The Piano And The Guitar

Hello Music Enthusiasts, 

Today, I'd like to discuss the differences and similarities between the guitar and the piano. I just started playing the piano seriously over the weekend and I've made a momentous leap in my playing. I've learned songs and tons and tons of chords, jazz chords, inversions, and some major scales. It's been a blast! Playing the piano and practicing it is as much fun as playing guitar. It's definitely more relaxing. You get to sit down. Maybe it's even better. First the similarities. 

Chords

The piano and the guitar are both primarily chordal instruments of the chordophones family. Meaning that the piano and the guitar both can play multiple notes [or chords] on it at the same time. Unlike a saxophone which can only produce one tone at a time [or if they use free jazz over-blowing technique, they can get overtones, giving them a chord-like sound, but this is rare in most jazz, classical, and pop]. 

Accompaniment

As well as both instruments being able to produce and play chords, both instruments are used primarily for accompaniment, or as we say in the jazz world, for comping [comping is short for accompaniment]. Think about great rock songs that feature piano like With a Little Help From My Friends by the Beatles. The piano is holding the song together by comping chords throughout the song. In addition, think of how the piano in a jazz song becomes a focal point of introductions for songs into comping for the horn lines of the tune. 

Easily Accessible to Everyone

The piano and guitar are both great standard starter instruments for virtually anyone and everyone. Most parents get their young kids to play the piano or guitar at a very young age and let them develop an interest in the instrument. Once they get serious they become good musicians and may later form bands and possibly have a career in music. I would say the piano is more accessible to everyone than guitar because actually playing the piano chords doesn't involve as much finger dexterity, strength finger bending, and finger arching, although the piano's touch and feeling really has to do with what type of piano or keyboard that you are playing. A weighted grand piano will be much harder to play physically than a cheap plastic keyboard. 

Differences

Chord and Scale Fingerings

The main difference I've found between the piano and guitar is a hardcore difference of philosophy in terms of chord and scale fingerings. On the guitar, once you learn a chord voicing fingering or scale pattern, you actually know the chord voicing or scale in every key. Why? Because the guitar is built on patterns. You play a G major barre chord and then you move it up a 5th and you're now playing a D major chord. You can use the exact same kind of chord voicing and all of a sudden you know that chord in literally every key. The guitar is based on a concept, in a sense. You don't have to know that there are 2 sharps in the key of D.

Piano, however, is less based on concepts like the guitar, and more based on the literal notes in front of you that you need to play. Most chords all have different fingerings. Most chord inversions have different fingers. Most scales all have different fingerings. This is where you can see that the piano is a much more serious instrument that requires and demands more attention to what are the actual notes in the chord [the names of the notes], the notes in the scales, the sharps or flats in the key signatures, and you have to know all of this. That's the biggest difference in my humble opinion. 

Of course there are more differences but to keep this short I'll keep things simple with this. I'll stay in the loop and keep you all updated on my piano progress. I can already play simple jazz standards like Autumn Leaves and All The Things You Are. In terms of rock I've tackled Lennon's Imagine and Pilot's It's Magic. I recommend everyone reading this to try out the piano. You might like it. You might even learn to love it. 

How the Beatles Saved Me During Coronavirus

Hello, ladies and gents. How's it going? Well, the answer to that question is probably all over the place. To be completely honest, the world has pretty much gone to shit, 'in it? That's my British slang for you. There's actually a perverse goodness and grace that has come out of all this disorder and chaos. Consider the fact that if it were not for all of the terrible things that have happened, Trump just may have gotten re-elected, and easily too. Of course, we will see in November. 

But I'm actually hear to discuss music. The Beatles saved me during coronavirus. No other band or musical style have resonated with me this much during the crisis. It's pretty easy to see why I like them so much and why they've made such a big impact on me during this particular time in my life. 

For starters, they're one of the best classic rock groups of all time. Of course, they're more pop than rock, but they had their more rock and roll moments, especially early in their career, like the Revolver album or A Hard Day's Night. Consider the fact that Jimi Hendrix only agreed to go to London and become a rock star there only if he got to meet Eric Clapton and the Beatles. They're so famous they're bigger than Jesus. No offense Jesus, you're pretty cool yourself. 
 

Second, the lyrics. The lyrics in Beatles songs are the bread and butter of their music. The lyrics are always simple but they are powerful. Sometimes the best lyrics are simple everyday thoughts, patterns, and phrases that have been rewritten into a more catchy form. Easy to understand, very difficult to master.  

Third, the guitar and drum parts. Okay, so to actually perform their songs, its nothing really all that special. However, they did it so well as a band, that I'm actually impressed with John Lennon and George Harrison's guitar work. Harrison and Lennon are two of the best guitarists in rock history and Paul McCartney is one of the best bassists in rock. In terms of Paul's bass sound you can judge for yourself, after hearing countless great bass runs throughout the Beatles catalogue, you just know he's a great player. Ringo laid down the groove. 

One of my favorite time periods for the Beatles was when they first came to America, and they were playing stadiums full of screaming girls. John played a Rickenbacker guitar and really strummed the hell out of it. Those were the days. 

Lastly, the personal connection through loneliness, isolation, listening to the music, and feeling so good despite it all. Their music makes me feel good. Sometimes I'll listen to them all day and I can still hear the songs in my head when I lay down at night. Even at that level, their music calms me down and soothes me. The positivity is so strong.

This is the ultimate band for the ultimate cheerful person, the person who smiles when everybody else complains. It's the soundtrack to my life. At least for now.  

The world is burning outside, but it's all good because she loves you, and you know that can't be bad. She loves you and you know you should be glad. [wooooooooooooooo!] 

Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist is a pop thriller by science fiction [cyberpunk especially] mastermind Bruce Sterling. It has no science fiction elements per se but there are some ideas that I've seen in Sterling's sci fi works here. The one that comes to mind is that nothing ever works out as planned. Don't even bother planning things because it will never turn out the way you want it. Shit happens.

The story is about a guy named "Leggy" Starlitz, who's running a Spicegirls-esque scam. He has seven girls from seven countries (the G-7, the American one, the French one, etc), and they go around touring, singing, and dancing, selling tons of merchandise but no records. The scam is going to the Middle East, where Leggy becomes a part of the criminal and political establishment, as an all girls pop group manager. Oh, and the girls can't sing, they're just lip syncing at shows. 

Leggy has just one rule for the group. The whole scam ends on Y2K. Written in 2000, this book fully captures what it was like at the beginning of the millennium. The novel takes a different course in the master narrative when Leggy's ex-lover [a lesbian with whom he had a threesome with, that spawned a child] leaves their kid with Leggy, in Istanbul. This is when Leggy realizes he has to change as a person, become a good father in his own way, while going through his own personal life. You could say Y2K is used as a midlife crisis here. 

Sterling makes good use of references here. Everything from Dragonball, Saliormoon, Celion Dion, heavy metal [which has the same meanings in every language, the language of distorted guitars and screaming vocals] Brian Eno, and tons of European philosophers that even I myself haven't heard of [I'm a big reader of philosophy but these seemed to be modern European philosophers], and Gabriel Marquez. You can see that Sterling knows a lot and that he can show off when he wants to. That's fine and dandy but some of the references can go over your head if you're not familiar with the terrain.

The master narrative, as Leggy tries to explain to his daughter is understood to be Leggy's own personal life story and everything contained within it. Leggy tells his daughter [who's 11 years old] that if you want to understand the world and people, you have to understand language. Never does this make any more sense than in a novel. However, this can also be applied to real life, where language is pretty much a science. The way you speak with your English in America can get you anywhere you want to go in life. 

The narrative takes a climatic turn when Leggy and Zeta, his daughter go off to Mexico to find Leggy's dad. They find him in some dump in the middle of nowhere, in an abandoned building. They had no ID, passports, money, or anything other than the clothes on their backs. "This is how most of the world lives. Most of their lives on the back page." Leggy says something to that effect and after seeing his dad his midlife crisis seems to be almost over. There's a lot of talk during this section about the atomic bomb testings and such. Apparently Leggy's father worked with the government as a code talker. But after this Leggy still has to deal with the G-7 girls, his pop group. 

Once he goes back to the Middle East he finds out the guy he made a deal with to manage the band while he was away didn't do a good job with the girls. Despite it all being a scam, one of Leggy's rules was "don't let any of the girls die". And two of them had died at this point in the novel. As you can imagine, they don't get along. Not to mention the fact that the business associate is also a heroin and arms deals trafficker with ties to government. 

The ending is very anticlimactic. In fact, Y2K passed very easily and painlessly for Leggy and he goes to a somewhat normal life after that. The novel is very funny, sometimes too funny. In fact the last couple sentences, there is a funny joke. Leggy's Russian buddy says they should do an all girls group from impoverished and war-beaten countries, and they wouldn't make any money from the group. And that in fact, they would pay people to lose money for them. That's pop for you. 

This is my third Bruce Sterling novel I've read and wrote about. Check out my other reviews below.

https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2018/12/holy-fire.html 
https://ofigueroamusic.blogspot.com/2019/01/schismatrix-plus.html 

Two Pop Songs

Greetings everyone! Here I'd like to share with you two pop tunes I worked on with this Irish producer from Poland, named Robbie. He found me on Craigslist and got me started on recording sometime in 2016. He's kind of the reason I bought an interface and started recording on my own. I owe a lot to him in a way although we've only talked through emails. I plan to continue recording with him.

The first tune is Teenage Tears, a tune I have a copy of from two years ago, but this one is a finished and modified version. My guitar part comes in at 4:04 on this one.

Listen to Teenage Tears here https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/teenage-tears-alternate-version

In addition, I also worked on this Reprise. Shorter tune. Guitar part comes in at 1:38. Listen to the tune here https://soundcloud.com/orlando-figueroa-17/reprise

Although my guitar parts here are kind of small these recordings are significant because they were the first studio recordings I worked on with a real producer. I worked on an album when I was nineteen in my metal band but that album ended up getting scrapped.

So here's to some studio recordings, cheers! 

Musical ideas to work on and pontificate

So I thought I'd jot down some more musical ideas.

I would become the drummer for the potential punk/metal band that friends wanna start. I really like drums and I was even thinking about buying a kit some months ago but ended up not doing it. I was supposed to buy a drum machine but I haven't done that yet either. Even the drum machine would be great to keep time because we have a bass and two guitars already.

Start a project with my drummer friend. This guy seems to be super into music and perhaps hes dedicated as as drummer as well. I'm not quite sure but what I do know is that he travels to a lot of shows. I have no idea as to what his musical skill level is at but I am curious. I had this great idea for a two man band just me and him where I do vocals and play guitar, something like the Black Keys or the White Stripes.

Jam with another guitarist. I know a guy that I met through a mutual friend that wants to jam with me. I'm shooting for a jam with him on Wednesday. All I know is that he sings and plays a stratocaster but he said he's down to play some jazz standards when we jam. Should be interesting. That same night I'll probably go to the open jam this week.

Open jam night attendance. I should definitely attend the open jam this week. I've been missing them the last few weeks and I want to play out, perhaps even sing a song while playing guitar. I was thinking something like George Harrison's My Sweet Lord. Or another simple easy Beatles tune like Come Together. If not I am also down to just jam out.

Contact the bass player I was working with a few weeks ago. I was actually working with a talented bass player but it seems I haven't been able to contact him for weeks after we got together and jammed a few times. It's a shame because he's probably the best bass player I've ever played with. I'll continue trying to reach him but at this point it seems like he doesn't want to work together.

Work on and write original songs with lyrics. I have been working on songs. A non-musical friend of mine wrote three songs of a pretty dark nature and sent me the lyrics and he wanted me to add music to it. I've been edited the lyrics to make the songs make more sense and have some kind of theme to it. I'll probably be done editing those songs soon and I'll try putting music to it. Then I'll record it with myself doing the vocals.

Listen to new music. I was thinking I could write more original and cool sounding music if I learn more about pop music. I want to start listening to rappers, pop singers, even country and bluegrass, and more indie rock stuff.

Record original stuff and learn Ableton more. I've taken a bit of a break away from recording because me and the producer I was working with finished one song and then I'm going to finish a short guitar solo for this other tune than I'm going to be done working with him. I was doing it all at night and I realized I'm not really at my best playing guitar and recording at night, especially because sometimes my dad is listening to other music or watching the news around that time. Trying to figure out good times to record during the afternoon but lately I'm either hanging out with friends or at work. Should be back at it soon though. I've still been practicing a lot of guitar everyday.

Play more acoustic guitar. Lately I've been getting into more acoustic guitar playing. Maybe further down the road I'll even buy an acoustic electric guitar. So much to do, so little time and money.

Spawning more musicians

So I've been pretty busy jamming acoustic guitars with my friends lately. I'm spawning more musicians! It doesn't get any better than that other than getting paid for playing music. This past weekend my friend and I went down to Guitar Center Sherman Oaks and he bought his first guitar. I helped him pick out this stunning Luna acoustic electric guitar that sounds really nice.

Today we were at another friends house and they were playing together. Basic acoustic guitar stuff like power chords and simple riffs. It was fun. The Luna sounds great when its plugged into an amp, we learned that today for sure. One of the coolest attributes about the Luna is the moon half moon inlays on the first couple fret markers and the artistic headstock it has. It has this sharpie look black art on the body that looks awesome. Its smooth.

One of them is already showing good signs as a guitarist. I feel like acoustic guitar is better for beginners so I told my friend he would be better off with an acoustic electric that way he could still buy an amp later and plug it in, or buy an electric later once he's got the basics down. He wanted this Schecter electric that sounded so deep and bass-y (because of super heavy strings) but in the end we decided not to go with it. I told him it was a much more metal sort of guitar that's more about playing in drop c or c sharp and chugging metal riffs on the low strings. Definitely not his forte yet.

Usually when I hang out with friends we always play guitar now. In a way I've become kind of a guitar sempai because I'm taken up a teacher role even though that wasn't necessarily what I wanted. I wanted them to work a lot more on the guitar themselves but so far the guys only really play when I'm around. We have a friend that me and my other friend bought a bass for and he had a circuit problem with the pickups and he hasn't played it much ever since despite me telling him that they can fix his sound issue for as little as twenty bucks. 

The original idea was that me and two other friends would eventually create a metal band. The other two guys were suppose to practice their instruments and eventually get to like a beginner punk/metal level of musicianship. Then I would help out with supplying riffs and/or vocals. Its a great idea but its going to take a lot longer than I originally anticipated so that's why I'm working super hard recording and collaborating with other musicians.

I have been able to get some musical works with my friends though so its not like nothings been done. My metal band project will take a while because the guys need to learn how to play better and how to play fast clean but I have other friends and one of them wrote three songs. We even recorded vocals and guitar parts for them already with this super nice microphone that I bought. His vocals aren't the best because he isn't a musician but we did get to test out the mic and the quality was good.

I'm going to give his songs a bunch of edits and possibly rewrite and draft the songs again and see if I can give them more of a indie rock punk sorta vibe. As we recorded it was an indie rock kind of sound but it needs more bite, attack to it if you will. It needs a punk edge to it because the songs are dark.

So all together I'm working with two guitar players in the learning process (one pretty far along that already knows basic chords at the nut), a bass player in training (but still has a long way to go), and a songwriter that works on lyrics. Maybe in the end I'll have the whole Valley working with me on music haha. I have been jamming with a really talented bass player that I used to work with too but it seems that a lot of the time I can't get in contact with him. I rely on texting to contact him and sometimes it doesn't work. Calling never works either.

My main goal right now is to put up some solo guitar stuff, mostly jazz standards. I found out tonight that my Reverbnation account https://www.reverbnation.com/landofigueroaandtheelectricsaxophone?profile_view_source=header_icon_nav is ranked 70 on the indie jazz chart even though all that's on there is low quality jams of things I recorded back in 2015. I'm thinking of replacing what's on there with some better quality music, mostly jazz standards. With my current setup I can record multiple guitar tracks and do a sort of guitar orchestra type of thing. I want to have something up online soon, I'll post when I have it done.

Spawn additional music makers.

Recording

So I ended up investing in some recording equipment. I've been working on recording every night and I'm even working with a producer from Poland on what I'd describe as emo europop music. I bought a Scarlett Solo interface and I run that through from my Marshall to my laptop. It's a lot of wires but I'm actually recording pretty good quality stuff. So far I've just been laying down guitar parts for these emo europop music with this producer that found me online. I see working with him as my first step into recording.

Eventually I'll start working on my own stuff and have a Soundcloud page and stuff like that for people to check out my guitar playing and later down the line complete songs with guitar, vocals, bass, and drums. I can already record guitar and bass its just the drums I'd have to create. This is my second goal that I want to achieve pretty fast. 

It feels great to be working on music and recording every night. It has become in a sense a job because I have to learn the music softwares and figure everything out but once I get all the technicalities out of the way I should be able to create some great music.

My plan is to create basic demos of sketches of song ideas and then refine them into songs through the recording process. It's going to be a lot of work every night. I prefer recording at night after work because everything's quiet. Everything doesn't have to be so loud so it works out perfectly. I have the Marshall and laptop setup in my living room. So in a sense my living room and my laptop is my studio, how about that! Haha, I'll keep you all updated on when I have stuff posted online to listen to.

Bill Frisell, Guitar in the Space Age!

I wanted to do a short review for this album because I thought it was pretty great for an eclectic jazz guitar record. Bill Frisell is well known in the jazz and guitar world and has played with many of the elder statesmen of jazz. Heck, he is an elder statesmen of jazz. This album is all covers of tunes he learned and/or knew about in his formative years learning guitar. Because the tunes go way back its almost an exercise in American popular guitar music. And that's why I think its so great.

In some ways you have to be a baby boomer to consider this one of Frisell's best recordings. I wouldn't go that far and say that is one of his best I've ever heard but I do think its a masterful recording, particularly the arrangements of the tunes. He does them all as instrumentals and does service to the songs rather than improvising in jazz vocabulary.

His guitar tone throughout the album is magnificent. There's even a tune where he sounds just like B.B King. Surfer Girl sounds like the Beach Boys as I know them. Rumble is as rock and roll as ever. He pulls off the tunes well and the musicians playing with him are equal part to the guitar.

Playing pop, rock, blues, folk, and country Americana tunes isn't exactly jazz but if done in a certain way it gives off cool vibes. Now I might want to learn some of these old tunes for myself. Bill Frisell's a great guitarist and his jazz work is incredible. This album here is a much different kind of album that doesn't showcase his chops but instead tells a story about the songs that were popular in his time. I find the title of the album to be a great fit because these songs were all popular around the time the Americans landed on the moon. It goes way back man.

Great stuff!

BB King and guitar music

     Today was a long day at work but on my lunch break I turned on PBS and there was a BB King documentary on. It was fitting for me because lately I've been listening to a lot of great guitar music. And in addition, its black history month, and who better to celebrate than BB King. We just lost him recently in 2015, he's safe, and he just might have been the greatest blues musician of all time.
     What I really like about BB is his guitar playing. His vibrato sings so sweetly and his guitar tone is so light, smooth, and jazzy. He's the most jazzified blues guitarist I've ever heard. He adds a lot of chromatic notes into his lines and its more interesting stuff than what other blues guitarists were doing. It sounds like BB listened to a lot of jazz at some point. For one thing he plays a semi-hollow body Gibson guitar and that gives him a big round tone that is more typical for a modal jazzer than a blues man. It was great to see a documentary detailing all of BB's accomplishments and seeing that his memory is still with us. Long live the King!
     Lately, I've been listening to a lot of great guitar music. John McLaughlin, Eric Johnson, and Robben Ford. This guy that comes to my work also told me to check out Mark Knofler's live version of Sultans of Swing .I'll have to check that out sometime but I've heard that Knofler is a phenomenal guitar player. I gotta say that I really dig Robben Ford's guitar style. He seems jazzy yet he plays such simple sounding stuff at the same time. Its a very interesting style where he never overplays. He's an interesting picker and at one point early in his career he played with Miles Davis. Listening to John McLaughlin has been a blast. I heard a while back that he had an album called Black Light that just came out but I haven't gotten it yet. I will get it because I'm tired of just listening to stuff on youtube, pandora, and soundcloud. I need new albums! I've already got a super big collection full of great stuff (mostly jazz, rock, and metal) and it wouldn't hurt to get more.
     In addition to guitar music, I've been listening to a lot of game music. I love the music selection from Smash 4, its just awesome! I particularly love the music from Metroid, Fire Emblem, Midgar stage, Legend of Zelda, Mario Bros themes, and Dream Land stage theme. I love it all really haha. I really like the idea of playing video game songs and turning them into jazz standards with interesting chord changes and voicings. Think of how awesome that would be to play that live!  Music has always been that one constant in my life. As Frank Zappa said,"music is the best."

St.Vincent's self titled album

     Here's a post that doesn't involve jazz but in a way it kind of does because Annie Clark (singer,guitar player,composer for St.Vincent) used to go to Berklee College of Music for three years. She dropped out before finishing her degree but she has stated that she did learn a lot of jazz chord voicings on the guitar, and was exposed to jazz greats like Miles Davis. When it comes to rock music I tend to prefer live performances because I like to see how the musicians interpret the music from the record on stage. I've seen tons of concert footage of St.Vincent on YouTube. I really dig what she does. Her guitar playing, singing, and stage show are really on point and she sounds unique and herself, one of the hardest things any musician can do. This is a great record released in 2014 and won a Grammy for best Alternative Music Album. Let's talk about the songs.
     The first song is 'Rattlesnake'. The lyrics begin with 'follow the power lines back from the road'. It has a midi/digital effects kind of vibe, with this electronic music going on over catchy lyrics and a simple robotic drumbeat. The song is so catchy it could be mistaken for a pop song if it wasn't for the avant-garde type sounding arrangement. There's all this electronic stuff going on and to top it off there's this distorted guitar solo that is very melodic. Annie is a great guitar player by the way, even if she does rely on effects (stomp-boxes, guitar pedals) too much.
     Next, is 'Birth in Reverse', which sounds more like a classic rock type song, almost a bluesy type thing with funky guitar chords. The guitar is more important here, and she plays a lot of funky stuff but it sounds avant-garde and would fit in a pop context too. The lyrics are 'like a birth in reverse, what I saw through the blinds'. Its a simple tune with verse chorus type pop arrangement but at the end again there's this instrumental break that is totally unique and only sound like St.Vincent. You can tell she listened to a lot of Talking Heads from these instrumental parts.
     The next tune is 'Prince Johnny'. This one has a more mellow vibe with keyboard chords sounding like a mellotron, which The Beatles and progressive rock bands like King Crimson used to use. It's a very progressive sounding track. The chorus lyrics are 'so you pray to all, to make you a real boy'. The drums sound programmed on this track. The lyrics seem simple but they have a complexity to them. I don't really understand what she's singing about because this is only the second time I've listened to this album but I really dig the music and the progressive and avant-garde nature of it.
     Then, is the song 'Huey Newton'. This one is one of her best songs in my opinion. I've seen her play it tons of times on YouTube concert footage. There's an electronic musical kind of thing going in the background over these organ type guitar chords. This is where you can see her Berklee education showing through. These guitar chord voicings aren't your standard barre chords, they're more complex voicings. In the middle of the tune there's this great synthesizer solo that sounds like something straight out of the English progressive rock scene. I love it! Then she comes in with this sick guitar line that is totally rock and roll over some great lyrics. At this part of the song she sounds like a total rock star, which she totally is. The guitar is heavily distorted and has tons of reverb and effects.
     Next up is another tune that I really like of hers that she plays a lot live. It's called 'Digital Witness'. It has some great lyrics that I like. 'Get back, to your seat, Get back, gnashing teeth, Ooh, I want all of your mind'. 'People turn the the TV on, it looks just like a window, Ooh, Ya.' This is probably the most pop sounding song on the album thus far. It even has some digital effects doing a horn section part over the verses. The chorus is just so catchy. The whole song is catchy. If someone never heard St.Vincent I would probably play them this song because its simple and shows off her typical sound and songwriting without filler.
     The next number is 'I Prefer Your Love'.  This one sounds like a ballad, a song about love. The lyrics are 'I, I prefer your love, to Jesus'. The drums are a simple robotic drum beat over and over again over these lush orchestral keyboard/synthesizer chords that sound beautiful. As much as she is a guitar player, she sure does love her keyboards and synthesizers.
     Next, is a more rock type tune called 'Regret'. Here Annie relies on the guitar to play this kind of almost punk riff. But during the chorus the keyboards shine in. Then there's this distorted guitar interlude, almost like a solo but not quite. The chord progressions she uses are quite unique in the middle of the song. It sounds like a jazz progression. There's so much going on in this song that its hard to describe it all with words.
     This next one is another one she plays all the time live. It's called 'Bring Me Your Loves'. The lyrics are 'Bring me your loves, All your loves, your loves, I wanna love them too, you know. I thought you were like a dog, I thought you were like a dog, But you made a pet of me.' The song is totally robotic sounding in an avant-garde way. Her voice really sounds great here. I don't really know anyone who sounds or sings like her. She has a unique way of doing vocals. The keyboards here play some great chord progressions over the simple lyrics with the verse chorus verse chorus arrangement going on.
     Then, we have a song called 'Pychopath'. This sounds like a more rock song but instead of a guitar riff it has keyboard jabs playing a simple riff that sounds totally rock. The music is very pop here until the guitar solo comes in. It's a nice distorted guitar solo that sounds like Jimmy Page from Led Zepplin. She's such a guitar hero! Her guitar solos are very short but are very catchy and melodic despite playing with heavily distorted guitar. By this point you begin to realize the kinds of arrangements Annie Clark does, and her personal style of music.
     This far at the end of the album we have a tune entitled 'Every Tear Dissapears'. This one has an experimental vibe to it. After a few verses of a robotic electronic sounds and vocals there's this electronic kind of interlude that sounds really spacey, like out of this world. She relies so much on the keyboards but she makes such good use of them with those long open orchestral sounding progressions. If that wasn't enough she also has these guitar breaks and riffs, adding more depth to the song and doing things that couldn't be done with the keyboards alone.
     Finally, the last song is 'Severed Cross Fingers', which sounds like a country song. It has what sounds like an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar through an acoustic setting on an amp. This song sounds like a total hipster indie thing. It reminds me of being at a barn but the backing vocals remind me of hipsters smoking cigarettes on the sidewalk. In the middle of the tune there's this total 70's soul inspired chord progression that sounds totally bizarre, in a good way. If that wasn't enough, there's a melodic synthesizer part ending the tune.
     Lastly, this is the second time I've heard the album and its a good one in my collection. Usually I'm more of a jazz guy but this is great music as well. Annie Clark isn't really pop or rock. She's more like avant-garde chamber jazz, if that were a thing. She really has some great inspired musical arrangements in her songs. I would say that the complexity she has, she learned from Berklee but she could've just got it from her influences, which are all kind of different stuff. Bands like Talking Heads and Miles Davis, shit like that. I bought this album not too long ago at my local record shop. I listened to it once but didn't think much of it because it's such a short album, plus at the time I was listening to it while doing other things, not really paying attention to the music or lyrics. The album has gotten great reviews from a lot of major publications like Allmusic, The Guardian, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, etc. This second time around listening to it, I realized how much of a great songwriter Annie Clark is. She's a bit of an improviser, rocker, composer, and singer. She does it all. I would say St. Vincent is one of my favorite rock bands, for good reason. She has the chops, the voice, and the songwriting ability of a great musician. She'll go far with her music although I don't think she will ever be super famous like say Taylor Swift or Beyonce. But for hipsters, alternative music fans, and people who like jazz and improvisational music like myself, her music is just perfect.