"Music"
Do you like music? This is your lucky day! I'm in one band with fellow nerds; my "civilian" collaboration is called Scotch ünd $ofa. Our newest album, Dutch Courage/Bronx Cheer, is out in November 2023! Cosa Nostra came out in 2022: here is the link. Our 2021 album, Montreal Beef, is here. And our first record, Glasgow Smile, is over here.
I have also decided to, ahem, do the world a favor and share some of my home recordings. "What kind of music is it? I don't want to listen to it," you say. Fair enough. I used to say: "Sort of like Whitesnake, minus David Coverdale, plus Elliott Smith on lead vocals. Add the bass played by the bassist for the White Stripes (i.e. no bass!)." Then, I said: "We're the Hall and Oates of indie rock!" Now, I think: come on, give it a listen. We're not half bad!
The idea with these songs began this way: they would be written and recorded in the day in which I learned the alternate tuning in which said "song" is played. I have kinda given up on this principle as I've been playing in these alternate tunings for years now and still haven't learned them. But the concept abides.
2024
😢 I am taking a little break from music following the passing of the wife of Sü$ vocalist Jacob 😢
Old Kent Road (May 2024; DAEACE)
Unsigned Contract (May 2024; DAEACE)
The Apology (April 2024; D#AFGDD)
Dragon Suit (April 2024; D#AFGDD)
Pay per view (March 2024; DAEACE)
Mini bar (Feb. 2024; C6/Open E)
Colt Forty Five Pistol (February 2024; CF#CGAE)
Clouds (January 2024; Open G)
Stars in my crowd (Jan. 2024; DADADD)
2023
Short Round (December 2023; CF#CF#CF#)
Pas Choix (October 2023; DGDGCD)
Three Ring Circus (August 2023; DADGAD)
Sister City (August 2023; DADGAD)
Send Me a Rider (July 2023; CGDGCD)
Don't confuse it with mine (June 2023; open G)
Betsy Ross (May 2023; CGDGCD)
Shady Pines (April 2023; CFDGCD)
Krystal Light (April 2023; Open E)
Elevator Speech (March 2023; CF#CF#CF#)
Lonely Child (March 2023; standard)
Beyond Dumb (March 2023; DGDGCD)
2022
To My Bookie (December 2022; C6)
History of Lies (December 2022; Standard -- collaboration with A-E S; PWH on drums)
Why can Christmas take so long? (December 2022; DGDGCD -- JTS on vocals)
Numbers (November 2022; DGCFAD) -- old song, tuned down a full step and re-recorded
You're Right (November 2022; CGDGCD) -- JTS on vocals; collaboration with A-E S, who plays keys
Snuff Film (October 2022; CFDGCD)
I Bet on Blood (September 2022; standard)
Nursery Rhyme for Big Brother (August 2022; "Sympathy" [E G# E G# E C# E]; lyrics adapted from the poetry of Derek Webster]
Loutre de mer (July 2022; CGDGCD)
Chaplinesque (July 2022; CGDGCD)
Bonfire (July 2022; standard)
Howl (July 2022; D minor)
On Failure (June 2022; standard)
Propitiation (June 2022; E Minor tuning)
Liverpool Strip (May 2022; D Minor)
The Vision (May 2022; standard)
Back of the Yards (May 2022; standard tuning)
Face Blind (May 2022; Open E -- new music to some words written a while back; PWH on drums, JTS on vox)
2021
Vacant Stars (Dec. 2021; CGCGAE)
Silence/Silencer (Dec. 2021; CGDGCD)
Covid Christmas (Nov. 2021; Open E)
Baraka (November 2021; CGDGCD; some vox from JTS)
Rent-Control Apartment (October 2021; CGDGCD); Jake the Snake, vox.
Dixieland (September 2021; CGDGCD); Jake the Snake, vox.
Please (September 2021; CGCGAE); Jake the Snake, vox.
Enthronement (August 2021; DADDAD) -- most of the lyrics lifted from Chögyam Trungpa
Three Chord Song (July 2021; DADGAD)
Our Father (June 2021; DGCGAD/EGCGAE)
Kubla Khan Sr. (June 2021; modified C6 tuning: EGCGAE); Jake the Snake, vox.
Elephants, Raindrops (June 2021; C6 tuning [CGCGAE] and standard); Jake the Snake, vox.
Wink and a Wave (May 2021; C6 tuning [CGCGAE])
Head Held High (May 2021; CGDGBB)
Catford Plumbers (April 2021; D minor tuning -- DADFAD/standard). Vox and most of lyrics by Jake the Snake.
2020
Burn (Upstate New York, May 1877) (July 2020; F# F# GG AA). Jake the Snake on vox.
Sympathy for the Virus (June 2020; EG#EG#C#E). Jake the Snake on vox.
Legally Perfect (June 2020; F# F# F# F# EB). Jake the Snake on vox.
Les tours de Bélanger (June 2020; F# F# F# F# EB, open G, standard). Jake the Snake on vocals.
Cosa Nostra (June 2020; standard, open G [DGDGBD], and another variant on open G [GBDGBD]. An extension of No Name 3 below, with lyrics and vocals by Jake the Snake.
Pennsylvania (June 2020; GGDDD#D#). Jake the Snake, vox.
Exhuming the Mastodon (May 2020; standard tuning). Yes, the song is inspired by the Charles Willson Peale painting.
Stairway to Heaven Jr. (May 2020; CADGCE). Jake the Snake on vocals.
Dog Track/Puppy Mill (May 2020; CGDGCD). It was only a matter of time until this alternate-tunings project got around to the Sonic Youth archive. The result? Well ... with Jake the Snake on vox, PWH on insane, metal guitar squealies.
Open Season (May 2020; CGDGCD). Another COVID song. Jake the Snake, vox. PWH on drums and bass.
Honeysuckle Man (May 2020, open G variant [GBDGBD]). Now with Jake the Snake on the vox, PWH on the skins.
Quarantine Blues II (May 2020); drums by PWH, vocals and some words by Jake the Snake.
Quarantine Blues (open G variant [GBDDBD]; April 2020)
Dyscalculia (standard tuning; April 2020. Previously called Numbers, but now with my brother, Patrick W. Hunter, on drums, bass and a bit of guitar)
No Name 3 (April 2020). This isn't really a song, but it includes three different tunings (standard, open G [DGDGBD], and another variant on open G [GBDGBD]) and an early foray in tapping. It aspires to Spiritualized of the Complete Works era).
"Invisible Enemy" ("Kashmir" tuning -- DADGAD; originally March 2020, updated version May 2020 with drums by Patrick W. Hunter and vocals by Jake the Snake)
Second Site for Psoriasis (April 2020 version, with vocals by Jake the Snake; here's the original Site for Psoriasis (Open D: DADF#AD; Feb. 2020)
Face Blind (D minor tuning; Feb. 2020)
Hepatitis Payphone (open E; Jan. 2020 — daughter #1 says she “hates it”!)
Nonstop Lover (standard; Dec. 2019)
Older "Hits"
Dry Clean (D minor tuning, and all lyrics by Jenny B.; Dec. 2019)
Clean (D minor tuning - DADFAD; most of the lyrics by Jenny B; Dec. 2019)
Invisible Ink (this is a version of a song I recorded a while back called “In Open E,” now with slide guitar and “lyrics”; Aug. 2019)
Lobster Thermidor (open E: EBEG#BE; ca. June 2019)
Triqueen (DGDF#AB; Sept-ish 2018)
The Complete Incunabula
Clean Break (third version of Jenny B’s lyrics, also D minor tuning. If the last one was my attempt at PJ Harvey, this one is straight Baxter Dury tribute; Dec. 2019)
No Name 2 (written in open E; "played" in standard and open E; ca. Oct/Nov. 2019)
Glasgow Smile (open E; previously called No Name 2 — exact same chords, but pretty different; ca. Nov. 2019)
Build a Bunker (Open E tuning; ca. August 2019) -- duet with older daughter. We recorded this piece of fun a while ago; posted post-COVID 19, with new valence.
Mr. P (so called as it was written, but not recorded, on my brother’s insane stack of amplifiers and pointy guitars; open E tuning; July 2019)
The Golden Lovers (lyrics by Darin Barney; credit to Charles Acland for the bridge chords; open E; July 2019)
In E (open E: EBEG#BE; April [?] 2019)
Bar fight in a brothel (open G, yet again; well, lead in standard; Jan. [?] 2019)
Papertowel (open G, again; Dec. 2018)
Processional G (“Processional” tuning = DGDFAA#; while the slide guitar bit is in open G. Fall 2018)
Zoe (open G tuning -- this is a crappier recording than normal, but my younger daughter likes it .Fall 2018)
Toulouse (ECDFAD; Oct. 2018)
“Dadda” (C6 tuning: CGCGAE; August (?) 2018
Theme to a Cancelled Sitcom ("Buzzard" tuning: CFCGA#F); July/August 2018
Balalaika E (EADEEA); July/August 2018
Val-David (open G: DGDGBD); July 2018
All Fourths (all fourths: EADGCF); July 2018
Augmented Fourths (as the name suggests: CF#CF#CF#); July 2018
The Admiral ("Admiral" tuning: CGDGBC; July 2018)
Going back to Montreal (open G, as above); July 2018