First and foremost, I would like to thank Adam Saake for the opportunity to play this event. The upstairs at the Townhouse was absolutely packed, and the vibe was really awesome. I wasn’t sure how the crowd would react to a peak hour disco set, but they ate it up completely.
Here’s the Ableton live session render with a couple of edits (for those of you who were there, there were some slight audio issues that caused some nasty switches), but for the most part this is exactly what I played.
Setlist:
1. Intro/Damaged/Girlhype
2. V
3. Bel Esteem
4. Distraction
5. Wondering
6. And The Truth (V Style)
7. Warehouse – Upside Down
8. Filtered Friday
9. Oh My My My
10. Player 8
11. A Love Song in M melee_beats-live_at_the_townhouse_1-29-10.mp3
I will be performing again at Risque in Club 21 on February 20th!
If you aren’t familiar, TheSixtyOne is (was) a social music website that I have been active on for two years this month. You could find most of my discography there, and the majority of streaming music that I’ve posted on this blog has been from my T61 page. Earlier this week, T61 moved to a new design that has ultimately changed the website’s atmosphere and purpose.
I think everyone is a little change adverse when it comes to something that just works well. T61 flourished because of its ease of connection – the user was able to interact with other users and artists easily. Lots of bonds were formed (just like a good social networking site), and I even found myself with some new friends that I met directly through T61. Forums were made and user content was forged. There were some really great community events, including the Grover fundraiser, the various electro compilations, and epic release nights. It was really fun to be involved with. Read the rest of this entry »
Not too long ago, a fan that turned into a friend approached me with an idea; his girlfriend Brit’s birthday was coming up, and he wanted me to write a song for her. If you’ve followed me over the last year, I started a virtual tip jar where people could send tips my way, and they’d get certain stuff in return. One of the options was that for $100, you could get a song written for you. Not album quality, of course, but a unique song nonetheless.
No one took advantage, except for this gentleman, Matt. When he approached me with the idea, I thought it was a pretty cool thing to do; I mean, I’m kind of a romanticist, so I could see what he wanted to do. This was just after “I Am Lost” had been released to the internet, so about the last two months have consisted of planning for the new album. I’ve been doing a lot of listening lately to my disco/funk tracks, and I came across a really nice “pull” (a loop, essentially). Just working with it originally, I had no idea what to do with it. I mean, all it said was “I… need someone like you.”
When writing songs, something extraordinary has to happen, particularly in house music. That 4 second loop has to be repeated for at least 3 minutes, and it has to have enough variation to keep it interesting. Otherwise, people just get bored and turn it off. I ran into that issue with this song, then it kind of clicked in my head – what better words to say to your significant other?
The song started coming together from there. I had no particular inspiration, except that I wanted every element of the song to be made as if Matt wrote it for this girl himself, and that everytime she listened to it she would be hearing a man express his need for her. That might seem like some pseudointellectual nonsense, but to me, a lead instrument is your words – you’re talking, just through sound and not your mouth. I tried to express that through the lead synth in this track – I think of it as a talented singer (far more than myself) putting everything on the line in a song.
And nothing sounds sweeter than the rhodes – it is just a perfect lush instrument, and my absolute favorite. The rhodes brings the mood on the song and keeps it throughout. A tremelophone (also a favorite of mine) comes in on the piano break and just brings in this very uplifting sound into the atmosphere. And of course, the piano brings in a reminder that being in love is uplifting.
Altogether, I just love the way it came out. I was thinking, “this girl is going to cry when she hears this” (early reports are that she may have, in fact, welled up). The weirdest part of the whole thing is that I’ve never met this girl, I’ve only heard the way this kid glows when he talks about her. Even with that, it has more emotion than anything I’ve ever written for a girl that I’ve been deeply in love with.
Happy birthday Brit. I hope this song stays in your heart.
Having fun making new stuff, getting things going with the Warehouse project with DJ Kue, experimenting with cool website ideas, and working pretty hard.
Sonorasaurus, the iPhone app featuring “Wondering” and “Heart Strings” is out now. Check out their Facebook page and check out their app – it is very promising, and I’m honored to be apart of the project in some way.
Warehouse has an official website – and production is coming along well. The Warehouse sound is pretty much traditional house with progressive sequencing – if you’re down with disco, you’ll definitely love this. Check it out!
Thanks for your patience!
