The Carolan Guitar Songs

So, fans of the Carolan Guitar, did you ever wonder about the finished products?

As you all know (of course), one of last year's projects was test driving the Carolan Guitar - I caught it for a week or so, before it travelled to the US, and then on its way to France. These intensive days produced a bunch of recordings, videos and even prompted the resurrection of this blog!

As you may remember, I also started off  writing two songs on that curiously carved semi-acoustic guitar. The first was an unfinished instrumental which ended up with the title Judith. I posted the primary results in the hope that someone would pick it up and finish it. Nobody ever did, so I simply reclaimed it.

To hear the original demo, played, in part, on the Carolan Guitar, go here.

I added more and more overdubs, removed some of the tracks (so much, that in the end *none* of the original ones were used!), added some vocals, wend mad on the drums, and knitted a giant guitar riff together. A very convoluted process, that, surprisingly, ended up sounding very loose and live (played to a virtual audience only). I was basically making up this song on tape.

Have a listen:



Sometime later, when I had a Boss drum-machine running, while fooling around on the piano, I returned to that same song. I stumbled upon a piano-based arrangement, focusing on a left hand bass-riff. Then I added several layers of of trumpets and brass (on synth), bass and electric guitar, more drums and vocals. The results were quite poppy and commercial:



How different from the previous, gritty guitar version!

But these songs were just playing around. The real Carolan Guitar song, written deliberately on that instrument was Shut This Door - a deeply sad lament that goes one or two steps too far. In the finished version (played on my regular Cimar acoustic guitar, I'm afraid), I share vocals with Claire. Chambo plays a Nick Drake-like guitar intermezzo (that pushes the song's protagonist over the edge):



And that's a nice little CD single for the twenty-first century.

Now Ur Back - The return of the fabulous EMF All Stars!

Can you believe it, it's been three years since we've had a release from the EMF All Stars!

I'm sure you have forgotten all about this outrageous band. Just to refresh your mind, the EMF All Stars are a bunch of (mainly) Prince fans that hang out on the internet. ('Do you like 'HitnRun Phase 1?' 'I think it's rubbish!' 'I think it's absolutely great!' 'Ow, shut up already!') Although existing in different parts of the world, they meet in virtual places to create something that some may call music. Even though not all of them are strictly speaking musicians. Some are better described as magicians. They have guitars, basses, drums, keyboards, vocals, computers, which they blend and roll into a ball of otherworldly pop, funk and rock.

You remember now?

After big hits, such as '2 Ways 2 Dance', 'Scratching the Surface (Mrs. Microphone)', 'Still Waiting (4 The Chocolate Invasion', 'Entropy People' and 'Power Lines', they sort of disappeared in 2013. Probably pursuing individual successes in different continents. See whether you can find them! Now, with the threat of the end of the world looming once more, they've come together again, and are working on a whole new album. Let's call it 'The Games' ...

And this is the opening track and first single: 'Now Ur Back'



Maxim: basis and bass
Ymaginatif: guitars and vocals
Maceo: vocals and computer