Post and listen to weirder stuff! Indie, prog,

[Zane McDaniel]

Hey, everybody! I've been playing, recording, and writing for a group called Zanois for nearly four years now. We've just put out our sixth record, which is called "Wyrd Wyrm", but we don't play the most immediately accessible music. As such, we have a rather hard time finding the right demographic to market to (too weird and poppy and kind of sloppy for the progressive rock folks usually, too proggy for the indie fellas), but I figure at the very least, some fellow musicians might be interested in hearing it. Of course, my intentions are not at all to spam or rub anyone the wrong way here, so feel free to stop reading immediately, that's perfectly okay. I would love some feedback though, as we're going to be recording some brand new stuff (which sounds rather different, but still) in a couple weeks. So here we go.

I used an old 120 sound Midi brain running into a Fatar Master Keyboard, possibly the lightest weight 88 key midi controller out there, and by far the cheapest. The whole rig cost around $50 I believe. I also got to use a grand piano when recording this record, because my school had it out for the jazz concert the next night. Since the recording, we've paired down to a three piece and I play mostly bass now, though on many songs I play left hand bass guitar and right hand keyboard. Live, I've been using the Casio SK-5 lately. The SK series were all sampling keyboards, and this one stores four sounds at a time, so I'll often record my voice ooh-ing, use the loop function and use that as the sound for this song. For whatever reason, though, SK series keyboards always end up losing a C# key, or at least on the five I've seen in my life. Also, if you skip to about 8:20 in, you'll hear a weird glitchy sound. This is actually a SSTV image, which is a picture that can be coded into soundwaves, often used for ham radio transmissions.

This one is called "Wyrd Wyrm", and is pretty grand-centric. Just recorded in one take, and EQ'ed only slightly to try and keep the initial spirit.

http://www.zanois.bandcamp.com/track/ok-i-am-only-here-to-make-sisyphus-happy
Using the old Casio WK-3000, which eventually broke on me. Still, gotta love that square wave sound.

http://zanois.bandcamp.com/track/i-spilled-my-brain
Making use of some of the funkier synth sounds on the WK-3000.

http://fearcat.bandcamp.com/track/plateaus
Here's another thing. This one I used a smaller Casio running through the MRS-4 recording studio's built-in reverb with the dry level turned all the way down on a flute sound.

http://zanemcdaniel.bandcamp.com/track/eh-computer
http://zanemcdaniel.bandcamp.com/track/absence
Here are some things I've been working on with FL Studio lately. Instrumental Postal Service-y business.

http://zanemcdaniel.bandcamp.com/album/demo
Less relevant, but some solo bass stuff for anyone who is interested.

So that's some stuff of mine, I'd love to hear some input! I'd also love to hear other weird stuff, please post anything you're working on lately up here!

 

[Becky]

Welcome to the forums Zane

I really like the second of the two songs - it's melodic, nice structure, and quite catchy. Where abouts are you based?

 

[Barry]

I agree with Becky, the first one is a bit wild for me but the second one has some interesting progressions. A lot better than a lot of the stuff around today!
Keep it going!
Barry

 

[Zane McDaniel]

Thanks so much, Becky and Barry! Really appreciate it, we're from Manchester, NH, and our guitarist lives in Waltham, MA!

 

[Becky]

Ha, I'm in Manchester UK!