Influences: Musical tastes all over the map - old REM, Beatles, The Ventures, Joe Jackson, Elvis Costello, Frente, Throwing Muses, My Bloody Valentine, Lush, Cocteau Twins, The Sundays, Echo and the Bunnymen, Regina Spektor, Velvet Underground, The Cure, Devo, Bob Mould, Indigo Girls, Laurie Anderson, King Crimson, Rush, Yes, Chicago, Kate Bush, Joy Division, Led Zep, The Jam, John Wesley Harding, Peter Mulvey, Martin Sexton, Suzanne Vega, Dave Brubeck, Buddy Rich, Maynard Ferguson... there are a lot of musical styles in my head mixing around.
Pronouns -> He/His/Him
This is my 12th FAWM. It's always wonderful and something I look forward to. It's the best part of Winter! (...the only good part of winter?) ;-)
I've been home-recording music for many years, with music that covers styles all over the map. I do a lot of instrumental music, since I don't write lyrics, so if you have an idea, let me know. I can't guarantee a collaboration will work out, but I usually do a lot of collaborating. I do collaborations as a co-writing project and consider them complete when I find the one that fits. I've had multiple versions of songs from various people, during FAWM, but the one that I end up posting is the official song, in my mind. I'm always finding amazing new people on FAWM!
I have used some MIDI keys the past few years, but most of the time, what you are hearing is me actually playing the instruments live, including drums, one track at a time. I write songs part by part and never quite know where they are headed, and very often get very deep in layers and atmospheres. I love painting with sound.
Check out my dad's (@srcoops) and younger brother's (@guatecoop) pages! @srcoops writes a ton of lyrics and we've collaborated on a lot of songs. He's very open to people using his lyrics, and had lots of collaborations last year, so let him know if you'd like to use them!! Also check out @kovbleu and @slawbleu - they are in Treading Bleu with my younger brother and me, as well as FAWMling @gilhari who was in my college bands. :)
Oh, and I run this thing on FAWM called the 4-Track Challenge, where people mail cassettes to each other and add one track at a time. Sound fun? It is!! Let me know if you want in and check out the songs at @fourtracktape
All of my recordings, FAWM and otherwise, are on my bandcamp page
2021: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2021
2020: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2020
2019: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2019
2018: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2018
2017: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2017
2016: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2016
2015: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2015
2014: https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2014
2013: http://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/fawm-2013-2
2012 (Computer died and only did simple parts)
(but I did get this awesome song with @seemanski)
https://zecoop.bandcamp.com/track/cant-remember-ft-seemanski
2011 (almost all songs with my dad @srcoops): http://zecoop.bandcamp.com/album/zecoop-fawm-2011-demos
Spring 2021, @guatecoop, @helenseviltwin and I made an album! It is called Distant Social Club. It was super fun to make and it is free if you'd like it:
https://distantsocialclub.bandcamp.com
***Please come connect with me online!!!
Twitter: http://twitter.com/zecoop1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZeCoopMusic
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/zecoop1
** Any and all feedback is welcomed! ***
(I just may not listen to it, lol...)
My 2022 Album Cover!
**Oh, and I don't ever put hearts on any of my songs... but sometimes my collaborators do**
hello again zecoop,
i wanted to say thank you for all the lovely comments and messages you sent my way. i will watchlist you for next year!!
take care,
martin
Yeah, I heard about this :D There are so many interesthing things about music. I don't know where to start and stop!
Thanks for listening and commenting :)
Fun! I know people who do this with a standard tuned guitar and a baritone or drop B tuned guitar. I never saw or played a 12 string in real life, so I have no idea how comfy or hard it is to play. But it sounds cool. And the mix with the acoustic works well!
hello zecoop, and thanks for listening to my song
what a great coincidence about connecticut!!
i just googled "Devil's Hopyard State Park in East Haddam" and it looks beautiful - the waterfall looks especially lovely :)
i'm really happy that this connection occurred
all the best,
how the night came
Ze! I have enjoyed listening to your album this evening. There are so many treasures here and I am really amazed with the cassette mixes. I am too young to understand how that really works but you have created some really cool avant-garde sounding tracks that should be in an art gallery! My favoritest song you made this year is Snow. It is unique and soul catching. You have also done so many wonderful collabs and I can tell each one was so fun for you to do. I really love Song of the Day. Your voice is great and I just love hearing you sing. Sisyphus is wonderful too- A great way to end the album! You are so talented and my ears have really enjoyed witnessing your genius. You inspire me get back in touch with my creativity and I am grateful to have you as a friend!!! Bravo!! :)
Well, great minds, and all that! :D
Yeah, I have had similar thoughts about Taxi! Since I run a full-time business I don't have time to give songwriting the attention it would require to even justify trying to be involved in Taxi. And, once I do have the time, the odds of making any significant money in music are so astronomically small it is more likely I'll just keep songwriting as a hobby!
Oh man - it's been the best time - I've really enjoyed myself. Thanks for your encouragement & support!
YES please! I'd absolutely love you to add bass to that "Who's shaking the jar?" song! Thanks!
Hey there John, do you want to put a placeholder in for ‘Breathe’ so you can upload it once I send you the stems and you get a mixing opportunity?
Thanks for the nice comment! I'm a bit low tech in my setup, but I do enjoy playing different instruments at the same time and seeing how their sounds interact. The toy piano and the stylophone may not be the most logical musical partners, but I like them together.
Thanks for the kind comments man, means a lot! Looking forward to next year...
Beautiful work. Really enjoyed it. As your great musclebound Statesman said, 'I'll be back.'
I can't wait to get stuck into listening my way through your output this year!
I've settled on 56, just for a quadFAWM. ;-)
Wow you made it to 14...and then some!!! We've got a lot of catching up to do. Congrats!!!
I like that Bloodline remix... I remember syncing all the parts .... ugh... it would take me longer than doing the song...
My excuse is gone though.... I thought it was you that was off time on all those drum tracks I used :D
Nice! The remix of Bloodline sounds great! Thanks for taking the time.
Got it, thanks! I grew up with usual casette recorders but I never seen one of your fancy 4 tracks. I have to hoard more pencils. And sorry for spamming around and asking silly questions!
Thanks for explaining! I can spend hours and hours watching videos of instruments I don't play and getting inspired. It is so great to connect the sounds to the techniques, cause I learn a lot about what is possible, performable or could be fun for the people to record.
I wasn't a fan of The Go! Team but I've seen them live in my brit indie rock phase mid of 2000s. But I was enjoying Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys and Chikinki A LOT. In my honest opinion these days of brit music were more glorious than the 90s.
So interesting to read about this! When I bought my acoustic guitar in one of the largest shops of Europe I only saw a common capo and a rolling capo but nothing like this.
Thanks also for your comment on "Fit right it". It's been some lyrics that I just had to turn into a song. The final will sound a lot better and different. My voice is not made for a ballad, so we take some time with David and Kate :)
Thanks so much man!
Thanks for your comments on The Womble. Much appreciated. The title came from me thinking of The Stumble, which I am completely incapable of playing, but I could play a bit like a Womble (UK kids TV from 70s)...hence th title. The guitar tone - I dusted off my Barber Diret Drive, which I bought last year but never really used. I am quite lazy with pedals. Anyway, I plugged it into my Quad Cortex (amp and interface) using a Fender Deluxe clean amp model... I am finding I really enjoy using some amp in a box pedals into the QC....
Thanks for your words on our "Disco Blues". Well appreciated! It's the first time I compose a solo on an acoustic guitar. We plan to record some vocals and tweak the instrumental after FAWM. This has been a fun experiment :D
What you cut a common capo to use it as partial one o_O This is insane!
A) I cannot yet express what that song is doing for me but I can tell it was a beautiful collaboration and you deserve your share of credit for the shine. B) It's been way too long since I've blown through Kzoo (right?), I would love to hang. If you find yourself in Washtenaw Co. this year please reach out.
Thanks man. I'm a bit baffled as to where it came from, but I'm pretty stoked with it. Just needs a bit more variation in the verse arrangements to keep the interest levels up eh
Thanks for explaining! I've never seen this before. Wow, I didn't know that there are shorter capos for partial capo. Still can't imagine how to play only on the high frets . But maybe this is because I'm a beginner struggling with the super wobbly strings after fret 7.
Sorry I got MASSIVELY sidetracked, but Tape 11 should be with you now!
Thanks!
No problem. I don't know how it works! I'm sure it's been discussed deep in the threads, but I guess there's no way to post collabs among 3+ accounts, huh.
Hey, the lyrics for Lost need a minor edit. The second verse should start with "Failing" instead of "Falling". Thanks.
Thanks,. I think this song is already posted again as a collab between China and Dug… as well, so I wasn’t sure what to do! Figured Dug… wrote the lyric and sings though so…. Just happy that the US mail worked well enough for this to happen on all three tapes I was involved in. It’s been amazing and I’m so glad I took part.
Excellent, thank you for your patience! :-)
Ok cool I will email it to you later. Then do I add a link to it in a new song and mark as a collab with one of the others? And the remaining two do the same? Sorry, I’m so high Maintenance lol
Done! My bad.
That makes sense. I'll get it figured out later when I get a chance. Thanks again! And thanks for all the cat herding you do to keep the 4-track challenge on track (so to speak). When do you sleep?
Clear as mud. I'll need to digest this when I have a moment that Is not work, band practice, family stuff, etc., etc., etc. . . .
Thanks!
I'm having a little trouble wrapping my head around how to post Tape 19 on my soundboard. I've read your post about it but it feels a little like playing 3D chess (and I'm not that great at regular chess).
Sounds awesome man! Send over and I’ll see what I can do!
No rush! I'm slower than slow as usual. Thanks for clarifying; the four-track exquisite corpse sounds like a whole lot of fun.
No pressure....I appreciate that. I really do.
...song's been downloaded (shhhh)
No worries at all, my man. I'll take a listen. I'm seriously bummed that we weren't able to hook up as we had hoped initially. I know 50/90 will be here sooner than we can blink, but it wouldn't been nice here, too, y'know? I'll be back for listening and commenting. I absolutely plan on reciprocating the love that shown to me this FAWM. I may even surprise a few folks *wink*
Thanks for the kind words my man! Ha yes if we can make it work let’s do it! I’m still hoping to get 3-4 more finished in the next few days, been a slow burn this year but happy with what’s emerged… so far!
I'm looking at adding a couple of pedals for next year's portable FAWM box in the Rv. I'm thinking of a delay/reverb pedal, and chain it to a looper.
I notice you use the E-Harmonix Canyon a lot. Would you recommend it?
I posted on the 4-Track thread on the forum too but I wanted you to know that I finished my track on Tape 19. Ready to ship but I need an address. I know USPS is closed tomorrow so I am going to see if FedEx is open. I'll send it as quick as possible, as February is winding down fast.
....i think somewhat less of him now...... :D
There is no green grass anywhere!!!
Is the grass greener over there??? :)
Is the grass greener over here??? :)
Finally taking a listen to the Treading Bleu album - great stuff!
Thank you for listening! I’m always so impressed by your collaborative musicianship and inventiveness — it means a lot to me to hear such kind comments from you.
Great job on the drums for Chemistry(Looking Up)...the guys certainly know how to play, write and produce...I had a "Jelly" of a time doing this song. Cheers
Thanks for your words on "Time". I wanted the guitar part to mimic a ticking clock. :-)
Glad you like it.
You Oats song idea might just make the Oats based album. Quaker Oats etc
Well anytime you need bass or a mix/master I’m game! Just happy to be making music.
Thanks dude! Lmk if you ever wanna collab on something or I will track down your generous drums and tag you! That exclamation mark doesn’t indicate a threat….just excitement lol
But, of course! Why did I not realise?
Z thank you so much for the awesome comments on “Stain or Stein”. It really means a lot. You are too kind! I am trying to create and get caught up on listening which has been a challenge. I am going to pick a couple of your right now but I promise I will get back to get all of them.
Wanna say thanks for the drums! Splittybooms sent em in a that track we we’re working on and they were dope!
Hey ZeCoop, I added your tag for you!
Thank you again!
Oh and yeah man, I def have no issues with you including the track, but I honestly don't know how it all works with the collab factor or what the other cats feel about it.
But yeah hit me up after FAWM - in fact, we can all do a group email, that way everybody can say what they gotta say, yeah?
Great job on the drums on Chemistry ..cool track.
Thanks for your comment! Glad you liked "Under!"
Thanks so much for the comments! Been a bit slow going but really fun... :)
Not sure if last years hair metal song was the first I heard from you but I enjoyed. So you guys found a band?
I love playing with people's expectations. Remember last FAWM where everybody expected that I upload edm or uke stuff and I uploaded a heavy rock song? I felt like half of my watchlist has been exchanged xD This year I uploaded two songs that are completely bananas. FAWM is a blast thanks a lot!
Your comment on "Under" means a lot to me because you're a skilled drummer. It's the first time I did some really weird rhythms. We don't have real guitars yet but hopefully this will change. I'm glad you enjoyed our song. It solved a long-term knot in my head. Now I'm working on a song with even weirder signatures!
Let me know if you receive the e-mail with the corpse bit or not, I've been having some technical difficulties lately with things not going through.
That's a lot of earnestness! Thanks for the correction!! :)
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. I’m still happy about how all of these random events led to a song that I’ll probably still be proud of in the coming years.
Sweet, lay it on me! I’m also working with one of your drum loops at the moment, but it would be cool to do a proper collab :)
Thanks for your lovely comments on my eerie recorder song!
I have a small piece of weirdo corpse for your delectation. . . where do I send it?
I'm going to try out the felt picks. I pick the guitar with 1&2, and finger pick with 3,4,&5 .... it was a stupid way to learn, but now I'm here..... I try to tone down the "pick" string , but rarely do. I think the felt may help.....
and... thanks again! pebble and peacock almost didn't survive the sudden attack of FEAR OF OTHER PEOPLE'S OPINIONS. and indeed has been deleted at some point in this journey. But it seemed to really want to be posted. The idea for that set of lyrics is a story i created. It won't leave me alone either. as far as composing, definitely no pressure because I will be happy to make it to the 28th without a self-indulgent artist-brand meltdown...
and: I love your work here my good friend (the music as well as the other stuff).
Thank you for your comment. It is nice for a FAWMling to hear; it is motivating.
Hahahaha! Thank you thank you, you're too kind
Just gave it a quick listen, download the files tomorrow, I got a couple of ideas and potential directions I can take, I’ll play around with a couple of days and come back in to you, I would probably want you to add some organ and other sonic spice.
Cool I'm absolutely up for the challenge, it'll be quite liberating to not having to relate to a click actually.
Right on, I felt like a dipstick for typing that so I'm happy you're also like that with chords. Sometimes you just play stuff you think sounds good and you don't really care what it's called.
Google Drive is not letting me get in the share tab so I'm going to email everyone a Dropbox link instead.
Thanks for the comment also!
Your wife's not wrong about the creepiness. This was the first comment on the last one: "This is weird!! That’s definitely a good thing - what’s that freaky thing going on in the background. Is he going to kill someone??? Should I be worried?" Creepy is apt!
Thanks for the loops - I'm really enjoying playing with them. Yesterday's one lost something in the mix I think. The vocal and guitar were completely overwhelmed by the loop much earlier when I recorded it, and I think I pulled back too much when mixing it down to stereo. Might have another crack at a mix before I change the 4-track settings and see if I can get it closer to the original chaos. The quietness of the end is much more effective when the loop just drowns out everything.
You really are a mind-reader; I kept myself up last night working on some riot grrly lyrics that work PERFECTLY for this! Stoked on this!!
Mail well received, thank you!
That's about all any of us can do, twiddle the knobs and plunk the strings until we get a sound we like. And of course the result is, we get to hear music that blows us away that the mainstream doesn't even know exists.
I would say HELL YESSSSS bring it on, please!
Oh, and 25 years ago you would never have had to explain "taking over the world" to kids thanks to Pinky And The Brain. (At least not to kids in my orbit.) I sure miss them.
And that's very cool about your wife. $DEITY bless teachers. My daughter teaches 4th grade. I think she enjoys having someone her own age to spend the day with.
Thanks for the listen. What I meant by "you lost me" was, I didn't understand most of the tools & techniques you described. I'm basically an old banjo-playing folkie who's still coming to terms with Band-In-A-Box, Audacity and Logig Pro X, much less pedals and filters and the like.
LOL, nevermind! @vomvorton already to the rescue, it...is not a Mac plugin! *upside down smiley face*
Yes, please! I just posted in the Reaper forum topic, in fact -- not sure if you saw or are just a mind reader, ha! But I'm having trouble finding the steel guitar plugin I just downloaded -- added the path in preferences, cleared cache and rescanned, but don't see it in my Virtual Instruments. And this is my first time trying to add a plugin, so not sure if I'm just missing something obvious!
Hi! I wanted to stop by and tell you how much I appreciated reading your comments on The Meltdown. It's difficult to put into words what that means to me.
So your brother lives in Cleveland eh? Maybe we could jam sometime!!!
Glad you liked the piano/drum track. I'll try a few more in the days to come.
I enjoyed your comment on “The Ride”, but more importantly...... I’m really glad you had a drum break right at 90 seconds...... :-D
I'm tempted to use the typewriter on a few more! :-D
Just for you, I added the full list of instruments used AND added some more instruments!
https://fawm.org/songs/129141/
Hi, I used one of your drum tracks for a piano instrumental - they sounded great. Thanks for making these available, they really add a lot to a song. https://fawm.org/songs/129512/
List now added to the kitchen sink track. ;-)
re: Righteous Sound - so pleased you like it, the drum track wrote the song for me :) The old recording gear that I use is laggy and I worry that the tiny delay brings down the playing quality/timing, does it sound in time to you?
Oops. I had to go and take a break from the PC and didn't get round to adding the gear list! I'll correct that shortly.
But going to take me a listen to a couple of your tunes first. ;-)
I'd love that! I'm hoping to get my new interface in soon (apparently stranded in Memphis...which might have to be a song title) so once I get it in I'm back in the game!