I’m going back to work on this song until I get some sleep, but I’m just enjoying where this Song8 took me. If you listen back you’ll hear that start, and then listen to yesterday and then today. It’s like chalk and cheese (i think that’s the lamest saying but ‘meh who I am to change things .. lol). The chorus is a bit, err, jazzish and um. So hard to describe. I think I tread this line of being really commercial, and it scares me. I really just want to push electronic music, not sound like some pop sensation.

There is no list today. I just wrote and got lost in the music, and I enjoy that the most when it’s teaching me things, and I’m tapping out beats and quickly adding chns and adding new percussion here and there. So enjoy.

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If you haven’t already and you felt like it, vote for me at Garage to V. It’s the last days ,and I guess we’ll see if I get to play the V festival.

It’s been really muggy and hot here in brisbane. When I get home the heat in the house takes a few hours to go away. I don’t like summer at all, it’s so blerg. I created a strong beat build up that may or may not link into Song8 v1. I may ditch that movement as I find it a little cliche, sorry if you like it. Not much tonight, just a beat with bass. I can’t wait to hear this fresh later on and hear a really great melody over the top of it. I think I’ll save it and wait till I forget it.

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Hunz Song8 V3

I feeling a bit over it tonight but I know that’s the heat. Work has been so full on that it just zaps the passion out of you when you get home but I’ll try to inject that frustration into melodies instead.

I almost just did nothing tonight. I feel blah about this tune. Purely because i wrote it for the sake of it, and it just highlights my style and the band cliche’s within it. I could be WAY off the mark but ‘eh. Did I mention it’s incredibly hot tonight, and I hate the heat. My perfect day is rainy but being indoors, and that coolness greets you. You taunt me so!!

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Hunz Song8 V1

Time for me to sleep. I have a 6am start in the morning, so FEAR my state in the morning. Thanks for all your wonderful words for the 1st song too.

Wow. This review speaks for itself but I feel so blessed that people are enjoying my shows. Thank you.

The Troubadour – 7th of Feb

In an uncharacteristic change from my last pilgrimage to the Troub, the crowd is very modest-sized tonight; this occurrence presumably caused by the majority of Brisbane’s gig-goers being at either Cold War Kids, Crystal Castles, The Streets or the freshly-reborn Wolfmother’s “secret” gig. However it doesn’t deter the incomparable Hunz from delivering another standout show; the haunting “down, down, fall down” sample barely fades when the furiously-swaying frontman summons a melange of Four Tet-like glitches before launching into another soaring, drawn-out chorus. The power trio dynamic is employed to full extent – I ‘ve already previously mentioned how impeccable the rhythm section is and how much beautiful, charging bottom end can be extracted from an unfashionable 5-string bass. Additionally, I’m now convinced that the band’s music is as much perfect pop as it is math-rock, Hunz’s Thom Yorke – meets – Chino Moreno voice and modified synth/laptop skills a joy to behold. Let’s just hope he can never change, as he sings.

Tonight’s wildly eclectic bill has plenty of room for no-nonsense, Radio Birdman-style vintage rock & roll, which Black Mustang serve up with gusto. Celebrating their 5th anniversary as a band, singer/guitarists Steve Foster and Dave Starr, four-string punisher Dan Charlton and drummer Joe Hemingway launch into prime head- and hip-shaking ramalama; the swaggering Reason To Love, _Suzie_’s tambourine-aided sex beat, _I’m Not Scared_’s defiant crunch and signature tune _The One_’s glam stomp and genius three-power chord riff get both boys and girls moving and grooving. Ordering us to keep dancing, the quartet churn out a visceral Led Zep-like break before employing plenty of Chris Walken-satisfying cowbell on thudding set closer Jimmy; I am again reminded that local rock music doesn’t get any better than this and that Black Mustang’s Between The Devil And The Blue Sea album is a definite must for the car stereo – and other settings.

Rounding off the night, My Fiction are just as spot-on with their indie-disco throb as Black Mustang are with their classic piledrivers. There’s plenty of Robert Smith theatrics in frontman *Eric Robinson*’s voice as the band charge through the muscular rhythms of single Go and the exuberant_Your Tokyo_; riding the ‘80s-leaning track of the criminally underrated Departure and VHS Or Beta (circa Night On Fire), the four-piece are as fun to watch as their skittering, frequently wah-augmented riffs are catchy. Caught up in the excitement, lead guitarist James Laubscher jumps off the stage and proceeds to attack his instrument on the dancefloor to the collective delight. The big gigs might have attracted the wider crowd, but everyone present here at the Troub tonight could not possibly have any complaints about a highly entertaining evening of quality local music at a majorly cool venue.

Read review at FasterLouder.com.au

Thanks again.

Should have seen this one coming but I’m an animator so I used the codes we use for saving our files. I’ve now decided to change them around. So I’ll have the day we are up too what song I’m working on (until it gets a name) and what version I’m up too. I hope that makes sense.

After going to mr.maps cd launch last night I’ve been feeling that wind of music underneath me where everything and anything is possible. Please if you haven’t checked them out, do. It was an amazing experience that I would repeat again tonight if he was doing another show. So I present to you my 1st completed tune. I need names people and I’m not precious about these things so gimme something and I’ll tag it.

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Hunz Song1 Version05

Verse
Well take my heart
and break it down, won’t you?
yeah, tear it apart
This broken heart. yes you!
and once that’s done
we’ll build it up. won’t we?
we’ll cram it full
of promises won. won’t we?

Chorus
and it’s a long road
It’s a long road

Verse
Let’s make a start
Let’s make a start to this
this cuts so deep
I need loves thread to stitch this
And when it’s done
we’ll have to run from here
the past has drawers
that store the oldest old ways

Chorus
and it’s a long road
It’s a long road too

Bridge
I dream of a day when it all feels truly clear
those clouds just disappeared as I’m watching them go
I dream of a day when it all feels truly clear
those clouds just disappeared as I’m watching them go

Chorus
and it’s a long road
It’s a long road too (I’m trying find it)

So how do I feel about this song. I’m not loving the chorus. I find it too, um, upbeat or something or comical. Don’t know. I do know it’s catchy and I enjoyed it when I wrote it and then when I 1st heard it back. So I’m holding on to that. I like the feel of the overall song and I like how it’s paced. Highlights for me are the 2nd chorus with all the layers of vocals and then the break out from the drum beat into something that just lets go. Anyways, I’ll be moving into new stuff tomorrow night.

It’s amazing what can happen in a few moments. I heard a melody in my head. I played it in. I added the bass line. Added arpeggiating sequences (ever since my wife has been playing Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd I’ve been loving the downward type). I heard a vocal melody. I hummed it in. 10 mins past and I have a sketch to play with tomorrow.

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So my ears are still ringing from the show last night, which was awesome, thanks for asking . Yeah, I forgot my ear plugs. My voice is a little rougher as well due to my live voice being a bit more pushed (still working on that). Special hello to everyone that managed to come, hope you had a wonderful night.
 

I picked up the Rpm06 Sketch and knew I wanted to take it some where. It had some new elements in it that I’ve never done before, one being the snare split with a one shot LFO trigger. I straighten the beat out more and made it less complicated so the bass could weave in and out of it creating some complexity. It’s important to me that people can hear each element and enjoy it even when everything is on UNLESS it’s intentional and you want to drown people in a sound mess. I also love dorky moments in song take the string line for example. I shifted it down an octave from is original sample tone and then Just ran it down in tones / semitones it is so .. errr .. dorky sounding but when it hits together I feel like it’s weaves through with intention.
 

Have a listen to where that beat went and I’m rather happy with it. Don’t know if this is a chorus or middle 8. It could be a verse but I think it’s too high and not a “the song has started” moment. I am up for something new though so maybe I should ditch that mentality OR I could let the song breath and do it’s own thing (which is always what I do, after thinking about it too much)
 

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Hunz RPM06 03

Have a really busy afternoon but a good one none the less. Going to picnic to say farewell to a friend of mine. Then later going to see mr.maps launch their cd. Should be an awesome night.
 

I’ll catch you guys tomorrow as I have a full day to work on something. Should I do something new? Or should I complete something old? Make some suggestions by leaving a comment.
 

I had to work back late today to finish up something. So I decided to have an earlier night. I have a show tomorrow so I thought I would do a run down of how I set up a beat (backbone). I use renoise so if you do, then this will be helpful(ish). It’s not a fantastic beat but it’s what I’ll call a skeleton. What I do next is listen to notes and freq’s with in the pattern I’ve created and see if synth/bass or vocal lines comes out of it. That might sound strange but if you listen hard enough (hopefully the mp3 conversion hasn’t killed it) you can hear the bass notes I put in on the last 4 (or is that bar counts coming out of the kick pattern.
 

Tonight’s audio preview has only drums in it. And goes. Kick pattern, Kick + hats pattern, Kick + hats + snare pattern and then the bass notes I hear in the kick. I personally don’t like what the kick gave me as a melody so I’ll start playing with that later.
 

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Hunz RPM06 01

 
I also want to add “I’m no expert”. I just like sound and try my best to bring it together. If technically I’ve done the wrong thing with compression then please let me know. I’m always in a state of learning. On listening through it again, I think the compression on the snare is a bit severe and I’ll fix that later.
 

If you are around (Brisbane, Australia) please drop into my show at the troubadour tomorrow night. It should be a freek’n great night. I’ll be on around 8:30ish. Which means that I will not be posting tomorrow.
 

So it wasn’t another easy night. It started off with me plugging in my usb synth keyboard, I normally just use the laptop keys to create music. I thought playing and singing would help, and then I could lay it all down. You know, do something different. I came up with this very neat chord progression, and then everything just fell apart after I placed it in renoise and tried to find a vocal melody over it. I tried to push it here and there, but nothing would work. I let it breathe and just wrote what came back, and this is the result.
 

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Hunz RPM05 02

 
I am so exhausted. I almost took tonight off to rest up (after my 1am last night), but I just needed to reach the half way mark for the 1st phase of writing. I secretly want to complete 11 – 12 tunes and then select the 10 that will work together.. shhh. I also fear the fact that most of these songs lack some middle8 movements .. Hope you are enjoying the journey. It’s certainly different to churn songs out night after night. I usually only write when I feel like it, so I find myself trying to put myself in the mood to write. I have to shout out to my amazing wife too, Thank you! On another note, I kinda regret putting (with previews) in the title .. lulz
 

The Troubadour – Sat Jan 24

Disclaimer: this writer is proud to attest he hasn’t seen one crap show at The Troub. That said, the Australia Day weekend is reassuringly full of live music and bringing his art to the tassle-decorated stage is Brisbane’s own math-rock extraordinaire Hunz. Backed by a powerhouse rhythm section, the bearded soul man/laptop wizard gives a glimpse of what Pivot could have sounded like if Richard Pike sang conventional lyrics; his expansive range, in-song vocal loops and sheer passion make for one memorable opening slot.

No matter how tight they are, hometown boys Gladstone & Lochaber are unable to match Hunz’s impressive performance. Their reverb-drenched palette coming across as by-numbers Aussie rock with Perth slant (Gyroscope, Eskimo Joe etc), the quartet only really get flying on one Francophone number, albeit due to that song’s nod to The Stills’ glorious Retour A Vega.

Muse jamming with Sparks anyone? In lieu of pre-gig research, [ME] turn out to be my unexpected discovery of 2009. Ridiculously talented, the precocious Melbourne fourpiece do a much better job at pulling off the Queen sound than The Darkness ever did and generally make the latter collective sound like a bunch of amateurs; Freddy Mercury’s spirit would undoubtedly be smiling at the band’s vocal acrobatics while Brian May would approve of the guitarist’s supersonic tapping and sustain-laden riffs. Two words: epic win.

DENIS SEMCHENKO

Read it here