Music

I've been a musician for a long time. I played violin, clarinet, saxaphone, piano, then finally guitar which continued the rest of life. I wanted to be a composer, or a rock star, or something like that. My teenage life was all about music, and it was difficult to transition away from it. I wanted financial security and didn't understand how I might get it in that world.

But through the years I made things. I used to have this stuff on Soundcloud, and someone would pop by now and again to give a like. But they kicked Andy Ngo off their platform and I removed my stuff right when I found that out. We've got to let bullies go their own way. I'm sure they are "fine," but I feel much better knowing my music is here and not with them.

The order is somewhat random. I think the best song is at the top. Then, songs I wrote for or with my boys, so I'm proud of those. Then a song about Barbara. And then the rest is stuff from my life, here and there.

Dawn Treader

This is my most recent music. I wanted to capture the slow, golden dawning of bliss in meditation. It works for me. I like the architecture provided by the horns in the last part.

/assets/music/Dawn-Treader.mp3

Aliens in Space

I roped the boys into recording this one day around 2009 or 2010 or so. Rowan got so excited in the battle scene, he was really worked up I remember!

/assets/music/Aliens-in-Space.mp3

Rowan of the Hills

The idea was that Rowan was once a great norse hero who gave his life to protect the village. I had fun with the guitar solo here.

/assets/music/Rowan-of-the-Hills.mp3

The Elijah Song

Elijah was so crazy for Legos when he was little. This song tries to capture that moment.

/assets/music/ElijahSong-Vocals.mp3

Barbara

My beloved Barbara...my vision is of us living out here, walking the land always. How we found each other and will always be together. I guess I recorded this in 2017 or so, overcoming my fear of singing just enough to record this one song!

/assets/music/Barbara.mp3

Stars and Fire

An improv session with a delay pedal. This style of music makes me think of landscapes of the American west...just playing it makes me want to walk and walk...

/assets/music/Stars-and-Fire.mp3

Those Grey Eyes

The melody here is from a guy on YouTube, I'll have to find that information again. I embellished it and this was the result. The guitar is my baritone acoustic guitar.

/assets/music/Those-Grey-Eyes.mp3

Cave within the cave

More improv clean guitar sound.

/assets/music/Cave-within-the-cave.mp3

WinterProject

And still more! I love that stuff.

/assets/music/WinterProject.mp3

Alone

My friend Charles once made a music video for this piece, really cool! I made this in 2016 or 2017.

/assets/music/Alone.mp3

Asein

In 2008 when I worked at Avid, there was some political situation at work and it inspired me to delve into LBJ White House recordings and piece together this ominous-sounding thing.

/assets/music/asein.mp3

Network 23

My cover of the Tangerine Dream original. My sister Tamara introduced me to Tangerine Dream in the early 80s, and I was hooked on that space-age synth sound. This song always stuck with me.

/assets/music/Network-23.mp3

At the End

Probably my best "guitar instrumental." So many overlaid guitars. Really enjoyed making this and I'm proud of the result.

/assets/music/At-the-End.mp3

Bruchtal

This is a 15 minute long story that I wrote in 2015 set to music. Nobody gets it, lol. I think it's about the sweetness of death, at times. Eventually, it will be necessary to die. And I hope that we all come into relationship with the "monster" as the woman in the story does.

/assets/music/Bruchtal.mp3

On The Nature Of Daylight

I transcribed this beautiful piece by Max Richter, then recorded the parts on guitar. His version with strings is better...I just wanted to emulate.

/assets/music/On-The-Nature-Of-Daylight.mp3

Panzerwasch

A precursor to the film Charles produced in 2021...he sent me footage of frogs in a pond (a former tank-washing station), and I recorded this.

/assets/music/panzerwasch.mp3

Grandma's Birthday

My mom loved it when I improvised on piano around her. For her birthday one year, I made this and the boys added a message, too.

/assets/music/Grandmas-Birthday.mp3

Murphy's Law

Made on my 4-track recorder, age 19, living with my mom and stepdad Tom in Huntsville, Texas. Tom gets a mention in the song. It's a kind of origin story for what we call Murphy's Law. That was such a happy time living with them.

/assets/music/murphys_law.mp3

New Stabba

I forgot his name, but this was recorded on an 8-track at the house of a friend in Hillsboro, Oregon in 1997. I was so impressed with his production skills. We wrote the tune together, I came up with the guitar parts. It was a great evening.

/assets/music/newStabba.mp3

Samwise

Kris and I had a wonderful orange cat named Samwise. This was before we had kids -- we had energy to make songs to our cats!

/assets/music/Samwise.mp3

Saucy!

Once I entered a guitar "shredding" contest. I was such a big fan of that music as a teenager!

/assets/music/Saucy!.mp3

Smithy

I played hooky from work one day to write and record this. I called it Smithy because I was listening to the Smiths a lot at the time, and I thought it had that kind of sound.

/assets/music/Smithy.mp3

Sleepless City

Okay, this is a strange one. It's a poem by Lorca that captured my imagination, so I wrote this music around it. Sometime in the early 2000s I think.

/assets/music/Sleepless-City.mp3

Sundown

I worked on this piece from 2018 to 2020 or so...it took a long time to come up with the second part. What I like about it is that the melody is the same throughout, but the chords underneath the second part become much darker and more dramatic.

/assets/music/Sundown.mp3

Thank you (remix)

I made quite a few pieces of music like this after 2015. I was discovering meditation, and had lots of emotional trauma/drama to deal with. My headspace was one of sadness and perception of beauty at the same time.

/assets/music/Thank-You-Remix.mp3

Time

This is from 1990, when I was studying music composition. It was part of something like an opera I was making on the "Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury.

/assets/music/Time.mp3

Walkin

Just a happy song from 2019 or so.

/assets/music/walkin.mp3

Which You, Which World

For about 4 years I was really into the "Seth Material," these interesting documents channeled from the beyond by Jane Roberts. I tried to capture the energy released on thinking about the possibility of multi-dimensional life... the many worlds you may inhabit.

/assets/music/Which-You-Which-World.mp3

Who Are You Today?

From 2016. A happy piece of music, with a bit of mystery at the end, which I called "death." It's a recognition that life is an adventure, and great mystery awaits, too.

/assets/music/WhoAreYouToday_.mp3

Yesterday

I'm playing the guitar and singing the Beatles hit. I include this only for honesty, not because my singing is any good. I became less afraid of my voice, and didn't mind to sing, as homage to this wonderful song.

/assets/music/yesterday.mp3

You're my DAR

I used to call Kris my D.A.R., short for darling, clearly, but I turned it into an acronym like the movie D.A.R.R.Y.L. The joke was along the lines of unnecessary acronymization. We always laughed, so it worked for us! Anyway, I was trying to make better songs. This was recorded on an iPad, maybe 2013 or so.

/assets/music/Youre-My-DAR-master.mp3

Zwölf Monate - Background Music

My friend Charles made a film about a nature preserve to the north of here. I wrote the following music for it, some of which can be heard quietly in the background of his film on occasion. Written from 2020 to 2021:

Music

Dawn Treader

Aliens in Space

Rowan of the Hills

The Elijah Song

Barbara

Stars and Fire

Those Grey Eyes

Cave within the cave

WinterProject

Alone

Asein

Network 23

At the End

Bruchtal

On The Nature Of Daylight

Panzerwasch

Grandma's Birthday

Murphy's Law

New Stabba

Samwise

Saucy!

Smithy

Sleepless City

Sundown

Thank you (remix)

Time

Walkin

Which You, Which World

Who Are You Today?

Yesterday

You're my DAR

Zwölf Monate - Background Music

01 Herbst - Santosha

02 Herbst - Summer Is Over

03 Herbst - We Remember, We Preserve

04 Herbst - Lie Under Our Limbs, Child

05 Herbst - Storm

06 Winter - Fallow

07 Winter - All Emerges From Emptiness

08 Winter - A Frozen Place

09 Winter - The Heart Beneath

10 Frühling - Underworld

11 Frühling - In Remembrance, Rebirth

12 Frühling - A Closer Look

13 Frühling - Dreaming of Sheep

14 Sommer - Summer

15 Sommer - Life of the Meadow

16 Sommer - Incidentals

17 Sommer - We Remain, We Remember