EARGASM – Lifeblood (Audio SeXXX 3rd Year Anniversary)

Remember the guy to the left of me in the “Dabbing for my City” post a couple weeks ago? Probably not, but either way his name is Cedric and he is in a band called “In Night & Nature” and they’ve recently released a single called “Lifeblood” and it’s amazing! If you’re into rock, You need to check it out.

Also did I forget to mention but today is also Audio SeXXX’s 3rd Anniversary. Thanks everyone for 3 great years.

My friend Cedric isn’t the only one who dropped a single. I drop the single to my project “Genesis”, yesterday. You should totally listen to it and if you love it. It’s purchasable for a mere dollar. Enjoy! Thanks for listening.

 

Genesis Synopsis

“Genesis” is the 1st track and 1st single from my upcoming project “Escapism” (Click here for project synopsis) Genesis is a track that describes how I created music in 8 days similar to how the bible depicts the creation the universe. I will be posting the single here on Thursday March 24, 2016.So Stay tuned for that.

As, I said in the “Escapism” project synopsis, each track will have its own, unique art that goes with it. Below is the art for “Genesis”. Thanks for reading this short summery and I hope you support the release of the single on March 24th.

 

Why I Don’t Use an Artist Name

When you think of musicians and artists you usually refer to them with a pseudonym. A fake name that they give themselves to be identified throughout their career. I have nothing against it’s use but, personally it’s not for me and here’s why.

1. I’m Proud of My Name: James Revels III. I love it. It’s unique(ish) and like the the way it rolls off my tongue. James was passed down from my granddad to my uncle and now me, so it’s like a passed torch. I also love my last name because it’s a memorial  to my (very) distant uncle Hiram Revels, the first African American senator. With that much history behind my name I have a lot to be proud of.
2. Pseudonyms as Alter Egos: I prefer to use my name because when I create my art I feel I’m at my realest. A lot of artists describe themselves having an alter ego or separate personality when they create, I feel the opposite. I feel like this creative side is the true me and when I work my day job I’m putting on a mask. Some artist put on a certain “image” while the only image I wish to portray is an accurate portrait of myself.
3. Google Friendly: Because my full name is relatively unique it’s easier to corner my own niche of keywords to google.  Type” James Revels” and the second auto-suggest is “James Revels the Composer” the third is “James Revels WordPress”. Typing in “James Revels” in general, provides links that fill the entire ever crucial 1st page. This saved a lot of time that would have been wasted on thinking of an SEO friendly name.

So those are the reason’s that I use my real name instead of a made up one. Stay tuned for updates on my upcoming Hip-Hop Project “Escapism EP”. It’s a 5 track original EP that is an escape from the current norms of hip hop. I also released the album cover yesterday (also designed by yours truly) Check it out. If you like it hope you stay tuned as I get ready to release the first single “Genesis” in the next couple of weeks.

 

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America: The Culture of Escapism

Over the last several months I have been working on a project titled “Escapism EP” and it is inspired by the realization that I used drug and entertainment as escapism. Upon further introspection I realized that this problem is a symptom of a much bigger and hidden disease that not only affects me, but the culture as a whole.

Before I delve deeper, let me say I am not against having fun. There’s a time and a place for fun, but I feel that for a lot of people that time is nearly all the time. That over time people use drug, entertainment, and sex as a life escape rather than a life enhancer, which it ideally should be.

Today, people worship the people or things that can take them away from the reality. Actors, Musicians, Sports Stars, YouTube, Video Games, T.V. make ridiculous amount of money because they help us forget the current situation. Take the edge off. This becomes unhealthy when all our mass media outlets are about the Kardashian’s or some sex scandal involving our favorite actors.

While chasing the American Dream at what point should we wake up and chase reality instead?

  Those are just my thoughts. What do you think?  Leave a comment below.

Ear Training Day 26 & 27 – Melody Training

Late night at work last night by here’s Ear training day 26 & 27. Today I’m trying something new the melody exercises! It’s like the melodic intervals listening to 3 or more successive notes and guessing the distances. Even though I’m great at melodic intervals this is a challenge which I have accepted and will conquer!

Ear Training Day 25 – Harmonic Intervals

Today is day 25 of ear training and I’m continuing review of Harmonic intervals or guessing the distance between two simultaneous note. The goal is 90% and I got an 83% today

Ear Training 17 & 18 – Chord Progressions

Hey guys! Didn’t get to post my ear training results to wordpress because I didn’t get to my computer after work until it was really late but I did post to instagram (@jamesrevelscomposer) if you want to see the ear training results fresh off the press.

So I’ve been doing doing chord progression recognition of the Major scale particularly the I,ii,IV,V scale degrees. Yesterday I got a 65% which was a huge jump from the 48% I had but today I normalized with a 56% with my goal for each type of training being 90% I still have looads of work to do

Ear Training Day 12 – Harmonic Interval

Here is day 12 of ear training and day 5 of harmonic interval training where I guess the distance between two simultaneous notes. My goal is 90% accuracy.

Ear training Day 8 – Harmonic Intervals

So Day 8 of Ear training but my 1st day of harmonic interval training which is listening to simultaneous notes and guessing the distance between. My goal is 90% and I got a 42%…44 correct and 60 incorrect. Can’t wait to see how I progress throughout the week.

EARGASM – Zodiac

Here’s a great hip-hop beat titled Zodiac by Monte Booker. It starts with an unnerving yet interesting electronic/glitchy sample then slowly progresses into a catchy, and funky hip hop beat. It’s a great journey aurally and definitely worth the share. Know anyone who makes cool music? Shoot me a link to their soundcloud, youtube or bandcamp page and if I like what I hear I’ll feature them. I’ll have another eargasm for you tomorrow at noon so stay tuned!