Tears of Men

Preview the album:

Lost Under the Sun

Foot Speed Down on the Ground

 Lady Chaos

Tears of Men is my sophomore effort. I began composing the material for this album nearly six years ago, and I recorded the basic tracks the April before last. These last two years have largely been spent tweaking, editing, adding, overdubbing and massaging it into what it is now. There are literally dozens of artists, hundreds of parts and thousands of takes that have gone into this project, and I have learned so much from the people who’ve helped me realize it. I am especially indebted to my producer Patrick Derivaz, who’s patience and mentorship are the reason this album exists as it does today. The bulk of my audio engineering capacity is a direct result of my following his lead and learning from his mastery throughout the course of mixing, editing and recording it.

Tears of Men is a densely arranged, complex work. I’ve heard it compared to everything from The Royal Scam to Dark Side of the Moon. It will likely not be your first choice for the gym or the dance floor, but it will take full advantage of high fidelity systems (especially in its native 24/96), and it will reward you for multiple listenings. As someone very close to me put it, “it’s the kind of music you use to sit down and make a night out of listening to.” In every conceivable way, this is simply a superior album to my first. Once again, Oz Noy’s improvisation is brilliant, and his solos are truly breathtaking. The album is worth listening to for them alone. And once again, I am incredibly blessed to have been aided by so many more capable musicians than myself.  But the composition itself is far more nuanced and intricate, the lyricism is more mature, and my vocal performances are much improved.  Above all else, I have finished this project a better musician, a better engineer, a better writer and a better person than when I started. With any luck I will be blessed enough to say the same after my next album comes to a close. For now, I hope that Tears of Menmay move you in some meaningful way, and visit a harmonious note on your life. Making it has certainly been the highlight of mine.

On a final note, you may notice that Track 4, “Heaven’s Not Enough,” is freely available for download in CD FLAC.  This track is a cover of a song from Yoko Kanno’s soundtrack to “Wolf’s Rain,” an inspiring, brilliant piece of anime with an unbelievable soundtrack that I highly encourage exploring further.  This track is licensed under Creative Commons (Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike), and you’re more than welcome to download and disseminate it.

She Makes Noise

Preview the album:

Angel of the Night

Lady Lia and the Sunburst Soldiers

(They Call Me) Sinnerman Jack

She Makes Noise is my debut release, featuring material from my first decade of writing. Everything from my first complete song (Hit & Run Girl, which I wrote when I was thirteen) to music influenced by my freshman year in college is on this fledgling effort. Looking back on it now, there are pieces I still enjoy, others I’m rather embarrassed by the immaturity of, and all in all I wish my own vocal performances were better.  It’s a young album… But I remain to this day extremely proud of what I accomplished as an inexperienced artist with my first real effort to record my composition, and the musicianship of the other performers is still phenomenal. You simply will never hear better solo rock guitar improvisation than Oz Noy’s.

She Makes Noise is a fairly eclectic album all in all, with everything from some very sappy pop (Elena’s Song, Seven Shades of Saturday), to some quazi-electro (Lady Lia and the Sunburst Soldiers), to the beginnings of the kind of dark jazz-rock fusion and ballads that form the bulk of what I do nowadays (Angel of the Night, Black Wind Rising, Sinnerman Jack). Someday I may return to it and re-imagine a few of the better pieces. For now, if you’re interested in hearing the birth of my sound in its most raw, infant stage (albeit interpreted by far more capable musicians than myself), or just want a lighter, easier album than Tears of Men, you’ll find it here. For all its flaws, I still enjoy listening to it, and hope you will as well.