Jackenstein (Spidee’s Theme): Tension, Rinse, Repeat

This song is really about the simple guitar riff; the rest is window-dressing. Basically, I’ve been playing this guitar riff for years in either the 8/8 rhythm recorded here or in 7/8 (omitting the last eighth note at the end of the measure). The 7/8 version would be even more tense than this one and probably overkill (also much harder given my limited skills). The title (Jackenstein) is a reference to the fact that I recorded this on Halloween 2000 as well as the fact that the song was literally constructed from an initial recording of me playing the riff (badly) over and over again. The sequence of the song (measures, progression, etc.) was a pure product of cutting and pasting the original guitar part (ala Frankenstein’s monster). Most of the resulting rhythm track is an amalgam of three different measures played simultaneously to wash out the inconsistencies of my ham-handed playing. The rest of the parts are really simple, (simulated) bass, organ, electric rhythm guitar, and electronic drums. The secondary title (Spidee’s Theme) is in dedication to the person responsible for creating the tension in the song.

Written in 1986 (©1986) and recorded on and around Halloween 2000 on a Roland VS-840EX 8-track digital recorder. The rough stereo mix was mastered using Cool Edit 2000.

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