Lunchtime beat-making and Mayan art
Spent the day making beats and making art.
Lately I’ve been playing around a lot with the Pocket Operator PO-33. It’s a fantastic pocket-sized sampler and step-sequencer, which means you can make fun little beats out of almost anything. Which has become one of my favorite things to do.
My new habit is to take it to lunch with me and sample the surroundings, and then turn that into a little looped beat. My most recent lunchtime beat-making adventure was at In-n-Out.
After lunch, I took it to a nearby park, and made some drum sounds by banging on things. I found a metal pole that has some great resonance, like an old bell, so I sampled that. It became the basis for another lunchtime beat.
Then I made some new art inspired by Mayan and Aztec culture as part of my series Lightbearer.
I have always been fascinated by Mayan and Aztec art. There's such an interesting otherworldly feel to the stuff. A while ago I started a project called Lightbearer, which was inspired by the art of those cultures. The idea is that there are keepers of the Light. Guardians who protect it from the Beasts. The Beasts want nothing more than to steal the Light.
This week, I made a bunch of new images for this series, inspired by Mayan and Aztec art. Check them out in my shop.
Two new covers
I posted a few new cover videos recently. Simple acoustic covers.
I tried to do a cover of the Beatles classic Tax Man for tax day, but just like my real taxes, I missed the deadline. I finished the cover anyway, and I’m actually happy with how it turned out.
And then a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to see Kenny Loggins perform live here in Vegas. It was great to see him perform all the songs I grew up singing. But for me the highlight was This is It. I decided to cover it the very next day.
Musings on Mars
My new album, Musings on Mars, is out now!
It’s the second album I’ve worked with Bill Zappia on. Diamondhead was the first. This time, Bill and I tackle some old 80s and 90s classics and re-envision them in a funky modern jazz piano vibe.
My new album, Musings on Mars, is out now!
It’s the second album I’ve worked with Bill Zappia on. Diamondhead was the first. This time, Bill and I tackle some old 80s and 90s classics and re-envision them in a funky modern jazz piano vibe.
Get it anywhere music is sold:
Bandcamp: https://bit.ly/2pcij8i
iTunes: https://bit.ly/2xkfpTv
Amazon: https://bit.ly/2xjKHtA
Spotify: https://bit.ly/2QDYdQD
Free Sample Pack
After I recorded my Johnny Cash cover, I decided to make a small sample pack of the sounds I created. Mostly percussive stuff, guitar hits, etc. But I also made two virtual instruments from some weird effects that I made during the recording process.
After I recorded my Johnny Cash cover, I decided to make a small sample pack of the sounds I created. Mostly percussive stuff, guitar hits, etc. But I also made two virtual instruments from some weird effects that I made during the recording process.
It's a mixed bag of vocals, guitar hits, and noises.
The pack includes 49 samples, including loops and one-shots.
It also includes 3 custom Kontakt instruments (bass, drumkit, and vocal pad)
And the best part is, it's free! Check it out here: https://gumroad.com/l/JETXR
Say Something
Recently I decided to cover the Justin Timberlake song, Say Something. The original is an incredible piece of songwriting, and I wanted to see if I could capture some of the same energy.
Recently I decided to cover the Justin Timberlake song, Say Something. The original is an incredible piece of songwriting, and I wanted to see if I could capture some of the same energy. Like my recent Johnny Cash cover, I learned a ton about production from working on this.
In the past I've always worked with music producers. For all three No More Kings albums, that producer was Neil DeGraide, who was also my writing partner for all that stuff. For Diamondhead that producer was my friend Bill Zappia. When I decided to tackle The Man Comes Around, it was the first time that I tried to produce myself. Similarly, when I approached doing this Justin Timberlake cover, I decided to produce it myself.
Just like the Johnny Cash cover ended up sparking an entire new album of songs from me, I have a strange feeling I might do more with this song as well. But only time can tell.
The Man Comes Around
A while ago, after seeing the movie Logan for the fourth time, I was moved to cover the Johnny Cash Song, The Man Comes Around. The song is featured in the ending credits of the movie, and it fit perfectly. There was this mournful post-apocalyptic vibe that I loved.
A while ago, after seeing the movie Logan for the fourth time, I was moved to cover the Johnny Cash Song, The Man Comes Around. The song is featured in the ending credits of the movie, and it fit perfectly. There was this mournful post-apocalyptic vibe that I loved.
So I decided to record my own cover version of the song, and make a music video for it. The video was more of an excuse to fly my new drone in the desert. The production of the cover itself was a lot of fun, and I learned a great deal about production, something I usually left to Neil or Bill.
Not long after this, I decided to make a sample pack of some of the sounds I accumulated during the recording of my cover version. The sample pack is extremely simple. Mostly sounds of me hitting my acoustic guitar in various ways. But what came next was the fun part.
I decided to make my own song using only the samples I had made for my pack. The process was so fun, that I ended up writing and recording an entire album in the cinematic, post-apocalyptic vibe. I'm finishing up that album now, but it's tentatively called In Measured Hundredweight and Penny Pound.
Diamondhead
I announced my new solo album today! It will be my first solo album, and it's called Diamondhead. It's a six-song EP that I wrote while in my hotel room on a trip to Hawaii. I'm really very excited to release it and find out what people think of it!
I announced my new solo album today! It will be my first solo album, and it's called Diamondhead. It's a six-song EP that I wrote while in my hotel room on a trip to Hawaii. I'm really very excited to release it and find out what people think of it!
I sketched quite a bit while I was there, and I filmed a ton. As I've been working on the album more aggressively these past few weeks, I've been drawing more. I've been peeking through the footage I shot to find interesting Hawaii stuff to draw. I did this watercolor and pen and ink drawing of the Diamondhead crater itself. I'm thinking of using it for the album cover, and then maybe the long version for the wraparound digipack.
I've still got a ton of work left to do before the album is ready to go, but I'm super excited about it all. It will be my first solo album. It's quite different from anything I've done with No More Kings. It's a lot moodier and more electronic. There's some dance stuff, there's some introspective stuff. There's even an instrumental track, which I'm sure is surprising to a lot of people since I'm primarily a vocalist.
All in all, I can't wait to be able to share more of it.
A couple covers
For some reason I've had Katy Perry's Dark Horse stuck in my head for a few days now. So I decided to cover it. I thought it'd be fun to slow it down and make it a bit moodier. I think I might do the full song at some point. Maybe when I'm ready to record my first full cover album.
For some reason I've had Katy Perry's Dark Horse stuck in my head for a few days now. So I decided to cover it. I thought it'd be fun to slow it down and make it a bit moodier. I think I might do the full song at some point. Maybe when I'm ready to record my first full cover album.
A while ago, I got a new plugin from Tim Exile called Flesh. It's a ridiculously cool plugin, and as I was playing with it I accidentally covered Ben Folds Five!
I've done a bunch of covers over the past few years. When I'm ready to make a full-on cover album, I'm sure a bunch of these will end up on it. Check you my YouTube playlist of all my covers so far.