Tripecac - So On

This is a short excerpt from "Last Bit". Along with "Last Bit Outtro", it acts as an explicit musical tie between So So and So On. I worked on the albums together, and regard them as parts 1 and 2 of the same effort (with So Long acting as an appendix).

I came up with this upbeat jazz/rock song in early April 2001, which turned out to be my most musicially productive month in Charlottesville. It gives So On a much more energetic start than So On. Most of the "dancy" drum parts are from 2003.

For such a sad title, this turned out surprisingly peppy! It's jazz/reggae, with a long bass solo. I added the "dub" keyboard and clav parts added in 2003. I don't know why I called it "Ruined Thursday"; perhaps I had a bad day at work?

This was originally a 30 minute exercise in focus (kind of like saying "toy boat" a thousand times fast). In 2003, I deleted everything after the first few minutes (yay!) and added a sax part for badly-needed variety.

This short, sweet, and peppy ditty kicked off my final week of work in Charlottesville. The piano and organ are from that "last monday", but the rest of the parts are from 2003.

This is another short and peppy jazz song from the last week of work in 2001. It was loop-based, which made it easy to finish quickly, but it also sounds a little "sterile". I like the bass line and drums, but wish the solos were wilder.

This was the third song in that last week of work in 2001. It's short and bouncy, with birds and laughing children. For some reason, I decided to call it "Kind" instead of "Last Wednesday"; maybe I was trying to say that in order to be truly kind to someone you have to step out of your routine?

This is from thursday of my final week of work in Charlottesville (2001). It's less refined and has less "spark" than the previous songs; it seems moody, rambling, and sloppy. In 2003 I cleaned it up a bit and added the organ solo and synthetic-sounding drums.

This was initially recorded on my last day of work in Charlottesville (the "last friday"). The original version's title was "The Last Bit is the Best"; I shortened both the song and the title for this CD. This version omits the long, trancy part at the end; see "Last Bit Long" for the most recent full version.

I started this on the first day of my summer vacation in 2001 (which lasted until mid-August). You can probably tell how psyched I was to be done with work by the energy level! In 2003 I added some solos and cleaned it up a bit. Unfortunately, the mix is muffled, making the song sound a little dull, despite the energy.

This is a very long 3-guitar improv, with "heavy metal" drums added near the end. I recorded the guitar parts in April 2001, the (sloppy) MIDI drums in October 2001, and then mixed it in July 2003. This is actually a shorter, "highlights" version of the original ("Tracking Mud Long").

This is the first of three excerpts from "Practice". It was always my favorite part of the song, and so received the most attention during editing and has a consistently positive vibe to it.

This is the second excerpt from "Practice".

This is the third and final excerpt from "Practice". It's not as cool as the first two, but it concludes the song relatively neatly.

This is the last song I started in Charlottesville. I recorded it without a metronome, so it has a very "loose" feel. It's pretty mellow, but gradually builds in tempo and intensity, and provides an optimistic end to the album. Within a few days I was on my way to the Pacific Northwest.