music - catalog
This is the complete catalog page. For a "best-of" page, which features what I think of as the best representation of my musical vision, go here.
Most, but not all, of my recent songs were written for Songfight!, an almost-weekly competition where songwriters compose, record, produce and submit a new song within a week.
Sometimes I do covers of other peoples' songs. Songs with or about my kids have an album, too. The XMas page has some oldies but goodies. Just added a convenient Regime Change page to hear songs inspired by our 43rd President!
On the Music Links page are resources and descriptions of the stuff I use to produce music. The Music Notes page has some sounds resources. Go to somesongs.com to find my stuff mixed with a ton of other indie wannabies. Check out the top songs link for some chart-toppers. Finally, some favorite music sites that are always fun.
Nothing Is Everything download
A new song for Song Fight!
second verse based on a Les Paul quote in NYTimes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/arts/music/14paul.html?_r=1
when you're my age
and you know the end is i [lyrics and more]
Another Song Fight entry that remembers a fabulous reunion in Amsterdam, summer of 1979. Produced in one hour just before deadline.
[lyrics and more]JB asked a bunch of us to help with his proposal to Dorie. Here's my contribution to this great cause (they met on the OK Cupid dating service.) This remix leaves out the controv [lyrics and more]
Love Me a Little Bit More
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Cali Punk for Song Fight!
Thanks to Billy's Little Trip for the rockin vocals and guitar solo!
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Viva La Vida
(Coldplay cover)
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This was for Song Fight! Gift of Music 2008. Requested by Lord of Oats, and delivered almost 2 weeks late...sorry :(
But I had fun playing with lots of reverse reverb.
[lyrics and more]A new songfight! entry for the new year. Using an open D tuning and trying to see the future as inevitable...well, you know.
[lyrics and more]First songfight entry in a long while. Went the country dirge route. Needs some pedal steel guitar.
[lyrics and more]a saturday project that just came together nicely. It'll need some tweaks in the lyric, a remix and some cymbals and hand claps, but here it is for songfight!
A live SF event title for SF Brooklyn. This person is obsessed with those fashion rain boots to the degree she can't stand to get them wet or dirty.
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Fight for your Right
(Beastie Boys cover)
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Produced for the 2007-08 Gift Of Music (GOM) challenge.
As requested by The Mighty Octothorpe:
Beastie Boys- (You've got to) Fi [lyrics and more]
A last minute entry for songfight 12/03/07, written and recorded in 4 hours...start to finish.
[lyrics and more]First entry for the Purple Reign project, borrowing song titles from the pained rain man for new original works.
My first Song Fight entry in a long, long time. Nice to be back :)
Here we either have a loner exploring the fringe of extracurricular activities, or the effects on cold war anxieties of the Soviet's launch of Sputnik I.
It's a wa [lyrics and more]
Pink Pussycat
(Devo Cover)
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I'd Be Scared If I Believed
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This was written for Katya at Oddio Overplay for the 2006 Halloween compilation, Calling All Fiends. You'll find this at track 27.
Written years ago under very different circumstances and festering ever since.
[lyrics and more]My first collaboration as a part of x-tokyo-river-god for songfight. Lyric by Anti-M. Keyboards and drum/bass loops by roymond. Guitars by Noah.
My first Song Fight win in a long while :)
With only 4 hours in all spent to get this done by deadline, perhaps I can return to clean this up a bit, but listening through my SONY 7506s, our iMac speackers [lyrics and more]
Waterloo
(Abba cover)
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Oh boy, what have I done now?
All I can really do now is blame Bjam :)
Wow! Got this nice review from [lyrics and more]
The Price Is Right
(Jason with Caravan Ray)
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Well, Jason heard me recording for a Song Skirmish (a crazy thing where we have one hour to write and record a song) with this title, and he started singing his own. He asked me to record him and after I posted it for the group, Caravan Ray remixe [lyrics and more]
This was written, recorded and posted in an hour as part of a Song Fight! Skirmish. Crazy things, those. Jason did one too :)
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Don't Think I Don't Miss You
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Another Songfight entry, my first in months!
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This Is The Day
(The The cover)
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Every new year at Songfight.org, some of us trade cover requests. This year I got Pumpkin Buzzard's list:
"Dragonaut" by Sleep
"Raw Hide" by Ol' Dirty Bastard
"This is the Day" by The The
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A coverfight entry to honor John Lennon. He had been and remains an icon of love and inspiration to me.
[lyrics and more]Written for Songfight! in response to hurricane Katrina's attack on New Orleans. I can't put myself in the situation that so many people now find themselves in. I can only dwell on the prospects of rebuilding a community that is now entirely homel [lyrics and more]
This was for the Songfight Live-Boston 2005 event, and Hoblit, Ken, Frankie and Fluffy gave great backing on short notice. Awesome! Once the live recording is available it'll be linked here.
Meanwhile, here's a studio version I did for th [lyrics and more]
Space Cadet
(SuperDuper Ken Cover)
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Oh man, another Hxaro, another thrill! Ken wrote this cool song. I did it my way. As usual...
[lyrics and more]This is for Erik's teachers and therapists, to thank them for the great work they've done over the years. It uses lots of "Erik-isms" and tries to highlight the role these people have played in his (and our) life. He's moving on to PS8 next year a [lyrics and more]
Song Fight Orchestra was started by Jim of Seattle, with each participant submitting a 30-45 second song that picks up from the previous segment. Very cool idea and a great job by everyone so far! I thoug [lyrics and more]
Honeymoon In Polynesia
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Another winning entry for Songfight!. Sort of a fantasy of amnesia. I know that doesn't help any but you'll have to run with it. Tonamel provides vocal [lyrics and more]
Variation On Two
(Shite cover)
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I took part in a Hzaro fight for Jack Shite, choosing his Variation On Two. Hzaro fights involve a gang of songfighters covering a bunch of another fighter's songs for love and offering them as a gift, much [lyrics and more]
Another one written for Songfight and bringing up the questions of leadership and trust. Something we look for at work, at home, at large.
Everything came together April 8th (words and music). Then [lyrics and more]
OK, this one is another for FAWM. Here I explore my past down two very different paths. Not terribly deep, mind you, but exploring nonetheless. [lyrics and more]
This came out February 1st once I had found the FAWM site. It was to be my first of 14, but it wasn't.
[lyrics and more]There was a Gift Of Music coverfight with the Songfight crowd. I received the titles requested by Rabid Garfunkle:
"DMV" - Primus
"Brother Wolf Sister Moon" - The Cult
" [lyrics and more]
Guest rap appearance by: Abominominous
With french runway announcer: Monica
Transit officials have acknowledged that Ne [lyrics and more]
Shelley is impatient for the answer and unsteady without one. Her quest for knowledge has led her to religion and science alike. Faith fills the gaps, but she now rests assured that that's all faith can do. Written for the 12/13/04 [lyrics and more]
Adapted from a song I wrote my mom in the 80s. Here Fiona, Samara and Anna sing Happy Birthday to their dad from America!
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Say The Word
(Walrus Gumble cover)
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Written in April 2004 by Walrus Gumble a.k.a User, for songfight! Here's the original. I was assigned it as a coverfight challenge in August 2004 and gave it my spin. T [lyrics and more]
Written in December 2002, I was commenting on the seemingly unanimous wave of support for Bush's military and social endeavors. What shocked me was the impression that Bush could do no wrong. And I felt there was a sense of helplessness in many pe [lyrics and more]
Hey Ruth -- by roymond, featuring Sudharshan Krishnamachary
Written in May 2004 for songfight! I mixed some solo vocal melodies sung in Tamil by my friend Sudhar with what I hoped to be an atmospheric [lyrics and more]
Written in May 2004, I was commenting on the promises made by candidates of both parties to represent we the people. They're so accomodating, aren't they? I used a Phillips head screw driver for the Hawaiian slide guitar part. Other than that it's [lyrics and more]
Talk About Your Feelings
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Here Erik and Jason work through it and let us all know why you've got to talk about your feelings. I did this for Songfight!
[lyrics and more]Written in April 2004, I was putting down some simple observations about Bush using the same condescending tone that he often uses when he refuses to see very basic issues clearly. [lyrics and more]
A little jazzy number for my special lady.
[lyrics and more]Written for Songfight in March, 2004.
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It's Nearly Africa
(XTC cover)
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Every so often, Songfight people hold a Coverfight and cover pop songs. In this case it was a secret-santa situation, xmas 2003. I had the pleasure of recording XTC's classic It's Nearly Africa f [lyrics and more]
Based on a real story in the Torronto Star which may not be live any more, but its [lyrics and more]
Accelerator
(Insects Ahead cover)
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This cover was done for Coverfight in Sep, 2003. Glenn and Jack Shite wrote an amazing song and I did my thing with it. It had a lot of drama hidden in there. I loved [lyrics and more]
Based on this site and discussions with my friend Ted about his ornothological friends. While the song is specifically about birds that have gone extinct, it applies to our world at large, and [lyrics and more]
I loved watching storms from my hammock in my skylight. This includes excerpts from "5 Cuban Landscapes" by Leo Brower, a fabulous cuban composer/guitarist with whom I took a master class with back in '84. [lyrics and more]
I wrote this for an IRC Allstars track on songfight!. Blue then arranged and produced it with contribution from untold others.
[lyrics and more]This was produced one weekend as I watched the Wimbledon tennis finals while sick in bed. Written and largely recorded during the women's final match, and finished and mixed during the men's final the next day.
It is focused purely on the [lyrics and more]
The Blue Signal
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Written in June 2003, I was tying together Bush's difficulty making informed, intellegent decisions about world affairs, and peripheral items like the Dixie Chicks' speaking out against him and getting accused of being anti-American or somehow unp [lyrics and more]
Birthdays and Breakups
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All of life's trauma gets wrapped up in these two recuring polar events in life. Somehow it always came back to mom. And Barry Manilow.
[lyrics and more]My second songfight! entry. Much of the final mix was done in the sheep meadow of Central Park during lunch. I love being mobile!
[lyrics and more]This was my first Songfight entry.
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I Don't Think You Can See Me
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Wrote this years ago while reflecting on some childhood scenes. Local and obscure references obviously speak to a limited audience. But then again, the 70s were pretty obscure.
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