So, Eugene isn't actually dead yet.

This is the last part of the rock opera Kelly and I have been working on. The opera is about a fabled Emerald City of Venus. (we pulled the story idea from Jacques and Maurice, an earlier story+music track.) Eugene founds the city out of his heart's visions and inspiration, but then needlessly deceives her people without any particular reason. So he has to go.

Emerald City loves him and writes him an elegy.

Elegy for Eugene

Exiled the leader from his land
to return someday
Emerald City will yet stand!
and fall someday

Here is a man whose history redeems
his weakness and lies
He built a city using only dreams
and dubious schemes

Men who did both right and wrong
They do no harm within a song

V Bain graciously played 'cello on this one and she is awesome.

side chain massacre

This was originally intended to be a rap beat but then I put too much side chain compression and added too many pulsing layers of super charged synths along with the ever pounding, thunder crushing drum tracks.  This song is a series of build ups and break downs, but mostly the adrenalin never stops flowing the entire time.  The high pitched piano line is the only live instrument here. 

Thanks, Enjoy

subpoenas

I've hit a wall with this one. It's already late so I just posted it. Anyone have any suggestions? Someone said the word "subpoenas" and it made me laugh because it sounds like... well, you know.

love ryan (RS.WAS.RAT)

This track is the first of a series I hope to put together utilizing a capella's and instrumental tracks from the top of the charts. My goal is to eventually be able to perform a live set that transitions between a famous instrumental backing an original a capella track, to a famous a capella track with an original instrumental. Ultimately I would like to be able to play live instruments to back up the famous a capellas. I'm going to try and restrict myself to a capellas and instrumentals from the Billboard Hot 100 list.

One difficulty with using instrumentals and a capellas is finding them. I found this a capella as a video on YouTube.  I downloaded the video using KeepVid then I converted the video file to just an audio track using WinFF. The Street Culture Musik blog is another great source of a capellas and instrumentals. If you are searching for a particular song I also recommend including the phrase "promo cd" in your search.

This remix itself sounds a little bit like what I would have made in 2006. It was a little bit of a rush job, and it will get some major overhaul as part of the over all Billboard Hot 100 Project. In any case I should stop making excuses and take Lady Gaga's advice.

Lady GaGa - Just Dance (MW Remix)

Sorry about the lateness, guys.  This one's a cover of the T-Pain hit "Chopped N Skrewed."  Ludacris does a rap verse on the original, but I cut it out in my version (sorry Luda).  This cover dips into the realm of earnest singer-songwriter music, and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  Anyway, here it is.

chopped n skrewed