The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project Retrospective

 The first time I recorded an album or finished writing a novel (only four people ever read it, and only four people ever will), it was a big deal to me. Whatever the shortcomings were of those two pieces of art, what I remember most about them is their intense desire to be born. I can still hear it coming through strongly when I look back at them. Subsequent efforts to write fiction have floundered without that drive, despite being more carefully conceived and probably technically superior.

So I was surprised when I sat down to listen to the Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project (a collection of material I released here on weekly basis, with a name borrowed from a sculpture by Karl Brendel) and found I had recorded another album. I didn't conceive of it that way at all, although I had it in the back of my mind that after I was finished, I'd be in good shape to record something for real. It might not be a work of towering genius, but the 'Project certainly qualifies as real. It's a funny feeling to sit back and realize you've actually created the kind of thing you've heard before in your mind's ear.

I liked the process of releasing a track a week - there's probably some sort of tortoise and the hare thing to be learned there. I may have thought of each track as a one-off, but lined up end to end the breadth of style is fun, if your ears like to rove like mine. I will definitely use that technique again, but I think I'll wait until September to get cracking in order to give myself a chance to prepare for some upcoming shows.

I'm also glad (relieved?) to see an evolution from the first album, Gallows Humour. Blazing hot licks aren't my style, but I fancy I hear a bit more subtly and dimension. I'm often quite proud of my lyrics, which strangely enough can make me forget that I can play, too, and an instrumental album is one way to remind myself.

If you look back through the posts, you can see me ragging on myself for lack of production quality, and although it's probably not the sort of thing you'd want to crank on your car stereo, at home at a reasonable volume it sounds warm and clear enough to me at least. I would much rather make it available now to the public with that proviso than put myself in debt paying a producer, or withhold it for a year while I try and acquire the money to do so.

With that in mind I've made Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack available for download on Bandcamp, so that you can listen to it without interruption. The tracks are still available individually for free here, and the complete album download is free as well (although I may set up a donation option in the near future in case generous listeners would like to contribute to the cause). I've done some very minor editing to try and ensure consistency when heard end to end. I hope you enjoy it, welcome your feedback, and promise to follow this one up with some songier songs soon!

Get a copy of Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack here:

http://mattsnell.bandcamp.com/

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Grand Finale

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)

It's done! A song a week for twelve weeks (although the actual average was a song every 7.7 days, allowing for construction on my building, nearby music festivals bleeding into the mic, spider bites, and summer laziness). I haven't listened to them all consecutively yet, but I know I like the ending.

I was hoping to go out on a fun and high-spirited note, and I think I managed that. Since I kept it instrumental for eleven tracks, I let myself break the pattern and use words. The end result is almost like a kid's song. Have a listen; I'll post some retrospective musings on the 'Project later: 

Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week XI

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)

 

Well, I slipped over the July 31st deadline. It was, however, a long weekend in Ontario, and I grappled with the question of what was the right thing - to stay home working valiantly to get it done, or to capitalize on the holiday and go to a friend's cottage.

I went to the cottage. This is the one tiny domain where I'm my own boss, so it made sense. I'm happy, though, that this is the second-last entry in the 'Project. At the outset I began with consciously narrative-based pieces that told a story in almost cartoon fashion. Wondering whether it was a crutch, I started playing with more strictly musical ideas for the bulk of the tracks, so it seemed logical to harmonize the two for the ending.

This piece is lifted from the soundtrack of a non-existent Western called Killingback and Winterbottom. As I mentioned in the Painting with Bug Blood series, the graveyard near my house is a major source of inspiration. One day on my walk there I noticed the names Killingback and Winterbottom on two graves close by each other, and thought they paired nicely. Inevitably, I began to imagine them dueling in a saloon.

Morricone it ain't, but it works well enough. You get to decide who wins (my money's on Killingback). If anyone needs their B-Western scored, I'm available and I understand your vision.

Killingback and Winterbottom

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week X

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)

Take that, deadline! Scroll down and you'll notice this one comes only two days after the last. In fact, it was conceived and executed in one day, and I'm as happy with it as any of the pieces I tortured for several days before letting go. I'm sure that spontaneity accounts for some of its success.

If you listen to the Bang & Jangle Radio Hour tomorrow (Tuesday, July 26), you'll hear some of the stuff I've been listening to that inspired this piece. It's a pretty conscious attempt to emulate Sacred Harp style singing. Mine has no real words, but I never can tell what Sacred Harp singers are saying anyway.

Also, further to last entry, this one is rousing and contains no elements of dread or even melancholy. It gave me a chance to practice harmonizing and sing my guts out. I got stuck naming this one, so I asked for a bit of help in the initial post. The winning title goes to Shane of shane-movies.blogspot.com - check it out for if you like hilarious reviews of eclectic movies. Shane's suggestion was "Spirits be Frisky," and a damn fine suggestion it was, though I think I'm going to drop the "s" since it's really only my spirit divided in four:

"Spirit Be Frisky"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week IX

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)
 
Hippopotamus time is here again. I met my once-a-week deadline, but so far I haven't turned into the manic song-recording machine I need to be in order to finish this project by the 31st of July. I'll play it by ear through the coming week, and keep that goal in mind but give myself extra time if I need it. Especially since the recordings are, on the whole, improving, I see no reason to foist three pieces of crap on the world in one week.

I say "on the whole," because I was happier with my output this time last week. My muse really seems to perk up when I sing, but I thought I could fool her by just whistling. No dice. On the other hand, this piece is still a reaction to last week. I mentioned in that post, referring to generally dark tone of these recordings, that "I should try and make something cheerful just to see how it ends up perverted." I took that as a challenge and tried to make something sweet. It still ended up melancholic, but at least there is no undercurrent of menace.

I call this piece "Gaggle of Grackles." I have no idea what the actual call of the grackle sounds like, so my whistling bears no relation to any real bird. But when I conceived the main banjo part I was sitting by a stream where a whole mess of grackles were bathing. I changed "mess" to "gaggle" for the sake of alliteration and the rest is history. The whole thing has a pretty natural vibe - I was going to put some of my field recordings in the background, too, but my multitrack and my computer aren't on speaking terms, so I made the nature noises myself. That's ultimately to the good, I think. I also fumbled around with plenty of delay - strange how technology can be so helpful in the evocation of nature.

I might return to this idea one day and add lyrics. Anyway here it is, take a listen....

"Gaggle of Grackles"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week VIII

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)

 Week Eight is finally here. I seem to be operating on a nine-day week, so I'll have to pick up the pace to get 'em done by the end of July. To be honest, I'm not slaving away on each track, fine-tuning the composition in the lead up to the release. I spend the week bashing out ideas too crappy to be shared, only to have a half-decent one trickle out on the eighth and ninth day.

This week's track is horrendously cheesy. Cheesy in a "Sha-na-na-na, sha-noop sha-noop" kind of way. I'm slightly embarrassed, but I guess it's time the world knew the truth. It is partially redeemed by the darkness which pervades all these recordings, which I come by naturally. I should try and make something cheerful just to see how it ends up perverted.

On a technical level, I suppose it's cool that voice is the only instrument (if you don't count finger snapping). I think it becomes overly dense by the end, but the groove is still prominent. And before I get too down on myself for letting my inner cheesebag loose, I have to remember this is an experiment, and this song continues the tradition of sounding nothing like its predecessors. It's called "Toothy Grin," have a listen...

"Toothy Grin"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week VII

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)

I finished my seventh entry of twelve today, which means I'm more than half done this experiment. I was on track to finish this week's piece by Wednesday, but the Little Lake Music Festival near my house started up in the afternoon and bled electric blues into my microphone. I was bummed, because I've been drifting over the deadline already. I got a fresh start this morning, and came up with a plan to stay on target - since I started this project May 15, if I can have it finished by July 31st I'll consider myself within the deadline. Kindly ambitious, but I do some of my best work in a panic.

As for the music, I was keen to keep experimenting with overdubbing vocal harmonies, but this week when I tried them against a guitar backdrop it wasn't happening. I started playing the saw over top and found that worked nicely, so I decided to take this week as an opportunity to work on a paired-down arrangement. It peaks at four tracks, but generally I kept it fairly sparse to try and make for more integral performances. That said, it seemed to demand a couple instruments I hardly ever play, and I did my best to oblige. It probably would've turned out better with a couple instrumentalists that aren't me bringing their own thing. Still, I like the chord progression and the mellow feel. My favourite aspect of the Hippopotamus Project so far is the range of genres and atmospheres I've been able to play. Each new piece sounds nothing like the one before, and if that's still the case by week twelve I'll consider it a success.

I was going to call this one "Xtabay," because when I made up the chords I was trying to write a song about a Yucatecan legend. The Xtabay is a spirit in the guise of a beautiful woman who, depending on the person you ask, either leads men to their deaths, to fairyland, or leaves them crucified naked on a cactus. Then I remembered that Yma Sumac has an album called Voice of the Xtabay, and I decided not to compete. So I'll call this one "Dead Leaves," the only two words from the rejected lyrics that survived. Hope you dig it...

"Dead Leaves"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week VI

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)

Here is this week's entry, and on time no less. I was quite satisfied with last week, and a little nervous to find out whether it was a fluke. I'm relieved to hear myself improving on a weekly basis. I think this project started to heat up as soon as I started to focus on the one instrument I can really play the hell out of, my voice. Mind you, this track doesn't feature any mellifluous singing, just mouth trumpet, mouth tuba, and mouth trombone.

I've been to circuses all over the world, from Mexico to Sweden to Canada, and as hoary as the cliches are, I'm still enraptured. I've titled this piece "Two-Bit Trapeze." Production values as usual are a misery, but like the circus, pretend it's part of the charm...

"Two-Bit Trapeze"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week V

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)


 This one arrives nine days after the last - no fancy excuses, mainly nice weather tempting me to leave my very hot recording room.

It's a departure from last week, and I'm quite happy with it (although I'm likely to lose some of the friends of old time music I just made). I did try and get down to the THHOAB project a few times before this one arrived, but all my ideas kept turning out half-baked. I got frustrated and tried to stitch them all together in a pastiche I called "Cluttered Mind." Cluttered Mind featured some very interesting segues and some not-very-interesting performances. Luckily, I heard something in one of the segues which gave me an idea for what you're about to hear.

So, in keeping with the apparent theme of the week, I call this one "Spiritual Plaque." Come to think of it, that's my excuse for being late. It's all the mental clutter and plaque on my spirit. What can I say, I'm doing yoga twice a week and eating plenty of fruit so the condition can't last. I guess if the themes of the past four entries have been concrete, this one is abstract. The thing I'm happiest about is that it was done using exclusively voice, except for a little bit of shaker, and it is hands down the most musical of the five pieces so far. I hope this composition ultimately comes down in favour of the spirit and not the plaque:

"Spiritual Plaque"



(By the way, this file uses a new audio player, and I've converted the old tracks as well. If you've had problems listening to music on Bang & Jangle in the past, I hope this helps.)

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week IV

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)
 

I finally got around to the Two-Headed Hippopotamus Project this weekend. I'd struggled the past few days trying to come up with something I was satisfied with enough to release. I've been reading some books lately on improvisation, and I was gung ho to come up with something freer and more spontaneous than before, even during a relatively impromptu Hippopotamus session. The problem is frequently that by the time I've brought the technical standard up to a level I can accept, the spontaneity and energy I was trying to capture has leached away.

Negotiating between the two extremes, I hit upon an ingenious solution - record something where the sloppiness matches the theme. And so today's entry is entitled "Goodtimes in the Swamp." Initially it had a nature theme, but the composition evolved until it sounded more like a couple hillbillies enjoying each other's company. It's rough and recorded using very few takes, but if it has any charm, that's it. Enjoy...

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week III

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)
 

...of the Damned

It is a bitter irony that the musical projects we lavish the most attention on often don't turn out as well as the ones that came about casually. When you do happen to get lucky, however, it feels good. This week's installment of the Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project came about fairly easily, and I'm happy with the results.

I found a detuned ukelele in the back of my closet and started strumming. The standard chord forms had devolved into something fractured and spooky. So I put it to tape and added a beat, and the result is a weird groove. As usual, my main beef is with the production, or lack thereof. My condenser mic is on the fritz, so you may notice some hiss in the background.

The composition is entitled Tiki Bar of the Damned. There is only one bar in hell, and it is a tiki bar. It is actually kind of nice.

"Tiki Bar of the Damned"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Week II

(The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is a series of impromptu recordings released on a weekly basis. Click the label at the bottom of the post for more details.)
 

A joyless shoe factory

At the end of week two, it looks like the Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project is shaping up to be a series of wordless radio plays. This week's composition, entitled, "I Ain't Making Shoes No More," is the story of a young shoemaker who yearns to be free.


If you missed the grand opening last week, the idea behind the project is to conceive and record a new instrumental piece each week. You can skip to the bottom to hear the latest right now, or you can stick around while I ruminate on the artistic process. I really wish I could've spent more time with this one, but then again I knew I'd say that and that's why I conceived the THHOAB project. I don't think it's my finest hour (I hope not), but it did teach me a few things.

Process

First and foremost, I learned to play the shoes and practiced my tin cans, which I've been meaning to do. But there were some background processes I was working on too. Some people like the quick-change nature of my album Gallows Humour, but others told me they wished I'd just groove a little longer. You'll notice the last installment of TTHOAB clocked in at a scant two minutes and featured a pretty disjunctive switch nonetheless. This time I wanted to work within a single musical thought, and that's why this piece is longer - although I caved to my earlier tendency at the very end for dramatic purposes.

I can't tell, but the end result might be repetitive. The conceit is that our young shoemaker is gradually being seduced into flights of fancy (represented by solos on the tin cans), until his coworkers pull him back in line. The process repeats until he can stand it no longer, and he makes his escape from the factory. I wasn't sure that came across as sharply as I wanted. A technical reason may be that the timbre of the cans doesn't differentiate our hero from the workers enough (they are, in fact, the same cans played with different mic placement and panned left and right). I had it in my head that the cans sounded like little shoe nail hammers, but maybe I should've dug out some beer bottles or something.

One thing that I am happy with is that the piece, at least by my standards, errs on the side of musical rather than dramatic expression. On the first pass, I had our hero begin humming while he worked, and then graduate to a lusty baritone. It told the story, but it was too broad to work as music. Using the can solos to tell the story instead was a step in the right direction. I also had fun making background factory noises, but I limited myself in case I made the piece too sonically busy. As a went to bed after finishing it, my head was full of ideas for that third step to solidify the composition.

But I've already broken my deadline (blame the long weekend), and if I miss another one it's seppuku for me. Maybe I should've posted this at the top, before I gutted it, but here is this week's entry in the Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project:

"I Ain't Making Shoes No More"

The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project: Introduction

It's time to face facts - the maple bugs are gone, and with them the blood to make paintings. I'm idle and artistically unfulfilled.

That said, it did occur to me it was odd to spend time and energy on an art form I have no facility in, when I promote myself as a musician and writer. Hence my latest challenge: The Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack Project.

First, a word about the name. A few years ago, I checked Hans Prinzhorn's Artistry of the Mentally Ill out of a medical library. The book was written in 1922, and represented not only a move towards modern art therapy, but also one of the first examinations of outsider art on the aesthetic level. One of the artists Prinzhorn profiled was Karl Brendel, a one-legged schizophrenic woodcarver. Brendel discovered his occupation while in hospital - doctors recommended supplying him with wood and carving tools when they discovered he was sculpting his food instead of eating it. Among the many masterpieces Brendel sculpted (a lot of hermaphroditic Christs, if I remember correctly), was a slice of surrealist whimsy called "Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack."

That piece epitomizes improvisational creativity for me (I also admire its utility in removing boots). In any case, I have named my improvisational music project in honour of Karl Brendel and his weird bootjack.

I plan to release a twelve-week cycle of tracks composed, performed and recorded fresh each week. Because my songs are usually lyrically focused, the Two-Headed Hippopotamus on a Bootjack pieces will be mostly instrumental. I can guarantee some will be better than others; the production will be virtually non-existent. But hopefully I'll strike gold somewhere in there.

I'm excited about the project because I have found that in attempting to improve as a musician, I have been subtly moving away from my strengths. Instead of cultivating my theatricality, I have let it languish while I run dry technical exercises. Because my voice is my favourite instrument, I have paradoxically set it to one side while I bring others up to standard. Although I'm certainly not giving up on the other elements, it's time for the pendulum to swing the other way and practice some raw creativity. With the need to conceive and execute each piece within a day or two, hopefully I can release the drive to perfectionism, and have a pantload of fun doing it.

I'd like to note that the project is separate from the Real Coyotes and my solo efforts, so for better or for worse anyone coming to the shows might not find the same degree of ravening weirdness. Just a disclaimer in case I confuse anyone.

So, the first track. I find that narratives help me understand where I'm going, so I came up with a scenario. The piece is entitled "Sorcerer Summons the Hippopotamus God," and it begins with the sorcerer and his disciples performing the ancient rite of evocation in an isolated bog. The sorcerer's hubris gets the better of him, and the Hippopotamus God runs amok. It finds its way to the nearest village, where two bored musicians are playing for a drunk. The Hippopotamus God enters the bar and eats him. A long flute tone follows and the sound of a cauliflower landing in a bucket.

I hope you like it. I'll need all the inspiration I can get, so feel free to send me your ideas on what you'd like to hear, or where to take the plotline from here. The musically inclined are even welcome to guest on a track or two. Without further ado, here is:

"Sorcerer Summons the Hippopotamus God"