So i have taken a break from hip hop for around two months, which has been great. i feel recharged and ready to rumble. I am starting over with an amd 64x2 5400 with 4 gb of ram, komplete 5, SampleTron and omnisphere.

Along with a new computer and sound setup, comes a new musical direction. I met a dude at work who was lead singer (erm.. screamer?) in a hardcore band and was, at one point signed to an indy. his band opened for Tiger Army among others and had some touring success, but while that grind paid it never quite paid off. So we got to talking, and dukes got the itch again, except he's rocking the guitar on this go round. so we have the four main components in place- bass, guitar, drums, and now me on the keys. after a few months of jamming and composing together, we'll find a singer who is compatible.

Basically, we are just setting up- he's waiting on his amp, myself waiting on my own gear- and in the meantime discussing direction. The essence musically is somewhere along the lines of lacuna coil, with some industrial and new agey elements. so far, the ideas we have had sound a little heavy on the prog-rock side of things. he hates melody and structure, i am all melody and structure, so this should be good since we are both open to exploring that other side. he's heard my hip hop tracks and thinks i'll bring a great balance to his own tendencies. basically, he wants to establish a hardcore sound that can go mainstream without being watered down (?) (!) so we'll see who this goes. i may wind up being a very background player in this, doing breakdowns and intros and the like, which would be fine- we aren't putting any emphasis on my role just yet, and thats how i want it. it will be some time before i establish performing/jamming chops anyways, as i have always preferred the leisure of simply feeling my way around a beat on my own time.

the second, is a fairly good spanish singer. she sings basic spanish ballads, and her producer/husband is official! dude is nice with the guitar and is a solid engineer. he has a handful of traditional mexican bands in his stable and a studio, etc. anyhow they want me to help her establish an american, hip hop/rnb tinged sound. she will still sing in spanish but with more american influences. i want to keep the mexican traditional "essence" and thus will rely on his guitar skills as the basis of this project. she also has a 14 year old daughter with a pretty strong voice who wants to do songs ala beyonce's "halo". so this should be fun.

both of these introduce me to working with other, better musicians and sharing the creative load. they also put me in position to do some different things that i have been aching to test for a while now.

i am still doing hip hop, and will be back at that shortly.. but these two projects are the next challenges on my plate, and both have the potential to elevate me musically as well as professionally, given the established nature of the two.

anyhow just thought i'd share.

-Sig-

“Why didn’t you do this in your own god damn country?"

-All Stah's view on undocumented immigrants wanting to be treated like human beings.