Predicament – Small Glowing Pig

From the Vault: Predicament and Unnamed Poet Project

In December of 2014, I decided to write and record some tracks using existing poetry as lyrics. I started with “Life is Fine” by Langston Hughes.

Langston Hughes – Life is Fine: The music and arrangement is too melancholy for the true tone of the poem, but it was freeing to not have to worry about writing lyrics. I like some of the harmonies as well, though some more vocal consistency was necessary for the sparse nature of the track.

Song 02: Not sure what this one was supposed to be. Wish I remembered which poem was attached to it. This marks the return of real drum recording too, I think. The guitar work in the second and third sections and the interplay between guitar and ukulele is pretty good. If you listen close in the last part, you can hear my son saying something.

After working on Crossroads as the band Predicament, Jefim and I attempted to record a few other songs. The idea was that I would write and record most of the music (with Blonski occasionally pitching in on bass) and that Jefim would write and record lyrics, melody, and vocals. With him living in Boston, this seemed like the only way to stay productive. We had two tracks half baked before abandoning the project.

Runner: For this track, I tried to keep things very simple so that Jefim could take the spotlight with his vocal performance. The guitar/bass line changes in each verse to keep things interesting, and it was probably inspired by some Army of Anyone. I think had we polished this one with some harmonies and improved mixing, it could have been pretty decent.

The Traveler: This is me messing with some lead guitar effects. The chorus was supposed to evoke “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart,” which was a favorite of ours from the Black Velvet days.

Bonus version with no vocals, but higher quality and with Blonski pitching in an improved bassline:

The final hour… challenge(s)

A few weeks ago I took a look at the small glowing pig discography page and was immediately saddened. As of even this morning, the only release this year was an album written and recorded over two years ago that finally saw overdubs, mixing, and mastering in May of this year. Had we really not completed anything new? Was this really the most musically devoid year for small glowing pig since 2006? How did this happen?

Before building a resolve to right what was wrong, I reflected upon the causes. Surely much of the blame can be laid upon the doorstep of SpaceBase’s continued expansion into it’s third production year. Having a one and a half year old with a 7:30 bedtime also didn’t encourage late night rock and rolling. For most of the year, Steve was also busy playing in approximately three dozen bands ranging from renaissance and Celtic to blues rock. Jefim had moved to Boston and Devin and Angello continued to be busy working a ridiculous schedule and shredding the Les Paul in a new band, respectively. So, considering all this, what was to be done?

How about release that six month old two hour challenge and then do another one last minute when Jefim comes to town? Yeah, that sounds alright.

First, take a listen to “Parcel Octopus” by Parcel Octopus off of their album Parcel Octopus. We random band name generatored the name and then surmised that they were a punk band that had expanded into psychedelia and left behind their days of protest on route to their eponymous album and song. Nailed it.

Two Hour Challenge – Parcel Octopus

Next, it’s about time we released a song that Jim Hernovic and I put together about six months ago. We started by feeding the lyrics of the then-current top 10 pop songs (“Get Lucky,” “Radioactive,” etc.) into a word cloud generator.

Two Hour Challenge – Bones are Radioactive

So what’s next for us? Maybe some The Name. Maybe a new Vacation record. Maybe we’ll even get around to the Small Glowing Pig 10th Anniversary Album (13th anniversary?), who knows. I’m pretty sure that we’ll hear from Predicament again soon, and that Blonski and I will bang out at least a few more frames of SpaceBase before having a catastrophic hard drive failure that drives us to the brink of suicide. Whatever it is, hopefully it’s more than a two year old album and two challenge songs.

Well, until next time. See you next year. Ha!

-Mike

New single release from Predicament

Last fall, Jefim Piekarz (friend of the label and singer of Black Velvet and Corona of the Sun) and I got together for a dozen or so sessions to record his solo album under the moniker The Wayward Soldier (many demos of which can be found on his site). He had been kicking around a bunch of songs he wrote before, during, and after his time with Black Velvet, and we holed up in my basement in Newington to track the drums. I was working on Meat Without Feet‘s WPOP at the time, and was loving the freedom that comes with recording digital instruments. Naturally, I hard sold him on using the MIDI drum kit. We laid down drums and vocals before he split for Cambridge, MA, but even though the fruits of those sessions remain in the oven a bit longer, we do have something to show today for our efforts.

While working on The Wayward Soldier, we penned one complete track and a few half-baked ideas for a new, untitled project. The first fruit of that collaboration is Predicament‘s “Crossroads.” It’s not an Eric Clapton cover, seeing as Jefim and I play guitar. Reflecting on it now, the lyrics are clearly prophetic. “Two roads diverged in a yellow wood” and all that…

Predicament – “Crossroads”

You can also rock to some lossless goodness if that’s what you’re into over at bandcamp.

Hopefully more tracks to come in the months ahead!

-Mike