The world according to Jutze
Check out manticess.bandcamp.com! The site contains all music Manticess have released so far. You can listen to all songs online. If you like them, you can download them in the format of your choice – for free! (Just enter 0 when asked to name your price.) If you really like our music, you can pay us! We’d like that. Now tell all your friends!
This little song was originally written for Manticess as a contender for the recent Song Fu challenge ‘write a song with a number as a song title’. We ditched the song, however, and went on to produce “1998″. One of my aims with the 52 project is to improve (or at least to maintain) my playing skills. I figured that most of my faster songs sound better when I force myself to play them faster than I’d imagined them in the first place. The original demo of this particular song here was 20 seconds too long. Maybe it feels a bit hurried now, but hey, another aim is to not bore the listener with seemingly infinite tracks!
Someone who heard the song instantly remarked that the lyrics are clearly about absinthe. Now I have never tasted that green drink and didn’t think of it while writing the song. But hey, now it’s a song about absinthe. And yes, I promise that there will be more impressive lyrics and more elaborate song structures in this series. But you’ve got to allow for a little la-na-na song every now and then.
Seven green fairies call me on the phone
Seven green fairies won’t leave me alone
Seven green fairies call me every day
Seven green fairies won’t go away
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairiesSeven green fairies are with me in my sleep
Seven green fairies seven days a week
Seven green fairies are with me when I drink
Making me say stupid things
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairiesSeven green fairies are messing with my hair
Seven green fairies pretend they’re not there
Seven green fairies with seven different names
Yet to me they’re all the same
Singing la na na na ooho
Me and my seven green fairies(words and music by Johannes Schult)
Despite the upcoming soccer mania, there are several promising concerts announced for 2010. I just saw that The Hooters will be playing in my hometown (Waiblingen) on Friday, May 7th. Great news!
I’m also looking forward to produce some of my own music next year. Manticess are going to release a single and I’m currently trying to decide whether or not to promise to put out solo music on a regular basis, probably weekly. I’d welcome the challenge, but I’m also thinking of writing more often. I’ve started two novels, one back in Belgium, and one this November (for NaNoWriMo). I like both outsets, but only the latter seems to be suited for a prediodical release format on this very homepage. I mean, I wouldn’t start publishing parts until I’m almost through, but it might be an alternative to the song-a-week-madness outlined above.
In different news, look what my mom made me for Christmas (with a little help from Carissa’s patterns):
Check out the third round of Masters of Song Fu #5 over at QuickStopEntertainment.com! Manticess contributed a song called “After I Have Gone”. Other artists made songs with different titles. Go check it all out! Also: vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! Vote! (Read: you have five votes – use them wisely!)
On Wednesday evening I came up with the little melody that opens “After I Have Gone”. I wrote some lyrics on Thursday, but accidently left the paper with them at work. So when it came to record a demo for Susanne, I had to improvise a bit, because I couldn’t remember all the words. (More than 90% turned out to be ‘correct’, though.) She recorded vocals and some flutes on Friday in a bit of a hurry, because she was going to be away over the weekend. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use the flutes as they were the wrong key. They would have added quite some Christmas sparkle! Something like a string quartet had been on our mind for some time now. So I used the opportunity to arrange two violins, one viola, one cello, plus a flute. Digital copies of the original instruments had to suffice. A big thank you goes out to fellow song fuer Caleb Hines, who used his arsenal of virtual instruments and provided us with a wonderful orchestra track. I spent several hours mixing the five tracks (voice, guitar, stereo strings, keyboard bells), which is somewhat ridiculous. Still, I really enjoyed what I heard and I’m extremely content with the result.
The lyrics of the song were inspired by Richard Shindell‘s beautiful ballad “Before You Go”, which is basically God’s last words to his son before sending him to earth. I took up the narrative from Jesus’ point of view, both after he left the Heavens and after he fulfilled his mission. I’m still unhappy with the line “my memory has gone”. I had wanted to describe the way becoming human transforms his memories from heaven. But I also wanted everything to rhyme, so sacrifices were made. Also, the time constraint is at times a blessing, because it teaches you to not get lost in details.
In other news, Manticess will be playing a little gig with JODA this Friday at the university of Konstanz, IBZ II (K5 beneath the Mensa) around 19.30! Be there! We’ll be giving away free cds!
Für die nächsten 24 Tage werde ich diese Seite in einen Adventskalender verwandeln. Es wird täglich Einträge geben, jeweils mit einem Link zu Vampster, wo ich parallel täglich schreibe (i.d.R. CD-Kritiken). Wer noch musikalische Geschenkideen sucht, wird hier vielleicht fündig, da ich noch eine sehr bunte Mischung hier zum Besprechen herumliegen habe (Prog, Punk, Weihnachtliches und eben Heavy Metal).
Aktuell gibt es eine neue Runde im Song Fu-Songwriting-Wettbewerb. Manticess (also Susanne und ich) sind wieder mit dabei, auch wenn die Deadline – und damit die Aufnahme – direkt in die Erkältungszeit fiel. Immerhin hat das Lied (1998) nun einen Charme, wie man ihn von Manticess bislang noch nicht kannte. Ach, was fasele ich: Anhören! (Ja, am besten alle!) Abstimmen! Bitte. Danke.
Wer lieber professionellen Progressive Rock mit schönem Gesang und einer wirren Konzeptstory mag, sei auf das Album “Realm of Shadows” von Knights Realm (Vampster-Review) hingewiesen.
Russ Rogers (of Gödz Pöödlz) said it much better than I ever could. Please read on:
The first challenge for Masters of Song Fu #5 was posted last week. The challenge was to write a song based on one Mole-man from a list of 700 Mole-men created by John Hodgman. (Hodgman is the “I’m a PC”-guy from the Mac ads. You’ve seen him on the Daily Show. He’s got two books out. The Mole-men are from his second book, “More Information Than You Require”.)
The first round songs are now posted and ready for your votes. The songs are phenomenally creative and diverse. Seriously, a good crop.
http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2009/11/17/song-fu-5-round-1-voting/
You can vote ONLY once, but you can vote for up to FIVE different songs.
So take some time to listen to at least part of every song. There are 33, so it will take a little time. Listen closely to ALL of the songs you like. Then, choose your TOP FIVE SONGS and vote for them.
You can even download ALL the songs for FREE!
You will receive Special Silver Bonus Points in Heaven if you comment at the bottom of the Song Fu page. This can be as brief or as in depth as you like. But speaking from experience, one person taking the time to comment on my song with either praise or constructive criticism was worth more than 50 votes to me! You’re comment could be as simple as listing the five songs you voted for. If you want to be more complex, give your reasons and mention the songs that almost got your vote (the ones you wish you had more votes to give). Try to stay positive or constructive.
Extra Special Heavenly GOLDEN Points are awarded to folks who encourage other folks to check out the songs and vote. Post it to your facebook status. Twitter about it. Blog about it. Make sure you link to the Song Fu site. Talk about Song Fu. This is a concept that deserves viral attention from the Hive-Mind.
Masters of Song Fu is a special contest. There is NO prize money involved. The songwriters are doing this out of love for their craft and in the hopes that SOMEONE will notice, enjoy and appreciate their efforts.
So take some time, VOTE, COMMENT and POST about the contest.
This is the first of 3 preliminary rounds of voting. The Challenger with the most cumulative votes after 3 rounds will meet a Super-secret Champion, “The Master of Song Fu” in a final head-to-head challenge for the title and trophy of Master of Song Fu!
Voting will end this Saturday, November 21 at 11:59 PM EST.
The website’s system is designed to lock out IP Addresses that have already voted. So, when I say you can only vote once, technically it means that each computer only gets one chance to vote. Sometimes the voting system gets locked up, allowing NOBODY to vote for a while. Don’t let this frustrate you. Just come back another time and vote. You can always leave a comment, even when the voting system is SNAFU.
Thanks for Supporting Song Fu. Now, got Vote, Comment and Post.
This being quoted, and yes, I second every word Russ wrote, here’s a list of my six favourite entries, followed by the video Susanne and I shot last Sunday to go with our own entry, “423. Red” by Manticess.
Maybe you already know it: I’m about to move back to Konstanz. Tomorrow will be the last day I’ll record music here in Trier. At least, that’s the plan. I’ll approach a wannabe-Nightwish song Susanne and I wrote during our last rehearsal, adding clavinet scales and double bass drums. I’ll also wrap the songs for the upcoming Manticess release (single, EP, whatever). I won’t be recording anything in October apart from stuff I can do outside my interim accommodation. It’s going to be headphones and mixing, instead. Finally, I should do something to bid this place farewell and to commemorate my time here. I created some of my favourite songs (e.g., A Mallful of Brains, Natalie Portman’s Doormat) at this place, after all.
