Project 34: Cover One Another
We will cover music created by one another. It will be similar to our playlist challenges, but instead of choosing a song to cover from a playlist, we each pick someone else's song and create our own version of it.
Here's how it will work:
1. Contributors, share 1-2 songs you’ve been a part of creating. It could be a song from a band you've been in or a song you recorded on your own. Anything works from rough demos to something you recorded on a cassette in high school to a voice memo or even an original song you created for a Basement Sketches project. Everything works. Nothing is too lo fi or too rough. We just want to hear music you've made or played a part in making. Share your old songs via Dropbox or email us at info@basementsketches.com before Friday, July 19.
2. We will post the songs by Monday, July 22. Check it out and contributors will pick what they’d like to cover.
3. Covers will be due by Sunday, August 25.
Covers of Sensational Plant By Noah Warren
For reference, here’s the original version.
Eric “Czahr” Scott covers Sensational Plant
I loved this song when I heard it for Project 7. The subject matter, the lyrics and the melody are all really great. I was excited to have an opportunity to cover it. For instrumentation it's just acoustic guitar and a midi keyboard. If you listen closely in the first half, you can hear my feral daughter happily screaming in the bathtub in another room.
Kelly Duclos covers Sensational Plant
Neil Fasen and Jon Hart cover Sensational Plant
Jon and I cranked this cover out at the new music studio space last night (the night before the due date). It was a fun and spontaneous collaboration. We worked fast and didn’t overthink anything. Hopefully this is only the first of many fun collaboration projects at the new space.
Covers of We Can Be Shadows By Eric “Czahr” Scott
For reference, here’s the original version.
Grant Eull covers We Can Be Shadows
When listening to everyones submissions I found myself super connected to Eric “Czahr” Scott’s We Can Be Shadows and Paper Dam’s Warriors of the Trade. Loved them both a ton; however it was the more simple recording and structure of We Can Be Shadows that I felt I had the most possibilities to completly build on. I loved the tasteful stylings of the vocal melody and lyrics and it was easy to imagine other melodies filling in some space to ancient the vocal lines. In the spirit of basement sketches I wanted my version to be as different as possible, so I called on my OMIEM alter ego and found some synths and some drum machine and started to program up some sequences. I eventually found a structure that allowed for some dynamics and for me to extend the length of the song. This was a super fun project, digging in our pasts was super nostalgic and I hope others enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks for all the submissions. Enjoy.
Bill Fricke covers We Can Be Shadows
This one was so endearing in its simplicity and heartfelt lyrics. My first inclination was to cover it “Jonathan Richman’ style, but then zhuzhed it up and it became sort of new wave.
This was fun, and it came quickly.
Brian Eveslage and Colby Heston cover We Can Be Shadows
These kids might see this as a positive experience, going on adventures and discovering themselves. Thought they might need a party anthem.
Colby Heston and I put this together for them.
Thanks Czar! Hope you enjoy it!
Covers of Lou By Andrew Charon
For reference, here is the original version.
Tom Stromsodt covers Lou
I started with Andrew’s riff and it’s still in there under the cacophony. The song is about Lou, an African Lungfish. My girlfriend Sara did a quick and beautiful watercolor because she is awesome like that.
Noah Warren covers Lou
In keeping with my BS tradition, I didn't start working on this until the absolute last minute. I had listened to all of the submissions for days, just letting the imposter syndrome sprout within me and infest my blood supply.
In the panic of the final hours I took Andrew Charon's "Lou" riff and fed it through an App called Moises, messing with the tempo and pitch before putting it into garageband.
The chorus came to me first, "lou is in my view, call in the crew...go get my shoes..."
I banged out some basic piano chords around it to create the song. Then, piece by piece I replaced all the temporary stuff with slightly better temporary stuff. All throughout I added bits of vocal ideas, removing all the lyrics that didn't work at the very end.
I wasn't sure if I could leave Charon's riff in the song, since technically it was a "cover," however I couldn't resist leaving a small part of the riff in at the end. You'll be able to tell, since it is infinitely better than everything I built around it )
I'm currently pet sitting two french bulldogs. You can hear them panting under my vocals near the end, it was one of the temp pieces I didn't have time to correct!
If I had more time, I would love to have a brass section near the climax of the song.
This was a fun project and thank you, Andrew (and Phil), for the awesome riff!
Covers of Shame By Troy Warling
For reference, here is the original version.
Andrew Charon covers Shame
Initially, I wasn’t sure how to feel about the challenge, but I decided early on to commit to Troy Warling’s song "Shame." I spent a lot of time learning the guitar chords, intending to keep the arrangement minimal and focused on the guitar. However, the complexity of the chord progressions made it difficult to achieve the sound I wanted, which led me to evolve the piece into a more ambient approach. This is short and sweet.
With the songs I’ve been creating for Basement Sketches overall, I’ve been alternating between using my own vocals and collaborating with outside vocalists as part of me feeling more comfortable with my voice. For this track, it felt right to collaborate with Margaurita from Belarus, whom I connected with on Fiverr. There’s a wonderful element of randomness when working with her, and I’m pleased with how it turned out, although the original song is far more intricate. I hope you enjoy this version.
Bill Fricke covers Shame
This one stuck out to me as it had some fun Beatle-y chords and had a great energy.
Plus I could relate to the theme of shame.
I hope figured out all the chords!
Cover of Down by The Waters By Neil Fasen (Landlovr)
For reference, here is the original version.
The Dirtpops cover Down By The Waters
So, the Dirtpops elected to cover Down by the Waters, a song submitted by Neil Fasen (ol' Noodlearm). At first we attempted to bring in a Hall and Oates vibe which was the initial vision Neil had for this song. Alas, we also did not succeed in attaining a John and Daryl feel for this song.
The synths at the beginning of the song always remind Shelly of "Escape from Witch Mountain", one of those 70's shows that sits in our brains like a halcyon dream.....
The background vocals at the end are supposed to be the sirens beckoning one back to sea, not sure we accomplished it but that was the intent.
We really enjoyed putting our own spin on such a cool song.
Cheers!
The Dirtpops
Cover of Undo By Colby Heston
For reference, here is the original version.
Kelly Duclos covers Undo
Cover of Nugget 75 by Tom Stromsodt
For reference, here is the original version.
Kelly Duclos Covers Nugget 75
Cover of 1985 Goth by Bill Frick
Here’s the original for reference.
Daniel Jöst covers Goth 85
So here comes my version of Bill & Christian 1985 Goth. I liked the vibe of this song, even though it's a little on the darker and fragile side. I'm not sure if you can call it a cover version. I used the original track, chopped it in little pieces and put the samples back together, using Bill's and Christians chord progressions as a guideline and left them in the mix as a "tribute" to the original. Then I recorded bass and real drums. While working on the song for some weeks a lyrics "melody" started to build up. I went to the studio to record the vocals and a guitar, but I forgot to bring the power supply for my computer, having about only 15% of power left in it. So I quickly wrote the lyrics, turned on the machine and recorded the lyrics in a very short time, still saving some power for the guitar recording.
A fun project. Thanks to Bill (and Christian) for sharing it.
Original Submissions Below
Bill Fricke
Bill and Christian 1985 Goth
I went to school in California from 1983-86 and studied music. Our school had built
A recording studio and I made friends with a guy who worked on installing the equipment.
He had the keys and we’d sneak in on weekends and record things. Nothing special. Had a Sequential Circuits drum machine and synth. We’d record whatever came to mind. He also played bass.
I found this on cassette and managed to wrangle a way to get it digitized. This is very repetitive, but kind of a fun, goths song. He sang and made up lyrics on the spot. It’s very much of a sketch.
Spring 3 Country Basement
This is a sketch from the “Spring” project last year. Started out being kind of a take on
“The River” by Brian Eno and turned country. Not a completed song. Lyrics are made up, and can be changed if someone wished.
In the Light
From 1995ish? Had my Tascam 8-track, Mac SE, Kurzweil K2000 and guitars. Had been divorced from first wife and was on my own for the first time. Lots of angsty songs came out between 19994 and 1996. None of my songs were ever really finished. Simple three chord song. I like the harmonies, such as they are.
Kelly Duclos
Warriors of Trade by Paper Dam (Daniel Jost and Kelly Duclos) - 2024
This song started as a 4 track drums only recording that I sent to Dany. He sent back an unbelievable bass track that held all of the parts that would become the structure of the song. It was wild to go through his bass track, break it into the various parts and see an arrangement develop. After kicking it back and forth for a while we decided to re-record everything with improved sound quality - the original 4 track drums were quite distorted and muddy. Dany topped it off by adding some f'ing shredding guitars. He also just reminded me that we’ve got three drum tracks going - two of mine panned left and right and one of Dany’s in the middle. :) The lyrics vaguely refer to ‘trade’ as in 'trading tracks' but they also refer to a person's trade like stone restoration or printing for example. Our album is also called Warriors of Trade and is available to stream on most platforms. https://linktr.ee/PaperDamMusic
Lost Again by Kelly Duclos - 2020
This song features violins at the end played by my daughter, Elsa.
Daniel Jöst
Halfway to Ego by Paper Dam, from Warriors of Trade, 2024:
This song was written and recorded by Kelly and me and in my opinion it captures the sound of mixing our styles in the most beautiful way. I love this song. It started with a guitar track I recorded very quickly. Then Kelly came up with the lyrics and the vocal melody which is still giving the vibe to this song, and he also did the hard hitting on the drums and the strummed bass. I programmed some synths which later sounded kind of Tortoise-like to me. The field recordings in the middle of the song are a mix of a highly distorted blending rod, an acoustic guitar and the voices of people in a crowded metro when going home from the Oktoberfest. Listeners mentioned a couple of bands the song reminds them of, e.g. Beck and Monster Magnet.
Confuse the Dentist by Smeagol the Flavor from Bonga Sampler Odenwald, 1993:
Smeagol The Flavor was one of my bands back in the days in the place I grew up in the early nineties. There were a lot of people playing in different bands and most of them hung out together. It was the beginning of my high time regarding music. The lyrics are about a tooth in a boot, the oral police and some pursuit, I don't know what he was talking about exactly, but I still like it. I played a bottleneck with a WahWah on a borrowed Rickenbacker guitar, I believe. For this sampler, many bands came together and each of them recorded two songs in a barn like place. To fund the production we held a two day festival with all the bands playing in a local gymnasium. A time to remember really.
Eric “Czahr” Scott
This is an original demo of mine from 2009 called "We Can Be Shadows". Always wanted to do more with it, never got around to it. Basically it's about two young lovers running away together to escape a life the protagonist isn't happy with. They can cross the sea, they can cross the desert but the protagonist realizes he can't escape what really makes him unhappy - himself. "We can be shadows" is sort of a poetic way of looking at a romanticized version of yourself. Your shadow is you but also another thing that isn't you. They're trying to be something they are not. It made sense when I wrote it but I was probably high.
Lyrics: Wear your gown. Rain will fall. Watch the ground. We can be shadows
Tell your mom. We leave today. Tell your sister not to stray
When everything dissolves into a sea as deep as it is wide I'll have no place left to run to, no place where I can hide.
Tie a silver thread around the moon, so we can find our way back home.
Shake the stars out of your hair. Fold up the night and put it away.
And when i reach that dusty plain, and when I stare into that sky, I'll wonder why i'm lost again.
I'll wonder why i'll wonder why.
Andrew Charon
This is a riff that was created in the 80’s, my friend Phil was the mastermind behind it. So much potential however never did anything with it. The song is about a man named Lou.
Noah Warren
Sensational Plant: this was a demo I submittted for project 7: DIY
I had fallen down a YouTube rabbit hole involving Donahue - there was a series of audience members who suffered random fainting spells. It was later revealed to be an organized prank by a man named Alan Abel….or WAS IT?
Voice Memo Melody- This is a recording of me right after I woke up from an intense dream involving a friend of mine who was shoplifting at a downtown mpls store. I was waiting for her outside the store in a skyway when I was surrounded by a traveling gospel band who were singing this melody to me.
Tom Stromsodt
I am submitting a smattering of unfinished shit in various stages of completion.
Boil them, mash them, put them in a stew. If you want specific tracks, let me know. Oh. Nugget 76 was supposed to be about walking.
Colby Heston
This is a small sampling of songs that I have released over the years. Unfortunately,most of my other originals are on media forms that I don't have access to right now.
Rubber Knife - This song was recorded in 1996, the summer that I moved to Nashville. We recorded it in the bathroom of the house that I was living in. We actually miked the open window to get the ambient sounds of bugs outside.It was later released on the Meat Records compilation "Draggin Tracks".
Undo - This was the first song that I submitted to Basement Sketches for project 7. It was written right after my dog had died unexpectedly. I was just learning how to do home recordings and was pretty proud that I actually completed this as I had tried about three times earlier to finish a submission.
Sprung - This was my submission for project 23 - original submissions with the theme of "Spring" and the constraint of not faster than 80 bpm. I wrote this song from the perspective of the snowman that was slowly melting in our yard.
Shelly Warling
This is a song Shelly wrote and recorded with her band Fonda 5-O, back around the year 2000. The song is called Give Me Back.
Troy Warling
This was written and recorded by Troy around the year 2003. The song title is, Shame.
Neil Fasen
I met some wonder people about 14 years ago: Dave Schroeder, Matt Rahaim, and Steve Plautz and had the good fortune of making music with them for a handful of years. This song felt a like a bit of a turning point for us as a creative unit. I’d seen a documentary about Scientology and wrote this tune about a character trying to escape it. I wanted to write a song like Hall n’ Oats, which is not what this turned out to be in the end. I guess it just goes to show you, just because you start somewhere, doesn’t mean that’s where you’ll end up.
Grant Eull
I decided to go with two songs from projects that I was in and "writing songs". Both feature the same bandmates, Rob Wipson on Drums and Rob Aurand on bass. I left LuckyCow in 96 to focus on the touring bands DETROIT and then followed it with Manplanet - but in both of those bands I wasn't writing songs as much as I was just a Guitarist playing songs someone else wrote. So, for my submission on this project I wanted it to reflect more of my attempts at writing. LuckyCow 92-95 had a singer, Martin Stephan, he and I collaborated with writing duties, and then PESTER a non-touring original power trio that I started with members of Lucky Cow once I quit Manplanet.
I think you will find similarities stylistically and definitely these are a reflection of my love for the indy label Amphetamine Reptile. I hope someone finds these inspiring and I am really looking forward to hearing other members submissions.
Brian Eveslage
This was one of the first bands I was in. Recorded by the one and only Andrew Charon in a house basement back in 1995. Ooof…