Tune Tag #57 with Ryan Stubbs aka Miter, Pt. 2: Daft Punk, George Duke, Frank Zappa, Don Williams, Barry Manilow, Guided By Voices, Puhdys

For the first time in Tune Tag history, we offer the addition of newly-recorded cover versions of many of this edition's songs...all played and sung by our Tune Tag guest, Miter!

Howdy, Ryan!

Tune Tag is pleased to welcome

Miter

of Washed Memoir in Real Time

Miter is the solo recording project of Ryan Stubbs, a Denver-based artist. Ryan is a lifelong practitioner of rock, and has shared stages with artists such as Liz Phair, Nathaniel Rateliff, Kings of Leon, the Decemberists, Devotchka, Cake, and many others. He’s played festivals such as CMJ and Austin’s South By Southwest, and venues such as Red Rocks (near Denver), and the 9:30 Club. 

Stubbs’ “Miter” moniker was revived for 2022’s synth-heavy LP, Shelled, and retained for Miter’s current and primary music release and distribution vehicle, the Substack publication: Washed Memoir in Real Time. The best way to listen to and support Miter is to subscribe to Washed Memoir in Real Time. 

Ryan attempts to write, record and release one fully-produced Miter song per month via Substack. He also initiated the Substack record label/artist collective, LABELABEL, and congealed the Substack music video and variety show, Salon Du Monde, Fremont, the soundtrack to which features a compilation of some really great indie musicians found on Substack. The cassette and mp3 version of the compilation are exclusively available here: https://labelabel.metalabel.com/salondumonde.

Last week, we enjoyed the Tune Tag company of

Bryan Padrick

of The Bus:

Tune Tag #56 with Bryan Padrick of "The Bus": Frank Zappa, Diana Ross, Steely Dan, Tom Waits, Joe Cocker, Richard Thompson

Next week, join us (subscribing is a good way!), when we’ll offer some homemade Tune Tag cookies and milk to

Tommy Blanchard

of Cognitive Wonderland!

Here’s Ryan’s first Tune Tag foray, from back in January:

Tune Tag #22 with Ryan Stubbs aka Miter: Rush, Supremes, Steely Dan, Little Richard, Genesis

Ryan’s personal note to you: Like seltzer water, revenge is a dish best served cold! After being thoroughly embarrassed by Brad Kyle in our first round of Tune Tag, I’ve been in training! Think of the training montages in Rocky IV: Me in a remote Russian cabin lifting Communist wheelbarrows full of vinyl, while Drago uses high-tech Soviet punching bag contest games and steroids:

I realized that no matter how many musical steroids I took or how much time I spent weighing Pere Ubu 45s for purity, I’d have to do something truly exceptional... Something that would make music history. I, Miter, will not only tag a tune, but I WILL COVER THE TUNE THAT I TAG!

OK, full disclosure: My original pitch to Brad was to play ANY tagged tune. I soon realized the insanity of that proposition, and decided to only work on the ones I, myself, tagged. To my credit, this was still a substantial amount of work and a fun challenge!

Please let me know what you think of my cover versions; I appreciate any thoughts or comments. I like these songs, so it feels tough to live up to them. I really don’t want to ruin these cool songs, but whatever, ya gotta do what ya gotta do! Thanks!

Ryan’s song #1 sent to Brad: Guided By Voices, “Wondering Boy Poet,” 1994

Ryan’s rationale: I picked this Guided By Voices track for a few (very sly) reasons: First, I already had this pretty simple song recorded. The recording was done on my phone using Google Recorder. Second, GBV is an important touchstone for me from a songwriting and production standpoint: The lo-fi recording aesthetics are part of the charm along with the voluminous and prolific output of Robert Pollard: Lots of little throwaway gems. Like this one.

I’m not the foremost GBV scholar, but I’m a fan and have been appreciating Vampire on Titus lately. Absolutely bonkers that Pollard & Co continue to put out good records! 

And it’s not just Pollard! Tobin Sprout is great too, and some of my favorite moments on their records is the juxtaposition of Sprout and Pollard as songwriters with a perfect one-two punch! On Vampire on Titus, it is “Gleemer” followed by “Wondering Boy Poet.” And so, here’s a bonus track, recorded again on my phone with an acoustic guitar then with some touch-ups in Ableton. 

BONUS TRACK by Miter: Guided by Voices’ “Gleemer”:

Brad’s song #1 sent to Ryan: Barry Manilow, “One Voice,” 1979

(2022 remote, multi-voice arrangement):

Ryan’s response: I am sort of interested in trying to cover this, but I don’t think I can commission hundreds of people to sing with me online. I assume the connection to Guided By Voices is the connection to the word “voice” and the many voices “guiding” Mr. Manilow.

Brad’s rationale: I like the sudden transition of Guided By Voices to the “One Voice” of Manilow, joined quickly by many voices…taped in 2022, back when voices had little choice than to sing as one. Manilow originally recorded this as the lead and title track of his 1979 Arista album, One Voice, produced by Barry and longtime collaborator and partner-in-climb, Ron Dante, who recently turned 79.

Always a Fanilow, I remember, at the time (‘79), that “One Voice” was notable in that Manilow is credited as the sole songwriter. I had become accustomed to seeing his name as a songwriting credit on many songs, of course, but always with at least one collaborator.

As a point-prover, there are ten other songs joining “One Voice” on the album, and six were written by Manilow, each with at least one collaborator. Is “One Voice” the lone song in the vast Manilow canon with just his name underneath? I have not a clue, but, I’d say it’s a safe bet!

Related: The first of a 3-Part recreation of a mixtape I assembled in the 1980s:

🎼They Write the Songs, Pt. 1: Barry Manilow Hits as Recorded by the Original Songwriters

Ryan’s song #2: Daft Punk, “Digital Love,” 2003

Brad’s response: Gonna take a wild guess: Could Ryan have taken the “voice” references of the first two songs, and given us a song where Daft Punk have delivered a severely (and nearly unintelligible) electronically-processed lead vocal?

Ryan’s rationale: “Digital Love” is a great song, and trying to cover it increased my respect for their hard-hitting electronic production. I guess they go “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” This one has some real guitar pop sensibilities, as well. It is a simple progression, riff, melody, etc., but extremely catchy. It is surprisingly long and walks the line between pop hit and club banger at the same time.

Initially, I recorded a simple acoustic version of this song, thinking that would be the easiest way to operate. But, no….the challenge of this song is in the production and the recording. 

The Miter version has a bit of a Telecaster twang to it along a fairly faithful rendition of the structure. The solo in the song would take me too long to learn verbatim, so this is (clearly) an improvised take. I primarily used an assortment of Ableton Live 909s and samples for the drums. The keys are all soft synths using Ableton Pigments. I layered a bunch of guitars for the main riff, along with one synth, and I have two different guitars doing the rhythm, often together. 

The vocals were pretty challenging to get to a place that felt OK. These are pushed a bit more into the robo-realm using a plug-in (Waves O-Vox):