RPM 2020 - DISAPPEAR/REAPPEAR

I finished the goal of writing an album in the month of February. Wouldn't have happened without the encouragement from my wife and friends - Katyraven, Particle Dots, Smokey VW, Bud, Mungo and a few others. 

The original album concept was to create a musical soundscape based on a diptych that my artist/painter wife Katyraven created for her most recent exhibition "Portals Unseen". I wanted to create a soundtrack for her installation and the soundtrack project grew as her work continued to develop. 

I wanted to replicate her two canvases that were staged in a corner at 90 degrees from one another, touching at the edge of two separate canvases, as if folded and pulled apart. It has a symmetry somewhat similar to a Rorschach Test with ink blobs folded on a sheet of paper, not perfectly symmetrical, not even close to a mirror reflexion, but intententionally alike. They're entangled. I planned to entangle the soundtrack to her canvases. 

I began my soundtrack ideas with an intro and an outro that mimicked her two canvases. First track and the last track of the project were written in that order. Disappear and Reappear were written next.

DISAPPEAR/REAPPEAR (RPM 2020)

RPM Challenge 2021 is the reason for this Signal Interference. Anne Cozean is my wonderful friend who sang so beautifully and took this project to a higher level.

Signal Interference - RPM 2021 w/Anne Cozean

My GG Grandfather Samuel W was known to be a famous horse trader. During their days, the telephone was invented.

Oh Mary,
Leave them boys alone.
They wanna buy a horse
Don’t want no telephone

Horsetrader - Oh Mary

John and Arah left Baltimore, MD and settled on the banks of Twenty Mile Creek in unexplored Virginia ca. 1800. 

You left your home
But you brought your nose
You took your wife and your kids
And your horse and your clothes

Venturing out 
Into the Great Unknown
With your King James bible
And an old iPhone

“Are we there yet dad?”
I heard the young one say
“Another mountain to pass,
Another month and a day”

“This looks like the place
Where I wanna spend my life,
The banks of 20 Mile Creek
Amongst the wild, wildlife”

"When they find my bones
With my teeth in my jaw
Hope it’s another pioneer
Who needs my axe and my saw"

Pioneer

On the road, too far away from her. 
Can't wait to get home.

Lyrics:

Too far away
6 hours
Each way
4 days/3 nights
Collect points
Free nights

Time Zones 
Apart
Text me
Your art
Bitmojis look like you
My Cartoon
I love you

Goodnight!
Hello!
Our morning coffee talks
We’re both on the go

Hello!
Goodnight!
You’re feeding kids
I turn off the light

I wake up
But you’re not there
I get dressed 
And I fix my hair



I love my job
But I love you more
And I can not wait
To open that door

(synth riff)

To see you with my own two eyes
And kiss you
Hold you
Mesmerized

I’m at home
I can breath again
I can smell
You’ve been Kitchen’ing

Get the kids 
Tucked in for the night
Everything will be alright

Lubbock's Too Far Away

Jarrod came up with this groovy riff, as if possessed by the spirit of Bob 1.

Girl U Want

Love Buzz

I just learned that my friend Michael Pool, passed away this year. I'm heartbroken. 

Michael Pool was a friend of mine from the early 90's. He hosted the Thirsty Ear Poetry series at some place we called the Dead Animal Club. There were stuffed heads on the walls. Deer, boars, etc... Michael invited poets and bands to his weekly event. I was lucky enough to have been invited to perform. I had a killer ska band (Hopscotch) backing me that night because my real band bailed on me a week before the gig. It was a great night and there were over 20 people there that night. 

I was so thrilled to be a part of his historic series that I wrote a song about Michael, boasting about our friendship. He was embarrassed when we performed it. Every lyric is true and he laughed at me for writing about him. He was a sweetheart of a guy and a real writer. He made these killer cassettes of recorded music that you had never heard before and just had to have. He drew the cover art and sold them for a couple of bucks when he DJ'd.  I miss my friend.

MICHAEL POOL IS A FRIEND OF MINE
HE IS SO COOL
I HOPE HE DO NOT DIE

MICHAEL POOL IS A FRIEND OF MINE
HE IS SO FUNNY
SOMETIMES MAKES ME CRY

I HOPE THAT HE GETS
RICH AND FAMOUS
WRITING BOOKS 
THAT REALLY SHAME US

WRITE GOOD STORIES
NEVER SCARY
MAYBE SOMETIMES
NOT TOO SCARY

TALK TO PEOPLE
IN OUR PLACES
IN OUR PAPER
IN OUR FACES

I HOPE THAT HE GETS
RICH AND FAMOUS
MENTIONS US 
BUT DOESN’T NAMES US

MICHAEL POOL IS A FRIEND OF MINE
I GOT HIS PHOTO 
FROM ANOTHER TIME

MICHAEL POOL IS A FRIEND OF MINE
I GAVE HIM RECORDS 
AND GAVE HIM A RIDE
(I GAVE HIM A RIDE!)

I HOPE THAT HE GETS
RICH AND FAMOUS
WRITING BOOKS 
THAT REALLY SHAME US

WRITE GOOD STORIES
NEVER SCARY
MAYBE SOMETIMES
NOT TOO SCARY

TALK TO PEOPLE
IN OUR PLACES
IN OUR PAPER
IN OUR FACES

I HOPE THAT HE GETS   
RICH AND FAMOUS
MENTIONS US 
BUT DOESN’T NAMES US

(BAD GRAMMAR INTENTIONAL)

2019

Michael Pool

HE WAS THE NEXT WAVE ROCKER
THE ONE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT
HE WROTE THE SONGS FOR THE “NEXT” GENERATION
HE KNOCKED THE BOTTOM OUT

HE PUT THE JUICE IN THE MONKEY WITH A HAMMER
HE LET THE TIME GHOST OUT
HE PULLED THE PLUG ON THE “NEXT” GENERATION
AND WATCHED IT THRASH ABOUT

HE WAS THE NEXT WAVE ROCKER
THE ONE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT
HE WROTE THE SONGS FOR THE “NEXT” GENERATION
HE KNOCKED THE BOTTOM OUT

HE PUT A KNOT IN THE MONKEY WITH A HAMMER
HE LET THE TIME GHOST OUT
HE PULLED THE PLUG ON THE “NEXT” GENERATION
AND WATCHED IT THRASH ABOUT

GO! GO! 
STUFF IT
PUT IT AWAY!
I DON’T WANNA 
SEE OR HEAR 
ANYMORE
NO! NO!

LET’S SAY GOODBYE TO THE NEXT WAVE ROCKER
THE ONE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT
FORGET THE SONGS FOR THE “NEXT” GENERATION
WE WATCHED IT FIZZLED OUT

JUMP START THE THE HEART
OF THE MONKEY WITH A HAMMER
DON’T LET THE TIME GHOST OUT
HE PULLED THE PLUG ON THE “NEXT” GENERATION
AND WE CAN DO WITHOUT

THEY SCREAMED
AND THEY LIED
AND THEY JUMPED 
AND THEY CRIED
AND THEY THOUGHT
THEY WERE HOT
SMOKING POT
BLOWING SNOT
GETTING SHOT
THEY WERE TAUGHT
TO HAVE
OR HAVE NOT
BUT THEY DID NOT
HAVE THE SENSE
TO STOP

SO THEY WERE CAUGHT
IN THE LOT
WITH THE MONKEY
IN A KNOT
NOT A GOOD THING
THEY WERE PUT
ON THE SPOT
SO THEY SCHEMED
AND THEY LIED
AND THEY JUMPED 
AND THEY CRIED
AND GUESS WHAT?
THEIR STORY
WAS BOUGHT!

YOU'RE LOOKING IN THE MIRROR
MIMEOGRAPHING YOUR POSES

A LITTLE SID VICIOUS
A LITTLE GUNS N ROSES

BUT IT'S ALL THE SAME
YOU'RE BLIND AND
YOU'RE LAME
AND IT'S HARD
TO FEEL BAD
WHEN YOU
MOCK YOUR OWN NAME

GO! GO! 
STUFF IT
PUT IT AWAY!
I DON’T WANNA 
SEE OR HEAR 
ANYMORE
NO! NO!

Monkey Hammer

DEVA had a vocal track and I wrote the music around it. She intends on re-recording the vocals, so this track is unreleasable.

With great effort, I spent a good amount of time learning the possibilities of these ios apps in my songwriting. I used some iPad apps in an attempt to write the music for this song and a couple of others, but in the end I resorted back to what I know, which is the desktop version of GarageBand. I created the beats with the DM1 app and I routed the drums into TableTop and tried to write the bass line within the app, but when it came time to start putting the vox in, I was stumped.  

After hours of creating rhythms and stepping them together in DM1, I learned it was easier to export the individual rhythms to iTunes and download them into the GarageBand app on my computer. I originally tried to do it in the iPad version of GB, but everything was too crowded so my high hopes of GB on the go crashed there. 





BURN with DEVA

RPM 2020 - An album dedicated to Michael Marquesen. A friend we lost but will forever be entangled with. Hope to see you in the after life.

Installation Soundtrack for Katyraven Hernandez Dorsey's "Portals Unseen" exhibition.

I can't explain this properly, but this track originated as a conversation between the hammer and the nail at the crucifixion on Jesus. Two inanimate objects trying to comprehend God's plan for them. His plan for the course of humanity. His plan for them to work together, not as enemies, but working together to do the unthinkable and crucify Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son. In my story, they knew the plan, they knew their roles, but how could they understand the why?

Entanglement was the theme and, as usual, I dug deep.

Enjoy

THE NAIL IS THE HAMMER'S FRIEND

RPM 2020 - An album dedicated to Michael Marquesen. A friend we lost but will forever be entangled with. Hope to see you in the after life.

Installation Soundtrack for Katyraven Hernandez Dorsey's "Portals Unseen" exhibition.

THE BROOMS STAND

DISAPPEAR

ENTANGLED INTRO

REAPPEAR

Because one of my favorite female vocalist/songwriter Estella Ramirez posted a collaboration we did with Michael Marquesen, I'm returning the favor. The three of us worked so well together on this track in 2007.

Macjams Collabs

They Never Fell In Love

This is the first track (maybe the sketch) of my attempt at the RPM Challenge 2021

Signal Interference

This Is Distortion

Possibly the second track of my 2021 RPM Challenge- the album "Signal Interference"

Static Noise Can Be Prevented  By Shielding  The Full Circuit

A potential track for the 2021 RPM Challenge.

Foil Shields Must Be Grounded

Coil Whine - It's Noise - It's Not Sound

Undesired, capacitive, inductive or conductive...

Cross Talk - Superposition

Twisted Pair, or Disturbing Pair. The Disturbed Pair.

The Disturbing Pair

High Common Mode Rejection

Currents Flowing
From Different Grounds
At Different Points
Within A System

Cause This Type Of Interference

U1.U2

Revisiting the Foil Shields track with the intention of adding vocals. Played with the vocoders in an old version of GB and attempted to "sing" some lyrics. Disatisfied with the results, I decided to scramble the 3 vocoder tracks and use the tracks to create a noise rather than singing.

Ends Of The Circuit

U1.U2.

My first time working with the phenomenal singer/songwriter Anne Cozean. She chose this track, wrote and performed these amazing vocals, and I'm so very glad.

Enjoy.

This Is Distortion - I'm So Glad w/Anne Cozean

Anne Cozean changed my life with her vocals for this track. This is our collaboration for the 2021 RPM Challenge.

Five Extra Arms

Pinned to spotlight

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