Cut Out | Alt Rock | Meester Smeeeth (Klownshed) & JanKun - 2 versions

JanKun

This started with @klownshed sharing a few loops that can be actually heard at the beginning of both versions. After the first listen I was instantly inspired the main guitar riff and then wrote the whole song. Lyrics were written in a stream of consciousness then slightly reordered to match the topic.
John suggested that we create our own versions so I sent him the stems so he could work in it
So this time, as for our previous collab, you’ll get 2 different versions of the same track.
My version was made exclusively on iPad as usual, for John's workflow, please feel free to ask him !
Lyrics in the spoiler
Hope some of you will enjoy and a happy New Year !

CUT OUT

A Feeling
Out of fashion
Out of focus
Out of mind
Running
Out of patience
Out of luck
Out of time
Rushing
Out of breath
Out of bounds
And out of sight
Crashing
Out of order
Out of water
Out of light

Kicking habits
Is just another way to die
Kicking habits
Is just another lie

This time
Cut me out
Of the pain
Cut me loose
Cut the crap
Now give me something
That I really want this time
Cut the losses
Cut the fat
Cut the air with a knife
Now give me something
That I truly need this time
Cut the ties
Cut the deal
Cut supplies
Cut transmission
Now give me something
I could really own this time
Cut the red tape
Cut the slack
Cut the chatter
Cut the track
Now give me something
I could really love this time
Now give me something
I could really use this time
Now give me something
That I really need tonight

JanKun version

Meester Smeeeth version:

klownshed

As JanKun said, this started with a small section of a tune I'd started; I didn't know where to take it next but JanKun certainly did and transformed it into the song it is now.

We had a bit of back and forth on the song and then decided it would be cool to each make our own version of the song, and here's mine:

It was a ton of fun making independent versions, we shared projects so we could each use whatever the other had added, before setting off on a final arrangement and mix totally independently.

We didn't listen to each other's mixes before sharing our 'finished' versions. It was really fun hearing what JanKun came up with, I think he did a great job. It was a really nice experience and one that I feel came without any competition. It was just two producers (I wish I didn't feel such a fraud calling myself that!) having fun with the same source material.

I think it's cool having two different versions and I think each one stands alone nicely too.

JanKun

@klownshed said:
As JanKun said, this started with a small section of a tune I'd started; I didn't know where to take it next but JanKun certainly did and transformed it into the song it is now.

We had a bit of back and forth on the song and then decided it would be cool to each make our own version of the song, and here's mine:

It was a ton of fun making independent versions, we shared projects so we could each use whatever the other had added, before setting off on a final arrangement and mix totally independently.

We didn't listen to each other's mixes before sharing our 'finished' versions. It was really fun hearing what JanKun came up with, I think he did a great job. It was a really nice experience and one that I feel came without any competition. It was just two producers (I wish I didn't feel such a fraud calling myself that!) having fun with the same source material.

I think it's cool having two different versions and I think each one stands alone nicely too.

Agreed ! Very cool to have different versions of the same track. Hopefully a third version will come soon 🤞

klownshed

@JanKun said:

@klownshed said:
As JanKun said, this started with a small section of a tune I'd started; I didn't know where to take it next but JanKun certainly did and transformed it into the song it is now.

We had a bit of back and forth on the song and then decided it would be cool to each make our own version of the song, and here's mine:

It was a ton of fun making independent versions, we shared projects so we could each use whatever the other had added, before setting off on a final arrangement and mix totally independently.

We didn't listen to each other's mixes before sharing our 'finished' versions. It was really fun hearing what JanKun came up with, I think he did a great job. It was a really nice experience and one that I feel came without any competition. It was just two producers (I wish I didn't feel such a fraud calling myself that!) having fun with the same source material.

I think it's cool having two different versions and I think each one stands alone nicely too.

Agreed ! Very cool to have different versions of the same track. Hopefully a third version will come soon 🤞

Hopefully!

richardyot

This is a great track, I love the guitar riff, it makes a great backbone to the song. The drums are also very good, and I love the overall dark vibe.

My only crit is that for me the track is a bit too long, I think it could probably have more impact if it was a minute shorter. Great stuff though, and both of your styles have blended beautifully here.

Paulieworld

Damn! I loved both versions. I grew up in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. We had a local guy named Al. He had a band called Ministry. No one song in particular, but the energy and vibe brings me back. I didn’t think it was too long, since there was so much variety to hold my interest. I listened in headphones. My wife asked me what I was listening to! I shouldn’t like this stuff. I’m too old and respectable now. But I liked it!

Edit - I have been posting some ambient recently, but this inspires me to build a Hotrod.

klownshed

@richardyot said:
This is a great track, I love the guitar riff, it makes a great backbone to the song. The drums are also very good, and I love the overall dark vibe.

My only crit is that for me the track is a bit too long, I think it could probably have more impact if it was a minute shorter. Great stuff though, and both of your styles have blended beautifully here.

Thanks! Mine is about 20 secs shorter so I’ll take that as a positive

NeuM

@JanKun said:
This started with @klownshed sharing a few loops that can be actually heard at the beginning of both versions. After the first listen I was instantly inspired the main guitar riff and then wrote the whole song. Lyrics were written in a stream of consciousness then slightly reordered to match the topic.
John suggested that we create our own versions so I sent him the stems so he could work in it
So this time, as for our previous collab, you’ll get 2 different versions of the same track.
My version was made exclusively on iPad as usual, for John's workflow, please feel free to ask him !
Lyrics in the spoiler
Hope some of you will enjoy and a happy New Year !

Both versions are very cool, but I prefer the second version a bit more for the clarity of vocals in the mix. This is a fantastic song. Reminded me a little of Alice In Chains for some reason.

NeuM

@Paulieworld said:
Damn! I loved both versions. I grew up in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. We had a local guy named Al. He had a band called Ministry. No one song in particular, but the energy and vibe brings me back. I didn’t think it was too long, since there was so much variety to hold my interest. I listened in headphones. My wife asked me what I was listening to! I shouldn’t like this stuff. I’m too old and respectable now. But I liked it!

Edit - I have been posting some ambient recently, but this inspires me to build a Hotrod.

You grew up with Al Jourgensen? I have a relative who would flip his lid if he heard this.

Paulieworld

@NeuM said:

@Paulieworld said:
Damn! I loved both versions. I grew up in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. We had a local guy named Al. He had a band called Ministry. No one song in particular, but the energy and vibe brings me back. I didn’t think it was too long, since there was so much variety to hold my interest. I listened in headphones. My wife asked me what I was listening to! I shouldn’t like this stuff. I’m too old and respectable now. But I liked it!

Edit - I have been posting some ambient recently, but this inspires me to build a Hotrod.

You grew up with Al Jourgensen? I have a relative who would flip his lid if he heard this.

I didn’t know him personally. I don’t recall Ministry performing much locally. We had hundreds of bands in Chicago back in the day. He hit it big pretty quickly and was able to skip the “weekend warrior” routine. Where have all the bands gone? Back then, everybody was in a band. We had dozens of great clubs. We were either playing or checking out the competition. Young people these days don’t know what they are missing. I just want to scream… put down the fucking phone and pick up a guitar!

NeuM

@Paulieworld said:

@NeuM said:

@Paulieworld said:
Damn! I loved both versions. I grew up in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. We had a local guy named Al. He had a band called Ministry. No one song in particular, but the energy and vibe brings me back. I didn’t think it was too long, since there was so much variety to hold my interest. I listened in headphones. My wife asked me what I was listening to! I shouldn’t like this stuff. I’m too old and respectable now. But I liked it!

Edit - I have been posting some ambient recently, but this inspires me to build a Hotrod.

You grew up with Al Jourgensen? I have a relative who would flip his lid if he heard this.

I didn’t know him personally. I don’t recall Ministry performing much locally. We had hundreds of bands in Chicago back in the day. He hit it big pretty quickly and was able to skip the “weekend warrior” routine. Where have all the bands gone? Back then, everybody was in a band. We had dozens of great clubs. We were either playing or checking out the competition. Young people these days don’t know what they are missing. I just want to scream… put down the fucking phone and pick up a guitar!

Haha. I agree with that sentiment, but I've been shocked recently with the number of new guitar-based bands I've been seeing recently. Some really fantastic ones.

klownshed

@Paulieworld said:
Damn! I loved both versions. I grew up in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. We had a local guy named Al. He had a band called Ministry. No one song in particular, but the energy and vibe brings me back. I didn’t think it was too long, since there was so much variety to hold my interest. I listened in headphones. My wife asked me what I was listening to! I shouldn’t like this stuff. I’m too old and respectable now. But I liked it!

Edit - I have been posting some ambient recently, but this inspires me to build a Hotrod.

Thanks!!! I’m glad you like both versions :-)

If you like to ding a ding dang your dang a long ling long, this one is of that era:

https://burntearth.uk/2025/01/04/psychomofo1995/

I made this one with my friend Steve (and Burnt Earth bandmate) back in the 1990s...

Also a few on the songs here are more industrial than my more recent stuff:

https://burntearth.uk/2025/01/04/stripped-naked/

Coincidentally, releasing "Stripped Naked" as an album has been my "Next Project" for a couple of years now. I really want to put this on streaming, for nostalgia's sake (and for Steve and Sarge) but it's taking ages to get the old mixes mixed as I don't have .wavs of the mixes and each song is mostly intact but many are missing the odd audio file and sample so rebuilding them is taking an age! I have a CD Baby release ready, I bought it over a year ago expecting to be able to release almost immediately and I'm still not done!

JanKun

@richardyot said:
This is a great track, I love the guitar riff, it makes a great backbone to the song. The drums are also very good, and I love the overall dark vibe.

My only crit is that for me the track is a bit too long, I think it could probably have more impact if it was a minute shorter. Great stuff though, and both of your styles have blended beautifully here.

Thank you for listening Richard!
I had the same feeling as you while I was almost done with my version (Lately I usually aim at keeping my longest tracks under 5 minutes). so I tried to make some edits on a duplicate project, and managed to get something a bit shorter than John's version. But I didn't like the way it sounded, felt unbalanced and like the track was developing in haste.

tahiche

Great song!. The synth pads and textures blend beautifully with the guitar. Superb guitar riff. 👏🤘

klownshed

@NeuM said:

@JanKun said:
This started with @klownshed sharing a few loops that can be actually heard at the beginning of both versions. After the first listen I was instantly inspired the main guitar riff and then wrote the whole song. Lyrics were written in a stream of consciousness then slightly reordered to match the topic.
John suggested that we create our own versions so I sent him the stems so he could work in it
So this time, as for our previous collab, you’ll get 2 different versions of the same track.
My version was made exclusively on iPad as usual, for John's workflow, please feel free to ask him !
Lyrics in the spoiler
Hope some of you will enjoy and a happy New Year !

Both versions are very cool, but I prefer the second version a bit more for the clarity of vocals in the mix. This is a fantastic song. Reminded me a little of Alice In Chains for some reason.

Thanks for listening to both versions! I’m glad you liked them.

I’ll definitely happily take any Alice in Chains vibes, but I think that’s all down to @JanKun :-)

JanKun

@Paulieworld said:
Damn! I loved both versions. I grew up in Chicago in the 70s and 80s. We had a local guy named Al. He had a band called Ministry. No one song in particular, but the energy and vibe brings me back. I didn’t think it was too long, since there was so much variety to hold my interest. I listened in headphones. My wife asked me what I was listening to! I shouldn’t like this stuff. I’m too old and respectable now. But I liked it!

Edit - I have been posting some ambient recently, but this inspires me to build a Hotrod.

Thank you for listening! Ministry vibe and energy ! I didn't see it coming 🤣

JanKun

@klownshed said:

@richardyot said:
This is a great track, I love the guitar riff, it makes a great backbone to the song. The drums are also very good, and I love the overall dark vibe.

My only crit is that for me the track is a bit too long, I think it could probably have more impact if it was a minute shorter. Great stuff though, and both of your styles have blended beautifully here.

Thanks! Mine is about 20 secs shorter so I’ll take that as a positive

Yours is shorter than mine 🤣🤣🤣🤣

klownshed

@JanKun said:

@klownshed said:

@richardyot said:
This is a great track, I love the guitar riff, it makes a great backbone to the song. The drums are also very good, and I love the overall dark vibe.

My only crit is that for me the track is a bit too long, I think it could probably have more impact if it was a minute shorter. Great stuff though, and both of your styles have blended beautifully here.

Thanks! Mine is about 20 secs shorter so I’ll take that as a positive

Yours is shorter than mine 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Less is more!!!

klownshed

@tahiche said:
Great song!. The synth pads and textures blend beautifully with the guitar. Superb guitar riff. 👏🤘

Thank you, and thanks for listening :-) (assuming you listened to my mix too, if not a pox on you! )

Fruitbat1919

I find collaborations like these so interesting when two tracks are produced. So interesting to compare the different mixes and what sounds they emphasise and the different feelings they can bring to what is essentially the same track idea shared.

Well done to both of you

klownshed

@Fruitbat1919 said:
I find collaborations like these so interesting when two tracks are produced. So interesting to compare the different mixes and what sounds they emphasise and the different feelings they can bring to what is essentially the same track idea shared.

Well done to both of you

Thank you and thanks for listening.

Yes, I think it is an interesting way to collaborate. We ended up doing something similar with "Chemicals" but with a different process. With that song, I took JanKun's finished song and remixed/re-made it to try and make it sound like it did in my head the first time I listened to the song. I instantly knew what I would have done with it and it came out reasonably successfully. JanKun's version is clearly the 'original' in that instance.

With this song it was more of a back and forth and much more of a collaboration then at a certain point rather than appoint a 'leader' to take control we made our own versions with the same source tracks. It was amazing hearing JanKun's vocals and guitars for the first time -- it took the track off into a completely different direction and was more than I ever hoped for when we started...

I didn't listen to JanKun's final mix before I finished my own, so hearing the grungy bass and filthy mix was very cool and surprising. I think he did a great job, I love his version.

JanKun

@NeuM said:

@JanKun said:
This started with @klownshed sharing a few loops that can be actually heard at the beginning of both versions. After the first listen I was instantly inspired the main guitar riff and then wrote the whole song. Lyrics were written in a stream of consciousness then slightly reordered to match the topic.
John suggested that we create our own versions so I sent him the stems so he could work in it
So this time, as for our previous collab, you’ll get 2 different versions of the same track.
My version was made exclusively on iPad as usual, for John's workflow, please feel free to ask him !
Lyrics in the spoiler
Hope some of you will enjoy and a happy New Year !

Both versions are very cool, but I prefer the second version a bit more for the clarity of vocals in the mix. This is a fantastic song. Reminded me a little of Alice In Chains for some reason.

Thanks for listening! I cannot say Alice In Chains have been a major influence but since I always had interest in vocals harmonization, I listened to them quite a bit. Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell voices blended so well ! It might be the vocals harmony that reminds you a bit of them, not sure. Thanks again

NeuM

@JanKun said:

@NeuM said:

@JanKun said:
This started with @klownshed sharing a few loops that can be actually heard at the beginning of both versions. After the first listen I was instantly inspired the main guitar riff and then wrote the whole song. Lyrics were written in a stream of consciousness then slightly reordered to match the topic.
John suggested that we create our own versions so I sent him the stems so he could work in it
So this time, as for our previous collab, you’ll get 2 different versions of the same track.
My version was made exclusively on iPad as usual, for John's workflow, please feel free to ask him !
Lyrics in the spoiler
Hope some of you will enjoy and a happy New Year !

Both versions are very cool, but I prefer the second version a bit more for the clarity of vocals in the mix. This is a fantastic song. Reminded me a little of Alice In Chains for some reason.

Thanks for listening! I cannot say Alice In Chains have been a major influence but since I always had interest in vocals harmonization, I listened to them quite a bit. Layne Staley and Jerry Cantrell voices blended so well ! It might be the vocals harmony that reminds you a bit of them, not sure. Thanks again

Yes, I think you're right. Hope you have further team ups and interesting works like this one.

klownshed

@NeuM said:

Hope you have further team ups and interesting works like this one.

Me too

JanKun

@tahiche said:
Great song!. The synth pads and textures blend beautifully with the guitar. Superb guitar riff. 👏🤘

Thanks Tahiche !

JanKun

@klownshed said:

@NeuM said:

Hope you have further team ups and interesting works like this one.

Me too

I am sure we will !

JanKun

Last bump before vanishing !

MrStochastic

@JanKun said:
Last bump before vanishing !

Ha! Not yet - All of your (well made) collaborations seem kind of tortured to me but also have the ambiguity of art.

klownshed

@MrStochastic said:

@JanKun said:
Last bump before vanishing !

Ha! Not yet - All of your (well made) collaborations seem kind of tortured to me but also have the ambiguity of art.

Thank you. I think!

"Tortured"? I'll take that as a compliment

klownshed

MrStochastic

@klownshed said:
"Tortured"? I'll take that as a compliment

Definitely - in the good sense 🙃 - great video!