Kids, MGMT

(Photo Credit goes to Filter Magazine)

So this week's song, also the VERY FIRST SONG POST EVER is "Kids" by indie rockers MGMT from Brooklyn, New York. This duo has been getting more media coverage than you can shake a stick at in the past two years, not to mention their music has been all over the charts, all over the world. "Kids" has recently been making it's way into remixes left and right, popping up in the sets of the likes of DJ Busy P, DJ Mog and MSTRKRFT. Most of MGMT's songs are based solely off of electronic instruments, and "Kids" is no exception; naturally, it was perfect for this project.

First of all, I'd like to thank my friend David Daniels for contributing to this project. He'll be showing up quite a bit here as a guest musician, and is featured on this week's recording. Check out some of his solo stuff at his website.

Secondly, I have to apologize in advance for the sound quality of the recording. I don't have much gear up in East Lansing, so until I can move some of it up here (hopefully really, really soon) I'll be recording under sub-par conditions. For you Bose-headphones having, uptight fidelity snobs out there: SORRY. If you want to help fund new equipment, send all donations to B225 Emmons Hall, Harrison Avenue, East Lansing MI.

If you aren't familiar with this week's song, check it out here. I know it's got a long intro, just skip forward until about 1:10 and you'll be good to go.

A little bit about this week's piece:

Due to time constraints, this was recorded in one track in a live setting. We simplified the song as much as possible to try something a little bit different and less busy than the original. I also tried to incorporate more open-sounding chords to give it a new, more earthy feeling. I think we accomplished most of the stuff I was shooting for with this song, but feel free to leave some feedback and let me know what you think.

Enjoy!

Start Submitting!

Alright, so seeing as in this is the first post of the series, this is more of an introduction to the idea and (I'm sorry, I'm sorry!) will not be featuring a song.

...So what's this thing all about?

This blog is the documentation of a musical project, in which yours truly along with a number of guest musicians will re-write songs (chosen by YOU!) to be played on acoustic instruments. Once the song chosen for that week has been written and recorded, it will be posted here along with a link to the original song in case you aren't familiar with it. The song will be accompanied by a description of the musical process leading up to the finished product, pictures of the practice sessions and a little bit about the original artist.

Now the idea here is to find songs that will be interesting to hear turned acoustic. Song submissions can be from any genre, but try to pick something a little more unconventional than country or soft-rock. There are already about 10,000 versions of kids in their parents basement playing "Semi-Charmed Kind of Life" on the Internet, and we really don't need to contribute to that number.

So give me a challenge! Pick something interesting or odd, and I'll do my best to do the original piece some justice.

e-mail all song submissions to beegrenier@yahoo.com - make sure to include both song title and artist.