It's been a bit since I've updated this blog...but not for lack of content!

I'm days away from dropping another brand new EP (in addition the one I dropped a month ago). However, in my spare time, I've been fiddling with some more library music type stuff-- akin to the "Success" songs. This is one that uses a bunch of Roland synths (mainly a D-50, I think).

This is an old thing, but I don't want to spoil what I'm working on currently! This was another cover exercise like "Give it Back"; I did have program the drums by hand because I am NOT nor will I ever BE Stewart Copeland. This is a really slick tune, and one of my favorite Police songs. It's got a great energy, and its wall-to-wall riffs from Andy Summers, which made it really fun to learn. I'm not a singer, but I wouldn't even think of attempting this one because it's miles out of my range. Many miles away...

In the past year, something in my brain snapped. I've been a fan of progressive rock since High School (mainly bands like Pink Floyd, Genesis, Yes and King Crimson), and for the longest time a band called "Gentle Giant" eluded me. They were lauded by my friends but, for the life of me, I didn't get it. They were everything I hated about prog; complexity for the sake of complexity. Yet I persisted. Now, I consider them one of my absolute favorite bands of all time. Something snapped, and now I get it; I absolutely adore dissecting each part and I'm convinced that this band (who were only around for 10 years!) are actual mad geniuses. Getting more to the point, here's an exercise I did recreating a track from their 1976 album "In'terview" called "Give it Back". It's got a really interesting groove with some wacky instrumentation (particularly the "boioioioing" noise; I used a prepared piano plugin with a little LFO to make it "boioioing". The hard part about learning Giant songs is the fact that, due to their complexity and relative obscurity, there are very few resources out there (unless you're good at reading sheet music). I'm still not convinced this arrangement is 100% accurate, but it was a lot of fun! and I think it sounds pretty good! Gentle Giant cover album when??

Here is where I will post updates on my musical escapades, toss in some demos and WIP tracks/ideas, etc. This'll partially be to archive my own thoughts and ideas but also to give the ideas a home that might otherwise sit alone and scared on my hard drive. The first thing I've posted is a quick little loop of something I did the other day that I thought sounded a bit like an estranged cousin to the Donkey Kong Country soundtracks. I used a Roland TR-727 Rhythm Sequencer for all the fun percussion, and the rest of the keyboard parts are, I believe, a Kurzweil K250.