Loquacious Music

I don’t know what makes me dizzier: the video, or what David does with his falsetto at about 3:19.

I’m now a “Star” commenter on Wonkette, Consumerist, Jalopnik, and all the rest of the Gawker sites.  Go, me!

I’m not going to tell you my handle, but, if you read Wonkette comments for a day or so, I’m sure you’ll discover me.

The new single from the re-release.  Go, Stephen!

For the longest time, The La’s “There She Goes” was my favourite pop song.

No more.

It’s been replaced by “Seven” by James. Andy Diagram’s trumpet and Youth’s production push this tune over the top. Holy crap. It’s unbelievable.

As an atheist, I’m particularly enamoured with the fact that the verse that begins “God is love to me” is prefaced by “God made love to me.”

Here’s the video, in case you weren’t around:

Blow me away
Was that love you declared?
Only a word, love can mean anything
Understand the world we’re living in

Oceans apart
What’s that view from your wave?
Beautiful craft
Weather and change
Understand the world were living in
Love can mean anything

God made love to me
Soothed away my gravity
Gave me a pair of angels wings
Clear vision and some magic things

God is love to me
Thank you for those things

Understand the world were living in
Love can mean anything

Darling I’m open
And darling I’m broken

Now we don’t have time
We can drift away
Like a heavy cloud
With the weight of rain

Understand the world were living in
Love can mean anything

Understand the world were living in
Love can mean anything

Understand the world were living in
Love can mean anything

Understand the world were living in
Love can change anything

Here’s something new.  I wrote this song today, but I wrote the chorus yesterday when I woke up at 3:00 A.M. from a dead sleep with “I know all the words, but I can’t spit ‘em out” (complete with melody) right there.  It took me a half an hour to get back to sleep.

You can download a free MP3 of this performance by clicking here.

One single text message drops from the sky
Ten million e-mails go flying by
We flew up to space in a red rocket ship
Made out of pixels and megabits

I’ve drawn a line from my head to my mouth
I know all the words, but I can’t spit ‘em out

Swimming deep under the ocean I found
Miles of cables laid under the ground
A message of hatred, a message of love
The messages float to the surface above

Well, I’ve drawn a line from my head to my mouth
I know all the words, but I can’t spit ‘em out

The wireless card and the radio wave
Sending out messages miles away
But the ring of a bell or the knock on the door
Just leaves me confused and as sad as before
And I wonder
Oh I wonder
What it’s like
Mmm hmm

I thought that I loved you, I thought you were mine
Until we got talking in real time
The things that you write and the things that you say
The things that you do, they seem miles away

I’ve drawn a line from my head to my mouth
I know all the words, but I can’t spit ‘em out

I’ve drawn a line from my head to my mouth
Oooo…

I performed “Old Town” from Bloom and Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down.”

If you’re looking to download my new album, Bloom, you can click here!

Amazingly, after being so quiet for so long, I have released two albums in one week. Here is the latest:

It’s called In the Morning: The Songs of Babybird, and I’ve recorded it over the past few days. Here are the liner notes from the digital booklet:

I first heard Stephen Jones’s music at the listening station in Tower Records in San Francisco, California. I think it was in March of 1996, but I can’t be sure. What I can be sure of, however, is the impact that that album, Ugly Beautiful, and all of Stephen’s other work—past, present, and future—has had on me as a musician and as a person. From his lo-fi roots to his hit single, “You’re Gorgeous,” to his most recent album, the lovely Between My Ears, There’s Nothing But Music, Stephen has managed to create songs that are joyful, whimsical, contemplative, and heartbreaking—often in the same track!

These songs were recorded between 23 and 25 March of 2008. The only instruments I used were my voice, my acoustic guitar, and my electric guitar. There was no metronome. There was no Auto-Tune or pitch correction. With the exception of a few backing vocals, there were no overdubs or “do-overs” of any kind. I sang from my heart, like Stephen does. My covers aren’t perfect—there are bits I flub or notes I just don’t hit—but I’d like to think that my labour of love comes across as I intended it: a heartfelt-appreciation for one of my favourite singers.

Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock, Laurie Anderson…There are so many musicians whose unusual take on things and sense of style makes us re-think the world around us. But what Stephen does is different from all of these other folks. He makes us re-think the world but also makes us glad to be in it. I am grateful to him and to Babybird fans the world over for reminding me why I play—and listen to—music in the first place.

—Ben Gott
Bridgeport, Connecticut U.S.A.
26 March 2008

You can download a 50.7 MB .zip file with the album as high quality, DRM-free MP3s, a digital booklet, and a .jpeg of the cover art by clicking here. Enjoy! Here’s the tracklisting:

Cornershop
Bad Habit
CFC
Steam Train
Wave Your Hands
Man’s Tight Vest
Hatesong (bonus track)

UPDATE: Look!  A link from Bad Pages!

You can download my new album, Bloom, by clicking here. The link will lead you to a 66.9 MB .zip file of all the songs (as high quality, DRM-free MP3s), a digital booklet with lyrics and other information, two promotional photographs, and a Podcast entitled “How Bloom Came To Be.” (Download a .jpg file of the cover art here.)

Here is the track listing:

Gangsta Rap (Gott)
Oh Yeah (Gott)
Everybody Move It (Thompson)
Old Town (Gott)
Drive (Ocasek)
See the Light (Gott)
Bee-Line Kind (Gott/Culnane)
The Last Song (Gott)

Why don’t you download a copy of your very own?

UPDATE: Watch the video for “Old Town” here!

I’ve been arguing recently about the ubiquity of Auto-Tune. Simply put, it ruins songs. Of course, because record companies don’t seem to care about actual songs these days, they’re using Auto-Tune in the studio and hot mastering everything to oblivion. Consumers don’t care; why should they?

Here’s an example. Take Janet Jackson’s awful new single, “Feedback.” The Auto-Tune makes it, to my ears, unlistenable:

The vocals come in at about :20. There is no singing here. Ms. Jackson’s vocals are simply being manipulated up and down.

Compare that to this, a song from 1995:

There is no Auto-Tune here. All we hear is Ms. Jackson’s voice, on key and supporting itself. Hell, even when she misses a note (at 3:18), she makes it part of the song: “Oh, didn’t quite hit the note — that wasn’t such a good time.”  Part of the reason for this is that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis wouldn’t have let her anywhere near Auto-Tune during that period.  But the other part is that the use of this dastardly plug-in reaches far and wide…even to crappy bands like Nickelback:

This Auto-Tune is less evident, but it’s still there.  (Listen to the “unclench” in “unclench your fists.)

Also, what’s up with that dude’s perm?

The fourth single from Bloom, “Old Town,” is now available for download!

You have a few options here, so pay attention:

1) Download a .zip file of the entire digital “packet” by clicking here. This contains the final version of “Old Town,” two demo versions*, and .jpegs of the album art. (19.1 MB .zip file)

2) Download an MP3 file of “Old Town.” To download to your PC, right-click and choose “Save Link As…” On a Mac, Control-click and choose “Save Link As…” If you just want to listen, click the link and the MP3 will open.

All of these MP3s are, as usual, high quality and DRM-free. You can download other songs from Bloom—actually, you can download pretty much every Ben Gott song ever recorded—by visiting the “Music” section of this website.

* = If you’re interested, the “Living Room” demo was recorded straight to the internal microphone of my iBook. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but Night of the Living Dead is on MUTE in the background (hence the “Living Room” moniker). Can you hear zombies?  Or, like, sense them?

The second demo version, craftily entitled “Demo #2,” is the track I sent to Simon Knight for production advice. Thanks, as usual, Simon!

Here’s the obverse, which includes lyrics. Click on the small picture for a bigger version: