Current total: 1:19:58 [DR14]
I write a lot of music: from June 2024 to April 2025 alone, I wrote or cowrote over five hours of original music. This collection contains my four favorite tracks I worked on from August 2024 to June 2026 – one from each album I worked on during that time span. I’ve always loved old double LPs with one track to a side, so once I had that many side-length compositions, I felt obligated to collect them.
These tracks are, of course, atypical of my work in a few ways:
But they also showcase many hallmarks of my style for most/all of their runtime:
My music as a whole is too stylistically diverse to fit cleanly into one genre, but this anthology can reasonably be described as progressive rock/
My other influences include Steve Albini, Beastie Boys, Black Sabbath, Chris Christodoulou, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Deathspell Omega, Bob Dylan, Tim & Geoff Follin, Marvin Gaye, Philip Glass, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Joy Division, Kōenji Hyakkei, Magma, Metallica, Yasunori Mitsuda, Janelle Monáe, Joanna Newsom, Nightwish, Nine Inch Nails, Steve Reich, Ren, Rush, Ringo Shīna, Slint, Talk Talk, Talking Heads, Tears for Fears, Tool, the Velvet Underground, Windir, Yes, Neil Young, & Frank Zappa. Some of these are undoubtedly more obvious influences than others: e.g., the Beastie Boys’ influence on my music is likely quite oblique, but Paul’s Boutique has lived rent-free in my head for something like twenty years, and while I’ll never in a million years imitate Deathspell Omega’s compositional style, they’re probably most responsible for my attempts to combine choral music and metal.
«…καί αὐτοῦ μουσική ἦν ἠλέκτρική» (ft. Chris Christodoulou) (19:37) [DR15]
Attic Greek: “…and his music was electric”
Romanized: «…kaí autoû mousikḗ ên ēléktrikḗ»
Formerly known as: «Καταιβᾰτή ἕλῐξ»
Attic Greek: “Downward Spiral”
Romanized: «Kataibătḗ hélĭx»
| Ἀρχή Arkhḗ Start |
Τέλος Télos End |
Ἀττικός Ἑλληνική Attikós Hellēnikḗ Attic Greek |
Ῥωμαϊσμένη Rhōmaïsméni Romanized |
Μετάφρασις Metáphrasis Translation |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 5:41 | α. | Ὁ ζίγγος αὔξεται μέγας | Ho zíngos aúxetai mégas | The whirring grows loud |
| 5:41 | 10:36 | β. | Ὀνειροπολεῖς βιαίᾱν αὔξησιν | Oneiropoleîs biaíān aúxēsin | You dream of violent growth |
| 10:36 | 15:31 | γ. | Μία ἀγάπη ἀνώτατη | Mía agápē anṓtatē | A love supreme |
| 15:31 | 19:37 | δ. | Ἡμέρᾱ ὀργῆς | Hēmérā orgês | Diēs īrae |
Original album: ⟨aaronfreed.
Music: ⟨chrischristodoulou.
Interpolates:
Briefly interpolates:
: ⟨aaronfreed.
γ: Trisagion (Byzantine Greek: Τρισάγιον, literally “Thrice Holy”)
δ: “Diēs Īrae”
Originally written for: Tempus Irae Redux, “Downward Spiral”
γ & δ actually used on: Tempus Irae Redux, “Il grande silenzio”, as «Ἡ μεγᾰ́λη σιγή» (with “Cauda toxica”)
Ancient Greek: “Il grande silenzio”
(Italian: “The Great Silence”)
Romanized: “Hē megắlē sigḗ”
Commentary: ⟨aaronfreed. Key signatures: E♭ major (α), C minor (β & δ), a mix of C minor & C major (γ)
Time signatures: Mostly 𝟓
𝟖, with 5:7 & 5:4 polyrhythms throughout β and brief modulations to 𝟒
𝟒 bookending it
«Οἶκος κεκλεισμένων θυρίδων, ἀκρόπολις σῑγῆς» (19:30) [DR13]
Attic Greek: “House of Closed Windows, Castle of Silence”
Romanized: «Oîkos kekleisménōn thyrídōn, akrópolis sīgês»
Original album: ⟨aaronfreed. Music: Aaron Freed Vaguely inspired by:
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney; string arrangement by George Martin) Commentary: ⟨aaronfreed. Key signature: E Dorian, and/or all of them. OK, John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” (which travels through B major, G major, and E♭ major in rapid succession) might still take the cake, but this is still probably almost as tonally ambiguous as the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” (which infamously can be read as either A major or E major). We start on an E minor chord, but the first three chords alone make it ambiguous whether we’re in E natural minor or E Dorian: its second chord, C♯m7(♭5), is non-diatonic to E minor, while its third chord, Cmaj7, is non-diatonic to E Dorian. After another E minor chord, we see C♯m (non-diatonic to E minor), C major (non-diatonic to E Dorian), and A major (non-diatonic to E minor) just in the next few measures, but a A major-E minor plagal cadence does suggest we’re in E Dorian. Overall, later parts of the song conform to several diatonic scales, including B major, A major, and E♭ major, but it never stays true to any of them more than a handful of measures; however, at the end of the song’s 42-measure-long chord progression, a B major chord resolves to E minor and we restart our progression. This very clear V–i resolution makes it obvious that our tonal center contains the E minor chord, which is why I ultimately classify the song’s key signature as both “E Dorian” and “All of them”. Time signature: 𝟓
(2025-01-10 to 2025-01-30)
Japanese: Yoshitaka Hirota, “House of Closed Windows”
Japanese: Yasunori Mitsuda, “Prisoners of Fate” (Chrono Cross)
Rōmaji: Mitsuda Yasunori, “Unmei ni torawareshi monotachi” (Kurono Kurosu)
Japanese: Nobuo Uematsu, “Anxious Heart” (Final Fantasy VII)
Rōmaji: Uematsu Nobuo, “Fuan na kokoro” (Fainaru Fantajī Sebun)
𝟒
“Omnēs viae Sōlem dūcunt” (20:15) [DR15]
Latin: “All Roads Lead to Sol”
| Exordium/Terminus Start/End |
Latīnum Latin |
Trānslātiō Translation |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 7:06 | i. | Celeritās Deī tibī̆, imperātor fusce | God’s Speed to You, Black Emperor |
| 7:06 | 12:31 | ii. | Quattuor pūnctum sex miliardum annōrum | Four Point Six Billion Years |
| 12:31 | 20:15 | iii. | Vīdī rēs vōs hominēs nē crēderētis | I’ve Seen Things You People Wouldn’t Believe |
Original album: Κατηγορική ἀπολογίᾱ
Music & lyrics: Aaron Freed (2025-02-14 to 2025-04-25)
Inspired by:
Commentary: original album, subsequent anthology
Key signature: G minor
Time signature: 𝟔
𝟖 (i), 𝟓
𝟖 (ii & iii)
“Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥” (20:36) [DR13]
Middle Egyptian: “Hathor’s Lament”
Romanized: “Nḫj.t n.t Ḥw.t-Ḥr.w”
|
𓁶𓏤 Tp Start |
𓄖𓅱𓏭 Pḥ.wj End |
𓋴𓂧𓏏𓏯𓂷𓂡 Sd Movement |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | 11:16 | a. | Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥 (prog) |
| 11:16 | 15:36 | b. | Leela / Covenant Dance (choral) |
| 15:36 | 20:36 | c. | Leela / Covenant Dance / 𓈖𓐍𓅱𓏏𓀁 𓈖𓏏 𓉡𓁥 (orchestral) |
Original album: Τὸν ὦνον πάντων καί τὴν ἀξίᾱν οὐδένων
Music:
Briefly interpolates:
Commentary: original album
Key signature: D minor and E minor (a); D Dorian (b); D Dorian and D minor (c). (Caveat: I’m using “D minor” the same way Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Prelude I in C major, BWV 846” uses “C major”. Caveat²: I’d be lucky to be a tenth the composer Bach was.)
Time signature: Mostly 𝟏𝟐
𝟖 and/or 𝟔
𝟒 with 4:3 and 3:2 polyrhythms; a few brief modulations to 𝟒
𝟒