Jagged Heart, Jagged Soul

Ok, I don't want to oversell this but I think my latest song "Jagged Heart, Jagged Soul" may be one of my best. It's always tough to tell if I'm just enamored with a song because its new but I feel pretty good about this one.

Is my newest effort a poptastic hit or am I blinded by my own inflated ego? You be the judge!


Jagged Heart, Jagged Soul

Spotlights

Here's an interesting fact. I used to hate technology. Not that long ago I didn't own a computer, a cell phone or know why I would ever need the internet. Alright, it was nearly a decade ago but I was certainly last among my friends to hop on the tech-nerd bandwagon.

Cut to the present and you'll find a completely changed man. Now I work for one of the largest websites in the world, I'm so in love with my iPhone it's unsettling and most of my creative expression is directly dependent on my laptop. The same laptop that stopped working a few months back and had to be sent to the manufacturer for repairs.

While waiting nearly a month for my laptop to return I decided to distract myself by working out lyrics for a couple of songs that needed them. Here is the first. It's called "Spotlights" and taps into my previously undiscovered desire to be a rock and roll organist. Give it a listen and as always, comments welcome.


Spotlights

Old Stuff Volume 1. (Your Help is Required)

Much of my older music sounds like crap, which is a shame because I think some of the songs have potential. Of course as the creator I'm totally biased. That's where you come in.

This post is the 1st of many opportunities to tell me if my old ideas are worth revisiting, and perhaps re-recording, or if they should be relegated to the dustbin of time.


Contender 1. Walking Into Fire
I'm not sure why I named it that but my inevitably doomed relationship at the time might be a good guess. I'm also not sure why I used a barely audible montage of voice in the bridge. This song is filled with questions.


Walking Into Fire


So, what do you think? Is it worth re-recording or no?

Battlstar Galactica

I have never actually seen the new Battlestar Galactica TV show but from what I've read it totally kicked ass. My only Galactica related memories involve Dirk Benedict and robots that look like they were borrowed from a Beastie Boys video. In honor of the old, cheesy Battlestar Galactica I present my electronic remix of the original shows theme.

Hang with it, the actual theme doesn't kick in until around the minute mark.
Battlestar

Canyoneering

Have you ever heard of canyoneering? I hadn't until my friend Mike Delano mentioned he was working on a documentary on the subject. It turns out that for some people, the act of rappelling down a rock face isn't exciting enough. A few years back somebody, probably on a dare and while drinking, decided to address the problem by rappelling down waterfalls instead. I know, its nutty.

While editing the Canyoneering documentary, Mike asked me if I'd write a few songs. Mike has asked me to write a lot of songs over the years and for good reason. That POD song "Alive" doesn't come cheap and the music I write is royalty free.


Here is the main theme. And before you ask, yes I am playing the mandolin and no I'm not playing they drums. I programmed them.
Outbound



Here is a nifty little ditty I threw together. I think the vibe is supposed to be one of "energetic motion" but listeners are probably too distracted by the distorted, wah-pedaled bass to notice.
Canyon Bass



Strings, reverby drums and I think a xylophone. How ethereal.
Ethereal with Drums



Lastly, my favorite. I call it "Water Rising". Lame name but I think it's accurate. Honestly, this is one of my personal favs.
Water Rising

Denmark

My friend Mike Delano is an extremely talented film maker. Last year he spent countless man-hours toiling on a horror movie called Denmark. When the opportunity came to write some music for the project I jumped at the chance.

One of the joys of writing music for my friend's projects is getting to create appropriate songs for unfamiliar genres. I'm not a horror fan so Denmark presented a formidable but fun challenge.


Here is what I came up with for a general theme.
Denmark Theme



I also took a stab at creating music for a scene involving a guy being hanged. The weird sounds and cues are timed to match up with specific visuals so it may not work as a standalone piece but here it is anyway.
Hanging



At this moment the movie is still being shopped around and I believe the director wants to take a stab at scoring the whole thing himself. So, if you happen to have a horror movie in desperate need of a theme, I await your call.

Evolution

Regardless of your views on evolution the concept applies directly to a lot of the songs I write. An example is The Gorge. It wound up being a song about my wife and I driving to an outdoor concert and how remarkable the experience was.


You can here it here.
The Gorge



However, the song itself began as an instrumental I wrote back in the Schwag days. We used to play it live but I never got around to writing lyrics. Eventually the band broke up so I recorded the music myself on the computer. Dig the cheesy drums.
The Gorge Early Version



Even back when this was recorded I referred to the song as "Evie's Song". I really liked the music and thought it required a worthwhile subject matter, my beloved wife seemed like a natural choice.

Orchestral

Despite my years playing in punk bands, my musical tastes tend to be large in scale. Nothing adds depth to music like strings and horns.

Last year I bought a program that allowed me to use sampled notes of actual instruments to create more realistic orchestral sounds. While on a press trip I spent a few hours one evening toying around with the program and came up with the following bit of music cleverly titled 1st Orchestral.

1st Orchestral


I haven't found a use for it yet. It might find a place in a future Hudson and Gaines commercial or maybe I'll just use it as a dramatic ring tone. I'm open to suggestions.

Rebirth

Roll on Red is the name of my “band”. I'm the only member so calling it a band doesn't make complete sense but I've never been one to get caught up in details. Anyway, writing and recording music is certainly rewarding but it's nice to be able to share the fruits of my labor with others. I've used myspace to showcase my music but a four song limit and endless love quiz bulletins have soured the myspace experience for me.

Enter the Roll on Red audio blog. The Roll on Red audio blog serves two purposes.

1.I have a massive backlog of music from various projects that I think others might enjoy. This blog will make that music available.

2.As I write new music I need somewhere to share it. I'm not a 13 year old girl, so myspace doesn't make much sense. Plus I'm incredibly lazy, so designing an actual website is out of the question. Thankfully, blogger makes this endeavor relatively easy.

To get the ball rolling here is my latest Roll on Red offering. It's called Rebirth, not so much because of the lyrical content but because it represents a stylistic departure musically. Give a listen and feel free to comment. No, you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like it.


Rebirth



And here's an instrumental version for the hell of it.
Rebirth Instrumental