Saw-a-day #25: The Mayor of Squaresville

1-31 by confoundedcontraption

super long, spooky-ambient, jarring microtones.

Saw-a-day #26: Monsters and Migraines

1-30 by confoundedcontraption

I had a really fun time playing games today with MNØ, despite waking up with a crazy migraine. Really, Kate? You ran through mazelike hallways pretending to be a monster, *and* you had crazy brain things happening, and your saw-of-the-day is a quaint ditty? Who's got two thumbs and is the mayor of Squaresville?

Recorded at the Geek Partnership Society Headquarters. Backing vocals by E. Ostrom and, I think, Dan.

Saw-a-day #25: late night.

1-29 by confoundedcontraption

sometimes i decide i'm too busy/sleepy/depressed to post these the day i record them, and i can never subsequently remember what i was thinking about. good story.

saw-a-day #24: At Tarnish and Gold

1-28 by confoundedcontraption

saw-a-day #23: Opera Doesn't Solve Everything

1-27 by confoundedcontraption

Saw-a-day #22: Maybe I'll Start a Punk Band

1-26 by confoundedcontraption

I've been enjoying playing with overtones, but sometimes it's more successful than others.

Saw-a-day #21: Winter Thinking About Autumn

1-25 by confoundedcontraption

locked the cat in the bedroom. learned my lesson.

started Vol. 2 of Circus Season: that'll start next Tuesday, i think. you can catch up here: http://circusseason.smackjeeves.com/comics/194450/page-1/

saw-a-day #20: Face the World

1-24 by confoundedcontraption

this is a little more what I was thinking. it's a start in a right direction, anyway.

Saw-a-day #14 make-up

1-18 (late) by confoundedcontraption

i was thinking about how unsatisfying the last couple tunes were, and how i shouldn't just put the saw down after i've recorded my piece for the day. so i picked up the saw and started to mess around, and got something closer to what i want out of music. maybe. i couldn't hit record until the ghost of music let me go, however, so what you hear above is me trying to re-do what was done. some success, maybe. we'll never know how great what went before was.

Saw-a-day #19: What keeps mankind alive

1-23 by confoundedcontraption

In which the cat starts trying to eat the saw. I need to start shutting her in another room.

It seems like I have two modes in saw tunes: major-key 1930's pop and fugue. Occasionally I get minor-key torch. Most of my interest in music right now is no-wave, post-jazz and experimental. I thought I'd get past the cute tunes after a while, thought they'd work their way out of my system, but they don't seem to be. I'm getting kind of bored.

1-17: creative block

I was going to make a comic about how my brain distracts me from work, but then I realized that the only thing more boring than having creative block is reading about someone else's. So here are some dancing starfish.

Also Erik (www.echographia.com, http://slapdash.erikostrom.com) is sitting next to me right now, working on the new comix site. It looks really nice, and he's put a lot of work into it. Thanks Erik.

1-13: Dinner with Erik's Parents

1-22: job hunting

1-22 by confoundedcontraption

the recorder ran out of batteries in the middle of this one. it didn't have a chance to evolve into whatever it might have wanted to evolve into, but you get the idea. maybe.

1-21: i need to do these after doing something interesting, rather than after reading lots of webcomics.

1-21 by confoundedcontraption

possibly audible in the background: Montana Skies, a nice band. the cat jumped into my lap (by way of right next to the recorder) but did not otherwise participate. she gets really interested in the higher registers of the saw, and also whistling. i'm not really sure why.

1-20: no vegetarian pho

1-20 by confoundedcontraption

i did some research while this was loading and i think i found some vegetarian pho. thank heavens.

this track takes a minute to get started, and then it starts to fall apart at about 3.5 minutes, but there's a couple nice moments in between there. another track featuring the cat playing the saw with her face.

1-19: what makes a home

1-19 by confoundedcontraption

i missed 1/18, i forget why. this is not 1/18's.

1-13: Why I have no friends in the Twin Cities

It wasn't the first time this happened to me.

1-10: Hello World

I really need to start doing this. I read so many web comics, and I never show any kind of appreciation. Thanks for setting me straight, sketchy cartoon me.

1-17: in the other room

1-17 by confoundedcontraption

featuring Bryan and that other guy on jackhammers. I started out in one direction, changed course drastically, and then decided at about 3 min. to start basically over. There's a point in all my projects where the initial coolness of talent and novelty wear off and the project becomes kind of lame for a while. Then i work through that and get to a more nourishing, transformative good. I hope this is that lame part, so we can get to the part where i learn. But usually if i rely on the inevitability of the good learning part, the project ends up kind of sucking the entire way through. so i don't know where that leaves us now.

First day back

1-16 by confoundedcontraption

a nice little tune. sorry about the clipping, and the off-pitchness.

1-15 by confoundedcontraption

in which my cat learns to play the saw, quietly, with her face, and i learn to make adjustments.

1-14 by confoundedcontraption

this is late, because...i didn't do it yesterday. but i tried to play it like i would have done yesterday. towards the end, my cat came up and started rubbing her face on the saw blade, so i stopped.

Saw-a-day #10: Snakes in a snow maze (with door)

1-13 by confoundedcontraption

based on a collaboration between myself and www.onefleacircus.com

Saw-a-day #9: Now what

1-12 by confoundedcontraption

Saw-a-day #8: Push-ups

1-11 by confoundedcontraption

also featuring Edward on vocals and mailing envelope.

Saw-a-day 7: What we need to be happy

1-10 by confoundedcontraption

1-9: Why am I not more awesome

1-9 not awesome by confoundedcontraption

stay off the s'mores. get it?

Saw-a-day 5: Latvian Puppet Workshop

1-8 (Latvian Puppet Workshop) by confoundedcontraption

Saw-a-day day 4: It's cold and I have to pee, but otherwise I feel no particular way

1 7 by confoundedcontraption

This took 4 takes, between running out of batteries and forgetting to press record and etc., which, given that I had to pee, increased the urgency of the performance.

At the Comix Conspiracy Jam

The comics jam is every 1st Thursday in Minneapolis and 3rd Thursday in St. Paul. http://www.cartoonistconspiracy.com/conspire/ for details and huggermugger.

Saw-a-day project day 3: Sad and anxious

1-6 by confoundedcontraption

I'm wound kind of tight lately.

...and here I am. New frontiers, and all that. Spectamur agendo.

Iowa was uneventful, but lovely.

I was only in MO for a little while, and didn't get much of a feel for it, outside Kansas City. seemed like a nice enough place.

another group trying to put clouds in Kansas are pilots. There were a bunch of them chasing eachother all over the sky, leaving tangled contrails.