Monkey and the Razor is a one-man ukulele band. One man, two ukuleles, some flat surfaces, and a cheap mike is me, with more to come.
I haven't been doing this for long, so bear with me. My knowledge of recording is, um, interestingly lacking.
I finally got my nerve back together about public uke performance and headed out to the NC Songwriters‘ open mic last night. The crowd was really fun: there were about 30-35 people there, with about 10 of us performing. It’s been a long time since I played in front of people, and my nerves were on edge, but it ended up being fun.
Everyone says my songs are “funny,” which is nice! I had a table full of Duke college ladies (I assume) who were laughing and said they “liked my song about the cat.” It’s strange to me, though, because I don’t try to be funny: my songs are just wearing my heart right out on the sleeve. I miss my old cat, and so I wrote a song about leaving friends behind when relationships end. Anyway, I’m not about to argue with people who like my songs.
Anyway, the Broad Street Cafe rules, as does just about everything in my adopted home, Durham, NC. Thanks, Durham folk, for putting up with my caterwauling.
I posted it six days late, as I was out of town and too busy to post them earlier, but I finished my NARMO record before June 1, promise. Anyway, Historical Record. I promise nothing besides screamo.
I’ve posted my first track from “Historical Record,” a blues song about the assassination of President William McKinley. It’s the first blues song I’ve recorded, and I’m pretty happy with how it came out.
I made some interesting recording decisions with this one. My setup is incredibly primitive, and I tend to record straight into one track. This song actually has two tracks: you can hear me on bongos in the background if you listen hard. Because of the primitive setup, I decided to really let that shine. Instead of trying to fix the static and hiss of my cheap microphone, I threw a dash of overdrive on the recording to pull it out.
You’ll hear one big screw-up in the song, but I think I was resourceful and really managed to turn it into a strength. Maybe.
Saturday after improv class, Remi and I got together to jam: me on baritone uke, bongos, and vocals; him on electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bongos, and vocals. It was awesome and I ripped my voice out recording a wailing-blues version of Song of the Shrimp. We saw a ton of great improv that night, including some performance art insano stuff, and I passed out to wake up again on Sunday and record in my living room all day. I’m reaching back to great tunes from American history, and, man, is it exciting. Two songs about Presidential assassinations! Broadswords clashing for 8 minutes!
Anyway, the MP3s aren’t up and more is to be recorded, but the website for my NARMO record is here: Historical Record. I’m up to almost 25 minutes of music so far, and have ideas for the rest, including at least one original, and a Daniel Johnston track.
Mike Sugarbaker e-mailed me a link to this in the AM. It’s National Album Recording Month! It is so on now. Me and a mic and a uke are going to bring it down. 31 minutes in 31 days. I’m already writing some new stuff for it.
I’m thinking of trying to do some songs with other people. Maybe even via Skype, which is a horrible idea.
I wrote and performed a little diddy for my employer at our recent week-long retreat. Recorded in ConferenceSound(tm), you can hear it here.
A four-song set of baritone uke hits. One original, written completely on the spot while testing my microphone. Better than it sounds.
The idea of doing a ukulele podcast has been on my mind for a while. I don't know what the outcome will be, but here's Renegade Uke #0, a sort of demo show:
I locked myself in a hotel room in West Palm Beach, FL with my soprano uke - which I rarely play compared to the guitar-like baritone uke - and a cheap mike. Music for you:
You can contact me at crnixon at gmail dot com.