Lost in Nostalgia.

Hmmmmm just listening to some fairly old tracks from yesteryear (snippets of which will be posted soon)………I fancy some cherry pie and vanilla ice cream. The good old days.

Chocolate sauce anyone!?!

Travelling

Howdy!

Thought I’d pop on a new category in anticipation for when I go on hols to America in March (It’ll be my first time back in the States since August 1999…..and I can’t wait!). 

Alex and I enjoy travelling a great deal (inside the UK as well as outside of good old blighty) and we both wanted to post various bits and pieces of previous trips, places we find funky or even blog whilst we’re on the move (inspired by Great Uncle Travelling Mac from The Fraggles)!

Anyroad, I’ll hopefully be posting whilst away at somepoint to let you know how portly I’m getting on the steak. 

Yaaaaahooooooooooo!

Photography – Sunsets

Thought I’d start off a category on photography as both Al and I are keen amateur photographers. This is a slight irony given that Alex and I were both working in a photo development lab when we became friends. Still makes me chuckle when I remember getting a subtle nudge or look from Al to suggest an attractive woman had just come in to pick up her submitted amateur glamour photographs. We eventually made up a serious of signal words for this (I remember the word Japonica being one for a woman who had submitted an eye catching set of pictures clad in PVC) and other photography faux pas related situations.

I was staring out the window at work today when my boss and good friend Alan pointed out that the evenings were getting longer (yes, it had gotten to that time when we both wanted to sod off for the day). I noticed Croydon actually had a reasonably nice sunset for a change given that it’d been pretty cloudy and rainy of late (I have a slight obsession with the sky you see) and that in turn made me think of the sky in Kansas where I’m going Stateside in March 2008 for the first time in over 8 years.

Kansas being so flat gives the most amazing view of the stars and sunset, sunrise, tornados, lightning storms, you name it. So I was inspired to dig out the picture below which I took on my old Canon AE-01 back in 1997 during my first visit. The shot was taken on the outside my favourite steak shack before driving back to Amy’s house and I think it totally captures my initial default mental image of America. I was always really chuffed with this shot and I still like it a lot now; especially with the pickup and the light on the bonnet. Gravy.

The other pic in this thread is a shot I took out of the window from my bedroom around Christmas 2007 using my Sony Cybershot DSC W55 7.2 Mega Pixel camera which I think is a very funky little gadget indeed and would heartily recommend. I adjusted the aperture slightly and that’s how I got the silhouette effect with the houses to emphasise the sky. I really like this shot, especially the obscure detail on the leaves on the left hand side of the shot.

Thursday, 17th January 2008.

MY BAD

The dilution of language over time is as inevitable as the evolution of life itself  (apologies creationists everywhere, but you’re just bloody wrong and you know it, “the world is 6000 years old” my arse………..).

I am fascinated by the variation of English words and origins of key phrases which have mutated over the years due to various influences in the history of the British Isles.  Bum, bugger, spitoon, philanthropist and filth for example.

Alex pointed out to me recently that the word Blighty (Victorian-present era slang phrase for Britain is Old Blighty) originates from the Hindustani word vilāyatī (pronounced bilāti in many Indian dialects and languages) meaning “foreign”.  Considering the colonial influences and also their relevance to our somewhat exotic ancestry I thought this was quite ironic and pretty cool.

That said, one phrase which seems to have creeped over here from the States recently is “My bad”.  People now use it in my office, Optimus Prime says it in the latest Transformers movie and it won’t be long before some opportunist R&B git writes a song called it either (My money’s on Craig David) along with the usual over the top harmonies (eiiii eee eiiii eeee ooooo eeee oooo whooaaaaa whoooaaaaa represent baby, maaaaaah baaaayaaad!) vocals. 

I spent a fair bit of time in the States during my twenties and still love how informal language can be in and around the US, but no matter how much I try I honestly can not stand hearing someone say or even type “My Bad”.  It’s just wrong!!!  WRONG I TELL THEE!!  IT MAKES NO SENSE AT ALL!?!!?

For a start it flipping sounds like the sort of thing Captain Caveman would say (unga bunga!), what’s so wrong about “pardon me” or “excuse me” instead?  I even prefer someone to use “ooops!” instead of my Bad?  No, no, no, no, do it in my presence and you will suffer a fate worse than death. I will most likely moon you.

MY BAD?!?!  STOP IT NOW!

Hot off the press – Little Potatoes

CLICK TO PLAY

Just mixed this down after a day in the office doing some overtime. Dug out another track from the same recent session that the snippet of Blick is from (Alex on Drums and I’m just playing the Danelectro electric). I just popped a makeshift bassline on it to fatten it out a bit (thankfully without any blisters this time).

This track originates from a jam and was my attempt to get away from always playing blues/rock guitar chords and riffs. Originally it was a slow moody jazz piece with some amazingly simple but effective shuffle drums, but I wanted to put this snippet on the site because I really love the offbeat drums Alex puts down towards the end of this sample. Definately the funky end of jazz.

Hot off the press – Blick

CLICK TO PLAY

Antikrish are proud to present a very basic working demo of ‘Blick’ which was recorded using the Tascam a couple of months ago by Al and I; It represents the first of our new material and marks the first time we have recorded together since the new millenium kicked in.

Blick was always one of our favourite tracks to jam with because it’s one of those tracks that sounded reasonably good no matter how we were playing at the time given our familiarity of the song. From my personal perspective I (Kev) could stick to the basics if playing a bit rough, or improvise my nuts off if I’m feeling confident on a good day (rough translation = put in a few bendy twangs). This particular take is played with a much quicker tempo than normal (in an attempt to brighten things up and change the sound a little).

From memory, the song was originally written by Alex to try and write a track purely starting with the bass guitar first; which when you think about it, is pretty unorthadox and something I always really liked about the song. Over the years we fiddled with the track, put in some extra bits and it changed from a slow latin rock track to a progressive blues rock number.

I decided to add a bassline to the live recording in order to give a rough idea of how it would sound with a little more depth and I have to say I’m really happy with it after mixing down (I put the mixed master through Sony Soundforge Editing Suite to brighten things up a bit).

I would like to also point out that today saw me (Kev) play the bass properly for the first time in years; I now have a blister about the size of an M&M sweet located on both tips of my index fingers. If I were to describe the tight sensation on my fingers, I’d have to liken it to the feeling you get when you try and glue an airfix model airplane as a kid using superglue, get your thumb and index stuck together and then after you prize them free THAT is how my finger feels at the moment*.

More work in progress to follow shortly.

*Please do not try this at home. Antikrish.com does not accept any liability for people who ruin a promising career as a pianist by bonding their digits together with glue.

Indian song, rough take 2

CLICK TO PLAY

First major thing I recorded with the new setup. Drums programmed using beatcraft software (a nice little drum machine) and then 4 guitars played in a non-standard open tuning. Two tracks using the ovation accoustic directly into the desk, and two tracks using the Danelectro with a phase effect, and a distortion, both using the internal affects of the Tascam.

This track is a variation of a much older tune which Alex did with our mutual friend Glen (which I like very much and would like to redo), I felt like this was something of a ‘reprise’. I took the original main riff and put an awful lot of poncy string bends in mine. Just seeing what the desk can do really, and also myself after such a long time of not playing!

Give A Little Help (Ragtime version)

CLICK TO PLAY

This one is a reworking of pretty old song written quite literally just as I started hanging out with Al. The original is quite a rock driven effort (and one of my fave tracks to play) , however we decided to try and pull it to pieces and re-record it in a ragtime /bluegrass style which at the time I thought was pretty funny, and now in reflection even more so because it was all recorded in the space of 3 hours and by far and most the easiest recording we ever put down. Guitars and drums first, then lead guitar, mandolin, harmonica, vocals and bass. One after another, it was such a hoot, a hootananannny even.

Shake your fleas Grandpa!