Tag Archives: Seattle

Oct 24 2011
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Music

Flute Beats

The LIFESTYLE has been a place of collaborations. One of my favorite projects has been recording over the years with my cousin Rachel Ballister. Rachel has played flute for years and when my family would go to Los Angeles (Lomita!) to visit them, I’d bring out the laptop and we’d get something together.

Flute Beat 1:

Here I sample Rachel doing some warm ups from her classical book. This was our first callabo from 3 or 4 years ago.

Lomito Burrito

This track started as a chord progression I came up with on the guitar and Rachel and I worked in her melody, which she wrote. Then myself, her, and her sister Sarah all recorded a hand clap. At the very end we got a little off and you can hear Sarah saying “Sorry!” on the record.

Xylophone:
This track was a collaboration through time and space. I recorded a zylaphone part at a church in Seattle where the homie Clarke had a practice space set up. Then on a family vacation in LA I asked Rachel if she wanted to play on the track. Her part really helped out the verse. I finished up the track in Spain in September 2011. The sample at the end is part of Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You. The sample appears around 0: 50 in the Whitney track.

Reflection and Response

-P

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Oct 03 2011
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Music

Making Spaces

I wrote this song sometime during this past summer when I worked at a seafood restaurant in Seattle. I recorded the track on October 2nd and 3rd 2011.

Acapella

Here I am on this bus at 8 o’clock/ The only one who still smells of whisky on the rocks/ As jocks and business students from the stop  all climb on she’s the only thing I find my mind on she shines strong

The City’s a lonely thing feel its only you living/ Struggle alone really and never feel like winning/ Because there’s more and more and even more to do/ Liberation shackled instantly consumed

But I stay cuz she’s there and only cuz she is/ Probably easy to spot painfully obvious/ That I’m head over heels for her/ This other fling knows I’m not being all the way forward

And her back is nice/ And her face is standard/ But she talks fast might actually give an answer/ And that dress/ That red cloth presses against her/ We feign indifference and say we’ve seen way better

All watch sporadically/ Try not to get caught/ She knows it and continues to pop and lock it/ A pretty damn good imposter/ Goddamn it now I’m rock hard/ This suddenly got awkward

We take breaks in the spaces in between/ After dinner shifts when all the customers leave/ Your friendly waiters wasted on IPAs and mixed drinks/ Next shift same table/ Such a vicious routine (x2)

Smells of weed and stale beer/ And beautiful women more naughty than goddesses but often pursue vixens/try to stay winning/ And hope this beat floats on/ And we gloat of these shows that know don’t go on

Young college students growing alcoholics/ Work hard play hard/Certainly work on it/ Wake up dry mouth with that head throbbing/ Beds messy from some of that prior rocking

With this job at 9 o’clock I can finally buy coffee/ Daily grind no way 5-0’a are gonna stop me/ Speaking of that I need to get back to the store/ And I’m fresh out of onions don’t wanna mooch any more

Cab Calloway sang once of the mooch named Minnie/ Now we mooch cab rides all throughout the city / And we pay each other back with hand slaps and drinks/ Wonder what the fuck my grandma would think

If she knew that we take breaks in the spaces in between/ After dinner shifts when all the customers leave/ Your friendly waiters wasted on IPAs and mixed drinks/ Next shift same table/ Such a vicious routine (x4)

Reflection and Response

-P

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Sep 15 2011
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Music

Shake This Maze

I wrote Shake This Maze in spring 2011 after getting a job at Duke’s Chowder House in Seattle.  I wrote the chorus some 6 months earlier and never found a home for it until Maze.


Shake this maze to the core with chords and verses

Mix genres like cops johns whores and virgins

Turn the source of hurting into a sense of pride

Find the gold on the shipwrecks of life

Maybe she works Sunday we’ll play afterwards/ I need to stop writing this play and this wack verse/ Can’t stand when she’s there can’t stand when she’s away/ Go home like I don’t care?/That lie’s pathetically fake/So please break break break the spell she’s got me under/ Under the weather as I am under the covers/ Already tried to wake up/ But I pressed snooze/ prefer this pillow/ This wait sucks I’ll sleep through/

Two weeks ago everything normal/ soon to graduate sky high orbital/ now crash landed/ Everybody see it/ Ramble meaningless nothings/ without reason/ Who knew such blues/ Would creep in this season/ The sun’s out/ Sweat crowds the breathing/ She walks chest out/ I think or am I dreaming/ Naps for twenty minutes every other evening

Shake this maze to the core with chords and verses

Mix genres like cops johns whores and virgins

Turn the source of hurting into a sense of pride

Find the gold on the shipwrecks of life

We make our way through twisting journeys

Roadmap gets written as life’s occurring

We fight for courage she’s a test of the burden

Success the only option no way this back’s turning

So now three weeks later we each have a break/ And it’s nice outside so we walk beside the lake/ For forty five minutes we conversate/ Suddenly all the angst evaporates/I guess I agree with her better off friends/ Besides Spain seems to boast decent women/ So finally I can act normal again/ only awkward if we make it so, I horribly did

But now we grab lunch /Jokes “such a lovely date”/ Behind glasses eyes fluctuates/ Talk of family for seems great lengths/ About drugs and pain and fortune and thanks/And we return to the work/ From whence we came/ She tends bar as I clear plates/ Great feeling having a clean slate/ Now we start again but in a different place

Shake this maze to the core with chords and verses

Mix genres like cops johns whores and virgins

Turn the source of hurting into a sense of pride

Find the gold on the shipwrecks of life

Make our way through twisting journeys

Roadmap gets written as life’s occurring

We fight for courage she’s a test of the burden

Success the only option/ no way this back’s turning

(x2)

Shake This Maze Remix

I did the Shake This Maze Remix the same day as posting, on September 15th, 2011.  I liked the sound of the vocals on the chorus on the acapella version, so I cut some stuff from that for the first part of the remix. For the second part, I felt inspired by Dj Premier’s ability to craft whole choruses from samples of other tracks. So I took some lines from the track itself and came up with the following line.

Who knew such blues/ Drugs and pain

In a different place/ find that/ fortune and thanks.

How do people feel about sampling? Does anyone have a favorite track that samples something yet makes it completely new?

Add your thoughts to the reactions box.

Reflection and Response

-P

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