not afraid to write (and perform live) something terribly slow and barely able to maintain its momentum.

The 'come after me' comment was supposed to mean that it sounds a bit like Sparklehorse, but it's nowhere as good. I didn't start by thinking 'Hey a Sparklehorse-y track would be fun', it just came out that way.

About the time-stretching near the end: I don't know what got into me

Thanks for the comments

[TristezaOrange]

me like tris (although longer WOULD have been better to get into the kind of hypnotic mood i get from the slow sparklehorse stuff) ... not convinced by the drums here either TBH but i like the simplicity of the whole thing... reminds me of some of the stuff ive done with my mate dunc on guitar (like the track on the resonance CD)

slainte rob

Thanks Rob - yeah, the drums are a bit boring. I got that part from Mogwai [just kidding, I love them, but on their slower songs the drums tend to be a bit, well, pedestrian. Not unlike what I did on the track]


Still haven't got the Resonance CD, just waiting to go to Cyprus next Sunday and order it with my dad's credit card

[TristezaOrange]

Downloading...downloading...

Ya know, while I'm donwloading, I've done a few way too Sparklehorse-ish tracks in my day. They're a lot of fun to make and muck up, and sadly I lost a few after a hard drive crash last year. I just finished one a few weeks ago though that sounds kind of like the Daniel Johnston cover "Go" that he did with the Flaming Lips (grab it off iTunes if you haven't heard it, great song). Once I get a broadband connection I'm gonna start posting some songs, I'll be sure to mention Sparklehorse in the title of that one too. Ok 76%, I'll shut up for a while until I hear it...

Ok, heard it! Sounds like an interlude off of Goodmorningspider. I'd just add a bass track, drop the drums a bit, then bring up the synth sound in the background before having it eventually fade into a noisy mess by screwing with a delay effect (love MDA dub delay for that type of work). Cool track. I like the just audible humming of the single coil pickups too, you don't hear enough of that shit on records anymore.

Thanks Funky I love your idea of ending this track by transforming it into a noisy mess using a delay. My arrangement skills are a bit [very, actually] underdeveloped so I'd probably never think of that myself [I mean it, I'm not kidding]. Plus it'd make the track longer and I wouldn't have to apologise to anyone

I'm waiting for the tracks you mentioned as soon as you get broadband

[TristezaOrange]

BTW mn, did you say Pixies???

[mn]

Yep, that sort of isolated "lead" guitar reminded me a bit of Joey Santiago, the way his guitar was always way more tweaked than Black Francis and the rest of the band. Like in "Caribou" or "Hey" or something. I just have an annoying habit of relating things I hear to other bands, not so much to compare you to them but to get across a particular sound or feeling it gives me when I hear it.

I me some Pixies also . One band I never saw even though I was around for the whole duration - I really wish I had seen them around '88 or '89. Sure they're touring again, but it's not the same.