eric haller » music and video

another cover from the caribbean

eric — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:55:44 +0000

this is jimmy cliff’s harder they come, played by plan b on my dad’s bday, 12-26-2009. memo, claudio, iñaki, kiko, and me on guitar and vocals.

more lofi from the caribbean

eric — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:38:11 +0000

and here is i can see clearly now

lofi from the caribbean

eric — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:17:32 +0000

here is action pants playing ooh la la , an old faces tune.

and one more

eric — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:46:50 +0000

did this one with tony on july 2. there is some cool stuff in there, a melodica, this weird slavic-looking banjo thing whose name escapes me, and this casio:

yay the itunes feed is working again

eric — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:45:19 +0000

i am pretty excited that my podcast feed seems to be working again. so if you are subscribed in itunes or have it in your rss browser, the tuneage should be flowing again.

this next one i did with tony at new bellevue. june 26. all these are unfinished works in progress.

here we are cutting the track (that seventies organ behind tony is featured heavily):

some tunes from my socal visit

eric — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 02:38:27 +0000

i recorded a few songs while i was here. i am going to make separate posts to see if i can get my music feed working. first up june 15.

AFK

eric — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 07:27:24 +0000

my old steinway and the vibe of ojai have transported me to some vague distant past that never happened, with warren zevon, waddy wachtel , and some 70′s california rockers taking a last toot, draining the lime daquiris, throwing their hands up in the air, declaring connectedness-bankruptcy, untethering from the intarwabs, and going AFK until further notice. i did some investigation yesterday into the cost of satellite broadband in an area of costa rica i am thinking about spending some time in, and this song may turn out prophetic. listen to it on headphones if at all possible, i put a little ear candy in there.

here is AFK. (thanks bret for the title).

as always, this file is subject to change, and is a mix in progress.

i threw my laptop
in a dumpster at SFO
zeroed out my PDA
left it on the floor of a bathroom stall

and i

made a few calls
from the boarding lounge
called up a couple of casual squeezes
told ‘em i wouldn’t be around

got on a plane
dropped the phone in a seatback
nine hours i’ll be on a beach
and this whole thing will be gone and forgotten

i’m going offline
for an undetermined time
i’m going offline
take back my life

sleeping under the stars
with no electric light
rinsing off the salt
with a solar heated outdoor shower

made a lot of mistakes
along the way
this isn’t one of them
i think it’s getting safe to say

i’ll live in the sun
with a heart full of love
no empty distractions

my mind will be clear
my attention here
focussed on now

flying video

eric — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 08:17:52 +0000

UPDATE: I PULLED THE VIDEO TO RECUT IT. SHOULD BE BACK UP SOON.
i finished the video of phil and i flying out of oakland and barnstorming various bay area landmarks. i think it turned out pretty cool. you get to see a lot of the places that the boate visited from a completely different perspective.

the song is a rough sketch i was working on about this time last year. i guess that means i am still working on it .

(putting together a sequence like this without first striping it with some music and cutting to the tempo is useless for me).

a good sunday

eric — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 08:39:57 +0000

liz came over and we worked on some of the recordings we have been tracking. things really gelled well on a couple of them today, we are at the end of the process, adding things really carefully for flavor. it’s amazing how much of a difference little tweaks here and there can make to songs. harmonies and backup vocals are so unbelievably powerful when it comes to making a great lead vocal line shine.

here’s a little taste. the song is called “sunday” (mp3) , written by liz ross, with pat spurgeon on drums, liz playing guitar and singing, and me on guitar, bass and keys.

(this is a rough mix….)

hobo’s lullaby

eric — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 05:41:15 +0000

i was sitting here just now strumming the guitar and saw a dvd that i am going to watch soon, bound for glory, about woody guthrie. i remembered one of my favorite songs that guthrie sang, hobo’s lullaby, pulled up the lyrics on the computer, set the microphone in front of myself and this is the first take (mp3).

the song was actually not written by woody, but goebel reeves, a songwriter with an amazing story.

to protect the innocence

eric — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 21:19:42 +0000

to protect the innocence is the provisional title for a work in progress (mp3). i watched fellini’s 8 1/2 a couple weeks ago, and there is a great scene where guido’s (marcello mastroianni) stunningly beautiful wife luisa (anouk aimie) calls him on his shit for writing about their relationship and putting it up on the screen and playing it off like he’s just being creative. then i was thinking about people i have known who do the same thing (they are called….writers). one of our friends sold a treatment for a TV sitcom based on my brother and me, and another friend would open his notebook when he came over, ready to write down any pearls of anti-wisdom that might pop up in conversation. and of course i have been writing songs for a long time.
this is making a short story long, but in any case i was thinking about the whole dance that you go through when you are writing a book or a script or a song. you can’t help but place people who are close to you in the picture, but if you paint them in an unflattering light, reveal their secrets, or you have been dishonest with someone and try to tell them about it in a “story”…look out!! (and that’s a very incomplete list of ways to fuck up).
i keep turning my songs into existential treatises. ~~the song file is an edit with the scratch vox mostly taken out~~, but do listen through to the vocoder idea i had for the chorus…..

UPDATE: i put the skratch vox back in the mix and reupped it. not sure where i’m going with this. another version had me rowing down the grand canal because i could not sit idly by. there’s a bluebird in there, and one day he’ll find his way into my songs.

out of my own way

eric — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 08:43:51 +0000

i wrote and tracked some vocals to the song that i recorded last week. it’s called out of my own way (mp3). i didn’t really mix it, sorta slapped it together, but i think most of the parts are there.

out of my own way

words rush by and i try to make sense of the cries
and the dreams in the words become clear on the back of my eyes
it’s so easy but it seems so hard sometimes
all this thinking is making this all so lame
i’ll just get out of my own way
don’t second guess when you know that the first was the best
and don’t make a home for fear and sadness get them off of your chest
it’s so easy but it seems so hard sometimes
all this thinking is making this all so lame
i’ll just get out of my own way
keep your focus don’t get blinded forest from the trees
play the record through to the center
steer clear of the stormy seas
all this thinking is making this all so lame
i need a thoughtectomy
my own sweet brain drain
i’ll just get out of my own way

another song without lyrics yet

eric — Sun, 05 Mar 2006 09:55:17 +0000

i recorded another song tonight. for tonight it’s called march forth (mp3). my settings on the master fader are a little…hot. it’s not distorting too much, but i have the overall signal squeezing TIGHT against the final limiter. not bad … Continue reading →

have i mentioned what a chore it is to write lyrics?

eric — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 02:53:14 +0000

i like this new song that i have been working on (mp3) but i can’t seem to settle on the lyrics. i think i just have to keep working at it until it feels right, but in the meantime that means a lot of time spent with the microphone on, the track rolling, and me sitting in a chair with my eyes closed thinking with a pen in my hand.

i thought at first that it would be about volatility of imagination. i was running a couple days ago and the smell of wet sidewalk and chimney smoke was sending my mind out on four or five concurrent trains of imagination and remembrance. i had been reading and thinking about technical analysis of stocks all afternoon, and was drawing a paralell to how, when a range-bound stock finally breaks in one direction or the other, you hop on for the ride. i wrote this line:

lately my mood has made tight little moves
in a narrow range of emotions

i’m still working on it.

funny how time slips away

eric — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 01:42:41 +0000

many years ago my friend and one-time manager mike halle turned me on to a willie nelson song. this afternoon, with a little time to kill before running out to a dinner party for my 40th, i remembered the song, it seemed to fit my mood, and decided to give it a shot. i recorded it, and this is the first take (mp3), so forgive me the roughness. i threw a little extra reverb on there, because it is after all, country music.

cat cover

eric — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 06:34:50 +0000

i wanted to sing a cat stevens song the other day, so i did a google search for the lyrics and wound up on his site. there is an area where fans submit their cover versions of his songs, so i recorded into white tonight.
my dad was the production designer on harold and maude, and as a kid i listened to probably more cat stevens than any developing mind should be allowed. i tracked this one without having to listen to the original again.

200% more guitar

eric — Mon, 16 Jan 2006 09:45:52 +0000

my brother complained that the guitar riff in “why and why not” needed something more. i’m a little out of practice, but i think i gave it. now it needs a real drummer. please listen to this at an extreme … Continue reading →

why and why not

eric — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 02:31:17 +0000

so i tracked some vox for the song i came up with last night. give it a listen.

it’s about my favorite parable by kafka and phil’s theory that the man from the country awaiting entry could have passed through the gate to the law at any time, and it was only fear that caused him to die waiting outside. i kind of gave the song a happy ending with the notion of promise being behind the mystery door. this is kafka, so you know it’s probably a never-ending russian doll behind that door. i still need to do more drum programming (i’ve been listening to some porno for pyros, and i put the stephen perkins dual snare setup in this one), but i am feeling pretty wiped from lack of sleep and staying at this in manic mode seems stressful to me right now. so….fly, be free.

it’s only fear that’s kept me out here for years in the snow and rain
stare at fleas in a tartar’s beard, a man whose meaning is never clear
i can’t see a reason why not
then why not
not now maybe later, this guard’s my personal savior
did he just say that anything’s possible? that prohibition seems kind of improbable
i can’t see a reason why not
then why not
i’ll be here til the day i die unless i find the reason why
so should i wait here or just go in
beyond this gateway the mystery door
everything here’s familiar and on the other side there is only promise
i can’t see a reason why not
then why not

i got to that place tonight

eric — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 12:28:02 +0000

i got home tonight and picked up the strat. six point five hours later, 4:30 AM, many recorded tracks later, i am listening to a really good song (or at least i *think*. check it out in its roughest state, and listen through to the bridge please). the time flew by, as it always does when all cylinders are firing on music. it’s my form of meditation. now my head is completely clear. or maybe it’s just super late.

speaking of tunes, check out the theme song jane and i did for the 1up show. the extended party mix will come out in a week or so.

remixes

eric — Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:22:08 +0000

i took another pass at the mixes on a couple of recent songs. actually, i should probably be tracking vocals for real this time, and not just tinkering with the mixes, but here they are so give them a listen.

15 minutes on a train
stellar profile
diner in the city
someone else’s dream

ok it’s 6:30 AM. how did that happen?

new song – 15 minutes on a train

eric — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 22:56:55 +0000

there is something fairly cinematic about looking around a train at night in a thunderstorm with headphones on. especially when you are sitting next to some pretty stranger. i have been listening to quadrophenia lately again, and this is something of a response to the alienation and insanity of jimmy on the 5:15. so check it out. (i’m really not done with it, but for a night’s worth of work i think it shaped into something sort of cool. cool enough to put on the intarweb at least).

fleet week sf airshow 2005

eric — Sun, 09 Oct 2005 17:25:26 +0000

i have now been to three airshows for fleet week in san francsico. the first two times (i can only find one post…) on the boate, and then yesterday on the land. i went over there with my mom, phil, jim and carol. i will say this: it’s not as easy as you would think to shoot these things steadily with a small sony dv cam handheld. but i think that my years of videogame sniper training helps…

antiwar in berkeley

eric — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 05:21:37 +0000

i went over and joined about 500 people on the corner of solano and the alameda to protest the war in iraq. my brother sent me a couple of pictures from the one he went to down in venice. mom is still out there in ojai i imagine. here is a short video. next time i will bring properly charged batteries.

video of brickyard cove / seacliff development

eric — Sat, 13 Aug 2005 17:57:32 +0000

i went up to point richmond yesterday to pick up my mainsail, which was in for repairs, and i took along the video camera and shot a little rambling piece about all the building that’s going on up there. this is the first one i have edited with final cut. i tried to keep it pretty rough, this is NOT intended to be hard-hitting comentary, just some obsevations about the place, told stream-of consciousness style.

a piano tune

eric — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 21:21:51 +0000

seems like the overcoat/train platform/cigarette mood has already struck here in berkeley, and it’s still only august. here’s a rough mix of it.

happy birthday bret

eric — Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:46:16 +0000

it was my brother’s birthday yesterday. bret is the best brother that anyone could have. he should play bass more often though. here he is in action, playing some sick wah bass on the track “dystopia” from the record he made possible, “full range”. pete finestone on drums. (FUCK! where’s my wikipedia page?)

a new song: supers are the new meat market

eric — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 03:12:37 +0000

i was in trader joe’s on tuesday, thinking about how i’ve read that supermarkets are the new singles meeting places. they certainly have always been a bit of a scene where i grew up, in hollywood. plenty of hot dudes and chicks strolling the aisles looking to be “discovered”. here in berkeley you don’t get much of that, but you more than occasionally will see someone who looks like they dressed to stalk panties rather than stock the pantry. or catch a man rather than buy a ham. you know the ones, leering over the tops of their mirrored sunglasses at the charmin. this song, supers are the new meat market, is for those people.
if you hadn’t heard, mundane is the new punk.

bring in june with a tune

eric — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 07:09:54 +0000

i keep sitting down to make a tune completely out of loops, and each time i fire up the keyboard or a guitar and start playing along. i really dig the hammond and wurlitzer sounds in logic (as well as the bad ass rhodes). come to think of it, all the synths are purely tasteful as well. here is a little snippet of what i worked on tonight. it is two separate worlds slapping against each other, but somehow i think it works, at least for a quickie little session on a hot night, the first of june.

a fresh tune

eric — Sun, 29 May 2005 09:06:45 +0000

i was playing around with the upgraded logic tonight and started a tune. i told myself that i was ONLY going to use loops for a change, as an experiment in composing, but before i knew it i was knee deep in cables, guitars, keyboards, and microphones. i went to see the documentary about haskell wexler last night, and there was a trailer for a steve mcqueen bio before it, and for some reason this tune sounds like a mcqueen/clint eastwood score to me. pump it through some speakers or headphones.

friday afternoon guitar playing video

eric — Sat, 28 May 2005 01:46:49 +0000

i finished some stuff i was working on this afternoon and decided i would try strumming something for the cam. i heard this radiohead song on the radio when i was in LA last week, and i remembered listening to it and getting all misty on at least one occasion years ago, so i thought i would play and sing it to see if i could get to the bottom of why it was so moving back then. i might need to use external microphones, the vocals didn’t really cut through the guitar. i just had a listen on headphones and the stereo separation sounds pretty cool.