"I wanna thank you for being such an asshole to me, I wanna thank you for giving me so much fucking misery." This is my father Raul Luna who drunkenly spoke/sung these words like a Chicano Lou Reed. Thank you.

Give Me Tape! #4 (Asshole)

This is a song about a creep, a sexual predator, most likely a pedophile who at the time was my stepfather. His public persona was someone very giving, willing to help anyone out, even to the detriment and thought processes of other people judging and mistrusting him. This song originally conjured a feeling of pity and discomfort, and knowing what I know about him now it has a more sinister undertone. I can hear the dished being washed in the background, and in the middle of recording my ideas my father and his friends obnoxiously walk into the cramped living room. I was sober at the time, and remember being annoyed at their intoxication. Now it's just funny to me. 

Give Me Tape! #5 (Sex Predator)

Recorded on Cassette in 2007. It's really unstructured and messy, there are a lot of tiny melodic ideas I could see incorporating into some songs in the future. I even had my ex place our ferret Kona on top of the keyboard to play some notes. This is an extended improvisational piece.

Give Me Tape! #6 (New Wave-Age)

Ugliness redefined by beauty and simple pleasures.

Give Me Tape! #7 (Simple Pleasures)

Give Me Tape! #8 (Disco)

In 2007 I was just learning how to record with four track, and was enjoying the freedom it allowed me to have my audio sketches in one place. Leave it as spare and minimalistic as I wanted or to overdub and try to create something more complex. I also learned an important lesson on track separation as I accidentally taped over another song. The song was complex and improvised, showing true mastery of my synth sequencing. Instead, I ended up with this. I don't regret it.

Give Me Tape! #9 (Backwards)

I recorded the organ sound using an old eighties synth that was literally falling apart (the side was cracked in half, exposing most of its wirey innards). My grandfather had just passed away earlier in the year from colon cancer, and I recorded this in reflection. The name Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips came from watching an interview with the author Kris Carr a woman who apparently beat cancer and learned how to enjoy life as a young, single woman in the process. I don't think this song is joyful, it kind of weirds me out, ambient dinosaur noises and laughing aside. But the end of the song reminds me of a great release, and to me that's what dying must feel like. 

Give Me Tape! #10 (Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips!)

When I recorded this in 2007 it was my attempt at demo'ing a noisey dance track, there are a lot of melodic ideas in here that I believe could translate well into an experimental dance track one day. The drum track is just some generic pre-set on this cheap Casio, and the synth sound is from my Korg N5-EX.

Give Me Tape! #11 (Tape Bleed)

This is a track I recorded on tape in 2007 that had accidentally overdubbed onto another track on the reverse side of tape. It created a backwards version, which at the time slightly depressed me as I liked what I created before it was lost. But, not anymore. I accept those weird happy accidents that come from recording.

Give Me Tape! #12 (Forwards)

This track is like a minimal piano piece composed for the soundtrack in my head. I wrote and recorded this over a two day span, just figuring out the pieces. It is reminiscent of a lot of the demos I have tracked over the years, but utilizing some new elements and ideas I have learned as well. The audio sample is actually from a tape that I was given when I turned 18 years old. Of my father speaking over me, and what is haunting to me is how everything matched up so perfectly almost on accident. "The earth is not hell, life is not hell. Hell is when we cease to experiment in ways that bring success. Every man and every woman wants to be great. In order to be great we have to master sin. We have to use our talents. We have to learn all that we can about what we are doing, and we have to have faith." _Raul Luna Jr.

Life Is Not Hell

This Soundcloud page is comprised of demos and audio sketches/memories from my past. My main focus is a project I'm working on called Cerealman.

Cerealtapes