Cruftworld #7: Cruftworld Theme Song

Anoraks UK, previously known as Tricot, turn in a crunchy instrumental number that has risen to become the cruftworld theme song. Unlike a lot of tracks in Cruftworld, this one is instrumental. And in a lot of ways, it's not really representative of the project as a whole, since it starts out so electronic.
But by the time the end rolls around, I hope you'll see why this track became the theme. It's about transition, about handing the reins over from a computer to a man. There are washes of distorted Mellotron here blending in with the naturally distorted guitar and bass. Dive in.

Listen to Cruftworld #7: Cruftworld Theme Song. - 4.4 MB

Cruftworld #6:

Totally live. Totally raw. Totally cruft.
This track from The King In Yellow is absolute uncut real cruftworld music. Laid down in the new SZ C-world studio, even the drums. Weirder vocals than usual perhaps, but that's the thing with The King In Yellow. They're weird.

I'd rather not talk about this song so much. Let's just agree that it's old school, and leave it at that. You should be thankful that we haven't recorded it to cassette and then back to computer. Just be thankful for that.


Listen to Cruftworld #6: Where is my mind. - 3.5 MB

Cruftworld Poster

Cruftworld #5:

The cruftworld continues with this latest single from Futon. This is the first single they recorded at Cruft Studios here in Shenzhen, aka Boomcity. Note the whirling distorted octaves on the lead guitar --- the result of investment in an authentic Leslie cabinet. Futon is easily one of the hottest Cruftbands and has been filling up Cruftclubs and Cruftpubs all over the Cruftplace.

We currently have over 20 Cruftworld tracks backlogged and ready to go, so check back here each week for a new one --- or a Zine, or a Poster ---- we're up to our eyes in Cruft. We've been getting great reviews from those industry insiders who have heard the stuff, so stay tuned and keep on downloading.


Listen to Cruftworld #5: My Chest is Empty- 3.6 MB

Cruftworld Issue #7

Available for your downloading and viewing pleasure is The First Cruftworld Zine Release.
(In Medias Res --- we're starting with Issue #7).

This is the result of my musings on a strange topic: what if, instead of trying to create personas to record music under and get reviewed in various music zines, I created my own zine as a fictional construct which contained all my various pseudonyms and recording projects?

Long question, boring answer. Another way of saying this would be: what if we viewed a city's music scene as a single MMORPG server, and all the bands interacted like Warcraft guilds?

Either way, I came up with the cruftworld project. This world is composed entirely of bands that I myself create all the music for, or, in a few cases, includes my friends' bands. All the listings of gigs and everything is fictional. I feel it's necessary to explain this in the beginning because I don't want to defame anyone's reputation.

Lots of the bars, bands and personalities are inspired by or parodies of corresponding places and people in Vancouver's music scene or the Pitchfork-influenced world indie scene in general. Some references will be more obvious than others.

I've invested quite a lot of time into the creation of this world and have recently purchased a metric ton of music gear to realize the tunes. The PDFs will be accompanied by MP3 available for download from this site, beginning shortly. If you followed my remake of Public House's "Remains of the Lost Amphibians" cassette, you should be able to understand the related review in this PDF.

Anyway this is the long intro by the dungeon master at the beginning of the game before the first yellow Cheeto stains have been rubbed on the first Clix model. From now on, everything else will be in character and no more fourth-wall breaking.

Thanks to [710w3] for his entirely analog layout work.
And stay tuned to this location for more Cruft content.

Cruftworld #4: Fifties

Here's the last installment from the original Public House cassette. This was a total throwaway song that we just recorded because we had extra time left over. It was written by me as a faux-sellout joke song. But in the end it turned out to be the most popular song from the tape, and my friends from the time can even remember the (deep, meaningful) lyrics.

However, it has a certain charm. I was happy to get the chance to play a solo for this one --- as I recall, I played it on a borrowed Japanese Telecaster. And as for my updated version, I've thrown in a harmony line in the chorus that I can't believe never made it into the original.

Anyway, I got no time to go into more detail because I'm moving to China tomorrow. But I will say that this cruftworld series is definitely going to continue in 2008 "if the good lord's willin', and the crick don't rise."


Listen to the original Public House Recording of Fifties - 2 MB

Listen to the 2007 version of Fifties - 2.3 MB

Cruftworld #3: Desert

This is my favorite remake so far.

The story behind this track is quite easy for me to remember --- at some point, during a very early Public House rehearsal, I went to the bathroom and wrote this song... probably because I was getting the idea for it but couldn't write it all down in the room with the boys jamming.

It's built around a somewhat unusual mode, ultra depressing lyrics (I was 16), and a simplistic song style. But I still like it. The violin seems to fit well and Jay's drumbeat at the end still sounds cool to me. Plus the dynamics are good.

As for my new version, I had no problems departing heavily from the original Public House version. It's got a lot of noodling, a cool keyboard sound from my DX7 (which I had to sell to my buddy Lars), whispered parts, acoustic guitar, weird breakdowns... listen for yourself. I dig it. I'm in the desert.

Listen to the original Public House Recording of Desert - 4.1 MB

Listen to the 2007 version of Desert - 6.9 MB

Cruftworld #2: Far Far Away

The cruftworld project, my attempt to create an entirely fictional music scene, is well under way. Here's another musical installment for your sampling pleasure.

As with our previous release, there's two versions of the same song: the original one from 1994, and my new version from this year.

I really like the old version. It begins with a weird effect which is Public House's violist, Geoff Deere, playing sliding harmonics on his instrument, which is being processed by a combination of delay and phasing. Eventually the band crashes into the song, which is a simple verse-chorus-wash-rinse-repeat structure. If you listen closely during the chorus, you can actually hear [710w3]'s first recorded appearance: I forced the rest of the guys in the band to let him sing backup on this track, and I think it worked out pretty well. My favorite part of the old version is Chris Bekkers' guitar augmentation which appears around the beginning of the third verse. My least favorite part is the lyrics, which I wrote, which seem to be my tangled recollection of creepy kids' book "Bridge to Terabithia" mixed with a healthy dose of teenaged sexual frustration.

The new version here is quite similar. Of course I'm lacking the viola, so I just started off with the bassline, and put a bit of phaser on my rhythm guitar track. And as usual, I multitracked the vocals heavily, and laid some breaks in the background since I haven't got a drum kit. It's surprising how well our old Public House songs work with a classic break instead of a live drummer --- I don't think the loops sound as 'fake' or 'computery' as they could. And rather than trying to compete with Bekks in the lead guitar department, I just added some noodling for flavor. Enjoy.


Listen to the original Public House Recording of Far Far Away- 5.1 MB

Listen to the 2007 version of Far Far Away - 6.3 MB

Cruftworld #1: People

A new project is underway here at Blipsandifs. It's my little attempt at building a role-playing game where all the characters are bands...

It's a bit hard to explain in detail, and I'll drop more hints later. But it's starting off with me preparing cover versions of the cassettes my highschool band recorded back in the nineties.

I was in a band called Public House, and our first cassette was called Remains of the Lost Amphibians (a title selected randomly from the cover of a National Geographic).

Our lineup was:

Wayne Taylor: Vocals, rhythm guitar
Chris Bekkers: Lead guitar
Geoff Deere: Viola, mandolin, backup vocals, keyboards
Jay Lewis: Drums, percussion
Frank Henville: Bass, keyboards, backup vocals

(and 710W3 from blipsandifs even sang backup vox on one recorded track)

As an example of what we sounded like, here's the original version of the song "People," written by Wayne Taylor, and recorded in 1994.

Listen to the original Public House Recording of People - 3.5 MB

And here's my updated version, made on a computer, recorded mostly live (except for the drums)


Listen to the 2007 version of People - 5.8 MB

Thanks to 710W3 for production assistance and cover design.

Please stay tuned for more crufty goodness from me.