Concertos for the Common Man

This is an older album; a collection of fine brass duets. I (arguably) learned how to play trumpet one day in highschool with Aaron (who can actually play) and started sight reading some pieces. I'm sure you'll be able to pick out my clear, shining tone beneath his screechy lead parts. All of these were done in one take. I must say I'm rather proud of having learned the fingerings so quickly. Even though it sounds discordant at times, most of the errors had to do with my lips and not my fingers.
(How do you control this @#$%&* thing!?).

Pokey [EP]

Wes, little b, and I formed a folk band in 2002. It was my first official musical enterprise. I had just started playing guitar which, like so many things, was given to me for free (Thanks again, Louie!). Wes had decided that he wanted play a pitched instrument and settled on the mandolin. Brian (little b at the time) learned the upright bass because his family had one in his living room and no one knew how to play it. I think this is how folk bands are supposed to start. We had a lot of fun but only played one gig... in Brian's backyard.... for his family... while they drank. The band was short-lived as we all went on to higher education. Tracks 1-4 are covers of folk arrangements from the Warner Bros. movie "A Mighty Wind". Track five is an original. The spoken word inserts were performed quite expertly by Brian. We called ourselves "Pokey".

These tracks are also quite quiet. Next time I update this I'll fix volumes...

Put on your dancing shoes...

So this is number two. I just bought a Yamaha SY22 synth and couldn't restrain myself from jamming an 80's pop tune. I found myself leaning more and more towards David Bowie as I put down vocals. Mixing tracks together in a way that doesn't sound like ass cakes is significantly harder than I was ever aware of. Now I understand why you can spend your entire undergrad on this. The intro sax is really the only thing I mixed right. Thanks to Wes for an appearance in the chorus.

The Amberlake Sessions

I had originally named this album "Elementary Ballet" because I am an idiot. I have since reorganized a little and grouped these four songs into The Amberlake Sessions "Runnin' From the Po-Po" is the first song I've tried to make "the modern way" and is quite easily the best song in the pack. The percussion and bass were written/sequenced using Fruity Loops with a drumline buddy Wes (Norway) from back in highschool. It's about as old school as we could make it; got to pay one's dues and all. The breakdown in the middle was an exercise in sound effects but I'd say this came out well. After so many years of life on the streets, one finds the need to express themselves. "Anime Central", "Funk You, Bobsled Joe", and "Nailgun Abortion" were done with some other friends from highschool. I did the vocals, bass guitar and also the lead on "Nailgun". It sounds pretty rough but we did sample a real nailgun for authenticity. (Thanks Louie!)

The volume on these tracks is pretty low. I'll fix that the next time I have a half hour to kill.