Rodcast

I pray we can move past the contemporary racial narrative that Elites have so cynically crafted and delivered via media and academia during the past several decades.

I recorded this song several times until arriving back to the basics of folk rock instrumentation (including the two chords I know on the mandolin!).

Saying goodbye to something can be difficult, even if the thing you're leaving is damaging you.

Being the enforcer of speech codes can be lonely in my as-yet-not-fully-imagined futuristic Orwellian musical. In this song, I assume the role of a police officer charged with finding and eradicating non-state-sponsored materials littering the landscape of communication.

Non-creative types can construe the artistic drive in others as confusing or off-putting. This song embraces that weirdness.

Wearing my 80s production and Bowie influence on my sleeve, I present this work.

This piece came to me all at once. Or, more accurately, it is the result of a couple of years of pontification about the zeitgeist. I crafted the beat and the main synth theme during my lunch break; to have waited would have been torture. Listen on SoundCloud

I happened upon a really infectious beat I created a couple of years ago and, after an enjoyable session, pulled a catchy melody from the universe. As fate would have it, I decided to listen to The Doors for the heck of it, and realized what I had with this song is a Doors-influenced piece of classic rock with a twist of contemporary production. And so, On Fire was born. It was fun to channel a bit of Jim Morrison, walking the line between psychedelic and Sinatra in vocal and lyrical styling. Yep, looks pretentious to have typed that out loud.

My first song of 2019. It is written for my daughter, who is 20 and feeling angsty about being an adult.

Social Media Outrage Fable, "In-Fashion Passion" from Syntherference by Rod West. Released: 2018. Track 6. Genre: Rock.

In this episode of Rodcast, I finish up with my 2011 album, Deader Than Me. This features Waste My Heart and Wikileaks.org (which has cursing!).

In this penultimate liner notes episode for my 2011 album, Deader Than Me, I feature "Other Half" and "Spirals." Both thematic, "Other Half" pontificates about those cropped Facebook photos with disembodied arms; and "Spirals" is a mantra about relaxing into the imperfection of life.

Deader Than Me liner notes #3, featuring Little Bit Xtra and Mama I Can Do It.

After many posts on my wordpress.com site, I'm still not sure where this text ultimately goes. It *seems* important to put stuff here, like touting the awesomeness of Rodcast Episode 13. I just don't KNOW.

My former studio was in tip-top shape, and this resulting album is an excellent representation of my art's character.

In this episode of Rodcast—the final in the liner notes series for my 2015 album Badass Plaid—I get all philosophical and stuff.

This episode features my first guest, my mom. This features three songs that she requested, filtered through my musical idiosyncrasies (including a duet with her on the song, “Please Don’t Bury Me,” by John Prine). Listen on SoundCloud:

The second in my Badass Plaid liner notes series, featuring #ifeireuto, Mitchell Effect, and Being In the Honour of Kevin Barnes. Listen on SoundCloud: