the Rattling

Uplift

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 18:49:00 +0000

The title track off our new album, Uplift -- Uplift.

Accepting the Change

treesap78

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 03:35:00 +0000

treesap78

emily and i spent a few hours trying to figure out garageband this evening, and we wrote some lyrics for this but decided not to sing them.

the man who hurts you

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:43:00 +0000

the man who hurts you

negentropy

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 06:37:00 +0000

negentropy

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your first loss

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 06:29:00 +0000

your first loss

well, i've pretty much got a full time job now - which is good news.. but it does make it harder to write. and do second takes. ha!

I Might Be A Station Agent

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 00:16:00 +0000

I Might Be A Station Agent

how am i gonna get any of this work done with you distracting me in the background? too much to ignore and you make it oh, such a chore. you push til my anger is found. you push til my patience is drowned and i can barely keep my rage down. a panicky feeling i almost take action but once the word's out i lose traction, back away, and apologize and agonize later about my behavior when really it's yours i despise.

i'm not violent by nature. i just have certain expectations. this can't be settled by arbitration. you are what you are, so am i. for now the boat is leaving the shore with no one aboard. there must be an ocean between us

Details in the Tea

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:43:00 +0000

Details in the Tea

the dreamy end-part in this song has a little Amajor to Aminor chord change, which is always nice.. and it would be a bit cooler with live drums at the end, playing a little jimmy chamberlin style.

Sour Patch Kid

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Sat, 12 Jan 2013 03:01:00 +0000

Sour Patch Kid

she's a sour patch kid! she's a sour patch kid!

right now emily is working on trumpets for tomorrow's song.

an ocean obsession

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 03:24:00 +0000

an ocean obsession

while emily sleeps on the couch.

ya ya ya

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:46:00 +0000

i wrote the bulk of this song this morning, before i went to work.. and when i got back from work, emily had added all the accordion and re-sung everything and put it all together..

ya ya ya

Significant Cuts

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 02:25:00 +0000

Significant Cuts

this song was written last night, sorta on accident.. it was the very first thing that came out when i sat down with a guitar and some words, and it seemed to work right away. and then i dressed it up this morning. and emily came home and played the crazy march stuff at the end.

tiny hand

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 00:49:00 +0000

anybody ever read Pynchon's Slow Learner? it's a small collection of early short stories.. including one that involves Pig Bodine and a junkyard/landfill adventure with elf gypsies.. or something. i love Pynchon.

this song doesn't really have much to do with that.. except for the elf girl, i guess.

ha!

tiny hand

invitation

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 02:17:00 +0000

invitation

i wrote this song last night, in the hour and a half between the end of austin city limits (with jack white) and beginning of SNL, which turned out to be a re-run anyhow.. so i recorded a quick version late last night, and then re-recorded it today. yeehaw.

Nobody Said

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 02:40:00 +0000

here's one put together with the help of Wes Shirley.. we got the lyrics outta his little black book of songs. pretty neat.

Nobody Said

Let Myself Go

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 06:52:00 +0000

Let Myself Go

day four! four for four.

All Shapes

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 02:17:00 +0000

this little guy takes a few twists and turns, all in about 2 minutes.. which is a little bit cool. day three!

All Shapes

i thought this song was mostly finished when i took a nap today, and when i woke up emily had transformed it into something much cooler.. more expansive and dramatic. so i guess i should take more naps.

an island at least

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 02:38:00 +0000

day two! so far so good. also, the weather in portland is very sunny.

an island at least

i just shrugged
try not to read too much
just a little trouble sleeping
a bad dream without any meaning

oh man to be in fashion
having plumb lines to keep..
i saw her through the fences
hiding in leaves

i think i got an answer:
i'll hide her in canyons
build massive defenses
a few feet of peace

we could steal a boat at least
conquer an island
let the ocean's violence set us free

Jerilyn

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 00:34:00 +0000

Happy New Year! Special thanks to G. Tony Jacobs for this little gem -- Jerilyn, the first song of oneaday6.

week four

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:45:00 +0000

well, i found a local MC here in portland.. and that's super cool, but i only found one.. and in the meantime, i made a few more beats. i think these are 'technically' a bit better than my first round, but they also might be a little less experimental.. they're all in a pretty narrow range of tempo, and i didn't include a lot of the failed attempts..

in fact, you might notice many of them use the same drumbeat (and tempo, more or less..). 'cause i'm such a geek for hiphop right now, i wanted to play around with a few classic break beats, and i think this list of hip hop songs using melvin bliss' synthetic substitution is pretty crazy.. and i know & love quite a few of those on the list.. so i did a few beats using that as a starting point. kinda dorky exercise, huh? oh well.

anyhow, here we go:

checkers
braeburn
harder target
candy apples
colorwheel
daisy
fuji
magic spells
sticky spree
granny smith
mountain size
gala
rose
sour apples

a critique of pure music day 10

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:28:00 +0000

aristotle
aristophanes
vinca
nicomachus
summer

i'm pretty thoroughly wrapped up in my hip hop research project now.. the portland public library is pretty awesome, and has been able to hook me up with album after album - all the kanye, jay-z, wu-tang, dre, etc etc.. i could want, and i've also got spotify, so it's a pretty immersive experience around here.

a critique of pure music day 9

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:47:00 +0000

apollonius
pincushion
archimedes
reluctant robot
tacitus

lots of music going on around here - i'm playing bass with Jenn Rawling (& Basho Parks, among others..) for her CD release party, so that includes some rehearsals, but American Friction is busy right now and the New Mexican Revolution is still gaining steam.. whew.

and yet i only have one heart, and it belongs to these little one minute songs. ha!

a critique of pure music day 8

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:39:00 +0000

copernicus
plutarch
ptolemy
virgil
kepler

sadface. emily is back at work, the rain clouds have returned, the apartment is cold & quiet.

except for all these beats.

a critique of pure music day 7

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:16:00 +0000

copernicus
epictetus
thucydides
knight
rook

i really like some of these more recent ones.. little glitchy drums against the strings are kinda cool. can we combine Radiohead and Dr. Dre somehow? hmm.. i'm also getting better at making smoother loops, which is cool. it doesn't make it any faster or easier, but the final result is nicer.

a critique of pure music day 6

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000

northside
queen
sophocles
lucretius
hippocrates

well, we took the weekend off to relax, 'cause emily has a four day weekend, but i figured i should start posting some more of them now. mostly 'cause i enjoy the five day work week so much. and also 'cause i've got so many of these little jams on the other computer i'm having a hard time keeping them straight. ha!

a critique of pure music day 5

aaron@aaronmacdonald.com (Aaron & Emily) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:24:00 +0000

galen
euclid
king
equinox
bishop

making beats, yo. sometimes syncing up really different music is kinda maddening.. like tuning a piano or something. yeah. but i'm getting better at knowing ahead of time what might work.. a little bit better.

also, TGIF- 'cause now emily has got a four day weekend.