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Posts Tagged ‘guitar’

I know I promised you a novel, and by gum, I still plan to give it to you. But I hit a few snags. I was hoping to have a friend or two look my new book over for plot holes and inconsistencies, but people have busy lives and often don’t have time to read my books for fun.

That’s why I offered a couple of them cold hard cash. No takers.

So while I’ve been giving my weary eyes a rest before the next book edit, I did what comes natural to me when I’m sitting around with resting writer face: I recorded a new album of music. As I’ve said before, I can almost write music in my sleep these days, and it’s a talent I try not to take for granted since it was given to me by, um … OK, insert whatever your parent-instilled version of a creator is here.

The result is my new album, called Resting Horse Face, which should hit the streaming services this week. (I still don’t sell physical media versions of my music, unfortunately, since it’s prohibitively expensive.) The new album is a set of pop and rock pieces, mostly punchy and upbeat, though a couple of songs are experimental and moody. There are a few guitar solos, but overall there’s less guitar this time out, since I wanted to try other colors. I’ll add more details when the album has dropped, which I hope happens in a day or two.

Watch this space for the news!

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I am very proud to announce the latest alternative-rock album by Salon de la Guerre: It’s called Standing Close To Power and Catching Its Cold, and it’s now available on all the major streaming services, including Amazon, YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music and Bandcamp, as well as other places where music is (still) sold.

Like all my albums, this one is available only digitally.

I’m also proud to announce that with this release, I now have 500 copyrighted songs in circulation. I’m chuffed about this for a number of reasons, the most important of which is that even though I’m an aging guy, I feel like I’m in my creative prime. When I was in my 20s and confused and sad and unproductive most of the time, the conventional wisdom says my art should have been much better. And yet most of the art I made in my 20s was horrible shit.

Things got better in my 30s, really good in my 40s, and now here I am in my 50s, a husband and dad, churning out stuff that I think rocks pretty hard and certainly sounds like the best stuff I’ve ever made. I feel more lyrically focused too. And dare I say it, as someone who never thought of myself as a singer, I now don’t hate my voice anymore.

The new album was designed to be punk rock with two guitars trading off leads. That probably puts me closer to the Replacements than the Ramones this time out. There are a couple of notable exceptions in the stylistic approach: The first song, called “This Town Needs Secrets,” is my first ’70s style power pop song. I did not make it that way on purpose. Sometimes, as you’re producing a song (or any piece of art, really), putting together the random pieces, you realize what it’s becoming, and at that point it’s your job to just get out of the way and let it live.

The last song on the album, “The World’s Pain Leaked Through Her Shirt,” is an electronic piece composed on Apple’s Logic Pro X. It wasn’t guitar rock. In fact, it was more like an outtake from a previous bunch of songs I made two years ago when my mindset was more about the Talking Heads. But the song seemed flippant enough to qualify as punk.

The lyrics seem to be (since I don’t plan those either) about the desires and angers that seethe in domesticity, as well as sexual politics and gossipy little towns (not unlike one I used to live in). I’ve thrown in some allusions to my favorite poets for those interested in hunting for that kind of thing.

As always, the album was written, performed, arranged and produced by yours truly at my home studio in New York. I’m responsible for all the guitar parts; the rest of the sounds were made with my terrific Logic Pro software. (I also designed the cover.)

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I am extremely proud to announce that Salon de la Guerre’s 33rd album, Even Toy Dogs Get the Blues, has been released today. It can now be found on all the major digital music platforms for streaming or download, including iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, Amazon and Bandcamp. (You can also make TikTok videos with Salon de la Guerre music, if you’re so inclined.)

As longtime readers know, Salon de la Guerre is my nom de rock, and I’m responsible for all the writing and playing (though I thank Apple for the useful sample here and there). Most of this album was made on my iPhone and home computer, save for one track with a guitar flip-out.

The album includes a lot of sketches of compulsive characters—spies, smugglers, strip club patrons, scam artists, obsessive dog lovers and Buddhists.

I recorded the album at my home in New York from May to July.

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Salon de la Guerre’s new punk album, Digital Moon, will be available in the next few weeks. Thirteen loud, fast songs about life in our confused times. Some of it I played on guitar, some of it is fabricated with my clever software.

I am still polishing the album, but this is what marketers call “creating pre-awareness.” So consider yourselves pre-aware.

As usual, all the songs were written, performed and produced by yours truly.

The album will be available on Amazon, iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp and other platforms where music is (still) sold.

Here’s a sample:

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In the next few months, I’ll be releasing an album of pop and rock songs entitled Bleed. Although I’ve been focusing mostly on my novels for the past few months, I did manage to get a slate of new songs recorded earlier this year and I hope to get them out once I fine-tune some of them. Here’s one of the instrumentals, “Egg Moon,” which I wrote, produced and performed on electric guitar. Enjoy.

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