February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

Beware the Age of the Machine

Bruce H. McCosar

Download this MP3 Directly

Tagged As:

instrumental congas heavy synth driving

Liner Notes:

Warning: starts quiet, gets real loud!

Songs #4 and #5 are connected -- both were recorded in the same session. My goal for these two songs was to play a difficult rhythm on the congas. Here, I played the funkiest, syncopated conga rhythm I could sustain, with the goal of making this song super heavy later on.

The instruments on this track:

One conga drum, tuned to 'A'.

ESP Ltd Bass (w/ active EMG Humbuckers).

Nord Rack 2X (Best synth ever. I know. I already said that on a previous song. But it's true.)

Wailing, mad Ibanez S620! In contrast to a previous track where I played a guitar with very heavy strings, this one is basically strung with spider webs and hair (well, .009s, but you get the idea).

OK, the meaning of the title. Since the title of this album is "No Robots Allowed", I thought I needed at least one theme song. This is it. I'm rocking out, free of the machines

--

This song was composed and performed using natural rhythm only -- without a metronome, click track, or drum machine. "No Robots Allowed" is my theme, and here are the rules I'm following:

http://bmccosar.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/the-robot-rules/

Feedback:

Add a comment. Log in to FAWM or sign up first!

Morti 2 weeks ago

I do love some instrumental rock. This is a little Mike Oldfield in places, but like from when he was good. Yeah, very cool. Much skill involved in keeping the rhythm how you did, that's impressive, and getting a sound like this without a drum kit.
James DeVries 3 weeks ago

Beware, indeed. Really like the change at just past 2:00. Somehow it caught me more than the similar shift at ~1:00.

I got a good laugh out of "spider webs and hair" .009s I play .010s but if I haven't been playing for awhile I wonder why I don't use something lighter!
Jeff Geissler 3 weeks ago

Is that the ebow? What effect are you using on that guitar lead? Sounds awesome, whatever it is. 1:35 guitar lead reminds me of Santana "black magic woman" lol... (Thats a compliment)
Candle 4 weeks ago

I think the thing I like the most about this is the driving bass - how it just keeps the song moving with its pulse. I especially love the final "Duh duh" at the end. It gives the song a nice feeling of completion.

And those synth swells are just gorgeous!

See You In The Shadows…
Helen 1 month ago

This is really cool. I'm surprised something so heavy and "rock" can work so well without a drum kit, but the rhythm on the synth drives it really well. Good stuff.
Erothyme 1 month ago

Aren't those synths machines? ;D

Groovy track, man. Your instrumentation is delightfully expressive.
Echo Voodoo 1 month ago

Lush and thick, this track sounds great. Really digging the bass line. Awesome work.
Julie 1 month ago

A great number.
Corvisier JM 1 month ago

J'aime beaucoup l'atmosphère du morceau avec cette basse hypnotique en rythmique.
I like very much the atmosphère of this song with this hypnotic bass in rythmic.
Tim Fatchen 1 month ago

Going very nicely down the non-robot road indeed Bruce. I like the development in this.
Scott O. Clamp 1 month ago

Love the swing of this, and the conga beats. Builds, ebbs, and flows in an extremely satisfying way. Another excellent track! Down with the robot army.
G Slade 1 month ago

That bass i killer dude...this is some awesome sauce on top of jesus cake....!!!!!

Man this is awesome...(still listening..ha)...
thejestersdaughter 1 month ago

You know what this reminds me of? Serenity/Firefly. Possibly because Firefly is my current obsession, but it still has a wonderful sound. Very cool. And the drums sound awesome, (and difficult!)
carlos 1 month ago

Great 'natural' rhythm.... are you sure YOU are not a robot!
totally agree wioth the Nord comment... I was just at a Long & McQuade music store here in Toronto and played around with one...