Hey, it’s Saturday – so I went to the club with Paul & Chris a bit. Let’s have some fun:
List of musicians:
Thanks to the gang for the fun, and to you for listening 🙂
Burning at night
In time
So here is my upload / remix #100 since I joined Wikiloops in February 2018:
List of musicians:
As always, thanks to my friends on the loops for all the fun, and thanks to you for reading, and for listening. Now going on with my time travels…
Does the music really need me? Three counter examples…
My last upload (also called ‘remix’) on Wikiloops was the 99th, so my next one will be number #100 – and like most people do, I’m thinking about that a bit, contemplating about which song to choose to play upon.
And that also brings me back to an interesting thread and discussion we had on the ‘loops lately (or rather, which we’re still having), with the initial question from Wade “What type of player are you?“. I answered that one already, lengthily going on about how I found the loops and so on and so forth, but in general agree with what Klaudia (‘jamlady’) wrote short after that: something along the lines of “the music comes first” and/or “serve the music”. Well said, Klaudi! 🙂
So while thinking about my #100 I also found something incredibe, first on an album by my friend from Paris, Mr. OliVBee (and Ms Anne from sunny California), and now again from user ‘Filo974’ from Reunion: a fretless guitar (I think Filo even has more than one of these?). Listen:
On this lovely track which Filo played for his grandson Hector, there are two more uploads already – some keys by Mario (another very good bass player from Spain), and a violin by Jean-Paul whose tone I also love.
But does that track need me, or leave a bit of space for a bass? Tho it has another remix by a German bass player already, I’m not sure of that. Yes, I could ornament it all a bit – but in my opinion and in my understanding, music needs some breaks and some space to take a breath as well, just before the next one gets in with his or her awesome solo or melody. Filling these gaps would possibly do a disservice to the music rather than improving it. So while I love love love this track, with a heavy heart I gave up upon the thought of playing, took it out of my ‘watchlist’ and put it into my ‘hit list’ instead, to join dozens of other tracks which can’t be improved in my opinion (at least, not by me).
And the same is true and was done to Oliv’s and Anne’s “Shadowplay”. Listen to my first ever experience of a fretless guitar, played so masterfully by Oliv himself (between Anne’s great lines):
Well if this ain’t awesome then I don’t know what is. And no, it doesn’t have a bass (yet), and tho 5 people tried already, I didn’t even listen to one of them. Why not, if I don’t want to play? Maybe because of the same reason Oliv took exactly *this* version onto his album with Anne: the track has some certain kind of ‘airiness’, it feels light like a feather (tho it’s deep, dark, and blue) – playing a bass would probably rob the song of this light and airy feeling. So no, I had it in my ‘hit list’ already, and took it out of my ‘watchlist’ just like the one from Filo (and company).
And while these two examples stand for fretless guitar tracks (and I still would love to play on one), they also reminded me of another and much older track with just a singer and a piano. Listen to one of my all time favs from the loops:
Hurzel’s and Shi’s “When the lights go out” has 155 thumbs and 26 remixes, 11 of which are from bass players (as the first added instrument) alone. But does this track need a bass?
I doubt that, really. Maybe, just maybe if *I* would happen to be a producer and had to come out with making this the hit it deserves to be, I would possibly re-record it on a real stage and with a real piano in an empty ballroom (or with a dead quiet audience which wouldn’t be hard to get on this level), just a Grand Piano and that voice (taken with the best vintage tube mike I could find or rent). Would I add a bass? I don’t know. Charles Mingus isn’t around anymore, and I don’t know if Christian McBride or another great double bass player could improve this – but certainly not me (first, I don’t have a double bass, second, can’t play it on this level).
So this track will forever stay in my heart and in my ‘hit list’, but I’m really not sure if some day I’ll come back and play on it. ‘Serving the music’ can sometimes mean: leave it all alone, it’s great as it is. Such as these three examples.
So a big thank you to my friends over at the loops for their wonderful music – but none of these will be my next track to play on; they’re just too precious for me to ruin them.
As always, thanks for reading.
Worscht
Today I provided a quick after-work jam to greet a new member in Wikiloops. His username is ‘BrotherSinArm’, and he uploaded his first template as a singer-songwriter in a (dying, as he wrote) East-German dialect which I found quite charming. Here’s how it sounds with my simple bass line on it:
So for the moment, that makes just two of us in the list of musicians:
As always, thanks for listening.
A nice remix of Silver Moon
FrankieJ remixed his nice guitar on our song which he recorded back in mid November already. Sounds much better now; here it is:
Thanks again, FrankieJ for your wonderful add to this 🙂
Thanks for listening.
All About That [Upright] Bass
Haven’t heard this one since a while, but yesterday I used it in a comment on the ‘loops (on a track of ‘jussef63’ who is one of the best bass players we have there). This is a cover, but featuring Kate Davis who is an awesome player and singer. Listen if you don’t know it yet:
If I could play an upright like her I’d be happy 🙂
Thanks for viewing.
Nà lagadh Dia do lámh
After writing something in German again in my last post I thought I’d switch to Gaelic for a moment 😉 Fun aside, this is a famous Irish Saying, and number #32 on this page. And this is, according to the the explanation to be translated as:
May God never weaken your hand (when someone has done you a kindness or a favour)
Why do I write about it here? Because it’s also the title of a very very beautiful song (a film score to be more precise) of Wikiloops user ‘fanne’. Listen:
I love this one, and it has some very remarkable remixes already. It’s in my ‘watchlist’ as well, so maybe I’ll sit down with it myself. Oh, and Zuleikha liked and commented onto it as well…
Thanks for sharing this with us, John!
And as always, thanks for listening.
Put my albums into my ‘Showcase’
Over at the ‘loops, I’ve put my albums into/onto my ‘Showcase’ tab of my user profile – which is the first any visitor would see of me (in case there’s anyone interested, but of the members I do indeed have some visitors from time to time). Looks like this:
Don’t know if that is any useful, and until yesterday evening I’ve never thought about it, but it’s another nice way to scroll, or to ‘swipe’ through my album collection, even if you could see it all before in my ‘Playlists’ tab as well (where there are also albums of others who were kind enough to include tracks with me in them).
Anyway, and as always, thanks for your interest, and for reading. And now, I’ll have to start working.
You don’t know me
Picked the oldest track from my watchlist again, and played a little bass line onto it:
The current list of musicians on it:
Merci, thanks, and danke to my friends there at the loops, and thanks to you for listening.
My album of the month July, 2019: Straight up by OliVBee
Shortly before we went on our vacation in London, my Wikiloops friend from Paris, Mr. OliVBee published another album, again featuring Shi as the singer on all tracks. And now that we’re back I could finally download and listen to it – and again I’m floored by everything I hear on it. So here are the cover and a link to the album:
I love all of its 14 tracks, but outstanding for me personally this time were the “Irlenn Tribute” (track #5), a wonderful Bossa Nova track which made me want to grab Mitchie and just dance (couldn’t because she was sleeping already), then “Like a river” (track 11) because of that wonderful Irish whistle played by TomasFoe, and “Footprints” (track 12) because of the trumpet by ‘jaz100’.
Edit: like Oliv just told me, credits for the album cover (artwork & photography) go to Shi again – and I don’t have to mention her amazing lyrics and singing of course, still, a big ‘merci’ goes to her as well.
So I gave some thumbs-ups on the tracks I hadn’t heard before, but the others (including one which I played on myself in another version) were also great, and Oliv’s mixes are some of the best in the Wikiloops archives.
So go and have a listen. Or even better, get a download ticket to get the album, and to support Wikiloops – and as such, all of us – a bit.
As always, thanks for reading.