Hi everyone! I hope this finds everyone safe and reasonably happy in these… well, TIMES I guess. (I don’t really feel like 2020 deserves a better description.) I admit to having been slightly MIA, but it’s not because I haven’t been doing anything. (Well, I tend to slack off on Thursday nights… but you know what I mean.)

Firstly, you may have noticed the site going through some growing pains. There is NOTHING interesting about listening to someone complain about migrating their WordPress site to another hosting package, so suffice it to say: some things may be a bit squirrelly (WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW THAT WORD, AUTOCORRECT!) for a bit.

Nextly, I know I mentioned I’M GOING TO BE ON VINYL with the release of the Vexx soundtrack, but come on… look at that artwork!

(NB: I don’t see any money from the sale of this album… Respawned just seems like a really cool idea, and if you’re inclined to like this sort of stuff please check them out.)

Completely coincidentally, I have just “dropped” a new installment of the Vexx Remixxed YouTube series. I know, I know, way too much time between episodes, but if I don’t play Princess Space Ranger for an hour a day with my 3yo daughter she goes into hiding. With my wife and I both working from home and the kid running around needing “educational stimulation” and “nutritional food on a regular basis” and “to not run around the house looking like a filthy Hobbit” it’s been hard finding balance, but I think we’re coming to an equilibrium. (Hint: it involves me not sleeping.)

This is one of the tracks that I think of when I reminisce about this project… sitting out on the porch in a rocking chair with a pipe and a twinkle in my eye. I think the violinist (Paul Patterson) was the first musician to come in and record solo parts, and before he got there I had no idea if the concept would work… but as soon as he started playing, I knew it was going to be a lot of fun! I’ve enjoyed getting to catch up with him and discuss some potential collaborations going forward.

Some more stuff: I’ve got some new game projects to announce soon! KingsIsle has just announced the new world in Wizard101, and a track I’ve written for it has ALREADY shown up on YouTube. One of the reasons I love writing for this game is getting to flex some different styles… and this assignment was truly a left turn from where we left off. As soon as it goes live I’ll do a video talking about the composition of the track because, I mean, how often to you get to play tuned cowbells?

And on the subject of Wizard101: I’m like THIS CLOSE (holds fingers about 1-2 weeks apart) to announcing something that’s been taking up a lot of my time lately. It’s why the site needed to be updated, and why you might see some weird site features going through testing. Please check back in a week or two, watch Twitter for updates, and remember to ring the bell and SMASH THAT LIKE BUTTON!

Lastly, I’m getting kinda sentimental over some Pirate101 music, so I think those might be next up for the YouTube channel. Any more ideas on what tracks I should look at?

Remember: it’s not a lockdown as long as you can go outside!

-n