These pieces are from my various rock, techno, and soundtrack projects that use guitars, basses, drums, and conventional pop songwriting. I’ve also included my arrangements of pop songs in this category.
A new soundtrack to the classic horror/survival game, Silent Hill. Orchestral sounds are provided by EWQL Symphonic Gold, electronics from Absynth, and a few bass tracks were recorded with my trusty Fender Precision Deluxe.
I arranged Florence and the Machine’s “Cosmic Love” for the Echelon String Quartet and they have since added it to their regular repertoire. This video comes from a Halloween themed event called the Barn Owl Ballyhoo in October of 2011.
Medley of music used for All You Can Eat. The music aims to capture the extraordinarily outdated style and thinking of the film’s characters through 80s synth pop and spaghetti western dramatic music.
The over-the-top spaghetti western/80s glam metal and pop theme to the equally ridiculous film about a modern man with outdated fashion and delusional dreams of being a hot dog eating champion.
The website for Else is now up. We created the simple site to start drumming up some interest and to make finding new talent a bit simpler. The playlist shows the songs we’ve kept from the original 40 or so tracks. Take a listen at ElseTheBand.com »
I founded Else in 2010 with the guitarist from Effigy and A Life Elided. We wrote and recorded nearly 40 tracks, eventually honing in on a really exciting style which combines ambient post-rock sounds, aggressive metal riffs, electronic influences, and extended chords. We are currently looking for more band members to complete the line up.
I really enjoy playing and extending the bass guitar, especially with big leaps, faster passages, and melodic playing. Here are some solo bass guitar pieces I’ve written and recorded over the years. Read the rest of this entry »
“Chop Suey!” is a highly successful metal song from Armenian-American rock artists, System of a Down. A favorite of mine and my high school rock band members, I arranged it for orchestra in my junior year of high school. My old band mate and orchestra stand partner, a music education major at UW-Whitewater, asked me to arrange the song for a cello ensemble for his senior recital. I gladly obliged, writing for a cello quartet plus one cello to perform a percussive accompaniment. I played the percussive part, and the rest of the ensemble came from the cello section at Whitewater. The piece was a wildly successful closer to a fantastic recital. Read the rest of this entry »
Irresolution first began as a duet written with a floor mate from the dorms my freshman year. We worked on the guitar chord progression together, he wrote some vocals, and I wrote the cello part. During the Fall 2005 semester, I reinvented the piece by finding the original cello part, and piecing together the rest. The acoustic guitar part is similar to the original, and the piano melody is based on the original vocal melody, or at least what I remember of it. The mandolin and classical guitar parts were added to better use my fellow members of the Contemporary Music Ensemble, whose performance of this piece can be heard on the CD. Read the rest of this entry »
A Life Elided began in the summer of 2005 as a side project with the guitarist from Effigy. We had so many unused song ideas and finally realized a good way to finish them. By using digital drums, a heavy compliment of background effects, and melodic synthesizers with the recorded guitar and bass parts, we were able to create a new style for ourselves. The project continues to serve as a way for otherwise unused or off-style band ideas to see the light of day. Check out aLifeElided.net »