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Newest
(i.e., most recent. Least antiquitous. Newfangled, even.)
Bears Ex Machina This is an entire album (10 songs, but about 20 minutes long) written and recorded in February of 2008 for Record Production Month. I just clicked the Random Article button in Wikipedia and wrote a song about whatever came up.
In Your Light. Based on Ps. 36:9, written 1-31-06. The line "I'm a crusty dog turd" is sung enthusiastically at the beginning (as a mic check) and is also part of the song, and the phone rings at the end, making it even more awesome.
Peach, Plum, Pear. Cover of a song by Joanna Newsom, from her album The Milk Eyed Mender. Recorded 1-19-06.
Psalm 37. Just a short song based on Psalm 37. Written 8-18-05.
The Quetzalcoatl Waddle. The latest dance craze to hit the ancient Aztec city of Quetzalcoatl! Written 6-20-05.
Christian
Songs in this section all have something to do with Christ.
The Thirst and the Fall. Summer of 2000. Johnathan Fowler recently started making an a capella version, which you can hear here.
When the Bridegroom Comes. Written Spring of 2000. Mike Doberenz beat on something loudly the whole time I was recording this, no matter how nicely I asked him to stop. (Just kidding, Mike, you rock :-)
Waited Long Days. I read somewhere that when he was old the Apostle John used to get really sad wanting to go to Heaven. If you think about it, he lived the longest of any of the disciples, so near the end of his life all of the friends he had been so close to were gone. This song is kind of about that feeling.
Grace. Written Summer of '02. I hate having a song where the title is the same as about a million other songs out there (at least Christian songs), but it's better than "Untitled #497" or even worse -- have you seen stuff like this? -- "Untitled (Grace)." I mean, how is the song "Untitled??" You put the title right there in the parentheses!! I am aghast.
As I Am and So Alive. The oldest songs on here are also the ones with the best sound quality. I wrote these in high school and recorded summer of '98 at R/R Studios in Lake Jackson. The Amazing Paul Pisklak on drums, ladies and gentlemen. Emily House sings backup on "As I Am." David "Virtuoso" May plays a ripping guitar solo on "So Alive." (Interestingly, David's middle name really is "Virtuoso," and it really is in quotation marks on his birth certificate.)
The Can-Do Missions Song. On the way back from a Can-Do Mission to San Lorenzo, Mexico, I co-wrote this song with my friend Landon Ledlow. At one point, there was actually a part of the song where Landon would RAP, but he wasn't around when I recorded this, and I couldn't remember how that part goes. The world may never know. ***UPDATE*** If you're interested in hearing the rap part (or just another version of this song), Landon sent me a recording he made of the whole song. Here it is -- enjoy!
When We Rise. One of my favorite song topics, experiencing the resurrection with my wife. It's a cool thought to me that we'll be buried side by side, so she'll be the first person I see at the resurrection.
Spoken Word
Why would I post such embarrassing content on my own website? It's not like anyone put a gun to my head. And yet, here it is.
Answering Machine. Colin and I had a pretty funny answering machine in college.
Marmaset Moroseness. A poem I wrote with my good friend Gottfried while on a long van ride to Mexico. Just like Marma used to make.
Tuckus. A short poem about a Turkish llama salesman.
Stay of Execution. In the summer of 2000, Jason Moreno and I made a lot of recordings like this. We'd just sit around in front of my computer (with a sound recording program loaded) thinking, and when one of us got an idea, they'd hit record and start talking, and the other one would just have to try and keep up. They are mostly pretty awful, like a train wreck that you can't look away from.
Fantastic Man. An underutilised super hero has a nervous breakdown in a grocery store.
Plate of Nachos. I was over at Johnathan's and we were recording improv songs for fun. If you listen very carefully at the beginning, you can hear him ask Whitney, "What should we sing about?" She says, "A plate of nachos!" And a few seconds later, the song starts (he's on guitar, I'm vocalizing my love for nachos).
Intercourse, PA. Intercourse is a real town in Pennsylvania. The song practically writes itself! On a different note, now Karianne won't be able to view this page from work, because they use a web traffic filter and the page contains the word "Intercourse."
The Andrew Gore Song. Andrew Gore is a friend from high school. We were on the basketball team together, and one time on a trip to a game I brought along a tape recorder and recorded Andrew telling stories. When I got home, I sampled some techno beats and made this song.
Moses Supposes. Karianne and I made this song up together. The lyrics are mostly based on tongue twisters (rubber baby buggy bumpers, you know you need unique new york, that sort of thing).
You Wouldn't Understand
These are full of inside jokes, so they might only be funny if you were somehow involved.
The Tiffany Song. There was this mission trip to Mexico, see. And we were driving late at night in a van. And I had my guitar, and my good friend Mike had his drum. We found out that Tiffany doesn't have a middle name, so we made one up for her, started improv-ing, and this song was born.
The Lindsay Kelly Song. Pretty much the same story as The Tiffany Song. The funny thing here is that Mike and I didn't sit down to record this until several weeks after we made it up... so we couldn't remember any of the verses! Not to worry, we just made up some totally new and completely unrelated ones.
Futuramike. This one time, Mike built a time machine.
Short but Weird
Short and/or weird songs.
Frubglinoids. Totally awesome words by Gottfried Schroeder.
Speedy Monkey. I had just gotten a 4-track recorder, and I took it over to my friend Chip's. After messing around for a while, he handed me his guitar and said, "Dude, you just play something psychadelic, and I'll talk." Thus, Speedy Monkey was born.
Love Songs, Shmove Songs
These aren't really all love songs, but I didn't want to call them "Miscelaneous."
Starshine. My attempt to write a Backstreet Boys song.
Space Girl. This song got played on the radio in College Station once. The only "fan letter" I've ever received in the mail was from a girl named Kim who heard it on the radio, and later she sent me a picture of her (I think she was like 14), and on the back she wrote something like "I'm your space girl!" I'm embarrassed to say that this made me feel very cool.
I get into you. The intro to this one has some crazy panning -- listen to it through headphones and you'll get dizzy!
Beautiful Escapes. Sweet dreams, sweet love, and bittersweet are tangled up in her.
You Can Call Me Al. Written by Paul Simon. This was my first real recording using a 4-track (hence the tape hiss).
Hey, Jude. I'm playing two instruments at once while singing... In a way...
Song Week #1
Song Week is something my friend Johnathan and I do every so often: we try to write and record a song every day for a week. The songs are not all winners, so I'm only posting some favorites here. These are from the very first Song Week in September of 2000.
Last I Heard. Maybe it's me, but it seems all I need or ever needed was forgiveness.
Run Aground. Kind of a Matchbox-20-ish break-up song.
Deposit. Also a break-up song. "Break-ups" was the unofficial theme of Song Week #2.
Song Week #3
This time we added some rules -- we picked bands that we were going to try to emulate with each song that we wrote. Johnathan did a lot better at emulating styles than I did, but I gave it a shot. What can I say, I gotta be me. (from sometime in the spring of 2002, I think)
Karianne. Trying to sound like Weezer. Ended up sounding more like Buddy Holly, who Weezer wrote a song about. So the circle of life is complete.
Song Week #4
This is from sometime in '04. For this one, Johnathan and I made up a couple of song titles for each other, so I had to write a song called "Kaleidoscope" and "Dingleberry Soup" -- a good challenge!
If I put our names here, maybe googling for them will someday lead people to this page, so here they are: Derek Kurth, Karianne Kurth (formerly Karianne Leikam), and Kaeta Kurth.
