music by Justin David Brown

“Filthy Cloak Surrounds Us” A new song mostly made...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:37:00 -0400

A new song mostly made of orchestral samples, synthesizers, and beatboxing. No live instruments that I can recall. An exercise in patient “building” that I’m usually very bad at.

“Shaking Harpist Hands” I have to release this one...

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:01:47 -0400

“Shaking Harpist Hands”

I have to release this one into the world now because I’m completely sick of working on it and hearing it. It needs to worm its way into virgin ears.

Just a reminder, you can listen to my new album “Zoom...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 20:40:00 -0500

Just a reminder, you can listen to my new album “Zoom Era” on Spotify! Thanks!

New full-length recording: "Zoom Era" (12 songs ya'll!)

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 20:21:25 -0500

New full-length recording: "Zoom Era" (12 songs ya'll!):

This is a new full-length LP by me. It has all the best stuff I’ve posted in the last year+ since I put out “United Colors.” It will be on Spotify, iTunes, etc., soon. Download it here and listen to it in your PT Cruiser on the way to lacrosse practice! (Also compatible with other vehicles and hobbies).

For real though, thanks for listening.

“Waterslide Nightmare” A new one with lots of drums...

Sun, 13 Jan 2013 16:04:23 -0500

“Waterslide Nightmare”

A new one with lots of drums and a talkbox-assisted Tenorion buried in there somewhere. My equipment is roughly the same as I’ve been using since I was in Born With a Tail, and I’m really happy that this un-maintained borerline-junk can still sound this good.*

*Decent.

“Ceremonies I & II” Another thing I’ve...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:56:00 -0500

“Ceremonies I & II”

Another thing I’ve been waiting to finish! This one features live drumming, and I’m proud to say my kick drum sounds totally massive, 100% un-EQed. It sounds like complete garbage live to the human ear, but for some reason it completely changes when miked.

“Drummers” This song is a blur of riffs/beats that I...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:59:00 -0500

“Drummers”

This song is a blur of riffs/beats that I hated when I finished it. After I forgot it, I listened again and dug it.

“Laps” Composed on the tenori-on, October 2012.

Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:23:00 -0400

“Laps”

Composed on the tenori-on, October 2012.

“All Honors” If you look back at my posts from a...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:26:00 -0400

“All Honors”

If you look back at my posts from a couple years ago, you’ll see the original song I sampled for this one, “Someday.” I love the lyrics and really only sampled a few words and horns to make this song. If “Someday” was a single, I’d want this to be the weird b-side.

“Under Multiple Skies” “Under Multiple...

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 12:18:00 -0400

“Under Multiple Skies”

“Under Multiple Skies” is a tiny idea inspired by equal parts Raymond Scott, Pilotwings for SNES, and the internal sounds of the Tenori-on.

“Pretzels, Fruits, and Keys” Another one: A twisted...

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 14:49:00 -0400

“Pretzels, Fruits, and Keys”

Another one: A twisted up knot of 1-second samples and a toy horn. Includes samples of African vocals, thumb piano, acoustic guitar, and hopefully the last time I use drums samples from the “Bumps” collection.

“Skateboarding Towards the Oracle” You can download...

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:33:00 -0400

“Skateboarding Towards the Oracle”

You can download all of these at Soundcloud, ya know. They will sound much better in your car.

“Bamboo Crown” I have a ton of new songs I finished...

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 19:15:00 -0400

“Bamboo Crown”

I have a ton of new songs I finished over the summer that I am going to post as my free-time winds down, and Back to School begins.

After I’ve posted these tracks, they’ll be available on Spotify as part of a new album/set/group/whatever called “Zoom Era.”

A new, improved mix and arrangement of “Zoom...

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 23:36:00 -0400

A new, improved mix and arrangement of “Zoom Era.”

My short attention span originally had me insert a pointless acoustic guitar riff in the original mix of this song. A cooler head prevailed and I decided it was okay for the original riff to repeat without being interrupted by something stupid, just for the sake of jumping all over the place mid-song. Lesson learned?

“Visit the Black Rock”The riff that recurs through...

Sun, 27 May 2012 22:32:00 -0400

“Visit the Black Rock”

The riff that recurs through 90% of this song is a loop built out of the Tenori-on running through a Boss Loop Station.

For the drumming, I thought a lot about avoiding crash cymbals. There were a couple songs by Born With a Tail where I never hit the crash cymbals, kind of as a personal challenge. Since then, I’ve read lots of things written by Peter Gabriel and Nick Zammuto regarding their dislike of cymbals. We’ve become accustomed to hearing at every transition or at the end of every set of 4, even people who know nothing about music can predict it from a mile away. A transition without a cymbal crash seems even more sudden, and without that fading bit of white noise in the way, it’s easier to hear exactly how the transition worked. This song is by no means the best, or even a good, example of what I’m rambling about.

“West Montgomery”This song is based (almost)...

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:03:00 -0400

“West Montgomery”

This song is based (almost) entirely on electric guitar parts in groups of four. The first 2 1/2 minutes or so are based on cut-and-sampled guitar parts built with the tenori-on. The rest of the song is fairly straight-forward but sloppy guitar playing.

So, in the first part, it’s all about sequence. Sixteen guitar sounds arranged into chunks of four, mostly unadorned with extras. Then, somewhere in the middle it changes from being about sequence to being about overlapping. All the guitar parts happen at the same time.

The main thing that made me stop caring about “songwriting” was that I liked having tons of sounds/notes/guitars overlapping each other. Those tiny moments in songs were more fun to make than trying to find novel ways of writing verses and choruses. It didn’t matter if the piece of music “went” anywhere…it just mattered that all the sounds passed by each other in cool ways I never even planned. This song has a song structure in the beginning, but by the end it turns into an exercise for 4 overdubbed guitars.

“Twin Cubs” Possibly the slowest-burner I’ve...

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 19:56:00 -0400

“Twin Cubs”

Possibly the slowest-burner I’ve ever recorded: I usually don’t have the patience for the free-form spaced-out stuff at the beginning of this one.

I also tried to make this one have lots of stuff going on, since it’s a little “on-the-grid,” and I hate music that’s just a series of 4/4 loops and riffs that outlast their welcome.

I also hate music that just takes wholesale dialog samples from movies, etc. and places it in with no rhyme or reason over an instrumental track. I broke that “rule” here by adding in one line from a hilarious Vincent Price International Cooking Course LP. In fact, there’s not a lot of sample-based tomfoolery in this one.

“Peach Milkshake” Video composition for Tenori-on...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:09:20 -0400

“Peach Milkshake”

Video composition for Tenori-on and Hamilton Beach milkshake maker.

“An Even Deeper Breakfast” If you remember the old...

Sat, 03 Mar 2012 21:03:00 -0500

“An Even Deeper Breakfast”

If you remember the old Hi Ho Six Shooter! drumkit, you know that I like using metal mixing bowls as percussion instruments. This song features samples of a variety of mixing bowls, and a very cool loop made by a malfunctioning (?) cash register I heard at Walmart.

I wish there was a way to transmit music straight to cars so that people could hear this on speakers that are bigger than one millimeter. There are two awesome bass drum hits that I can’t even hear on my laptop. Maybe one day someone will invent some kind of “radio” transmitter that allows people to hear music in their automobiles!

“Name Ten Movies Without Guns” - retooled,...

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 19:59:55 -0500

“Name Ten Movies Without Guns” - retooled, quality-control version 2.0