​It's been pretty sunny here in Alaska, during the past month, so I haven't been spending much time inside doing music stuff. I'm really happy that I was able to get my new song Interstellar Love Song out before all this summer weather kicked in. If you haven't heard the song, you can listen here, or find it on all of the major music streaming services. 

 

Upcoming Gig in Anchorage

 

Tomorrow night, I'll be sitting in and playing guitar with Zen Trembles at Humpy's Alehouse in downtown Anchorage. They're a local band and I'm a good friend with the bass player, and since they're missing a keyboard player right now, he asked me to sit in. 

 

So, yesterday, to took my guitar and headphone amp out on the back deck and ran through the band's album, St. Vitus Dance, as well as about 15 of the cover songs that they typically do. 

 

I'm really excited about this opportunity, because it will by my first time playing in front of a crowd in a long time. Hopefully it will be first of more gigs. 

 

New on my Music Blog

 

Yesterday, I wrote a review of one of the most interesting and creativity-inspiring music tools I've purchased in a long time. The Native Instruments MASCHINE Mikro is a small, affordable device that operates as a drum machine and sampler that allows you not only to create beats and rhythm parts, but play a huge array of instrument sounds using the 16 velocity sensitive trigger pads. 

 

With this tool and a laptop, you can play, perform, record and mix your sounds, and have an incredibly compact and flexible way to sketch out musical ideas, make backing tracks, create entire songs, and mix it all together with studio-quality sounds and effects.

 

At first, I wasn't sure this kind of a device would fit with my musical style, but I've found it to be an incredibly versatile tool that's inspired me to create a wide range of projects, including many of the mine-film scores that I've ben doing lately. 

 

MASCHINE Mikro is certainly worth a look, even just to see what you can do with music technology these days. You can read my full review here.