matt.west.co.tt » FAWM

FAWM 2011 retrospective / Geek Pop

matt — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 23:37:08 +0000

February has been and gone, bringing with it my now customary jaunt into the world of February Album Writing Month. I fell some way short of the 14 song target this time, which I’ll blame on considerably increasing my production values this year, and not at all on being a lazy git.

I’m holding back a few of the songs from general release, because they’ll be going towards this month’s exciting musical happening: the Geek Pop virtual festival! Yes, all the greatest musical minds from the worlds of science and technology will be gathered in one place on the internet – and somehow I’ve ended up being one of them, performing on the Comical Flask stage alongside such luminaries as MJ “Hey Hey 16K” Hibbett. And because it’s a virtual festival, you don’t even need to drink beer out of a nasty plastic beaker or walk two miles to the nearest shower. Hurrah! Keep your browsers peeled (or something) at the Geek Pop website for the big unveiling on March 11th, or mosey on down to Wilton’s Music Hall, London on the 10th for the live launch gig.

In the meantime, here’s some almost-as-good-or-equally-good-but-not-as-geeky music I also wrote last month…

Avogadro’s Number by Matt Westcott

Big Conversation by Matt Westcott

In The Future by Matt Westcott

(Looking for the lyrics? Get them at my FAWM profile page)

The Model (unplugged cover version)

matt — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:39:10 +0000

Another month, another musical challenge bandwagon to jump on. For October the FAWM / 50/90 crowd is turning its attention to cover versions. So here’s a not-very-Kraftwerk-like instrumental version of Kraftwerk’s The Model.
Download matt_westcott_-_the_model.mp3

Download The Model (MP3, 4.7Mb)

50/90 2008: somewhat fewer than 50 songs

matt — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 23:31:04 +0000

50/90, or 50 Songs In 90 Days, is the less photogenic and slightly more intimidating cousin of February Album Writing Month, running throughout July, August and September. The idea is to write fif- oh, you worked that bit out already. This year FAWM supremo Burr Settles donated the song-posting infrastructure to 50/90 (previous years were run through a Yahoo group) so it became a natural off-season hangout for FAWM veterans. Me, I wasn’t planning on taking part, but since I ended up writing a couple of songs over that time period for one reason or another, it would have been silly not to crash the party late on and participate in a laid-back, not-letting-it-take-over-your-life sort of way. And here are the results.

Everything Is Relative

Download matt_westcott_-_everything_is_relative.mp3
This started out as an instrumental track laid down at Shucon 2008 on TDM’s GarageBand / MIDI setup, which came back to bite me as a nasty bit of vendor lock-in. (I figured that since GarageBand took MIDI input and stored it as MIDI-like note events, I’d be able to export it to a .mid file, right? Silly me.) Luckily I managed to salvage / re-record enough of it to work on it some more and develop it into a proper song. Spurred on by some particularly eclectic music competitions at Assembly, I decided to try my luck at entering it at Evoke, just to see what would happen when it was thrown in against a whole load of D+B and trance tracks. Not surprisingly, it failed to qualify. But having done the rounds of more or less the entire summer demo party season, it found a home at Sundown 2008, where it got 4th place. Score!

The lyrics were actually sparked by the train journey back from Shucon – at the seat in front of me, I saw that someone had drawn some initials in a heart on the window. This made me think “eww, that’s a bit tacky. Oh, hang on – whoever did that drew it on the outside of the window but did it in mirror writing so his girlfriend on the train could read it. Aww, that’s like the most romantic thing ever!”

Edgware Road

Download matt_westcott_-_edgware_road.mp3
A slightly more obviously train-related song, written to immortalise that enigma of the London Underground where time stands still, and add to the repertoire of songs about tube stations. Lyrics were mostly written on the Eurostar (hence the namecheck in the bridge) and the recording was done a-cappella stylee in the cabin of a sleeper train on the way back from International Vodka Party. Naturally, this was a horrible painstaking process of waiting for the moments when the train wasn’t making an absolute racket, but it had to be done for posterity. How many other songs have been written and recorded entirely on public transport, eh?

Cabbage Soup For The Soul

Download matt_westcott_-_cabbage_soup_for_the_soul.mp3
Written for Hoopshank as part of intense negotiations (not really) over contributing to another as yet unannounced musical project. He demanded songs of cabbage… I answered the call. I added a self-imposed constraint that the song had to have a mostly-serious message, so I came up with the idea of cabbage soup for the soul, as being something like Chicken Soup for the Soul but not as pleasant, and better for you. And suitable for vegans. And with that, the song just wrote itself. Or, more accurately, was written on my behalf by my alter ego, fictional Scottish indie band Glencoe Horse.

At The River (slight return)

Download matt_westcott_-_at_the_river_slight_return.mp3
OK, scraping the barrel a bit here. But you can’t really blame me for having a sudden bout of obsessive-compulsive disorder on realising that the lyrics to At The River by Groove Armada consist entirely of a half-sentence that trails off unsettlingly without completing its train of thought. “If you’re fond of sand dunes and salty air, quaint little villages here and there,” – then… what exactly? Clearly, this had to be fixed. So I did.

(All songs downloadable from the not-very-pretty music.matt.west.co.tt – lyrics available from my 50/90 profile)

Mr Phong

matt — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 22:03:39 +0000

There just aren’t enough songs about computer graphics pioneers. Here’s one about Bui Tuong Phong, of phong shading and phong illumination fame. I decided to record this one entirely without keyboards, so brace yourselves for a gloriously shoddy guitar solo and a gloriously glorious bottle solo. (Forgetting to take out the recycling can be a good thing, you know.)

Download matt_westcott_-_mr_phong.mp3

In a world of imperfections
we all need a change of scene
three dimensional projections
look into the bitmap screen

University of Utah
Bushnell, Clark and Sutherland
Eddie Catmull, head of Pixar
there’s a dark horse in their band

Mr Phong

The ancient art of scan conversion
He’s the guy who holds the truth
rubber ducks and chequered doughnuts
never looked so silky smooth

Eliminate those jagged edges
cutting corners is our game
Interpolate those surface normals
that’s the way he made his name

Mr Phong

I = I_aK_a + I_p[K_d(NÂ·L)+K_s(RÂ·V)ⁿ]

How about those specular highlights
They’re all looking mighty fine
In a blaze of math and magic
he’s gonna make your teapot shine

If it looks unrealistic
the professor, he’s your man
He’s a master of illusions
from the depths of Vietnam

Mr Phong

Download Mr Phong (MP3, 2.0Mb)
Mr Phong on FAWM

Are Great Things Born

matt — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 23:11:43 +0000

It had to be done. After my album cover generator came up with Glencoe Horse’s seminal Are Great Things Born, I was compelled to write a song with that title, in the style of Glencoe Horse, whoever they may be. The result is some not-very-profound Forrest Gump philosophy (actually there’s shades of Doctor Seuss about it too), but performed in the Britpop tones of everyone’s favourite non-existent Scottish indie band.

Download matt_westcott_-_are_great_things_born.mp3

Out on the open road
we are driving
to the place we thought we wanted to be
All the passers-by
wish us luck for the journey
but secretly wonder why we’re wasting our lives
On the unobtainable
chasing angels till they dance no more
But we know that from impossible ambitions
are great things born

When it seems too far
just take a rain check
there’s no shame in being all you can be
Some day you’ll look around
see how far you’ve come
opportunities at every turn
And if you follow them
change your destination, that’s your call
’cause they say that from the unexpected places
are great things born

When inspiration strikes
at any place and time
you never know what it’ll bring
Embrace it if you dare
you can’t be everywhere
so just be somewhere
just be somewhere, it’ll find you

Don’t let the skeptics say
you’ve gone the wrong way
’cause there’s no-one can decide that but you
You’ll never win this game
and set the world alight
without crossing swords once in a while
And when they understand
they’ll be building on the plans you’ve drawn
’cause it’s true that from the smallest of beginnings
are great things born

Download Are Great Things Born (3.8Mb, MP3)
Are Great Things Born on FAWM

Triptik

matt — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 02:30:19 +0000

My very fast (written in something like 2 hours) music entry for raww.orgy, which ended up in 4th place. In a cunning kill-two-birds-with-one-stone move, it’s also one of my FAWM songs.

Download gasman_-_triptik.mp3

Triptik on FAWM

Across Wales

matt — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 02:21:12 +0000

Not in fact a continuation of the Through Poland series, despite what you might expect. This is not so much a song, more an experiment with backwards recording, to test the theory that the Welsh language is actually just a bunch of people talking backwards for a laugh, and to create a completely palindromic piece of music. (There can’t be many of those around, surely…)

Apologies to any actual Welsh speakers reading this. Please don’t kill me.

Download matt_westcott_-_across_wales.mp3

Across Wales on FAWM

Diminishing Returns

matt — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 02:07:12 +0000

Another backlog of FAWM entries to post here, starting with a twisty little instrumental.

Download matt_westcott_-_diminishing_returns.mp3

Diminishing Returns on FAWM

I Am Tyr (the God of Tuesday)

matt — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:51:44 +0000

Last one for the moment… this one’s a stab at the week one challenge, “write a song with a day of the week in the title”. Towards the end I got frustrated that the song was going nowhere, hence the throw-in-all-the-unused-lyrics-and-get-shut-of-it ending, which actually turned out quite well. This is the sort of occasion where FAWM excels… the cattle-prod-up-the-backside-to-get-a-song-finished treatment pays off sometimes.

Download matt_westcott_-_i_am_tyr.mp3

I am Tyr, the God of Tuesday
I was once a God of War
All true men used to fear me in the savage days of yore
Today it is my destiny to be remembered for
My position in the tapestry of time

When the wise men watched the heavens
and the scholars mapped the days
They saw the stars transitioning, the moon in every phase
The light and dark was counted out, divided seven ways
And one day of those seven would be mine

My name was once the origin of “Deity”
But now I am known only to a few
A thousand years of language have eroded who I am
Now people wonder, “just what is a ‘Tue’?”

I am Tyr, the God of Tuesday
I am also God of Sky
When they handed out our duties I cared not to ask them why
My followers were legion, but today they are no more
A people and a culture was destroyed

Between the Moon and Odin
I forever will reside
The world shall look upon me as a thorn in every side
unpopular, but not the way that Monday is despised
But too far from the weekend to be enjoyed

I shall not tolerate such mediocrity!
The world must feel my anger and my pain
For so long I have lain dormant, but today I rise again
For I shall cast a curse and make it rain! Yes! The world shall once again see the wrath of Tyr as I cast cumulonimbus clouds down from on high! And Tuesday shall be known as the rainiest day of all. And it shall rain without fail, every Tuesday until at least May. That’ll teach them for mangling my name into something stupid like Tiw. I had an arm ripped off by a wolf you know, and this is what I get? Society today, they have no respect for the older generation.

Download I Am Tyr (the God of Tuesday) (MP3, 4.2Mb)
I Am Tyr (the God of Tuesday) on FAWM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.

The Internet Is Broken

matt — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 19:59:55 +0000

This was an attempt to write an entire song in the time it took to upload the previous one. I managed one verse.

Download matt_westcott_-_the_internet_is_broken.mp3

The internet is broken
The internet is broken for me
I only wanted to upload my song
But it’s taking stupidly long

Engineers have been notified
Engineers are aware of the problem
My ticket is logged in the tech support queue
and has been flagged up for further review

I promise if it comes back tonight
I’ll use it like a responsible grown-up
No more surfing for cats with captions
or YouTube videos of flats being blown up

All I want is to check my email
check up a couple of facts on Wikipedia
Listen to the latest songs on my watchlist
if only my connection was a little speedier

The internet is broken
The internet is broken for me
I only wanted to upload my song
But it’s taking stupidly long

Download The Internet Is Broken (MP3, 1.0Mb)
The Internet Is Broken on FAWM

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.