Red Rose $3.56

About Red Rose

This 18-song CD is the sound track for the story "Red Rose" which will be posted on the web site, www.desertsnow.org, starting in November 2007. Most of the music is electronica/ambient/alternative, with sound effects and other instruments backing a piano that is reminiscent of Bruce Hornsby or George Winston in places. Try this CD in your Surround Sound system - you can play it in your DVD/CD player!

The ultimate goal is to turn this story and soundtrack into a 3D animation (which I am currently working on). Please take the time to listen to each song. I didn't place the "best" songs at the beginning of the CD, and the "not so good" songs at the end. I spent over a year on this music. I worked very hard on each song, hoping to come up with something really remarkable.

The "best" song for you might be at the beginning of the CD, the end, or somewhere in the middle. I think if you spend some time listening to this disk that you will be pleasantly surprised at how much this album departs from the conventional and explores whole new avenues of sound that leave you feeling really great.

I played the instruments and made up all the beats, melodies, and arrangements by hand (from scratch). They were not created by a computer or a program that does musical loops except for some tedious tasks that were done by the computer, such as replicating a drum beat I played manually on a synthesizer keyboard. For example, I played a complex percussion part by hand (real-time) on the synthesizer over 20 measures long and then had the computer repeat that once or twice just to save time.

I have played the drums all my life and the keyboard since 1986. I have been in several bands and on musical tours throughout California, the southern U.S., 3 weeks in the Caribbean, Central America, the northwest and Canada. My roots are rock n' roll, Electronica, Classic Country, Celtic, Alternative, and Pop. I listen to almost all genres and I am always looking for new and creative ideas in music.

I have taken great care in the mixing, arranging, and recording of these songs, and I think you will like them if you really listen to more than just the first part of the song.

I like the saying that "Music is serial art," and that it is important to always give the listener something new and different; something surprising, interesting, and beautiful during each new moment of a song. I also try as hard as I can to create songs that are unlike anything out there - to give the listener a special sound you can't find anywhere else.

I often use polyrhythms, where 2 or more time signatures are played against each other. "Machine Code" is done in 5/4 time, and "Whistlers" (ambient electronica) consists of 3/4 played alongside 4/4.

"Whistlers" is named for the recorded sounds of the NASA receiver that picks up Whistlers and Sferics in the atmosphere. For more information on this, look up "Whistlers" on the internet.

This music is very ethereal, with many changes in mood and tempo in each song. All tracks are instrumental except for "Sparkle Up The World," which is a vocal duet. It is part of the story called "Red Rose" that will be posted on www.DesertSnow.org starting in November, 2007.

One chapter of the story will be released each month starting in November, 2007, and the CD is being released in July, 2007, due to anticipated delays in getting the CD onto the market (i.e., digital distribution). Still pictures (3D) on the web site are predecessors to the animation short that is in progress.

The message of "Red Rose" is very important for our generation, and has to do (partially) with what we are doing to harm the Earth. It also has to do with changing the way we think about each other - about respecting life, humanity, and each person.