morganphillipsland » music

OMNIBUS

admin — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 05:00:39 +0000

1. There is an awkward dynamic at play in computer-less temp jobs, when it comes to downtime. It worries the boss if you whip out a book, because then other office workers will think, “Oh, look, a temp with no work to do. Somebody is wasting the company’s money. And that’s why we can’t afford cocoa for the kitchen area anymore.” The thoughtful temp instead passes work-less time in a subtler fashion. Case in point: Today I memorized pi to 20 decimal places.*

2. I have an improv show on Thursday, and might have one on Friday. But forget that noise. You should go see the new Charlie Sanders one-man-show at UCB in NYC on Friday. (Oh, it’s at 8pm? Then you could see my shows, too. Bonus!)

3. This live performance haunts my (morphorotic) dreams. Some day soon I will write a post dissecting the lyrics of this song, possibly the worst lyrics ever written, ever, ever.

If you can make it all the way to the end of the video, you are awesome.

. . .

*Unless it isn’t 3.14159265358979323846 — if it isn’t, then I memorized pi to 20 incorrect decimal places. Which is equally as useful to me.

MUXTAPE-ISH

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:08:05 +0000

Not sure how long this will last, but there’s a new muxtape-like site that takes the audio from youtube videos and makes a playlist out of them: MixTube.

Here’s a playlist with the songs from my a cappella rock band’s latest album:

http://mixtube.org/playlist.php?id=150

YOUR NORMAL VOICE IS AN ANGRY VOICE

admin — Thu, 29 May 2008 18:10:34 +0000

A while back I tried to write a novel about demonic possession and a cappella music, but it didn’t work out. Then I tried to convert elements of the novel into song form, and the results were… hard to listen to. I’m good at writing lyrics to fit music, and terrible the other way around. (In artsy-fartsy metaphor-talk: Music speaks clearly, but words sing a very strange tune.)

Last night I came across some of the lyrics I wrote for that failed project. Here’s a little taste — the bridge from a song about a brain-damaged sociopathic secondary character.

If anybody wants to write some awesome music for this, feel free. We can split the immense profits.

. . .

YOUR NORMAL VOICE IS AN ANGRY VOICE

(Bridge)

Remember that time
What your father used
When his shaving cream can ran out?

Think back on that time
When your life presents you
Enigmatic doubt

And by that I mean
You might not be quick
Solving problems, day to day

But your euphemistic
Specialness
Will help you find a way

You can take your time
And take a breath
While others opt for speed

And for God’s sake, Billy
Fight the urge
To make your problems bleed

For your sake, Billy
Fight the urge
To make your problems bleed

I WON TWO PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS

admin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 17:09:38 +0000

http://www.casa.org/content/view/1212/242

Well, not so much I, as my band.

Well, not so much my band, as my a cappella rock band.

And not so much prestigious, as prestigious within the a cappella community.

And not so much prestigious within the a cappella community, as prestigious within the small fraction of the a cappella community that cares about professional groups that perform original music, rather than college groups who perform covers of radio hits. Or barbershop.

Still, I am honored.

Or, say, grateful.

Or, how about, very appreciative.

If we hadn’t won, of course, I’d be suicidally depressed.