New Honey Hunters - Kafka

[Armistice]

In case you don't know... Franz Kafka was a Czech writer in the early 20th century - he wrote a novel called The Trial in which the main character is arrested on a charge, the exact nature of which he is never able to learn. It was the sort of thing I was reading as a young adult. I've put a picture below of the copy of the book I still have - it appears to be the 1978 edition.

Interesting enough topic for a song, but the song is actually an abstraction of a circumstance I find myself in, relating to a friendship between my GF and a married couple who we'll call R (husband) and S (wife) which has existed for over a decade now. The origin of the friendship is through the women - both my GF and S work in the pharma industry in different capacities. We were very good friends and all got along very well - a weekend didn't go past usually without us meeting up somewhere. Then of course, we moved north. Since Feb this year I've been frozen out of this little group and I don't know why and it's been impossible to find out why. GF has tried, in her own way, and come up empty handed. All my approaches are via R and are all rebuffed quite bluntly via text, if he responds at all - and I'm probably up to about 6 attempts by now. I keep having another go to see if perhaps I've made a mistake.

I haven't. It's a mystery. GF's frustrating inability to ask a direct question is part of the problem, but the larger issue - I mean, I could easily stumble in and sort this uber passive aggressive shit out myself - is that GF's employer is currently actively working on an important project for S's company, and GF and S are the principles in that project and just have to get along - so because of that, my hands are tied. GF is retiring within 6 months. We'll sort it out then. I've told her she's being "managed" for reasons unknown. She was actually at their house (she's in Sydney now) last night and all appeared well, apparently. I've also told her that while we'll eventually work this out, there's no way back from here for me. I don't care what the eventual explanation is, I'm being treated appallingly and surely they can't possibly think that I'm unaware of it. So I have no interest in them any more.

As autobiographical as a song gets for me - although it is still, as I said, an abstraction...


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MIX 1

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MIX 2


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I decided to make it a straight narrative style song, so there's no bridge, and no chorus as such in that words are repeated, just two musical sections repeated.

[Greg_L]

Maybe they just never actually liked you and was more interested in her.

And trust me, I know very well how that goes.

[Greg_L]

As a mix I think this sounds pretty good. I'd probably like the vocals tucked in a little better but what you got suits the style and genre.

What really actually bugs me though is the drums in what I'd call the chorus. They're so busy it's distracting. I like the little accents and ghost taps in the verses, but when the chorus part takes off it'd be better if the drums went straight steady boom thwack. And I'm not even gonna temper that with the "IMO" disclaimer - it's fact. Fix that. Otherwise pretty good.

[vomitHatSteve]

Sounds pretty good. I can see what Greg is saying about the busy drums.

(It kind of reminds me of the first Blink 182 album after they reunited in that regard)

Maybe they're just planning you an elaborate retirement party?

[Mr Clean]

Good song, lyrics, performance and mix. I can also see what Greg is saying about the busy drum part. It kind of works as is, as it is different to what you'd expect but it's a little overly busy. A heavier straightforward beat would really lift that part and drive it home.

The Trial is one of my most favourite books.

Re: Your so-called friends. I would just ask them outright. I'm a firm believer of being upfront and honest. A spade is not a shovel. Either way, for people to just blank you for no good reason, they obviously weren't that good a friend in the first place and you'll probably be better off without them. That's my honest opinion.

[Armistice]

Maybe they just never actually liked you and was more interested in her.

And trust me, I know very well how that goes.

Yeah, maybe, but for 10 years? We have our own theory which is to do with his having some form of breakdown/crisis that's being concealed as far as possible from the outside world. My GF and S still have these big in-depth convos - why she just can't ask a blunt question is beyond me, but... women - anyway, there have been hints. Nothing else fits.

As a mix I think this sounds pretty good. I'd probably like the vocals tucked in a little better but what you got suits the style and genre.

What really actually bugs me though is the drums in what I'd call the chorus. They're so busy it's distracting. I like the little accents and ghost taps in the verses, but when the chorus part takes off it'd be better if the drums went straight steady boom thwack. And I'm not even gonna temper that with the "IMO" disclaimer - it's fact. Fix that. Otherwise pretty good.

So this is not me "drumming", this is Steven Slate Anonymous Staff Drummer. I discovered after all these years that they give you a whole lot of "grooves" where they got a real drummer to pound out various rhythms. Typically any one set contains 2 or 2 verse variations, a couple of choruses, maybe a bridge and some fills. So I spliced all these together and made a track and THEN actually worked out the music. Way simpler and better than my programming, but they're not without their issues.

I never really listened to the "busyness" of the chorus, but when you pointed it out I went back and had a listen. The verses work with all the ghost hits etc. but yeah, the chorus is a bit much, so I've removed about 90% of the ghosting and a fair few of the double kicks as well. You're right. It does work better.

And I can always be persuaded to turn vocals down, so I've tucked them in a bit more in Mix 2.

Sounds pretty good. I can see what Greg is saying about the busy drums.

(It kind of reminds me of the first Blink 182 album after they reunited in that regard)

Maybe they're just planning you an elaborate retirement party?

I don't think I've ever knowingly listened to Blink 182! Have altered the chorus drums as mentioned above. Cheers

Good song, lyrics, performance and mix. I can also see what Greg is saying about the busy drum part. It kind of works as is, as it is different to what you'd expect but it's a little overly busy. A heavier straightforward beat would really lift that part and drive it home.

The Trial is one of my most favourite books.

Re: Your so-called friends. I would just ask them outright. I'm a firm believer of being upfront and honest. A spade is not a shovel. Either way, for people to just blank you for no good reason, they obviously weren't that good a friend in the first place and you'll probably be better off without them. That's my honest opinion.

I've tweaked the drums as I've mentioned above.

I would just ask them outright too, except I can't because R isn't returning any comms and I can't jeopardise the work relationship between my GF and S. I'll get to the truth of it at some point. Next year. It's inevitable then that we'll both be in Sydney at the same time (although we were for a weekend a few months back and got blown away with what, just, just, just, could have been a conceivable excuse) and at that point I'll find out WTF this is all about.

Thanks for the listen.

[TheTestingYak]

good choon brav