Loquacious Music

…This is why we all listened to “grunge.”

Don’t get me wrong: I love XM. But every so often, their playlists come from I don’t know where. Take today, for example. I was driving from my house to the Indian place in Fairfield, a five-minute trip. I got into the car, cranked up Lucy (XM Channel 54), and heard these two songs, back to back:

“Burden In My Hand” by Soundgarden

“I Touch Myself” by Divinyls

It’s true that “Burden In My Hand” was Soundgarden’s best single (”Spoonman” doesn’t even come close), and that “I Touch Myself” was the best single of 1990. (Fact: “I Touch Myself” was co-written by the same guys who wrote “Like a Virgin,” “Eternal Flame,” “I’ll Stand By You”…) But to hear these two songs back-to-back? Just freakin’ strange.

(X-posted on Facebook.)

As all of you rabid Ben Gott fans know, I’m working on a new album, “Bloom.”  The album will be half Beatles-esque pop and half New Jack funk.

Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to help me decide which song to cover.  Clicking on this link will download an MP3 file to your computer.

The first clip is the chorus to Thompson Twins’ strangest recorded moment, a song off their first album called “You Take Me Up.”  You know Thompson Twins from their ’80s hit “Hold Me Now,” but this song is so incredibly weird that I love it even more than any of their Top 10 hits.  The song is part spaghetti  western, part synthpop salad (complete with synth bassline and fake vibes).  I’ve never heard anything like it — and neither have you.

The second clip is the chorus to Ralph Tresvant’s “Sensitivity.”  Ralph was, of course, a member of New Jack’s reigning kings, New Edition.  He only had one major hit when he left the group and went out on his own; this was it.  (Fellow New Edition members Bell Biv DeVoe had a handful, and let’s not even get started on Bobby Brown!)  This song is just too good to be true, and I might approach it as an acoustic cover.

So listen to each song and then come back to my Facebook profile to vote.  If you’re not a social networker, just leave a comment.

I’ll let the Intertubes tally up your votes and then get recording!

(X-posted to “The Music…of Ben Gott”)

For Bloom. A lot of desaturated headshots will follow.

The second track from Bloom is complete. To listen, click this link. To download to your hard drive, right-click and choose “Save As…” (Here’s a fun fact: all the guitar bits at the end of the song were played with a “Tenacious D: Pick of Destiny” guitar pick! Sellin’ my soul to J.B. and K.G.!)

Here’s my post from the Facebook group called “The Music…of Ben Gott” explaining the song.

So you know that the new album is called “Bloom.” And you also know that it’s going to be a little strange, because I am. Today, I was singing along in the car to “Get a Room” by Psychedelic Furs AND “Rock Wit Cha” by Bobby Brown. That’s going to be this album, basically: the lovechild of Psychedelic Furs and Bobby Brown.

The second song from the album, “Oh Yeah,” is available at the Loquacious Music website. Just point your browser to:

[ http://www.loquaciousmusic.com ]

It features some interesting, first-timey things. For example, remember that guitar slide I bought a few years ago? I used that on this song for the first time. It also contains what I consider to be my best bassline ever.

So listen and enjoy! And tell your friends to join the group!

That pretty much speaks for itself. Enjoy the song.

“Oh Yeah” | (4.3 MB, 160 KB MP3)
All instruments and voices by Ben Gott
Written, produced, recorded, and mixed by Ben Gott
from the forthcoming album Bloom

You turn the radio on
I turn it off ‘cos I don’t like the song
Girl, what went wrong?
We used to have it goin’ on

We met down in the club
We used to dance to the same stuff
It felt like love
Now it just feels like not enough

Oooh
Oh yeah

Now the house is cold
The past is the present, the future’s old
And no one says “hello”
I doubt if we even talk anymore

Oooh
Oh yeah

And everyone tries
And nobody lies
We’re in a hurry, so cover your eyes
And it’s time to find
Some real peace-of-mind
And I said it’s time
It’s time

You turn the radio on
You turn the radio on

For your listening pleasure.  I haven’t even recorded the vocals yet.

“Oh Yeah” (Instrumental Version) | (3.5 MB, MP3)

From the forthcoming album Bloom.

I’m on Facebook. Yeah, I know. Shoot me with a virtual paintball gun.

Don’t worry, though: this website will still be the be-all and end-all. I won’t succumb to social networking…at least not yet…

If you’re visiting this site from Facebook, it’s easy to navigate.  Just go to the menu choices above the picture bar right above you.  If you click on “Music,” you can download all the music; “Video” will let you see all of the video from the “Live from the iSight Studio” series.

Don’t hesitate to read the rest of the blog, visit some links, and leave some comments.  We love comments around here!

I just got this IM from one of my former students. The poem he refers to is Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” This poem is always interpreted incorrectly; the “road less traveled” is not, in fact, “less traveled.” Both roads are the same; it is the narrator of the poem who pats himself on the back — who lies, essentially — for making an “unpopular” choice that really wasn’t so unpopular at all. The poem is also about death, of course; all Frost poems are.

Anyway, here’s the IM:

I was watching a show the other day and they used the Robert Frost poem, about the roads, and made it all about choices, and I was thinking DEATH! No, the answer is DEATH! And I thought of you.

Sometimes, this job pays. And, no: the fact that he writes like Wonkette doesn’t bother me in the least. He’ll have a successful career as a snarky blogger if he keeps going at this rate!

In all my musical life, I’ve never worked this quickly.

The first track from my new album, Bloom, is already in the bag. It’s called “Gangsta Rap,” and you can click here to download it. I was going to record “See the Light” next, but I’m staying in the hip-hop/funk vein with “Oh Yeah.” The lyrics are almost complete — it’s time to take a shower, put the half-finished demo on the iPod, and play it before falling asleep. Hopefully, when I wake up in the morning, I’ll have the inspiration I need to finish the track.

“Oh Yeah” promises to be the catchiest, hookiest, poppiest track I’ve ever written. So there. Watch this space!