BUY
CD

Originally released in May of 2008, The I'mperfectionist is a collection of songs written and recorded in my "bedroom" between 2000-2006. I put bedroom in quotes because part of that time I was homeless and sleeping on couches but still I persisted.  The title references my perfectionist tendencies that drive the creation of my music and how every song I ever set out to make never sounds as clean as I want it to, yet they are all still satisfying and truthful.  

 

I recorded this on cheap pc laptops using mostly freeware. During this period, I suffered two computer crashes that resulted in a loss of a lot of my original material and software.  I was really bad at backing stuff up back then. My first PC crashed and died somewhere around 2004. My laptop crashed and died in 2007. For these reasons I can't recall all the production processes of each song or what I used. 

 

In 2004-2005 I was briefly signed to a fly-by-night record label called Hard Soul Records. It was a strange experience, but I got to record some of the vocals in a nicer studio (Mistakes, Heartbeat, Fear No More). One of the engineers there gave me a disc full of software which was great and helped me learn a lot more about production.

 

Software used (that I can remember)

Mixman, Tuareg, Cool Edit/Adobe Audition, Fruity Loops, Nuendo, a couple of synth plugins that I cannot remember.

 

Hardware

Toshiba laptop, E-machine desktop, Alesis Micron, Casio Wk-1300, Some cheap bass guitar, this synthesizer that I can't remember that was at the Hard soul studios 

 

Song Descriptions - LYRICS

1. Mistakes 

Originally written in December 2003. Recorded studio vocals in 2004.

A song about credit card debt and other bad decisions.

 

2. Heartbeat  

Written in January 2001. Rerecorded studio vocals in 2004.

Inspired by puppy love.

 

3. Big Fish Small Fish

Written in February 2006. A guy I was dating told me that we weren't right for each other because we were two "big fish" which I thought was so strange because I felt so small. 

 

4. Fear No More 

Written in April 2001. Recorded studio vocals in 2005.

A song about getting over stuff.

 

5. Love Thing  

Started in 2001, finished in 2003, effects added in 2004. A song about keeping a distance.

 

6. Sympathy For Thieves

Though I can't recall exactly, I feel like I originally wrote this song sometime in 2001. It was on my computer in 2004.

I was dating some people that were maybe not worthy of what I was giving and this song is about that.

 

7. The Lovers

Written in 2003 as a vocal for a beat produced by a different producer. The stripped down vocal was recorded in 2005ish. This is secretly an astrological song! It's about the transits of Mars and Venus at the start of a relationship I was in at the time.  When I wrote it in 2003 we were on shaky ground as the planets were moving into a new sign and I felt trouble on the horizon. When I rerecorded it in 2005 it had been a year after we had broken up. So I was reflecting on the sadness of the whole thing.

 

8. Get Ready Here 

Written and recorded on my computer in 2003. This is maybe my first "astral" song that I wrote as it deals with thinking beyond or maybe further into time and space.  Pretty much every song I worked on from 2003-2006 was dealing with my feelings about a relationship I was in at the time and the aftermath following our breakup. In this song, I was criticizing his limited mindset and my own as we were both taking things for granted and not being fully appreciative of what we had. 

 

9. No Giving Up 

One of the first songs I recorded on my computer in 2000, maybe the first one that I actually thought was good because its the only one of a bunch of songs I wrote around that time that I kept coming back to.  Re-recorded on my computer in 2005. 

 

10. Co-Independent

Written and recorded on my computer sometime in 2006.  A song about being independent in a relationship and hating it. 

 

11. Don't Be Careful 

Written and recorded on my computer sometime in 2006. A song about healing myself after a breakup and making plans to do better next time.  

 

12. Tuff Love 

Written and recorded on my computer sometime in 2006. A song about bad relationships and bad politics.