New Demo (Just In Time for TTTAXES)

Things that make me happy right now:

1.) $5 copy of Art Spiegelman's MAUS

2.) Louis Wain (he's the dead guy that painted the lovely, psych-cats in front of you... I've never had the desire to get a tattoo until seeing some of his work — don't worry, I'm too much of a pussy for that )

3.) Easter card from my mom.

4.) Grouper

5.) New comics to share...

6.) "Remade Horizon"

7.) Getting to work on new music — see below.

Have fun — song's tentatively called "Lazarus." Don't ask why, please.

Download me: CLICK!


take pear and pizza out,
derek


p.s. don't forget to do those taxes, you crazy kitties, you.

Back in Ohio

So I just spent twelve hours riding a greyhound.

The first four hours were nightmarish — an overstuffed 3:45 AM bus from Nashville to Kentucky in which the toilet overflowed. I didn't have room to store my guitar, so I had to stay awake and move it whenever someone needed to pass through the aisle. Pretty wretched... but I quickly learned the importance of getting on board early.

The last few bus trips — Louisville to Cincinnati to Columbus to Mansfield were surprisingly pleasant! I talked to a very kind older lady who was familiar with Ann Arbor, Nashville and Grand Rapids. She was going to visit her son Jonathan in Ohio because he was very ill. She was a very sweet person and I gave her a CD because she said she wanted to listen to it. Some fascinating people at Greyhound stations... To say the very least.

Here I am now in good ol' Manfield, OH. Well, definitely old — good? It has it's moments.

For instance, the first thing I heard upon arrival at the greyhound station was "With Arms Wide Open" by, according to Mansfield radio station MIX 106, THE Creed.

It was a very Mansfield, OH moment.

Went to Athens Greek Restaurant and munched on some delicious falafel, fries and baklava — cheap and delicious.

My good friend Jon Thompson, who's responsible for recording, engineering and playing on the perhapsy album, picked me up and we're getting stuff together for a performance in Grand Rapids. It should be very exciting and fun to see some best friends there and share some food and music.

So, that's about it...

If you haven't heard of him, check out the artwork of Louis Wain — really incredible.





This post was boring. Sorry.



Best,
Derek

New

Inspiration is a tricky thing.

Had a bit of it today. The result? Another garageband demo.


Mucho improvisio on this one.


Enjoy: click right here



love,
derek



p.s. extra credit if you guess the sample... ;(

ffm updated -- i's patting meself on ze back.

Hey guys,

Me again.

Some more good news to share: I ended up placing in the top 5 of Calvin College's FFM Bandspotting. Which, apparently, means two perhapsy songs will be featured on a whole bunch of CD's distributed to attendees of the festival.

I've always been a fan of the festival (I even wrote about my experiences for the Michigan Daily back when I was in school at UM: here )

I'm told Asthmatic Kitty boss-guy Michael Kaufmann and Andy Whitman of Paste magazine were the two gents put in charge of judging the entries. They had these kind words to say:


"From an instrumental standpoint, this is the most impressive music I heard in the whole batch of songs in the final list. There’s some seriously great guitar work here. Both “Bow Song” and “The Elephant Vanishes” feature an intriguing mix of electronica collage and sweet fingerpicking. It reminds me of some of the early Windham Hill music, back when “New Age” was not a derogatory musical category, and the music actually had some substance. Wonderful, lovely, and engaging
music."

Awfully kind.

Here's a link:
click

Anyhow, haven't decided if I have the funds to attend or not, but if you end up going to the festival, I hope it's as good as the last few years.


best,
derek



p.s. i'm currently in san francisco visiting my mom and was treated to some banging steamed artichokes... don't get much better than steamed artichokes.

Comix, etc.

So, it's been a while.

Apologies to anyone who cares.

For the obvious reasons, I've been pretty busy with work, music, writing and whatnot. Since my last post, I had some stuff published on Dusted and Stereo Subversion — because I do that sort of thing.

In other minor accomplishments, at the persistent encouragement of a friend, I recently submitted some music to Calvin College's FFM deally. Apparently, I've made it into the top ten peeps along with some old friends (Deastro and Aaron Roche). Hot potatoes... If you want, check out the submissions here (some really good ones including my great friend Charlene Kaye and breathe owl breathe — my favorite band from Michigan).

After some delay, the art for the perhapsy album is coming along well. Things should be ready for early May... I think itunes should have that stuff, but yeah... No more procrastination is the goal...

But enough about that shizzz, on to a subject everyone loves: homemade comics.

Well, maybe not everyone. Either way, I've been drawing a whole lot lately and am happy to share some of the randomness and resulting crazies. A good deal is meant to be humorous, but some of it's personal stuff, so, apologies if I offend.


Take a gander: here





best regards,
derek



p.s. happy march.

Correction —

I've been informed, by a friend, that my previous link — the one to the Fell Trees cover song — was faulty.


My apologies.


Here's the right one:

"Seeing Is Believing" (Fell Trees Cover)" by Perhapsy Download


Best,
Derek

"Seeing Is Believing" — Brian Militana/Fell Trees Cover

Sometimes I have ideas.

This one began as a vague frustration — while on tour with my old band, my friend showed me some music by a guy named Brian. I was really impressed with it. But I also figured the guy, with his deep baritone, to have been about 38 or something.

Later that night, unbeknownst to me, Brian opened up a show in Nashville, TN. Before the music began, I had no clue it was the same guy. I remember saying to another person at the bar — "Is this what it feels like to see Johnny Cash for the first time?"

I'm not sure if Brian is continuing to do music, but here's the frustrating part: more people should know about his stuff.

So, my idea was to at least try and cover one of my favorite songs on the most recent record Territory

My first attempt was pretty bad — being that I have little to no singing talent whatsoever.

A month or two later — after working on a few original demos (the ones I posted previously). For whatever reason — probably just to fulfill the old "finish what you start" saying — I tried again.

Which brings me to my latest idea: I asked a few folks familiar with the music of Brian Militana and Fell Trees to work on a cover album of sorts. I wanted to make it available for free to anyone interested in listening. If anything, I feel the stuff is too important to go unnoticed. There's a unique challenge in covering a song which may prove to be exciting for some.

A few people have already agreed, but I'll let you know how it goes.

I hope it to be a cool project.


In the meantime, here's a cover of "Seeing Is Believing" (I suggest listening to the Brian Militana/Fell Trees original first — http://www.myspace.com/brianmilitana )

Here's my version:

"Seeing Is Believing" (Fell Trees Cover)" by Perhapsy Download


Best,
Derek