Bullets and Bandages

Here is an instrumental I did. It's a bit unfinished. I think I could have developed this more. Hope you enjoy it.

I'm a Sinner

Here's a tune I just finished. It's another collaboration with Greg Michael. What a crooner!

Safari

Another songwriter's roundtable submission for your enjoyment. The topic is 'beats'.
 Here's the criteria:

Be creative with this one. Write lyrics about rythym, show off your beatbox skills, have a nasty drum solo, or just record 90 minutes of a bass kick and cowbell.

This one was a little bit of a departure for me, but I am pretty excited about the overall results. No lyrics on this one, just music and beat. Hope you enjoy!

Beyond

This is a song I wrote for the NASA Space Rock contest. I hope you like it.

Thanks goes out to Greg Michael for singing lead vocals. This was a long distance collaboration that was very successful. I am looking forward to working more with him in the future.

Enjoy!

The Stand

Here's another song I wrote a while back and have reposted here linked back to the bandcamp website. Enjoy!

Party of One

The latest Old Distillery submission is a christmas stocking stuffer with a few criteria. There had to be a fictional/historical character or you can invent one...I did both. The line "colder than a..." has to be included in the lyrics and the song is supposed to be limited to 90 seconds or less. Ok, so I got two out of three! Anyway, I was going to pass this time, but I threw this together at the last minute. I hope you enjoy it.

Cursed

Here's my latest songwriter's roundtable submission for the topic of superstition. It's called Cursed and is about black cats and some of the superstitions that surround them.

Ever wanted to be part of the space program?

NASA 's Space Rock

Here's your chance to be a part of NASA history! NASA is accepting entries of original songs, two of which will be selected to be played as wake up songs on one of the final missions of the space shuttle program. How cool is that? Submissions are due no later than January 10, 2011. The only logical course of action would be to get cracking and rock the shuttle! Good luck!

Not a song writer? You can also vote on your favorite song from their list of 40 previously played wake up songs.

SUBMIT!

(photo by Sophia)

This is my latest submission to our songwriter's roundtable group. The general topic is the French Revolution.

The title is "Liberty!" and it's about oppressed people and their right to be free from tyranny.

Enjoy!

Updates below

My main man, Retronym, has some new work and it is really nice.  Be sure to scroll down to see his lovely subject...no, it's not a shoe.

Gifted

Sometimes I am simply amazed by the talents hidden around us.  I wanted to share a couple images (see below) of the work produced by an artist by the name of "Retro_Nym".  I've posted a painting of Bacchus, god of wine I believe and another of a particularly worried looking individual.  Both images are contemplative.  The expression of their moods comes across strong and makes you wonder what exactly they are thinking.  Nice work, Retro_Nym!
Enjoy!

The Quintessential Zombie ♫ ♪

Dave and I had an interesting discussion about leads and melody tonight. A composition is a multifaceted creation that lives and breathes. It is a whole that is greater than the sum of it's parts. And speaking of parts, there are many parts to a composition. Some have more than others. There are elements such as rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, introductions, endings, etc... However, the most important element of any composition is undoubtedly the melody. With out a melody, compositions would be a cacophony of noise and beat. Interesting-maybe...for a bit..., but eventually pretty dull and not very enjoyable. The melody is the identity, the DNA or life of a composition. With out melody, a comp(...OK, I am going to start using the word song instead of composition. Too much typing...) a song would be a mere shell of art. An empty plastic mold of musical interest on a cardboard backing.

The quintessential zombie of the grand staff, it is song bereft of life. -nuff said.

Melody breathes life, color and character into a song and should not be taken for granted.

The most basic, freely obtainable and emminently relevant trait of music and song is melody.

The melody should be reflected or referenced throughout the song. Other elements exist and have roles, but none so important or primary. From the melody, all other elements thrive. The rythmn embelishes and accents. The harmony lifts and complements. The bass drives and supports. All theses are important, but secondary and left listing without melody. Then there is the 'solo' or feature element that adds flair and gives musicians a chance to flex their creativity. Of course, different styles demand different technique and approach, but one vital element is already on hand.

The melody of the song is a primary and perfectly elegible theme for the soloist. As a matter of fact, any soloist worth their salt should be able to play leads using the song's melody.

It is not only relevant to the song, but reasonable as a choice and has been shown time and time again to be the perfect choice for the theme of the solo. Of course, as an improvisition, a soloist should take liberties and excercise the muse for a few bars. But I think you will find that starting, revisiting and/or returning to the melody throughout the solo is a perfect use of the element and makes for a very satisfying jaunt.

midi

I had never been much of a midi fan until recently. As a musician with recording software, and just enough knowledge to get it running, I have found midi to be useful indeed. I like to use it as a quick mock up part to be looped and used as a practice tool. Of course, you can take it steps further and write entire pieces, assigning virtual instruments and synth parts to and if you know what you're doing, can come up with a pretty cool result. You can find just about any composition imaginable as a midi file someone has encoded. And to think, I always thought midi was that cheesy, honking generic sound that played when the dancing hamster came frolicking across your screen. And I was right! Well, it was that and a whole lot more...
Midi files go beyond simple pitch and duration and can store multiple parameters like volume, modulation, attack, decay and more. As a midi-newbie, I am still learning most of this, but the software makes it easy. And the industry has a fairly universal standard, so most of the sounds are the same or similar from one instrument to the next. Or at least they can emulate the same 'general midi' parameters and get close.
There's a lot of musicians using midi these days. Probably more than you might think. It has really taken it's place in technology as the common tongue of digital discourse between man, computer and other devices.