February 3, 2012 in Jurstday Thursday
This song is called AUGUST NEEDS! I wrote it back in 2004 while living by myself in Osaka.
The bass part was originally written as an example for a bass lesson I was teaching. It then turned into a song!
Get the song here from iTunes!
January 27, 2012 in Jurstday Thursday
I wrote this with lots of electric bass loops and a mic. This is from my album made in japan 2005.
The video is Tokyo at night.
January 20, 2012 in Jurstday Thursday
This song seems to be my most popular.
I wrote this in Sonar in 2006 using a drum sample loop, guitar, shamisen, bass and my voice.
January 13, 2012 in Jurstday Thursday
I have always been a big fan of Weezer. I got a lot of ridicule for liking this band, but whatever. Good songs!
So, after a discussion with David Misung Stevenson, I decided to try and cover one of their songs.
Not too bad. I decided I would force myself to do it in ABLETON LIVE so I could learn not only how to record, but also how to build a song in the layout section.
There are still a number of flubs here and there. I have no idea where the drums get their random cymbals from, but I will figure this software OUT!
It blows my mind how intuitive Ableton Live is…just the learning curve is as flat as Mount Fuji! IRONY! betch!
Without further ado
Justin DiCenzo – Weezer’s Only in Dreams
Here’s my disastrous attempt at covering Weezer’s ONLY IN DREAMS…a very short ONLY IN DREAMS
January 6, 2012 in Jurstday Thursday
My time here- by me, played on trombone, synths, guitar and sung.
This is from my 2009 release: Good morning, goodbye
This video was shot on my iPhone 3g in 2010 around Shinjuku, at the school I’ve been teaching at for the last 2 years.
I moved to Tokyo in 2010 to live with the girl of my dreams. Mission accomplished, but I left all of my friends in the US. Coming back to Japan, I knew I had a good number of acquaintances and friends, but never thought the majority of them would be so hard to see or be friends with in Japan.
This song really captured how I felt in and around a city with so many people. Not so much Tokyo, but Shinjuku. It’s one of the busiest centers in the country and I work in the thick of it.
I gained around 20lbs from March 2010 until January 2011, then finally decided to take care of myself and got act together.
Nonetheless, I wrote this song in Los Angeles, where I spent a lot of time with different girls but had a horrible time settling on having friends. I think I was addicted to female attention. Now I see that I had some real true friends in LA, but was just blinded by desire. Dumb.
We live we learn right?
If you made it this far, download the song if you’d like!
My time here
okbye!
December 29, 2011 in Jurstday Thursday
Song I wrote with Misung aka Dave Stevenson of best friend and ottomen fame.
I emailed him the instrumental rough heard below and he sang over it.
Then I re-recorded everything and sang it in a more exciting key.
Misung and I have been friends since I was about 14. The first time we sat down together and wrote something was a very strange experience to me at that age. He got out a tape recorder and a guitar and said, come on lets write a song. No paper, no pen, just make!
He is one of the most prolific people I know. Thanks Dave for writing this with me! More to come!
December 22, 2011 in Jurstday Thursday
I know I have posted this in the past, but I’m really excited about this video. It was made by my friend Carl Stella. He’s a film maker living in Japan. I’m making music for his upcoming short, so he agreed to make a music video for me. The guy has a great eye and is really professional. Of course, working with me and my haphazardness, I didn’t want him to make a storyboard or real plan, but just go out and shoot. Anyway, enjoy the video and song from my 2009 release “Good morning, goodbye” on cdbaby and iTunes.
