EP final weeks preparations...

SO. I'm making the online list of everything that needs to be done before I release this guy in less then a month.

1) Record keyboardist Malcolm Campbell over the intro track while I'm still in Boston.
2) Finish up mixing my vocals on the tracks
3) Add and mix verses from emcees to the track "Stop!"
4) Meet with talented Lucky Movie team and shoot EP documentary
5) Finish up album artwork, add illustration.
6) Finish recording transitional material between tracks
7) Plan EP release party/rehearse with band
8) Finish website ken-ross.com
9) Release EP, and take a break for a week.
10) Realize I can't take a break, force every person I've ever met to download the EP off my website.

So, I'm close. I'm excited. I can't wait to get this project off my chest and hear what people think about the whole vibe... Right now its looking extensive, 15 tracks or so consisting of an hour of solid music.

A week or two ago I visited the gsg out in NYC to track some synth and live instrumentation for their upcoming mixtape/EP... hip-hop fans out there be warned, the beats are much improved and their sound is maturing with every track, you can catch a peek into the weekend on youtube...

P.S. I finally gave in and made myself a twitter. If you have one add me and I promise I'll come up with something superrr interesting to say!

On the Radio?... well...

Back when I had more time on my hands, I would watch those "Behind the Music" specials on Vh1. And in every episode, artists describe the moment when they heard their song on the radio or saw their video on mtv for the first time. Now I'm not saying that watching myself grind up on a video-ho from my living room is a life goal of mine; which it just so happens to be, but the other night I kind of had a similar experience vicariously through an artist that I work with.

I was practically living out of the Northwestern University Library last week, and on Wednesday night I went to the cafe to get jacked up on double shots, apples and o.j. (all of which to be downed in five minutes to numb my face and make my hands shake uncontrollably). And while ordering my essentials, the sound of Kentrell's "Encore" was playing in the background. I flipped! I started interrogating the workers, cause I assumed it was playing on a CD of theirs. But they were confused, as the song was playing on 107.5 FM (WGCI Chicago's Hip Hop and R&B station). I probably would have already heard it, if I had listened to the radio once in the past 6 months. But it was a real cool experience for me, as I have played in Kentrell's band and had specifically rehearsed "Encore" with him.

I explained to the people behind the counter that I played with Kentrell, and they were slightly-impressed, responding with "why don't you get your shit on the radio now?" And with that, I returned to my dungeon to continue loving my life for the rest of the night. But I am done with the semester now, and I am just finishing up my first day back home, feeeels good. I can't say I miss having to wake up and actually do shit. And I can finally read without taking notes, which makes it so much more enjoyable.

Productive Break

Just coming off what was a good past couple days of tracking. With almost everyone gone from the Evanston campus for Thanksgiving I had plenty of time to myself to get some of the final tracking done for this EP that's been in the works for... well... way too long. With the help of a new condenser mic I was inspired to finish those tracks up and now I'm into the mixing stage... Just to give you an idea of what my weekend looked like:




And now I will never be able to forget the days when I recorded in a bathroom using a shower curtain as sound proofing and a pizza box as a desk. Notice the view from the window; its awesome having to take a break every ten minutes because all you can hear/see are trains coming and going from each direction. But all and all it was a good weekend and now hopefully I can get into the final mixing stages and finish this project up!

Big Pictures

My roommate turned me on to this section of boston.com which has some killin photography updated frequently. Some of this stuff is real surreal, so stay tuned to http://www.boston.com/bigpicture

Hope everyone is having a good holiday, Unfortunately I'm out here in Chicago instead of back east with the family this year, but I'll be heading back for Christmas so I'm looking forward to that.

American Rag gig photos

Here are some photos from the concert I did for American Rag Apparel at Bills Blues






Special thanks to Alisha Varma and Steve Blackman!

instrumental

haven't posted any new music lately because I'm saving it for the release of the full project. But I worked on a bunch of instrumentals this summer, checking out some new vibes while engineering new sounds and moods. Here's an instrumental that I built off a Brian Blade sample from a Wayne Shorter composition. The bridge of the tune turned out real dope and fierce. Of course I had to take a little synth solo at the end...

Kentrell Band

The other night I had a rehearsal downtown with some other talented Chicago cats for this new Jive R&B Recording artist Kentrell, and it was tight.

The music is a contemporary take in the spirit of Prince and Michael Jackson, and the artist is legit. Yeah, I know, there are plenty of R&B "artists" out there today that just can't really put on a live show without gradually undressing themselves but this cat is legitimate. Check him out on his website.

One of the charts we played was his single "Encore". It works real well live cause its guitar heavy. We flipped it a bit, which is the case when you're playing most charts with a band. If any of you can make it out to the shows to peep I definitely suggest it. I'll let you know about the gigs as they come about.