Building a Better World

[Mike_S]

Mimic Fest in the style of King Crimson

So I set out to do a fest entry in the style of King Crimson. They have some weird jarring time signatures sometimes so that odd beat came to me first. I laid out a couple of bars, first bar in 4/4 and second with an extra beat making a longer bar. With no music theory knowledge I have no idea what time signature this then makes it. It stays like this for the verses but reverts to 4/4 in other sections. I deliberately tried to avoid a "chorus" as such and tried to make the structure a bit unconventional.

The opening guitar motif I had King Crimson in mind for this kind of odd single string stuff. After this opening the style seems to do it's own thing, but the spirit of King Crimson is still there hopefully.

Anyway it's a kind of a take on our obsession with refining/perfecting everything, which kind of has a life of it's own for better or worse.

Performance disclaimer: The guitar parts were recorded/put together in sections for 2 reasons. First I really had no idea what form the song was going to take in terms of what sections were going to go where, so I just played the few different ideas I had in different takes and pieced them together. But second there is no way I could play it smoothly or well in that damn time signature without a hell of a lot of practice... to hell with that

Reorganising
And realigning
Unwanted problems
We are redesigning

We're building a better world
We're building a better world for you

These changes we're making
Anomalies ending
We won't be dissuaded
Not bending or breaking

This world can be purified
This world can be purified for you

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It isn't working
What we were given

-------

Unlimited choices
No need for decisions
Everything clearer
In perfect precision

We're building a better world
We're building a better world for you

[kenny mac]

Wow this is amazing,I can just see crimson playing this.
That is some project you took on.
Amazing performance.
Well done.

[Hook]

Oh hell YES! I listened to this while walking this morning and thought for sure you were gearing up for your upcoming concert. This is spectacular brother, I love that you don't known what time your in. You describe a measure of 4/4 then a.measure of 5/4...if it's a single phrase I guess it's 9/8. I'll listen again without of a math mind.
I dig this so fucking much brother, huge accomplishment, pulled off marvelously.
Rock on!

[StephenM]

yeah... i described this to the Mrs. and she says 5/4...but my explanation might be off...because she won't be...she had 12 years of theory and is a professional keyboardist....ha!  But, she has no interest at all in "composing" or writing or whatever...
i read the lyrics and started to listen to this and then my lovely wife had to practice some piano so I cannot hear it without turning the headphones too loud...
I will say though the feel  of this isn't that different than some of the others you've done... its killer and it's big and really reaches very high and grabs what it's after....I have not listened to that much KC but their are flavors of Rush here as well, and that is good as it gets... believe me  I will hear this a bunch...and will comment further after...

[guitarron]

Damn dude. Nailed it

[Ferryman_1957]

Ooh, I love this! Definitely Belew-era KC in my book, those opening chords and guitar sounds reminded me straight away of Elephant Talk. You really capture the style of KC and the slightly dissonant riffing over an odd time signature. And it works brilliantly! I love the different sections, you really drew me in and held my interest throughout. I loved the ending section from about 3:20 on where you start to stab with the rhythm guitar in one channel.

It sounds great as well, really punchy bass playing off the drums and really well handled guitar sounds. There's quite a lot going on but it never gets muddy, I can tell a lot of work went in to both the composing and recording of this. Really top notch stuff Mike, I'd be happy to find this on a KC album......

[Farrell Jackson]

I got excited when I saw the Mimic was King Crimson and I was not disappointed at all because you hit the sweet spot Mike! Real good quality in the recording, singing and playing. I agree with Hook on the timing, 4/4-5/4.

[Oldrottenhead]

yeah baby, i to am getting the Adrian Belew era vibe. Gaun yersel Mike. Faneffingtastic!

[guitarron]

Had to come back to this got interrupted earlier. This is really creative and enjoyable listen. Yes we're doing our best to build a better world indeed. Hopefully. Love it

[Bluesberry]

damn tasty......so good I can't really comment much......love that rhythm banging away in the weird timing...goes right to my brain stem....very creative and cool....and it is a really catchy song to boot.....I coud listen to this all day...