endless bray

Album Added: Simplisticism

2011-02-18T14:18:00.000-08:00

Uploaded the new album here. Thanks to you folks who helped and supported.

"Nothing But Respect"

2010-08-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

A new instrumental track. For the video I set it to footage of tornadoes.
Click here for MP3.

"All Is Full of Love" (360 Mix) (cover)

2010-07-08T11:45:00.001-07:00

Here's an old (2004) cover of the song originally by Bjork. I made the video with scenes from Lot in Sodom (1933), an early experimental "talkie" (there is no recorded dialogue, only a score) which is now in the public domain. I used all the scenes with Lot's Wife, focusing on her story.

Off the album "Sketches". This MP3 and the rest of the tracks can be heard streaming here.

"Top Billin'"

2010-06-10T21:57:00.001-07:00

I made a remix of Audio Two's "Top Billin'" (1987).

The music track is uploaded here (mp3).

I set it to imagery of genetic material.
The child actors are kinda awesomely awkward :)

Album Added: Commonwealth

2010-03-15T14:57:00.001-07:00

Done done; 2010 is already getting, getting kinda hectic.

"You Know I Love You"

2010-01-29T18:22:00.000-08:00

uncompressed video as WMV file

audio track as MP3

A track from the album, Commonwealth.

Album Added: Rush

2009-10-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Album up; I'm working much more slowly these days.

Album Added: Black

2009-05-12T10:22:00.000-07:00

Got a new computer, and a few minor new tools to play with.
So this is the last of the work made with the older stuff.
It's mostly collaborative.

Album Added: Cut

2009-01-29T21:50:00.000-08:00

Finished this up. It's totally born of the times, personally and politically. Funny how that all works. But I'm doing so well now, and happy with this effort. Made a couple videos, wrote some original songs, did some mixes I'm happy with. Life is pretty good actually :)

Here in the new year, new beginnings. Always new beginnings, isn't that wonderful?

"Princess"

2008-12-05T21:18:00.000-08:00

uncompressed video as WMV file

audio track as MP3

"Milk Lockdown"

2008-11-24T04:37:00.000-08:00

uncompressed video as WMV file

audio track as MP3

Album Added - Summer

2008-09-15T18:17:00.001-07:00

Gah! Needed to get this one done and done.
It's already mid-September; where does the time go?

I'm dating a musician, I think this has had
consequences. I was feeling ambitious and
inspired for this one, even though it's relatively
short.

"My Swedish Friend"

2008-08-26T08:02:00.000-07:00

uncompressed video here as WMV file

audio track here as MP3

Album Added - Fraction

2008-08-14T15:47:00.000-07:00

Filling in the back catalog with a little goodie from 2003.

Album Added - Dis

2008-04-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

Woot! \o/

Album Added - Ashland

2007-11-22T10:16:00.001-08:00

Some new stuff up as the current state of affairs.
I tried not to overthink anything; making it like
working clay.

Album Added - Sketches

2007-08-16T16:18:00.000-07:00

Jumped sequence a little to add this one. No real reason except
I was transferring the files anyway. Also I wanted to handle
stuff that wasn't personally charged at the time. This album was
just me cleaning house, so to speak, and gathering up old tracks.

Album Added - Quasiel

2007-08-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

Been sitting on this one for a while now. It's been done for most of the summer, but things have still been playing themselves out. I find that I go through phases of making music to help process whats going on with me at the time, and then listening to it exclusively over and over for weeks before moving on to a new cycle. It's a conversation I end up having with myself, because personal things are generally too difficult to form into words and talking to another person about this stuff would seem unbearably insufferable or incoherent for the listener. When life moves on and the new rotation comes around, then I feel less immediately attached to the sentiment in the work and I'm more likely to share it.

I don't know. Anyway, it's new work. I feel like I could detail more about it, but that might make it seem more contrived than it really is. I make this stuff with almost full intuition, perhaps it's best not to talk too much about it, yes?

Album Added - And For Four Precious Minutes It Held

2007-01-06T23:33:00.000-08:00

Something I recently finished. It's pretty minimal, I guess. I'm feeling minimal. I will likely have more to say about this later, just nothing right now.

Album added - Safe

2006-12-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

I added this one, but it's really a kind of non-album. It's a compilation, and so there's nothing on it that isn't from another album. I was making it for somebody as an introduction to my musical hobby, but it's also a way of avoiding making something new. I was wanting to share and connect, but was simply uninspired at the time, I'm sorry.

Album added - Roba Roba

2006-12-25T11:01:00.000-08:00

One more for the books. This is the relatively upbeat Roba Roba, which came in a time of sublimation, of throwing myself into my school and hobbies. I am attempting to convince myself of something, I think. I was also creatively restless and wanting to try my hand with the cool audio stuff I'd found laying around the internet.

Album added - As You Come So You Go

2006-12-20T09:09:00.000-08:00

The last one for a while. This is completes everything I've done this year so far. Thanks for listening.

Album added - Spring

2006-12-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Another one for the list. I think I should mention that I made music for myself primarily. I have been living a considerably solitary inner world, mostly because I am physically removed from those that would care the most, but also because it has been hard to establish a mutual connection that would allow for this kind of sharing. I've had glimmers of it with other people, but now I make music so that when I play it back, I can hear the things I need to hear said or emotions validated. Also there's some puzzle solving that goes along with any music making. But mostly it's because if I don't address myself, who else will?

That said, some themes, sounds, songs, etc. might seem redundant. But that's only because I'm not done with the idea yet. I listen to this stuff while I ride around on my bicycle. It helps me think, it helps shorten distances. Sometimes it's consolation stuff, sometimes rememberance, sometimes brooding or outright fantasy. There's an intimacy of the voice in the ear that I enjoy. Having person speaking to me and not at me is something I have to often create for myself.

I am not exactly making music for public consumption, and I suspect that it often sounds this way.

Online resources

2006-12-20T03:03:00.000-08:00

Some of you might find these sites useful. One is The Freesound Project, which is a place for people to upload and download all kinds of sound files. From single bonks and blips, to who ambient environment recordings, to snippets and so on. It's really great for finding special effects for video or audio compositions.

The other site is ccMixter, it's similar but more music oriented. People upload accapellas and beats and are encouraged to take and remix them, mash them, stop, collaborate and listen. It's very community based and seems to be thriving, from what I can tell.

I also should plug Buzz, which is the program I used for almost everything. It can be technical, but because it's open source, it's as flexible as you can program it to be. There are a lot of clever people already at work extending its functionality, so you can find help with pretty much anything you need. Good luck!

Album added - Three Funks to Margaras

2006-12-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

I realized that I had this one finished and ready to go. It's a gift for my friend Margaras. I was going to burn it to cd and mail it to him for Christmas, but that'll be too late now. Besides, it's all about mp3s these days, and those can be just as easily distributed over the net.

Album added - Poor

2006-12-20T01:58:00.000-08:00

I just added Poor to the album list. It's the first attempt so if there are wierd links or other oddness please let me know, thanks.

Introduction

2006-12-20T01:56:00.001-08:00

This is where I hope to organize and present my music. It seems the Blogger format will work really well for this, though it might be a little clunky to initially set up. I'll be going back and adding in albums in reverse chronology, along with anything else that might be suitable. I'm working on a new set of stuff now tentatively entitled Commonwealth, but I only have a few tracks down for it yet. As with the rest of this stuff, it's more snapshots of how I'm doing personally. Music continues to be the least filtered vent at the moment. I've given up on using the visual arts to pin down how I'm feeling. Writing is still good, but requires poetics, metaphors and roundabout thinking. Sometimes that's useful because it helps me to think out things. However, music lets it come out directly. Pretty much how it sounds is how it feels. Even the amateurish stuff, the repetitive, ill-mixed works. If the vocals are too low, that's important. If this sound is too harsh or tinny, distracting or out of place. Then there you go. There's no subterfuge or cleverness here.