Blog

2 New Punk-ish Songs!

TylerK — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 03:27:09 +0000

Here are a couple new punk ditties I've been ironing out. I'm not particularly proud of the mix on either of them, but punk is supposed to sound like shit, right?

That was a rhetorical question.

Mild Discomfort

That Would Be Cool

Maximum Misc

TylerK — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:50:24 +0000

Yep, it's semi-annual blog entry time! Let's begin with a brief recap of what's happened during this latest interim...

The Timmys (the band I play in) released a 5-song EP called That'll Do! You can check it out and/or buy it from CD Baby at this self-referencing link. At the very least you should give "Rudie Failed" a listen because the main riff and chorus bits were shamelessly rehashed from my song "Homemade Toilet" and transmorphified into some sort of ska ditty.

Speaking of "Homemade Toilet", I found this neat (though unfinished) cover of it on YouTube that someone made with the music editor from Mario Paint. Weird.

Anyways, back to Timmys stuff. The full length is coming along slowly but surely - mostly because we're all getting long in the tooth and have things like RESPONSIBILITIES and JOBS. That said, I have a rather ridiculous amount of time invested in it. The drums were the only thing I didn't have a hand in recording, aside from sitting in on the session in a half-drunk stupor and offering what little advice I could muster. And once all the recording is done, guess who gets to lock himself away from society for weeks to mix all 16 of these damn songs? If you're like me, you answered ME, and thus, you were right!

I think next time we do this we'll have to hire someone, because I'm getting burnt out on it hardcore. I find the initial burst of creativity exhilarating and addictive. The recording/mixing/polishing phase... not so much. I feel like a comedian nullifying his own joke by meticiulously breaking down its inner workings.

But hopefully once this album is done, I'll finally have time to work on an actual TylerK album of electronic madness. I think it would be a lot of fun and, in a way, an even bigger challenge. Stay tuned, because I think I'm going to start dumping all sorts of shit onto this blog in the very near future!

Why "TylerK's Picross" Is Gone

TylerK — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:59:47 +0000

Yep, it's gone. A few days ago I received a letter from one of Nintendo's attorneys stating that my use of the term "Picross" was in violation of several of their copyrights. They had no problem with me calling the game anything else but that, and even suggested I use the more generic, less infringing term "nonograms" as a suitable replacement. I'd be fine with doing that... if I hadn't lost the source files for the game years ago. So since I can't take the word out of the game, the entire game has to come down.

Meanwhile, lots of music stuff going on. Right now I'm mixing a 5 song EP and by the time that's done we'll be ready to start recording a full length. It's looking like it's going to be 13 - 15 songs.

World of Phun

TylerK — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:31:18 +0000

Put up a new section for the Phun videos. I think it speaks for itself.

What's Been Up

TylerK — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:55:59 +0000

Sorry for the lack of updates! I've been extremely busy writing/recording a lot of new material for the punk band. I think we have about 13 new songs at this point. Several of them reuse bits and pieces from my electronic material, and it's very surreal to hear them all blown up and rockin'... especially with lyrics. I think that people who've heard my electronic material are going to be pretty damned surprised when they hear it. Hopefully in a good way!

I'll have some of this stuff up for download on here very, very soon. Keeps your eyes and potatoes peeled!

Munches Get Crunched!

TylerK — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:32:49 +0000

There's something about an aching depression that makes me want to write a happy song. And there's something about writing a happy song that makes me less depressed.

I was thinking about turning this into an actual song with lyrics but once I had the mic all hooked up I lost my nerve. Yet again. Maybe someday I'll do it, but until then it makes for some okay background music.

Crunchy Munches

It would seem I'm still lost on this damn vampire planet

TylerK — Wed, 13 May 2009 03:45:20 +0000

Nooooooo! I thought I had escaped! Then the dude has to go and say this:

My son and my entire family (up to grandparents and inlaws and aunts uncles cousins) BEG you to extend this to include more more from the original take.

My kids have been singing this all weekend. MY WIFE has been singing and whistling this.

So I did what any sufficiently bored person would do and acquiesced, but only because it would allow me to use the word "acquiesced" and look like a big ol' smarty pants. And yes, the solo is absurdly long. But if I were a 4 year old kid and some idiot was remixing my song, I'd probably want - no DEMAND - an epic guitar solo be in there somewhere.

Enjoy or die.

I'm Lost (Vampire Planet (Part 2))

I'm Lost (Vampire Planet)

TylerK — Fri, 08 May 2009 02:07:48 +0000

I uploaded a new "song" today, and the preceding quotes should clue you into the fact that it's quite ridiculous and in need of explanation (or perhaps atonement). The story starts with this sound file of a 4 year old boy freestyling some lyrics about homelessness, alien planets, and vampires. You know, things we can all relate to on some level or another. The boy's father posted this sound file on the internet and proposed a challenge wherein you must somehow make a song with it.

My approach involved dicing the vocals into more manageable chunks, quantizing the syllables beat by beat, and then Autotuning the hell out of it while I made up guitar and drum parts. The result is almost unclassifiable but still, oddly, something resembling a song. A fun creative exercise.

I'm Lost (Vampire Planet)

A Swine Flu Pictorial Comment

TylerK — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 19:54:39 +0000

Free Education

TylerK — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:26:42 +0000

People tend to see the words "free culture" as an oxymoron. When a piece of intellectual property is created - be it a painting, a doodle, a book, a song, or a movie - it's assumed to be born into this world with a pricetag attached. If you wish to purchase a CD or DVD, you're going to have to cough up some dollars to do so. The actual value is determined by market and industry, but the perceived value is debatable. Should you have to pay the same price to see a movie that sucks as you do for a critically-acclaimed masterpiece? It may not make sense, but it does make cents. Billions of 'em.

The free culture movement's main thrust is towards a world where the lifespan of a copyrighted work isn't so insanely long, that eventually it is freely available to anyone who chooses to seek it out so that they can learn from it or incorporate it into their own art. A cursory readthrough of Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture would lead you to believe the frontline of this battle starts with creative works such as books, but that refers more to the medium than to the content and it implies that the only solution is one that solves the problem in one grand gesture. In my opinion it must be attacked in a piecemeal fashion, starting with education.

Ignorance in general is the root cause of so much conflict and misery, but institutions insist on locking up information from those that can't afford it - ask any college student how much they pay for text books. So it was very relieving to read this article about David Wiley, who isn't just pushing for open education reform, but wielding it before teachers and professors as an inevitability to which they will be forced to adapt. About damn time.