My new mp3.com site is up, and there are 3 new songs there. One called "I Can't Live Without You Anymore", a laid back contemporary R&B song about love, one called "Political Suicide", a synthed out funk jam about 9/11, terrorism, and politics, and one called "The Cherry Tree Parable" about coming in with the new and out with the old. These songs are part of the "Thessalonica" project and are less than 2 months old. Listen at www.mp3.com/jmdodson

Also, I have a new song called "Fun" on www.mp3.com/jdodson that I think I am gonna use for NFO Project 2.


Check them out when you get time, and let me know if you like em.


Peace,
JD

More cool stuff! I love this funky stuff! I think your voice works better with the funk than the blues. Prince all day long, just lovin it.

Play this stuff live and watch the dance floor fill up.

Thanks for sharing and I can't wait for the other stuff you mentioned.

U always know how 2 bring sum funk 2 the table...never fails..,most of all ur jams are funk thangz 2 get yo ass on the flo'

Now which part did ur son help with u?

U been underground 4 a while where ya been?

"Didnt nobody excuse u from the table!" lol!
How long does it take u 2 write ur lyrics for ur jams (mainly just the non-serious jams)? They have some humor 2 em sometime that seems like it comes natural 4 u, where it takes me about 1/2 hr. 2 write a song.

JD...U know I love your stuff...but I'm gonna go out on a limb here (don't hate me for it). Am I lovin' it because it's so Princey? I'm beginning to wonder if JD has a style of his own. Could this hurt U...in the looong run?

"I Can't Live Without You Anymore"

I liked this song very much, it reminds me of a jesse johnson ballad i don't know why, but I think it's a really beautiful song.

7salles said:

I agree, this is very beautiful. I love it Jason!

Wow, right after the bat, Political Suicide is GREAT!!! This does NOT sound like Prince to me. The song isn't even finished yet, but I think this is your best song yet! WOW!

I love me some square waves.

This is so Retro and futuristic at the same time...

Go Jason, go Jason..

man! I love Political Scuicide! I like that slapping Snare and then the lil' Monkey sample thrown in!!!

I must say man..i was dissapointed with the album cover though! The name has so much potential 4 a awesome cover!

Thanks everyone! I want Red to know that I really don't try to sound like Prince, Clinton, JB, Bootsy, or any of my other mentors, the music just comes out of me that way. I guess being raised around funk and dance music just made me what I am musically. Plus, George wants funkateers to clone the funk, so I am doing so! As it is, so it shall be, I am a son of the P! When you are really influenced by someone your whole life, you kind of channel certain ways about them. I was making my first CD called "The New Egypt Crusade" at the same time Prince was making "The Rainbow Children", and I had no idea that Prince was making the CD. Both CD's are very similar in message and content, and both have messages about Christ.

Weird enough, me and Prince have alot in common from what I have read about him. We both have mothers that are school teachers and helped inner city children, we both had similar home lives (my mom and dad were divorced and remarried to each other 3 times), we were both musically inclined early on and by ear, we made similar grades and participated in similar sports, we were both eccentric and were always a little "different" in the eyes of schoolmates, friends, and colleagues.

Thanks, Vina, I didn't even like the beat on Political Suicide until I put the lyrics with it and slowed it down a little. The BPM was up around 120 at first, so it was really pumpin- it was too fast, so I slowed it back to around 100 (i think).

Isaiah, my son wrote the chorus for "Fun". And, I would like to develop a better CD cover, but I don't have time to design a CD cover here at work, and I don't have a home PC, so I just took Beau Hall's design for the new CD cover.


Slave, I would like to hear more of your stuff. I will check out your site again at lunch today. Thanks for the kind comments.

Salles, you know I dig your funk/rock style and I am very glad that you like my music. Keep up the good work!


Peace,
JD

JD...thanks 4 sharing. And by no means was my comment a slant, I think YOU know that. I just can't get over the uncannyness (is that a word) of the similarity. If it's your style it's your style, but if I was to hear some of your music on the radio, in a club...without thinking too hard about it, I'd think it was P. Son of a P!

Carry on my friend; no question about the talent.

xx

I LOVE THAT CD COVER!!!

If you want a different one, tell me what you're looking for, and I'll come up with something better. The one thing I don't really like about the cover is the text treatment. I could have used much better typefaces.

I got questions:
What do you use to record? You don't have a computer, so you're using midi and 4-track?

Why do you always speed up the vocals so they're higher? (or, am I wrong, and your voice IS like the mayor of munchkin town).

"Cant live without you" is DEFINITELY Jesse Johnson "I want my girl" kind of feel. Very cool, great melody and great timing/delivery of the words.

"Political Suidice" has that groovy beat and cool retro new wave feel... but, the munchkin voice takes away from the heaviness of the song... just my opinion.

Okay - and here's the last whiney thing I gots to say. ALL your songs are missing any reverb on the vocals. It's dry dry dry, which is a great effect in and of itself on sparse funk like "Cherry Tree", but on the ballad "Can't Live Without You", the dry vocals take away from the lush arrangement and instrumentation... which is why I asked what you're using to record. I got an old reverb box I could send you if you're interested... old 8-bit digital reverb from 1989, so it would keep it old-school, but if you're interested...
[This message was edited Thu Jul 17 10:04:18 PDT 2003 by otan]

Sweet, Beau! I would love to try it out. When I sing, I sing high. My voice isn't that deep naturally- just regular. Kelly (yamomma) talks to me often, and he can tell you. I use the Tascam to speed my vocals up on some tracks, but Political Suicide is my real voice, so is the deeper part on "Cherry Tree". "I Can't Live Without You Anymore" is the speed effect. Also, I did use my external synth on that song. Maybe the MP3 makes it sound that way...I dunno. The vocals weren't completely dry on that one- actually, all of those songs had the external synth on there.

I use the Korg workstation, the Tascam 4 track, and a older home audio dolby noise reduction deck, and a home audio dual CD burner. That's it.

Oh, and Red, I know it wasn't a put down, I am actually thankful that you like my stuff! I took it all as compliments!


The only thing weird is that I'm kind of a big guy, so singing with my high voice kind of makes people wonder about my sexuality sometimes- lol.


Peace,
JD

Oh, and I have that external VoTec synth plug in.


Peace,
JD

One more thing, then I gotta get to work. Beau, I like the CD cover, and with that design- in fact, I am very fond of it and I will definitely use it. What I meant was that I don't have a software program to put together an inner case or anything- my brother in-law has that computer now. But I like the cover art- I just need to get me a computer!


Peace,
JD

Coolio coolio. What kind of mic are you using? The vocals all have a very lo-fi feel to them - I'm just trying to think of ways to bring the vocals up to the level of the rest of the song - reverb, better mic, better singer.

I kid. I'm a kidder.

La la la, hee hee hee. lol

OTAN SAID:
"Cant live without you" is DEFINITELY Jesse Johnson "I want my girl" kind of feel. Very cool, great melody and great timing/delivery of the words.



Yes! It's this song that I was thinking!

I use an audio technica mic. It cost like 35 bucks.


Peace,
JD

JDODSON said:

Ok. Keep going at it man. When you upgrade to higher quality stuff, your music will explode - but until that time, you're doing GREAT with what you got.

JD said "so singing with my high voice kind of makes people wonder about my sexuality sometimes- lol."

Ha! Yet one more similarity to add to the mix

I really liked all 3 of them,but especially
"I can´t live without you anymore"
/peace Manki

Hi Jason,

I like the last two songs! I never really liked ballads, so "I can´t live without you anymore" doesn't really do it for me. But if manki (a great producer IMO) thinks it's cool, it's got to be good!

Peace,

Geoffrey

otan said:

Jason, I have an audio technica mic too! So we have the same keyboard and the same mic. So weird! I have another mic too, electro-voice, and I use that one more.
Ah yes, I work with hand-me-downs.



I'm gonna listen to Political Suicide one mo time.

NICE

Jd,I like the "Camille" voice on " I can't live...". I have not been disappointed yet by listening 2 your grooves. Now I know where the " Scarlet Pussy " escaped to. I hope the reference does not offend. I mean it as a compliment. You are one of the baddest Princ-ites I have ever met. I am impressed at the quality of your production with the limited gear you said you had. Put me on your fan list and let me know when to download your jams Also " Political Suicide " mets " Annie Christian ".

Thanks, Tal! You are so nice to me! I will be sure to let you know when I put up more songs!



Peace,
JD