In an effort to help me grieve the death of my friend John, I wrote this song in his honor. It’s my way of paying tribute to our friendship and what he meant to me. When we were in high school, he endured countless after school phone calls during which I demoed songs I wrote. He’s one of six people in the world who has a copy of the first album of electronic music I wrote, back when I thought I was DJ Shadow/Roni Size or some shit. I don’t even have a copy of that album anymore. 

It seemed only appropriate that I write a song in his memory, a song that managed to capture some of the things I loved about him and some of the things he loved. In a sense, this is less of a “song” and more of an experiment in creating an aural memento mori. 

The song contains reworked bass and guitar parts from a song we wrote when were sixteen, a sample from one of his favorite Erykah Badu songs, and a lecture about brachiopods. Brachiopods were among his favorite fossils. More importantly, I wanted to create something beautiful and full of warmth, not some funerary dirge set to a house beat. I wanted to write John something as fierce as he was but only managed something pretty and nerdy. I guess this will have to do. Fierce electronica has never been my forte.

The song is available for download [click the link]. John’s family has asked that donations be made to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance- Metropolitan Detroit (www.dbsa-metrodetroit.org) in his honor. The song is available for download on a sliding scale. All sales/donations made from the song will go to the Depression and Biopolar Support Alliance in honor of John and out of respect for his family. 

If you’re inclined to make a donation, I’d greatly appreciate it. 

And yes, the photo is of John.

_______

Samples used in this song: 


Erykah Badu’s “Bag Lady”
“Introduction to Brachiopods” by @flyingscience [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJaMlVwHsxI]



Source SoundCloud / In the Company of Men

Notes

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