Johannes Schult

So I sang “I would give 12$ to sing a song with Paul and Storm.” And I mean it. Sure, I don’t expect them to accept this offer. They have to make a living; they have families; they’re busy stalking Joss Whedan, anyway. In other words, I am to them what they are to Paul McCartney. Still, with fervent dedication and an iron will I might at least achieve a little recognition from the dynamic duo itself (themselves?).

Paul and Storm, please notice me; no, acknowledge me.

Until they decide to oblige this humble request I will keep “Paul and Storm Watch” (every Wednesday). When they called for minions I was tempted to join the mob; picture me in front of a pale wall with a hand-written sing in my hand that says “Hostage Minion of Paul and Storm since \today.” But I don’t want them to indulge in pictures of people with too much time on their hands. I want them to work; I want them to sing; I want them to be mischievous. I gladly paid to download their albums, but I see no reason to make podcast-related donation. For the time being, my attention has to suffice as consideration. I mean, I still think they (Paul) should at least have made a clever, witty song when they tried to get Felicia Day‘s attention. They could have even offered to give her 12$ to sing a song with them. But they just talked – and Jonathan Coulton had her sing with him on stage.

My new solo album “Heteroscedasticity” will be out on Sunday, 19th October 2008 – only four days from now! I locked myself in the bathroom and played some of my songs to celebrate the album release. The third out of four parts is now online: Toilet Session 2008 (part 3). It shows me playing “If I Could Paint My Feelings” (see previous update) and “Cropcutter” (a non-album track). No ukulele, this time; have fun, anyway!

These might just be the best lyrics I’ve written so far. (Feel free to disagree!) I wrote them on September 9th, 2006. The music followed the next day. I tried to keep it simple in order to not distract from the metaphor madness. C, it turned out, was not enough, so I added G. I still don’t know how I ended up with all the chords in the middle-eight when I recorded the song on September 11th, 2006.

I was tempted to re-do the programmed drum track for the album, but went for authenticity in the end. (The truth is, I couldn’t find the disc with the source tracks.) The outro features plenty of silly instruments like the melodica, a ukulele, glockenspiel, and plenty of keyboard sounds. Some sick flutes were there, too, but didn’t make the final mix.

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

If I could paint my feelings I’d talk about brushes all the time
If I could spell my joy I’d use but vowels
If I could wear my passion a hat would suit me fine
If I could weave my heart I’d just make towels

If I could eat my sorrow I’d chew lemons all the time
If I could name my fear I’d call it Fullers
If I could drink my longing I’d serve myself the sweetest wine
If I could print my pain I’d need no colours

If I could paint my feelings
If I could ride my soul
If I could wear my longing I’d be all right

If I could draw my wisdom I’d sketch circles all the time
If I could strum my hope I’d play an F-chord
If I could dye my spirit then blue’d be on my mind
If I could fly my love you’d be the airport

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

This one started out as a German love song in January 2002. I replaced the lyrics in August that year with a patchwork of words, some of them invented, most of them real, all of them hopefully suiting the mood of the acoustic guitars. Also the title is beyond metaphoric in an abstract void of syntax, phonetics, and randomness.

The original recording was rather noisy, so I decided to attempt a re-recording in late September 2008. I basically replicated the originally tracks and added a subtle bass line with the keyboard, plus, behold, even subtler harmony vocals in the chorus. The song is supposed to be the grand finale of the album, less jolly than most of the other songs, but hopefully somewhat comforting. There are days I’m convinced this is the best song I’ve written so far. But who am I to judge?

Download the song: mp3 ogg (more music)

Spirit She – monastic consedation
Spirit She – another rainy night
Spirit She – redemption in sensation
Spirit She – ten thousand tears I’ve cried
Spirit She – in every single hour
Spirit She – no matter where I go
Spirit She – a fragrant yellow flower
You will be a flicker in the glow
She’s a wonder of shyness yearning for conation
Waiting for someone in the dead of the night
She’s a number, a feeling yearning for insation
Knowing that no one ever tried

Spirit She – the empty desert highway
Spirit She – the Scarlet Pimpernel
Spirit She – the caladon on Friday
It will be the only revenel
Can you tell me what you see
What you hear and what you feel?
Can you show me something real?
Will you save my Spirit She?
She’s a wonder of shyness yearning for conation
Waiting for someone in the dead of the night
She’s a number, a feeling yearning for insation
Knowing that no one ever tried

Spirit She – November days of darkness
Spirit She – November days of rain
Spirit She – no matter where your heart is
I can feel the laughter and the pain
Can you tell me what you see
What you hear and what you feel?
Can you show me something real?
Will your spirit set me free?

Spirit she – my precious isolation
Spirit she – my one and only friend
Spirit she – in every contemplation
I will be the loser in the end
She’s a wonder of shyness yearning for conation
Waiting for someone in the dead of the night
She’s a number, a feeling yearning for insation
Knowing that no one ever tried
Spirit She – my Spirit She – Spirit She – my Spirit She

(words and music by Johannes Schult)

My new solo album Heteroscedasticity will be out on Sunday, 19th October 2008 – only six days from now! I locked myself in the bathroom and played some of my songs to celebrate the album release. The first (or rather the last) out of four parts is now online. It shows me playing Judy Mary Jane on the ukulele. (Not that I had rehearsed the song more than once.)

Honestly, I have mixed feeling about posting it directly in the site, because I have always been an advocate of avoiding Flash. Well, here it is; goodbye to you, dear integrity. Speaking of selling out, I included a bunch of older tunes you probably already know. But who knows – maybe some new fans discover my music just now. Anyway, there will be more videos coming soon. And on Sunday the album itself will be launched. Here is the cover artwork.

You probably heard this one before (I heard it from J.R.): don’t drink and derive!

While the first three parts where actually bogus and solely for entertainment purposes, the following two recommendations are serious, possibly helpful for non-statisticians, too – and actually free.

• A very helpful software tool for data entry is EpiData. If you are working with manual data input (e.g., questionnaire data) you should definitely check it out – unless, of course, you already know (and use) it.
• The Firefox extension is Zotero is capable of collecting, managing, and citing research sources. It rivals common citation software, not only because it is free, but also because it is very easy to handle. I got to know Zotero just two days ago – thanks to Biddy for the hint – and felt at home with its usage in a matter of minutes.

Da gibt es heutzutage (zumindest in bestimmten Ländern) die ausgeklügeltsten Impfungen, allerlei hochkomplexe Diagnoseverfahren in Krankenhäusern und natürlich minimalinvasive Behandlungsmethoden, die hier und dort Großoperationen ersetzen. Doch trotz all dieser medizinischen Fortschritte hat immer noch niemand ein effektives Mittel gegen Schluckauf gefunden. Hick.

Today, I recorded the last missing piece for my upcoming solo album Heteroscedasticity. I still have to assemble the individual tracks to a coherent unit (tough job) and create some kind of artwork. It is going to be a download-only album, available for free, licensed Creative Commons by-nc; so you can create your own physical album if you care. Right now, the song order in the music section does not correspond to the initial title numbers. I will fix that once all tracks are there. Please be patient – and re-download everything after the album release for maximum correctness.

I had planned to make a video of me playing some songs live to a non-existent audience. I’ve already compiled a setlist: some songs from the album, a couple of other tracks, and a cover version. I’m not sure when/if I find the time for this, but the idea is to have some moving pictures to go along with the album.

I don’t have the time to do more promotional activities and for the time being everything is strictly non-commercial. I’ll just see where it goes from there – probably nowhere. And that would be okay with me. But at least I can point back at something specific whenever someone learns that I used to make music while I was studying. This being said, I’m not going to burn my drums. But we (my drums and I) are going to live apart and I’ll be busy with other (non-musical) things, anyway.

When I switched to WordPress some time ago I created a blogroll (to be found in the right side), basically because it was the default setting. Ever since I have the feeling that every blog I link to becomes rather inactive. By now there’s only a couple of blogs left which are updated on a somewhat regular basis. The rest remains dormant, if not dead. I don’t think this has much to do with me linking to them. Maintaining a blog requires a certain amount of dedication and content. Still, I’m hesitant to add new links to the list. But then again, what would the internet be without links? The internets? The nets? The islands?