Project 26: Songs in 3/4 about darkness and the occult that incorporate a “non-instrument” kids’ toy.
Create an original song in 3/4 based on the theme of darkness and the occult and incorporate a “non-instrument or kid’s toy”
Submit your song to Neil via email and include a brief write-up and image by Saturday, August 12.
All songs will be posted Sunday, August 13.
Noah Warren
My procrastination journey was epic.
First off, I wasn’t sure what 3/4 time was. I knew the concept but wasn’t sure I’d be able to execute it without slipping into 4/4. I took to Youtube, my trusty procrastination copilot to help me overthink this entire endeavor.
A channel called David Bennett Piano had a nice overview of songs that use 3/4 time.
Last night I had been noodling around on YouTube with the idea of using the occult in the most banal way.
My first instinct was to write about Lucky charms cereal. But I looked up other common occult items as a backup. I found a hilarious video of an Irish dude who shares historical folklore shorts called Our Legends. He has a 60 sec video about the history of the rabbit foot charm.
Fun fact: In North America, the rabbit's foot charm came about from a Hoodoo ritual. You had to cut off the left hind leg of a rabbit on Friday the 13th, preferably over the grave of the meanest person you know. It would bring luck to you in adverse situations.
I went to bed.
When I woke up, I had an idea for a simple song about a lucky rabbit foot. Of course I ignored this and tried to write a song about lucky charms cereal. That never came together and I returned to the song you hear now.
When it came time for the unconventional instrument- I didn’t have any toys, so I recorded a squeaky part of my floor, as well as my door hinge. Those served as the percussion for the song.
I then had the idea of using musical wine glasses to give the song some eerie vibes. I had to consult another YouTube video put out by a Rutgers University physics specialist who gave a tutorial on how to get that sound (I could never get it to work before in my entire life).
Once I recorded my “choir” of wine glasses, I then based the key of the song off of that so it would match up. It’s weird, I remember seeing the lucky rabbit's foot charm everywhere in the 80's and 90's, hanging from rearview mirrors and keychains.
Eric “Czahr” Scott
Cliff Notes Version: Song is about summoning demons and features guitar, vocals, midi and Bowser's castle.
Novella Version:
This song is about someone trying to summon a demon. This person lives with their mother and doesn't want to anymore, but they feel bound or obligated to stay there. For some reason they have decided that turning to the occult and summoning a demon will be the salvation they need. I left a lot of things ambiguous. We don't know if they are a child, a teenager, a grown adult. We don't know why they want to leave. Are they being mistreated? Is his mother suffocating him? Are they just bored and frustrated with life? None of those details really matter in this song and I believe it's more fun to fill in those blanks yourself.
I enjoyed the idea of someone who really wants to summon a demon but only has a limited amount of time to work with and keeps failing at it. On the night this song takes place, his mother is having guests over and he has to finish by 7:30, at which time he knows he'll be unable to concentrate. His cat Haborym (the name of the demon who is apparently the Duke of Hell) is a constant distraction, but he can't do more than trim its claws and keep the door shut. I am realizing as I write this that the song is a metaphor for my own attempts at recording music. Allow me to explain.
I live in a small house with my wife and two children. My wife's mother lives with us, as do two cats, a loud furnace, TVs on each floor that are usually on, thin walls, creaky wood flooring, doors that slam too easily, etc. My kids usually hate playing outside and my mother in law is home at all times listening to loud, angry news from 8 to midnight. Finding a time to record music is trickier than NASA waiting for the perfect clear weather opportunity to launch a rocket. For someone like myself who has always relied on spur of the moment inspiration and recharges with solitude, it has been nearly impossible to do any kind of recording. Just because I know I'll have the house to myself for forty minutes on a Thursday two months from now doesn't mean I'll feel like recording. But I'll damn sure try.
The vocals of this song were recorded during one of those rare moments when everyone was gone for a full hour. I wasn't entirely happy with the recording, but I ran out of time for more takes. The chorus is a list of demon names in alphabetical order because I thought the idea of this guy starting with A and working his way down the list until he got a demon to respond was funny. The final lyrics of the song, "Operatio Nigromantia" is a phrase I found in an old Latin page about summoning demons. It basically means "perform necromancy".
For the technical stuff: I am very much a music hobo in that I have never learned how to read notes, recognize or pay attention to time signatures or have any idea what key I'm hearing or playing in. You do not want to be in a band with me. If you give me any kind of reasonable instructions like “We’re doing this in 4/4, C major” I’ll just stare into the middle distance and try to fake it. I play by ear, and to meet the ¾ requirement for this song I had to listen to some examples and then use a drum loop that claims to be in 3/4. I'm still not confident my song is in 3/4, but I made an attempt. The intro is an altered sound effect from my daughter's Bowser's castle playset (from the Nintendo Super Mario Bros. games). The guitar is just a simple acoustic chord progression with a capo on the 7th fret. The weird organy solo towards the end is midi mellotron, and I was going for an unsettling sort of doesn't-quite-fit carnival sound. The crazy laugh at the end is also an altered sample from the Bowser playset. Did the protagonist finally conjure a demon or is the laughter in his head? You decide!
Pete Fleming
Loved the theme & constraints for this one…definitely outside the norm for music I typically make or even listen to. The “non-instrument’ that I used was the wire and wood art hanging in my basement bathroom (see pic)—It’s the first and last thing you hear. I think it was great for the occult theme as it was already distorted and reverby due to the materials and the small, echoey room.
Kelly Duclos
The cup runneth over. Spontaneous performances, fleeting and absurd ideas, a 20+ year old inside joke, calculated experimentations, manipulations of randomness and hundreds of edits resulted in this Darkness and Occultism original song in what I think is 3/4 time using several regular instruments, non-instruments, kid's toys and a little participation from my actual kids.
Bill Fricke
This was one of the most challenging of all the Basement Sketches assignments. I think I ended up with close to 8 or more separate pieces of differing styles and ideas, which then had to be either abandoned, or morphed into what I have submitted. The challenge also was to include a child’s toy or traditionally “non-musical” instrument. I don’t have kids, so I didn’t have easy access to toys. I did discover the sampling function in Garage Band, so I was able to sample things like Jack-in-the Boxes and voices, which became jumping off points. I’m making 4 submissions. One actual song with lyrics, and three other atmospheric pieces that were inspired by the theme of Darkness and the Occult.
The Other Side
This started out as a piece using guitars as a hammered dulcimer, and then morphed into a country Murder Ballad of sorts. Trying to adhere to a ¾ time was hard. It kept swinging between 4 and 3. I finally tamed it. Ended up with Tom Waits meets Leonard Cohen vocals which make it creepier.
I got a child’s xylophone toy from a co-worker, which just so happened to be in the key that I was using. Happy accident. Also used a metal bowl and an old melodica that I found in the closet.
JITB
Atmospheric piece. Sampled jack-in-the-box and run through all sorts of filters. One of which was called Dark Energy, which was perfect. This reminded me of scenes in films when kids’ toys go crazy due to some dark force or ghost. It is in a loose ¾ time.
Pop Goes the Crowley
Second sampled jack-in-the box, filtered through Dark Energy, and including a sample of a recording of Aleister Crowley performing an incantation for a ritual.
The Raven’s Haunted Palace
This was the first piece I started with when we got the assignment. Atmospheric synths, metal bowl “gongs” and scraping, with readings of two Edgar Allan Poe poems, “The Haunted Palace” and “The Raven” buried underneath.
Tom Stromsodt
I think I skirted all three rules? The percussion is all from the Ikea children's section and it's definitely a Star Wars whistle?
Mike Bettison
This was a fun puzzle. I decided (for better or worse) to create a cult god out of this LeapFrog matching toy my kid played with many years ago and compose an offertory. ChatGPT supplied the main text. I had some wonderful vocal and writing help from Felicia H.@feliciahallen thru Fiverr. I wrote a 2 part harmony and asked her to sing that and write a third part. Super fun! (thanks Andrew for the tip!). I also enlisted my buddy Ryan Brosious to do the main vocals. He hammed it up and we had alot of fun tracking it. The music relies heavily on Native Instruments Plugins: Una Corda, Heavyocity Damage, Cinematic Rise and Hit, The Grandeur and Ashlight.
Andrew Charon
Through a twist of fate, I found myself crafting a song in 3/4 time titled "The Final Breath." For those daring enough to seek the allure of forbidden power, they risk their very souls being ensnared in an eternal abyss of darkness. The kids toy didn’t come though as much as I liked. Recorded with Logic, I feel like I’m all over the place these days.
Randy Dever
I made this entirely today and call it "Narthex Corrupted".
I recorded beating a set of Koosh Paddles together for a booming kick source and sampled an Ultron figure for some dark quips.
I envision the piece as depicting some kind of dark awakening perhaps involving AI that creates a profound qualitative shift in the human realm. Maybe machines will find the means to tap the supernatural.
Jon Hart
This is the song that came out this time. Nothing to do with the theme at all. I first heard it a couple days ago on the radio - a new(ish) Beck song about the end of his marriage. I've been struggling these last couple months with my own marriage falling apart - and the lyric about the wayward angel treating me like a stranger hit me hard. So out it came.
Grant Eull
I love when we vote on what the potential project is and then the results come in and they are so unexpected for me. A surprised delight you might say. When Project 26 parameters came in and said “Songs in 3/4 about darkness and the occult that incorporate a “non-instrument” kids’ toy.” I immediately started thinking of themes. I’m a big fan of movies and shows that incorporate evil supernatural spirits, voodoo, hauntings, etc … but I am also very scared of these things when in “real life” situations if someone decided to tell a scary story. I avoid staying in old creepy hotels or houses especially in Savannah Georgia where ghosts seem to be everywhere and a big part of the culture and town history. Anyway, the kids toy aspect started to intimidate me because all my toys from childhood that I owned were silent, and my kids have grown up and their toys are all gone. Then thematically I settled in the creepy or haunted doll space. I have avoided watching the Annabelle series of Conjuring related movies because haunted doll stories really freak me out. But what could I research in this theme? Was sampling “chucky” sound bites appropriate? - That just sounded silly, not the spooky vibe I wanted. Well My research spin continued and I first ran across a Thomas Edison Talking Doll from in 1877, this doll was very super creepy, but I didn't find many quality sound samples… and then Jill started showing up in my “talking doll” search. Jill is and overside 33 inch robotic talking doll from 1987. She has her own pop songs “A lot like you” and “We Can Make It Happen”. I watch the TV add and was instantly hooked… this thing is creepy! The Tv spot from 1980s can be viewed here: 1987 Playmates Talking Jill Commercial Compilation // Well now I just needed good sound bites. Talking about, hobbies, favorite food, family and friends or music had some potential but I got super super lucky in finding a collector that had recorded a whole ton of Jills songs, stories, talkbacks and such. I was absolutely shocked to find out that Jill as part of her stories includes a Halloween story about trick or treating with friends. WTF? Kid friendly? Well, let just see how scary I can make this story sound as part of this challenge. I hope you enjoy it.