The Wagtunes Corner

[wagtunes]

youre getting in to the polls lately

Well, I can't decide what I want to do next so I figured why not let the forum decide, assuming nobody doesn't care, which is a definite possibility.

[Erisian]

I voted prog although I had never listened to any of your music before but I picked a page at random and listened to Zenith. Musically it was really quite good and very polished on the production side. You have an unusual voice but then so does Jon Anderson for example so don't let that put you off. (I hate the sound of my own voice!) I like that your song themes are varied (I have looked at some of your lyrics even if I haven't played all the songs) Cool stuff!

[lessera]

Maddy Narz: Lyrics are good. The processed vocals fit the piece (the transistor radio effect add enough of a retro vibe). Good contrast with the more open sounding backing vocals. Drums sound good, though almost too good/modern (like Lars Ulrich as a session drummer for Roy Orbison ).

The sax is alright, but sounds a little tame for this piece. I would have liked to hear some nasty growl/tongue-roll articulations (maybe that's asking too much though).

The melody is catchy as hell.

[vurt]

read that last sentence especially

Thanks. I did. Not sure I deserve the praise but I'll take it.

FWIW, just recently a friend of mine who I used to record with back in the 70s and 80s emailed me out of the blue and long story short, I emailed him links to some of my recent stuff and his reply was "2 words, f**king awesome"

Coming from him, that was the ultimate compliment as he never really thought much of anything either of us did. Of course neither did I. We were really bad back then. But he had a lot more natural talent than I did. Oddly, he abandoned music while I kept plugging away. I never gave up, as bad as I was.

see, so maybe theres a little more there than you allow yourself to hear...

2 complete strangers agree!

[wagtunes]

I voted prog although I had never listened to any of your music before but I picked a page at random and listened to Zenith. Musically it was really quite good and very polished on the production side. You have an unusual voice but then so does Jon Anderson for example so don't let that put you off. (I hate the sound of my own voice!) I like that your song themes are varied (I have looked at some of your lyrics even if I haven't played all the songs) Cool stuff!

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate them. Jon Anderson is one of my favorite singers. I wish I could sing like him.

[wagtunes]

Maddy Narz: Lyrics are good. The processed vocals fit the piece (the transistor radio effect add enough of a retro vibe). Good contrast with the more open sounding backing vocals. Drums sound good, though almost too good/modern (like Lars Ulrich as a session drummer for Roy Orbison ).

The sax is alright, but sounds a little tame for this piece. I would have liked to hear some nasty growl/tongue-roll articulations (maybe that's asking too much though).

The melody is catchy as hell.

The thing about the sax is that it's one of the best libraries out there and I could have gone crazy with it but decided not to. Maybe that was a mistake because, yes, it is a little tame.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate them.

[wagtunes]

read that last sentence especially

Thanks. I did. Not sure I deserve the praise but I'll take it.

FWIW, just recently a friend of mine who I used to record with back in the 70s and 80s emailed me out of the blue and long story short, I emailed him links to some of my recent stuff and his reply was "2 words, f**king awesome"

Coming from him, that was the ultimate compliment as he never really thought much of anything either of us did. Of course neither did I. We were really bad back then. But he had a lot more natural talent than I did. Oddly, he abandoned music while I kept plugging away. I never gave up, as bad as I was.

see, so maybe theres a little more there than you allow yourself to hear...

2 complete strangers agree!

We are our own worst critics. Yeah, it seems like I've got a few fans. It's humbling believe it or not. It's not something I ever expected. Not after years of comments like "You really need to stop singing" or "I'd rather listen to a cat crying"

It didn't happen overnight.

It never does.

[Music Bird]

I chose 80s. I’d love to hear some 80’s style songs like 80’s music from around the world. That should be an interesting challenge!

[wagtunes]

I chose 80s. I’d love to hear some 80’s style songs like 80’s music from around the world. That should be an interesting challenge!

I actually did an 80s CD a couple of years ago, albeit with all Vocaloid vocals. It was a 2 CD set with 32 songs.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... 0s-squared

[Jace-BeOS]

What? No option for

“Pop-industrial synth & guitar metal (NIN, Gary Numan, early Stabbing Westward)”

?

[vurt]

What? No option for

“Pop-industrial synth & guitar metal (NIN, Gary Numan, early Stabbing Westward)”

?

this!
i want wags going full reznor!

[Jace-BeOS]

I chose 80s. I’d love to hear some 80’s style songs like 80’s music from around the world. That should be an interesting challenge!

I actually did an 80s CD a couple of years ago, albeit with all Vocaloid vocals. It was a 2 CD set with 32 songs.

https://soundcloud.com/steven-wagenheim ... 0s-squared

I’d like to hear a bit of edgy/noisy electric guitar in there, maybe some bits of rapid jumpy hihats to sort of liven up the feel (actual tempo is fine), and real live human voices on those.

The songs have a really pleasant poppy quality but vocaloid just sounds so artificial to me, and it’s very hard for me to understand the lyrics with them (so far, at least).

The songs remind me of very early Depeche Mode & Gary Numan, and also some Magnetic Fields. I’d try to push them more toward “Pretty Hate Machine”, sonically, were I in a producer’s role, but that’s just my personal take on it

[wagtunes]

Post an example of what you're talking about. I know I can emulate it fairly easily.

[Jace-BeOS]

Post an example of what you're talking about. I know I can emulate it fairly easily.

Examples of NIN and Gary Numan’s pop-industrial-synth-metal? Hmmm... which to choose...

Nine Inch Nails has had a LOT of diversity in sound and song structure across Trent’s career. One of my favorite NIN songs with a mixture of elements, from the mid 90s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi6_QkXvpMY

Some modern Gary Numan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHomCiPFknY

Here they are performing together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qlUFKFHNIU

Here is a demo unreleased song from before Trent Reznor published NIN’s first album “Pretty Hate Machine”... it’s reminiscent of Depeche Mode, IMO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuntkgvD5KU

Stabbing Westward (also from the 90s):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBoKQSywJbU

[wagtunes]

Okay, so you basically want me to do a NiN CD.