I have both an acoustic and electronic side (Monowheel), and will include both here. Even though, when I play live, it's usually acoustic these days, I want to indulge you with my electronic side first. So, that will be on the top, followed by my acoustic recordings at the end. I'll try to keep things in reverse chronological order (newest on top) in each section.~DJC
Perspective Shift is a casually thorny groove, reflecting on the delicate balance of intro/extro-vert-ness. Sifting through the daily online envy, erring on the side of solitude.
Rebellion in Wisdom is an industrial track with a militant march backbone. The lyrics depict American pride in reflection on the Revolutionary War.
Spin Cycle is an minimal electro track featuring a psychedelic organ who has a delay complex. It is inspired by the theme music from the Knight Rider television series I remember watching in my childhood.
Extella gives you the feeling of being lost in space. That, floating carelessly amongst the stars can also be a get-down, groovin' affair.
Admit to Nothing is a 4 song EP with 3 lost-in-space in-betweener tracks, so 7 all-together. I'll include the 4 main songs. They range from dance to industrial in flavor, with a little New Order style bass guitar for spice.
Admit to Nothing is the darkest, most devious-sounding. It starts the EP off with an inescapable mood of terror. The lyrics portray a fictional popular media personality being stalked by a super-fan gone mad. Roughly 2 minutes in, there is a double-time bridge inspired by "metal" music, although unless pointed out, you might not notice. The mentally unstable fan tells it from his perspective, giving us a horrifying glimpse of his world, while a electrified cyber-train of music chugs along, reinforcing his delusional drive of obsession.
Left Dry is the danciest track of the EP, giving off a trancy vibe using industrial sounds. Lyrically, it is about the ovewhelming feeling of abandonment after a failed realtionship with religion. A sort of coming to terms that there is no Santa Claus. No God, no matter who you might define that to be. It is much harder to dream as big as a child, once grown up, experiencing the open surgery of adulthood.
Shrine of Shrines is a fast-paced electro-industrial assult on an unsuspecting recipient of psychotic love. Consider this an extension or subtext of Admit to Nothing, where we get additional insight to the mad-man's devotion. Knowing he can never obtain the object of his desire, it induces rage and panic attacks in him, as he kneels before his pathetic shrine.
Never Recover is a denunciation of war. The rosy depiction of wartime propaganda masks the brutal realities for warfare. Must we endorse this madness? Would we even survive a mass nuclear fallout? I am skeptical at best. (Speaking of which, this a remix of the song by Mike Best -aka Moose or Alaska Highway)
A song about falling in love too fast.
The Cold Side is the side of you that surfaces in an extended abusive relationship. What better way to deal with the stress than with a stone face. Sometimes you can't see a way out, but the intrepid silence must be broken somehow.
'Had my heart on an anvil. Slammin' it.
From the great Madonna.
Just pullin' some Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark.
All of the embedded players are from Bandcamp: a digital music provider. Please buy from Bandcamp. The state of the music industry is constantly evolving. Here in 2024, streaming is the most popular way to listen to music. Unfortunately, streaming pays the least to the artist. Currently, Bandcamp pays the most to artists, and you own the song, meaning you can download it and have it forever. So, aside from buying physical music and merch at a live show, Bandcamp is the best way support your favorite musicians.
There is a trend toward owning records, CDs and tapes again. This is really cool. The experience of having a "listening session" is deeply rewarding. Taking in the cover art, the inlays, the lyrics, all while listening to an entire album start to finish on a good pair of headphones or speakers... nothing beats it. But, here's something nobody's talking about, that I think is important: curating an off-line digital music collection.
Your MP3 collection is worth gold! but often forgotten about, due to the so-called "convenience of streaming". I don't know about you, but I still run into regions or buildings that have "no service" for my cell phone. Your digital collection is immune to cell or internet service interruptions. There are many formats besides MP3, but the MP3 tags are incredibly useful. And for me, encoding at 256kbps is the sweet spot between file size and sound quality.
To spice up your collection, download album art or rare pictures of the band. When I find some factoid about a song from a documentary, I'll type that into the "comments" tag of the song. Or if it's some cool band history, I'll even paste it into a text file in the folder of the album or artist. The more you detail your collection, the more it means to you.
The main takeaway- "Own your music". These streaming platforms can change policy or algorithms, or be sold at any time; and they rip off the artists you love. Take time to curate your own music collection, locally, be it physical or digital.
Just my two cents,
David James Call