Hey fans! In celebration of my birthday, I have published a YouTube-direct release (it won’t be on SoundCloud) of the second to last song on my Christmas album. This one is my classic remix of the famous “Deck the Halls” carol. I hope you all enjoy it!
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My First YouTube Christmas song of 2018
Hello fans! I am putting the finishing touches on the Christmas album. The working title has now been changed to “A Different Christmas” as all other ideas seemed cheesy or overly gimmicky. I hope this name defines what is meant by this album.
Here is the YouTube release of the first official song, my take on “Angels We Have Heard on High” which I have named “Angelus Gloria”. Enjoy!
Christmas Album in the Making!
Hello fans! I have some very exciting news for you all! For several years, I have wanted to release a Christmas album as a standalone EP. It’s no mistake that I include a Christmas song with every EP I release and so I have a few. I have also enjoyed taking a classic song and re-imagining it in electronic music as I feel it is both artistic and historic at the same time. Finally, after years of talking about it, it’s finally going to happen!
The album is as yet untitled but the working title is “TechXmas” since it is a Techno/EDM approach to Christmas but I felt that EDMXmas was somewhat clunky and also limiting. The final title will hopefully be decided soon. However, I do have a working set list. for you to look at!
- Carol of the Bells
- Joyous World (Joy to the World)
- Space Jingle (Jingle Bells)
- Tacet Nox (Silent Night)
- Angelus Gloria (Angels We Have Heard on High)
- Hark Angelus (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)
- Decorum Nativitatis (Deck the Halls)
I hope to pull the original masters from Carol of the Bells, Joyous World, and Space Jingle and do some remastering so they are even more clear and natural, we’ll see how that goes.
In the meantime, feel free to check out the Soundcloud links below to hear what I have already created!
DJ6i Out!
Why I’m Happy to NOT be Popular
Hello fans! I hope you are doing well! I am not dropping a new track yet, I have a few tracks that I’m working with but I’m not sure if any of them will make it on the album or even how many tracks I want to place on this album. I’m trying to pick the ones that really speak to me and fit the overall theme of the album. There’s also that pesky challenge of deciding if I want to make a title track and if so, what it would be like. I’m still debating all those things as I work towards producing the rest of my album.
In the meantime, I confess that I have become more and more addicted to YouTube videos. I remember a time when YouTube was basically a dumping ground for whatever random video blog or stupid antics someone wanted to show the world. It’s only been in the past 5 years or so that I have noticed an increasingly higher percentage of quality content made from thinkers and people who are not afraid to argue with the status quo. But, if you’re not a dinosaur, you probably already know that.
So why am I bringing this up? Well, because I wanted to share a gem on YouTube that I found and since I know that there is so much content on YouTube that even if all new uploads were to cease (they won’t), it would still take you 60,000 years or more of non-stop watching to watch every video on YouTube at the time new uploads ceased (Quora.com). Because of that number, there is a very good chance that you may not find this video that I found. However, I think it is a fantastic explanation of the popular music scene.
This video, friends, is why I am not upset that I’m not a ‘popular’ musician. While I’d certainly love to make more money with the music I have made so that I can afford to work on music more directly, I’m also not about to try and mold myself to fit a particular niche in the world of popular music. I create what I create because I feel like I am driven to create it and that I should share it in case anyone else would like to hear it. While I certainly draw some inspiration from modern styles of music, they do not define my music. I create the things that I enjoy listening to and hope that everyone else will enjoy listening to it as well. I hope you found this information at least somewhat useful.
DJ6i Out!
Dropped Today – DJ6i – Solar Wind!
Hello fans!
I have some great news! I have officially dropped “DJ6i – Solar Wind”, the fifth track from my upcoming Expanse EP.
I was working on a song in a similar vein to Street Fire but realized that I was ‘forcing’ a track rather than letting it come naturally. This has never been my style and has never worked well. Luckily I changed my own mind and allowed myself some creative liberty. I took the rather common speed for this album – 145bpm and started to play with some melodies that I had brought up in my mind. I wanted something that would run smoothly on top of arpeggios but carry a rolling bass line.
Over the next few days, the track began to take shape and I liked the energy. However, in a very different path than I normally take, I made a decision to do something altogether different – use voices! I know! I have had a longstanding rule to never use voice effects or anything like singing in my music. However, when I was layering the first cut of the melody, I decided that a cut-up-vox like I hear in many VIP mixes and such added a nice layer of ethereal presence that the track needed. I once again played with the Logic Pro X “drummer” tracks but used a considerable number of tweaks to give the drummer more ‘swing’ and uniqueness. In the end, it turned out quite well.
So what is the meaning of this track? Well, as you know, this EP has been my attempts to stretch myself more as an artist rather than lock myself into a pattern of styles. Hence, this album covers an Expanse of styles and influences drawn from many places. Well, I have been drawn out of my home in Oklahoma and starting my family’s life anew in Kansas City. The more time I spend here, the more I realize that this is where I was meant to be despite my constant opposition to change. Well, the solar winds are the force from the sun that ejects positively charged particles into the galaxy that will strike all planets in the galaxy, charging them with the particles that sustain life. So life is throwing me into new places and new situations but with a positive charge that sometimes only makes sense after the change occurred.
I hope you enjoy this! Since I have decided to remove Boom Room from my tracks, this will be the fifth track. That means that I only need two more tracks to finish off this EP. Who knows what this new world I live in will send my way. Stay tuned!
DJ6i Out!
Musical History in KCMO
Hey fans! I had a realization yesterday – Kansas City, MO (KCMo as we call it), my new home, has an amazingly rich musical history. I know, as a musician you’d think I research this stuff before I moved but – well, life happened. Anyway, yesterday I was just curious about the artwork atop the Kauffman Convention Center (they are these four pillars that look like cudgels on top of smoke stacks) so I did some research. This ultimately threw me into a great series of articles on the history of KCMo and – it’s music. I feel like an idiot for not knowing these things:
- Kansas City, MO is considered the birthplace for American Jazz. Now, to my credit I’m not a jazz aficionado but I am a music history buff so you’d think I know.
- The 18th and Vine area, not far away from the downtown core, is considered the Jazz Holy Land and also hosts the Blue Room which launched MANY well known acts.
- A few singers from here made it very big over time. Of my generation of music – Puddle of Mudd started here, so did Melissa Etheridge. Even Eminem spent a few years in St. Joseph, MO on the eastern edge of the KCMo metro area.
- One other very well known act from my history – Tech N9ne – is from this area and I had no idea!
As a random bit of fun, you will recall that I wrote Street Fire after visiting a certain neighborhood in KCMo and feeling the energy there. It turns out that this neighborhood is only a few miles away from 18th and Vine. Perhaps that is part of why the energy was so strong there. Whatever the case may be, I am enjoying a city that has a culture of music and I can’t wait to learn more about it when the time allows.
If you’re bored, here is a list of tracks that I think you’ll like from KCMo folks:
- Tech N9ne – Hood Go Crazy
- Vedera – Satisfy
- The Get-Up Kids – Ten Minutes
- Blackpool Lights – It’s Never About What It’s About
- CES/Cru – Seven Chakras
- Mac Lethal – Angel of Death (feat. Tech N9ne)
- The Casket Lottery – Code Red
- Coalesce – Blue Collar Lullaby
- Skatterman and Snug Brim – On My Feet
- The Gadjits – Beautiful Girl
- Krizz Kaliko – Girls Like That
- The Life and Times – Coat of Arms
- Flee the Seen – I’ll Be Back on Sunday
- Shiner – The Truth About Cows
- Reggie and the Full Effect – Congratulations Smack + Katy
- The Rainmakers – Let My People Go-Go
- Republic Tigers – Sinkin’ Annie Down, Down, Down, Down
- Solé – 4,5,6
- The Elders – Men of Erin
- Kutt Calhoun – I Been Dope (feat. Tech N9ne)
Maybe this will help catalyze my music production! I guess only time will tell!
DJ6i Out!