Donald Merand: Recent Episodes
Donald Merand
🎵 Output before Input #298 - 2022.11.11
Light shining through the cracks in your carefully-built wall
🎵 Output before Input #293 - 2022.11.07
(melody from my dream)
The slog it takes to make something look easy
🎵 Output before Input #290 - 2022.11.03
(This one came straight out of my dream)
You don’t have to stumble and trip on this path, you can actually fly.
🎵 Output before Input #275 - 2022.10.15
Walking by their window and watching them dance
🎵 Output before Input #265 - 2022.10.06
Do the same thing again but this time think “what if it were easy?”
🎵 Output before Input #264 - 2022.10.03
When you keep having to take off your sweater and put it back on again because every time the sun goes behind a cloud it drops 15 degrees
🎵 Output before Input #254 - 2022.09.20
Taking off the old rags to wash in the river on a sunny day
🎵 Output before Input #246 - 2022.09.13
Give the best you’ve got, even if it’s not good enough.
🎵 Output before Input #245 - 2022.09.12
It turns out you never had to hold your breath at all
🎵 Output before Input #241 - 2022.09.08
My throat and breathing were stuck at E♭; singing along with this helped.
🎵 Output before Input #208 - 2022.07.31
Walking a new city before anybody else is awake
🎵 Output before Input #204 - 2022.07.24
In my dream this was a song I was singing called “On Thin Ice”.
🎵 Output before Input #201 - 2022.07.16
Scratching fingernails on the wall looking for a crack
🎵 Output before Input #199 - 2022.07.15
300-lb bruiser whose best friend is a rat named Twinkles
🎵 Output before Input #195 - 2022.07.12
Groove virus spreads quickly and manifests differently in each host.
🎵 Output before Input #194 - 2022.07.12
Riding a motorcycle away from an explosion and into the sunset
🎵 Output before Input #192 - 2022.07.07
Snap-dancing to the ice cream shop with your crew
🎵 Output before Input #185 - 2022.07.03
Going back into the house because you forgot your keys montage
🎵 Output before Input #175 - 2022.06.23
This rhythm seems to be stuck deep in my hands.
🎵 Output before Input #173 - 2022.06.22
I had a dream that my teeth kept falling out because they’d secretly been dentures and I hadn’t known. I think it influenced this sketch - centered around an unstable tonal foundation.
🎵 Output before Input #171 - 2022.06.21
Walking around town on a sunny day, waving to all the neighbors
🎵 Output before Input #170 - 2022.06.21
One of the things I love about guitar is how much you can do/imply with just three notes (in this case, one melody and two harmony) and two hands. I used to be a maximalist with harmony but lately I’ve been exploring how much the ear will fill in by itself.
🎵 Output before Input #168 - 2022.06.19
Guitar people love things that are tricky or sound tricky to play on the guitar. I think this piece is me making fun of myself for being that way.
🎵 Output before Input #166 - 2022.06.16
Flirting with what might be called atonality - intentionally seeking the thing right next to the thing that makes harmonic sense.
🎵 Output before Input #165 - 2022.06.16
Drawn to this sweet melody, dropped and deconstructed in tone.
🎵 Output before Input #163 - 2022.06.13
When you feel tired + don’t want to wake up but your dreams keep getting weirder so you get up anyhow
🎵 Output before Input #162 - 2022.06.13
This one feels like it’s about the struggle to keep things simple.
🎵 Output before Input #160 - 2022.06.12
Aggressively pastoral - like walking through a field and tripping on a bunch of stones.
🎵 Output before Input #159 - 2022.06.10
This sounds like having a beautiful, enjoyable day with chronic pain.
🎵 Output before Input #158 - 2022.06.07
Sometimes you have to just, you know, do a friggin’ guitar solo on some blues.
🎵 Output before Input #155 - 2022.06.05
Early morning jog, and maybe seeing some people along the way.
🎵 Output before Input #153 - 2022.06.04
This idea took only a few minutes to conceive but I had to practice it a bit before it was recordable, even as a sketch.
I get an image of a bird going crazy with its mating dance and the other bird hasn’t decided whether to join in yet.
🎵 Output before Input #152 - 2022.06.04
This has a very Papa M / Album Leaf thing going on. It probably would have sounded less sloppy if I’d capo’ed it but that’s the price you pay for making it up as you go.
🎵 Output before Input #151 - 2022.06.02
I guess I had one more in me this morning - though it’s not some mind-blowing idea that just had to burst forth into being. It feels more like a coda - or an interlude - if anything.
🎵 Output before Input #150 - 2022.06.02
This started as me playing along with #149 the first time I played it back. Listening to it now, it suggests “part 2” of #149 in a lot of ways.
🎵 Output before Input #148 - 2022.06.01
This is a friend trying to get you to dance at the party.
🎵 Output before Input #147 - 2022.06.01
Total blank-mind improv - restless + searching but never landing really.
🎵 Output before Input #146 - 2022.06.01
Sometimes searching out dissonance is just too tempting. It seems to happen for me a lot with this sort of decaying distortion tone - the beats between the waves are so juicy.
🎵 Output before Input #145 - 2022.05.31
Riffing on a chord progression that kind of goes its own way after a while. It’s nice when that happens and I can roll with it. I’ve noticed that I often struggle to roll with it and trip over my own feet.
🎵 Output before Input #144 - 2022.05.31
The melody came quickly when I sat down; this is a simple exploration of what else goes with that melody.
🎵 Output before Input #143 - 2022.05.30
Just a taste of an idea. I get the image of some kind of twisted Newton’s cradle.
🎵 Output before Input #142 - 2022.05.30
There’s usually a lot of implied other music going on in my mind, but in the case of this sketch it feels particularly empty with the stuff that’s missing.
🎵 Output before Input #141 - 2022.05.29
This one’s a bit late for International Drone Day but I hope I’ll be forgiven.
🎵 Output before Input #138 - 2022.05.24
Today, this was more about the tone for me than the, you know, music.
🎵 Output before Input #136 - 2022.05.23
Improvised jazz melody. I just realized this morning that for an improv sketch practice, I don’t really play all that much jazz.
🎵 Output before Input #135 - 2022.05.22
I would say this is “out there,” but it might be more accurate to say it’s “in there.” The Hedvig Mollestad influence is strong.
🎵 Output before Input #129 - 2022.05.19
A simple exploration, which nonetheless managed to jump the rails a bit.
🎵 Output before Input #128 - 2022.05.18
This sketch isn’t sure what it wants to be when it grows up.
🎵 Output before Input #127 - 2022.05.17
I think the theme here is “maintaining consistency” and how some days it’s easy and other days it’s all you can do.
🎵 Output before Input #124 - 2022.05.12
I love the style of outlining melody that guitarists like Celestine Ukwu, Ray Phiri, or Ebo Taylor play. It sounds upbeat, but I find it quite a challenge to improvise at tempo and keep that feeling.
🎵 Output before Input #123 - 2022.05.10
Sometimes I have a plan when I hit “record” but this one was a “hit record + see what comes out” moment.
🎵 Output before Input #122 - 2022.05.10
Both hands on the fretboard this morning - I must have looked like Picasso’s guitarist.
🎵 Output before Input #121 - 2022.05.08
Maybe it’s just me but I’m always amazed at how one instrument can play multiple sonic roles and the ear will fill things in with enough hints.
🎵 Output before Input #120 - 2022.05.08
This makes me think of the old Latif Learned work.
🎵 Output before Input #119 - 2022.05.06
A chord study. I tried a bunch of stuff this morning but it all came out so unfocused that it was unusable. It’s interesting how much of a window into my psyche this process has been.
🎵 Output before Input #117 - 2022.05.03
Full-on free-association. I was trying not to follow any of my patterns for too long.
🎵 Output before Input #116 - 2022.05.03
I can’t stay away from the degraded I IV V harmonies.
🎵 Output before Input #115 - 2022.05.03
Sinister beachside / desert situation (or is it?)
🎵 Output before Input #114 - 2022.05.02
This is pretty much my default improv state - though kind of raw + sloppy today.
🎵 Output before Input #113 - 2022.05.02
A cinematic theme, only too aggressive-sounding to be in the background.
🎵 Output before Input #111 - 2022.04.30
Something like a deconstructed/degraded Foo Fighters riff.
🎵 Output before Input #110 - 2022.04.29
Navigating a labyrinth and not ever really finding the center.
🎵 Output before Input #109 - 2022.04.28
I played a lot of Pink Floyd in my youth, so sometimes the David Gilmour vibe comes out a bit.
🎵 Output before Input #106 - 2022.04.26
I heard somewhere that The Books were so-named because their music evolved like a book instead of being repetitive from one end of a song to another. That idea really sticks with me, and influenced this sketch.
🎵 Output before Input #103 - 2022.04.23
Let your body relax and let the changing meter just carry you awayyyyy
🎵 Output before Input #101 - 2022.04.21
This is what the inside of my head sounds like this morning. So much going on in there, it’s hard to calm down - kind of all over the place.
🎵 Output before Input #100 - 2022.04.20
I don’t know how many of these I thought I’d make, but 100 seemed like an outer bound when I started. How many ideas can one person have? I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface.
🎵 Output before Input #98 - 2022.04.18
This is some kind of jazz rock outland/parallel universe version of #96 (same morning, different take).
🎵 Output before Input #97 - 2022.04.18
Same “seed” idea + chords as #96 (same morning), but taken in a chunkier direction.
🎵 Output before Input #96 - 2022.04.18
I ended up recording three very different things this morning - I’m either feeling like a high achiever or can’t make up my mind where to sit in the breakfast hall.
🎵 Output before Input #95 - 2022.04.17
I call this a “Falcor” - a never-ending story of chord resolution that sounds like it goes on forever but in reality is just three chords. We have Philip Glass to thank for single-handedly making this kind of circular resolution a thing.
🎵 Output before Input #94 - 2022.04.17
I tend to focus a lot on harmonic mobility in my own writing but there’s always something interesting about playing simple changes with a particular feeling.
🎵 Output before Input #93 - 2022.04.16
This lick made me wish I were in better shape. I was listening to High Life Kings yesterday so that’s undoubtedly why I have this kind of pattern in my head today.
🎵 Output before Input #92 - 2022.04.14
A groove like this sounds easy to play and isn’t technically difficult, but can be tough to sustain consistently.
🎵 Output before Input #91 - 2022.04.13
Inverted power chord (fourth under fifth) structures keep showing up in my improvisation. They sound inherently less resolved and powerful, which lends a bit more dramatic tension.
🎵 Output before Input #90 - 2022.04.10
Bonus exploration today. Feels like outer space to me.
🎵 Output before Input #89 - 2022.04.10
I watched Metal Lords last night and something must have transferred to my subconscious.
🎵 Output before Input #88 (Take 3) - 2022.04.09
3-part series today.
This is the final take of 3. It’s quite different from the other takes (ultimately), but it also feels to me like the most interesting ideas of the improv started to take shape and get stated with more clarity here.
🎵 Output before Input #88 (Take 2) - 2022.04.09
3-part series today.
This was a second take after I flubbed the first one (see Take 1), and I really liked it. But I realized after I stopped playing that my computer had run out of battery somewhere in the middle. This is a partial recording…
🎵 Output before Input #88 (Take 1) - 2022.04.09
3-part series today.
I started with this recording, but I felt like I flubbed it too many times to share. I did another take and my computer ran out of battery right in the middle of the take :/ Since they’re all quite different I thought maybe it would be interesting to share them all as a window into the improvisation process.
🎵 Output before Input #86 - 2022.04.08
I don’t know why these pop melodies keep coming out. I must be feeling nostalgic.
🎵 Output before Input #85 - 2022.04.07
I awoke with a little minor-ninth embellishment in my head and built this groove from that.
🎵 Output before Input #83 - 2022.04.04
Just a little comfortable pocket. Sometimes it’s nice to be in a comfortable pocket.
🎵 Output before Input #82 - 2022.04.03
Believe it or not, I was meditating on the pelvic floor and this riff was inspired by that.
🎵 Output before Input #80 - 2022.04.01
I woke up with this melody in my head, which means I almost certainly stole it from somewhere. I turned it into something rambling and comfortable, probably because moving on is in my head today.
🎵 Output before Input #79 - 2022.03.31
Today I’m thinking about being a kid, sneaking around in the early morning, trying to be clandestine but occasionally failing in our enthusiasm.
🎵 Output before Input #78 - 2022.03.30
I’m thinking about my dad this morning, who introduced me to Frank Zappa. Growing up, he always encouraged my weirder guitar tendencies and took the stewardship of my musical taste seriously.
When I think of Frank Zappa, I think of ironic doo-wop, I think of whole tone abrasive guitar solos, and I think of crazy riffs in crazy meter. Some of that comes out here.
🎵 Output before Input #77 - 2022.03.29
Me cruising along, doing my thing and then I threw my back out. I think I could have seen it coming if I knew where to look, but of course we never can see the thing in our blind spot.
🎵 Output before Input #75 - 2022.03.28
At least once a week I have a meditation/stretching “improv” practice. This sketch feels a bit like those improvisations - just following what shows up and seeing where it takes you.
🎵 Output before Input #73 - 2022.03.26
Weirdly I got to this riff by playing “Everywhere” by Fleetwood Mac. I think it might play better on bass guitar, but I like it in this context too, even with the rough playing.
🎵 Output before Input #72 - 2022.03.26
I seem to be really into these consistent quarter-note strum patterns lately - maybe as a result of wanting to fill the sonic space with a single take on a single instrument. And of course, any excuse to throw a major 7 or a minor 2 into a riff.
🎵 Output before Input #71 - 2022.03.26
All chords resolve to each other if you really mean it.
🎵 Output before Input #70 - 2022.03.24
I can’t escape the 90’s pop music with which I grew up. I accept that.
🎵 Output before Input #69 - 2022.03.23
Kind of an Album Leaf or Papa M vibe to this one.
🎵 Output before Input #68 - 2022.03.22
Jumping from one branch and hoping the next one will support my weight.
🎵 Output before Input #67 - 2022.03.21
This short, nomadic interlude was all that came by the window this morning.
🎵 Output before Input #66 - 2022.03.20
The tone is really beautiful in moments here - with a little development it could be really menacing.
🎵 Output before Input #65 - 2022.03.19
Listening back to this, I think I stole part of a phrase from R.E.M. (and probably others). The overall thing sounds about like I feel this morning - like there’s some ability for ease to exist, but I missed it by going the hard way.
🎵 Output before Input #63 - 2022.03.16
I almost have an aversion to playing full-on barre chord shapes in traditional harmonic structures; this is me confronting that.
🎵 Output before Input #62 - 2022.03.14
This might sound weird or obvious, but it’s been an interesting challenge making something that’s improvised actually sound like things were planned along with any kind of consistent tempo. I can already see it having the effect of tightening up my guitar playing and composition in general - things are less rambly than they were when I was just playing this stuff by myself without hitting record. Which is not to say that there aren’t tons of flubs - don’t worry, there are still tons of flubs.
🎵 Output before Input #60 - 2022.03.12
Short, but I found the groove fun to play along with.
One struggle I’m having is the balance between wanting to make sure these ideas aren’t too rehearsed and the desire for them to come across in spite of not being practiced and occasionally stumbling while I’m improvising. I don’t practice enough to where my technique is flawless right now, and it makes me feel a bit self-conscious about sharing ideas with goofs in them. But I’m doing it anyway :)
🎵 Output before Input #59 - 2022.03.11
I’m always a sucker for synching delay decay with tempo. I’m also always a sucker for patterns that repeat in non-4-time.
🎵 Output before Input #57 - 2022.03.09
I only realized this morning that the riffier progressions have mostly been “two ideas, contrasted and expanded” and not just one idea. The threshold for hitting “record” on them is usually “Ok, I’ve got two things that work well enough together, let’s improvise on that now.”
🎵 Output before Input #56 - 2022.03.08
My first recording got corrupted and lost, so I guess this is my version of waking up and immediately being frustrated but trying to still access some calm.
🎵 Output before Input #55 - 2022.03.07
Trying to stretch into more interesting rhythm/chord progressions, but I don’t think I got there today.
🎵 Output before Input #54 - 2022.03.06
Minor seconds are some of the hardest intervals to play on the guitar, especially stacked (and sometimes even inverted), but the payoff is always interesting (to me, at least).
🎵 Output before Input #53 - 2022.03.06
Again challending myself to “hit record first” and just start playing.
🎵 Output before Input #52 - 2022.03.04
This was a relatively rare morning where I didn’t play a single note before hitting record.
🎵 Output before Input #51 - 2022.02.28
A chord progression that takes inspiration from Hendrix’ “Hey Joe”.
🎵 Output before Input #50 - 2022.02.27
I’m not sure how far I thought I was going to take this, but 50 seems like a milestone! I’m celebrating with this incredibly soft, rounded, understated melody. Look: I don’t control what comes out - when you roll out of bed + pick up a guitar, what happens: happens.
🎵 Output before Input #49 - 2022.02.26
Woke up with a melody and turned it jazzy. Feels kind of frantic though.
🎵 Output before Input #48 - 2022.02.25
Experimenting with related tonality through close harmonic structures. Which could probably be the title of the entire series.
🎵 Output before Input #47 - 2022.02.25
Gradually degrading what should be a pleasant two-chord rhythm.
🎵 Output before Input #46 - 2022.02.24
The tremolo sound here was inspired by Noga Erez’ “You So Done” from “Kids (Against the Machine)” which was in my head when I woke up.
🎵 Output before Input #45 - 2022.02.24
I was thinking about Mattias Eklund’s “single-string” horizontal soloing on this one - although this sounds nothing like him.
🎵 Output before Input #36 - 2022.02.16
Perhaps heavier than it needs to be, but then is there such a thing?
🎵 Output before Input #33 - 2022.02.13
Today’s idea: what if an R&B chord progression was based on the Philip Glass rising-thirds chord trifecta?
🎵 Output before Input #28 - 2022.02.10
A bit of a riff stolen from the Grateful Dead, but taken in a different direction.
🎵 Output before Input #27 - 2022.02.10
Tried to capture a melody I had when waking up, but I can hear it getting lost as I play it here. Oh well, that happens sometimes.
🎵 Output before Input #26 - 2022.02.07
This one feels like hearing the slow birth of a chord progression + melody.
🎵 Output before Input #25 - 2022.02.07
I had the idea for this kind of chimey, echo-ey, pedal-tone sound right before I went to bed + it stuck with me when I woke up.
🎵 Output before Input #22 - 2022.02.04
Today I was thinking about the feelings that always come up together, and how hard it can be to figure out which one is actually happening right now.
🎵 Output before Input #16 - 2022.01.29
Today I woke up with this melody in my head from a dream.
🎵 Output before Input #0 - 2022.01.13
I just realized that my first post in this category wasn’t actually my first recording. Here’s a bonus episode zero :)
🎵 Output before Input #1 - 2022.01.14
I’m often inspired by Tom Sach’s work. Recently I read about his philosophy of output before input, which is evidently something he learned from my quantitative design hero Edward Tufte.
I’ve started a daily “output before input” ritual for my guitar playing. Each morning that I successfully get out of bed without looking at my phone, I sit at my electric guitar and do a quick improvisation, usually 2-3 minutes in length. I’ve done enough now that I feel confident sharing them as their own category, and I’ll keep it up for as long as it bears something interesting to me. Hopefully anybody who listens will find it interesting as well.
Here’s the podcast on Pocket Casts, as a standard podcast feed, and as an Apple Podcasts-compatible link.