Justin Lassen: In the Mind of the Darkly Inclined

THE LAST BLOG: JUSTIN LASSEN LIVEJOURNAL RIP 09.09.09

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:54:17 GMT

While our adventures here on LiveJournal* have come to an end and these chapters must be closed, our adventures shall continue elsewhere…

<< JL on LJ >>

09.09.05 - 09.09.09

Turn to this page in your book, and the dark glass will shine….
WWW.JUSTINLASSEN.COM

*entries on this LiveJournal will all evaporate soon. thank you for reading my blog all these years.

Justin reviews Sonic Fire Pro/5Alarm in Studio Magazine (September 2009)

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:18:39 GMT

Justin Lassen reviews Sonic Fire Pro 5’s 5Alarm Library in Studio Magazine (September 2009):

As you probably know, right now the magazine industry is in constant suicide mode, and they are all eating each other for lunch, and editors of different zines are being thrown around or losing work or having to make all kinds of changes and cuts just to stay afloat.

The trade magazine industry is probably the worst hit. I have been writing for Studio Magazine since August 2007, and I watched it go from being a print magazine, to a pdf magazine, to an online blog format. Here you can see my latest review is in “online blog” format. Enjoy! :)

Note: I was just informed that I won’t be writing for Remix Magazine anymore, because they went from being print magazine to being an online magazine, to being a blog, and now they are being eaten up by Electronic Musician Magazine, so… goodbye Remix. We will miss you… Cie la vie! :)

http://www.studiodaily.com/studiomonthly/reviews/11252.html

The article was also sent out on a e-mail newsletter called StudioDaily fix:

September 10, 2009
ROI Review: 5 Alarm Music’s Needledrop Package
for SmartSound Sonicfire Pro 5
SmartSound's Sonicfire Pro software lets producers and film editors quickly find a song or music in a broad range of styles and customize how it plays throughout a film or video project. A new option for Sonicfire Pro 5 is the Scoring Edition, which helps you score a project that's already edited. But if you're after even finer control and lusher scores, there's yet another option: a needledrop bundle that gives you access, for a licensing fee, to seriously sweet production music .... more.

Justin Lassen interviewed in 2DArtist Magazine (September 2009)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 17:36:09 GMT

Hello everyone, I want to share with you all that I’ve been featured and interviewed in a beautifully gorgeous 10-page article in September’s 2DArtist Magazine! This is a huge honor for me, so thank you all for everything in this regard. Here is the text from 2DArtist’s website! You can go check out the magazine at their website and download a gorgeous copy of the magazine, which also features tons of amazing art, tutorials and fun stuff for artists. :) Enjoy!

“On top of this we also have an exclusive for 2DArtist: an artist-on-artist interview by Nykolai Aleksander who puts the one and only Justin Lassen under the spotlight to find out about his life and plans following his work on the Synaesthesia projects (p.26). This is a beautiful interview featuring work by greats such as Alex Ruiz and John Wallin Liberto, accompanying the soulful responses from CG community legend, Justin Lassen.”
– 2DArtist Magazine, September 2009

Download “Lite” Version of 2DArtist Magazine! (PDF)

Justin Lassen on LiveJournal (944 photos in 4 minutes)

Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:46:17 GMT

Justin Lassen on LiveJournal (2005-2009) from Justin Lassen on Vimeo.

There were over 35,000 photos I took in the past 4 years,but, it would have been impossible to squeeze them into this really cool song by “Stars”. I picked 944 of them, probably not all the best ones, and definitely a few funny and weird ones too, but just wanted to say this blog has been a really big part of my life, and I hope to do it again sometime.

Thank you all. P.S. I tried to upload this to YouTube, but those fools denied it 4 times in a row! So I chose Vimeo instead…

09.09.05 - 09.09.09

R.I.P.

Random Justin Lassen plugs, Innovative stop-mo, Moses Avalon’s Newsletter

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:06:01 GMT

Innovative Stop Motion Animated Machinima, Created From Thousands of Second Life Screenshots

"...AM Radio just messaged me excitedly about this new machinima by ColeMarie Soleil, and when the acclaimed metaverse artist is enthused, I pay attention. And watch:

"It's not really a machinima though," Ms. Soleil corrects me, because what you're watching is stop-motion animation. "Those are all still images," she explains. "Take frame-by-frame pictures in SL and then organize them in order in Adobe Premiere." To create this two minute test, she put 2300 images through that process.

The aesthetic result? I'll let Mr. Radio himself do the heavy lifting here:

"I believe it to be one of the most important art works to come out of the Second Life machinima scene," he says, comparing it favorably to animations of the Brother's Quay, and Russan animators..." - From the article

“I would like to also add that the music was composed by Justin Lassen and used with permission. You can find the album free for download here: http://www.empireofmodernthought.com/main.htm”

Congratulations Cole!

Justin Mentioned in Moses Avalon's Newsletter 9/8/2009:

I was featured in Moses Avalon's online newsletter, which goes out to 15,000+ people, world-wide according to the site. Thanks Moses! I saved an image of the snippet in the newsletter from my mail program.

The link/entry his newsletter speaks about can be found here and a picture of me and the book (I'm on page 1):
http://justinlassen.livejournal.com/94612.html

Lots of composing, and prep for the future!

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:35:15 GMT

Moving ahead…

The transition is almost here. I am feeling kind of surreal lately about this closure to the blog series. It’s going to be interesting to adapt and see how I go forward. I’m not sure, I really just am unsure right now about the best way to take advantage of the current technology out there and what to do. I want to do something new… I’m actually drawing closure on a bunch of things in my life right now. This is a pretty sweet time, of uncertainty.

Inspirational bursts of creativity…

Lots of composition in orchestral, rockestral and classical stuff. Scoring etc. I’ve been working on a ton of new concepts, some of what are called “Prodigy’s of Flight”, “Tricks Are For Kids”, “The Old King's Were Glim” and “Of Light & Trust”. I would love to share some of these with you. I’ve been using the Sonar V-Studio 100 a lot lately too. Once it arrived I just couldn’t keep my hands off it. :) It’s so convenient. :) Also, the exciting things coming out this fall for all of you up-and-coming composers and musicians is just amazing. In an interview with Academy of Art University in SF, I mentioned a few of them, but ones I’m excited about are Sonar 8.5’s Update, which just has a TON of new stuff built into it. FL STUDIO 9 (comes out 09.09.09, seems a lot of companies and studios are making use of that date.) “Record” from Propellerheads Software, “Studio One” from Presonus, and on and on. I just finished up some presets for a new audio plug-in also coming out soon, that I'm excited to share! :) The world of audio technology, no matter who the developer is, just keeps getting better and better and better. It’s always humbling, every time new stuff comes out, and you get to try it out first. :) Audio tech, is inspiring.. You’ve no idea what lies ahead of you, until it hits you in the face…

Interviews, articles, offers, etc.…

I’ve been doing a lot of phone and net interviews with different magazines, companies, blogs and schools lately, and you’ll see these all drop in the next few weeks on a bunch of different mediums… Thanks to everyone for these! 2009 has been one of the best years for this kind of stuff, ever. for me. :) Below has been my summer mini-workspace.. I’ll be saying goodbye to this soon enough…

Sexy distractions and inspirations…

I’ve been enjoying LIGHTS all summer, but today they announced the CD release/premiere on Myspace. :) I love the new remixes. *grin*. :)

I’ve been enjoying watching Imogene Heaps online video-log (vlog) series, 40-episodes of how she made her last album, which is amazing.

JL featured at TheSixtyOne.com! (September 2009)

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 17:32:38 GMT

Justin Lassen featured at TheSixtyOne.com!

I got an e-mail from TheSixtyOne.com saying I was finally featured up on the front page for my song “In My Little Box” from my 2003 Symphony “And Now We See But Through A Glass Darkly”. What a cool honor! I joined that site, not thinking anything about it, but it has turned into a nice community of fans and listeners. (September 5th)

Dear Justin Lassen,

Your song "In My Little Box" by "Justin Lassen" has hit the homepage of thesixtyone.com! You can visit the new tab at http://www.thesixtyone.com/new/ to see your posted song.

Sincerely,
thesixtyone team
http://www.thesixtyone.com/justinlassen

Off I Go, To A Wonderful Land of Snow

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:57:17 GMT

Goodbye LiveJournal Blog Update

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:15:21 GMT

More back-up updates…

I just backed up 2 of my other server accounts, and deleted those (purged them from existance) and cancelled those servers. I also did a full back-up of all my computers in the last couple of days. I’m looking into options for the future…

Fan, Friend and Listener Responses…

Hey thanks for aaallllllllllllllll the responses on my last post. Wow! :) I never imagined! :) amazing. I promise you, ending this blog is actually a good thing. It’s been 4 years. It was a great experiment while it lasted, but I promise better work can appear if I disappear from here in this format. I’m really really looking into options of how i’d like to continue, and in what way. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do and think about for now. You don’t know the insanity… I will of course keep a private journal, off-line to document for my own self though… for my bad memory. :)

If you have good ideas of what the next incarnation should be, feel free to write me and let me know. :) Thanks…

The Great JL/LJ Purge Coming Soon, This BLOG is 4 Years OLD! :)

Wed, 02 Sep 2009 04:21:01 GMT

Get the entries while you can!! justinlassen.livejournal.com has been archived and will be deleted soon!

I will be deleting all of my blog entries from the past 4 years. I started this new public blog on September 9th, 2006. I had a different LiveJournal account that was mostly set to friends only mode and mostly private mode before that, from 2000-2006. That journal is also fully backed up as well. I spent the last few nights cleaning up all of my servers, sites, social sites, and just general archival of everything, from photos to entries, to whatever.

I backed up all the entries in raw format from the LiveWriter files onto an external drive, and also to PDF files, thanks to a great website called www.ljbook.com, which allows you to take your WordPress or LiveJouranl blogs and convert them all to PDF files that order your entries by month and date. Really cool. So I backed up 2006,2007, 2008 and 2009 into this format. So lots of redundancy and back-up action going on.

Why? Why are you deleting everything?

Well. I’m going to be starting a new blog soon, with a different format, and a different style all together. A different narrative as well. September 9th, 2009, will mark, 4 years of having a LIVE blog for all the world to see (and a LOT of people saw my adventures unfold!). After the 9th, I will be purging/deleting my entries from this account. If there was any particular stories or entries you liked over the years, now is the time to go back and get your photos or whatever you think you need from my livejournal. It’s been a lot of fun to share the last 4 years of my life publically with you all, but now, a lot of things are changing. Things are getting more hectic, and lifestyle will be much different in the coming months ..

I won’t leave you all hanging, and I’ll explain exactly how to follow along as my adventure continues, in the coming years. This has been one of the coolest experiences I’ve had in my life. The blog wasn’t just good for my fans and listeners, but also for me, as I sometimes go back and think “wow, i did that?”, as I forget quite often the things I've done, accomplishments I’ve met, and all that cool stuff…

Let’s recap… and share, shall we?

What were some of your favorite memories over the past 4 years? Was it the travel adventures around the world? Was it the fun remix projects, game soundtracks, scores, celebrities, friends, tradeshows, gossip, random stories, rants, ramblings, raves? Let me know. I’d love to hear what you all liked and didn’t like about the blog over the last 4 years!

I’ll post a few more times before the cut-off date for the purge. September 9th, 2009. Thank you all again, for everything, and, I’ll be back, just in a different format, possibly a new place all together. This blog will re-direct you to the new home when that happens (and justinlassen.com will also be re-directed, so my official site is still that.). Cheers and warmth everyone!

Justin featured in “Music To Die For” Book from Cherry Red goth author Mick Mercer!

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 00:28:07 GMT

“Since Mick Mercer’s acclaimed last book 21st Century Goth was published in 2002, the MySpace internet phenomenon has helped fuel a worldwide explosion of related music. But as well as adding countries to the musical map, the post-Goth scene has resulted in a bewildering variety of musical sub-genres. This fully illustrated book is aimed to be the ultimate resource to make sense of the chaos, covering the fields of ambient, cabaret noir, deathrock, goth, gothic metal, horror punk, melodramatic song, post-punk, and psychobilly. Packed with discographical information, web addresses, line-ups, and often contributions from the bands themselves, this is the first edition of a book that will be turned to again and again and will undoubtedly appear in new editions as the years pass.” – Music To Die For, Cherry Red Books (2009)

About the Author
”Mick Mercer is the authority on all things goth and post-goth. His previous books, most notably Gothic Rock and Hex Files: The Goth Bible, have been acclaimed for his combination of encyclopedic knowledge and opinionated writing style.”

What a sweet honor to be included in this book by Mick! It has all my favorite industrial and Goth bands, so it’s a double honor to share the pages with such amazing artists around the world! Thanks Mick!!!

I previously mentioned the book in this Journal entry earlier this year (as I didn’t have a hard copy of it yet.). For those of you who don’t know. DDH (Digital Dirt Heads) is my industrial band project where I created what felt like a new genre, back in the late 90’s, and to this day, i’ve not heard anything quite like it…. You can hear older demos here. DDH stopped being very active in 2004… but it was also featured in Clive Barker’s Midnight Meat Train official soundtrack last year (i wonder why?)! :) I haven’t drawn much attention to the project over the years, due to other aspects of my career taking off, however, It is nice to know that the legacy is realized and appreciated to this day as some “music to die for.”. :) Cheers everyone!

Long Live My Pal KillAllArtists! :) He designed Zeromancer’s website!

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:32:54 GMT

I’ve been listening to Zeromancer for a long while, now, so imagine my surprise when I saw the KillAllArtists logo at the bottom of their brand new website that supports their new album “Sinners International”. (fantastic album.) My LIttle Tragedy is my favorite. :) I’m sooo proud of Danone!!

I’ve got a long very wonderful, glorious history with D.Rolli, the designer and mastermind behind KillAllArtists. I even bought his first shirt, from his personal clothing line. :) I wear it a lot on the blog pics. :)

D.Rolli has been responsible for a lot of my photoshoot work (here is some of the cool work he’s done for me of many other countless amazing things we’ve done together.), and there's just been an incredible and inspiring friendship that emerged from both of our loves of all things dark and inspired.

His images have graced the covers of magazines that have featured me, and to this day his visual style is very important to me, and his work ethic is even more inspiring. He’s got any amazing story to share with the world, and every single moment that I hear some new news from him, or see what he’s been working on, I get immediately all warm and thankful and goosebumps. I think he is one of digital arts most hidden treasures. The fact that he’s now doing clothing lines, merchandise design, website design, logo design for all kinds of bands around the world, is amazing to see. I remember around the time he started and I just wanted to take a moment on my blog to show my appreciation again and share some of my older posts. :) You’ve seen his work before, you just don’t know it. :)

KillAllArtists & Forbidden Whispers Magazine! – April 26th, 2009

Justin's Metamorphosis Soundtrack Released Free! – May 11th, 2008 (score to D.Rolli’s short film.)

Meet The Man Behind Mister Lassen's Cool Artwork! – May 12th, 2008

the “Justin Lassen” wings logo. :)

Looking forward to another set of bombastic years together for him to get more work like that… Love you man. :)

Birthday Party Pictures / Desserts! :)

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 08:02:19 GMT

The brownie thingies, were made for me for my birthday from my sister. RICH. :) Look how dark they made me feel. :) All sinister… just kidding. :)

Before!

After!

During…

Mutilated!

My sister and her husband came over to create some pretty delicious fajitas. :) The Shrimp ones were my favorite! :)

Birthday Responses and Birthday Dinner/Dessert!

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 10:38:26 GMT

I woke up today. went to catch up on my bank business and paid some bills and stuff like that...

then saw a flood of e-mails, fan mails, social network posts, text messages, etc. on all the JL sites, and well.. wow. Thank you all. I’ve actually never gotten this much response on my birthday in ages!!!!

So many of you warmly thought my birthday post was cool, open, brave, all kinds of stuff. Some of you wanted to hook up with me, some of you just wanted me to be your cuddle toy, some of you thought I was adorable and wanted to fix me, some of you related with me completely, some of you said i helped you realize you were not alone, some of you think it’s rad that I say rad, some of you think it’s cool that I’m not afraid to talk openly about my feelings on my blog…. why should I?, it’s my blog! :) and a lot of you just wanted to plain wish me a happy birthday! I thank you all!!! :) Honestly when I think I've been forgotten, you are all there to remind me, otherwise…

You are seeing the preparations of what I asked for on my birthday. My parents made home-made egg rolls, which I just love. :) They also made home-made ice-cream cake. we went to the store and a tiny small ice-cream cake was like 30-50 bucks depending on the shape you get. So they decided to get the materials and create it themselves. I smooshed up the oreos. :)

We haven’t actually lit the cake or ate it, or sang the song or anything, in fact I think we’ll do that tomorrow, as we want the cake to freeze up and be nice and frozen before we cut slices out of it.

It kind of looks like a mountain of globs. :) but I imagine it’s gonna taste great, once it’s all frozen! :) Look at my cool black shirt in the pictures… That’s from my good friend and genius artists Danone Rolli, whom, btw. coincidentally, did ZEROMANCERS new website! Hell yeah!! I had no idea he was hooked up with that band, and that is just wicked fucking cool! :) Zeromancer is my new favorite band lately. “Sinners International” is a great CD, I recommend everyone to buy! :)

Here is some more adorable shots for all your girls out there who sent me AMAZING messages (too nice of you all!). :) That one with the background, is Phoenix, AZ, city lights, we went and hiked up a mountain to look at stars. :)

Looks like someone put dirt all over a giant snow cone. :)

A card I found waiting for me when I got home from the night time scorpion hike. And that’s me and Jack. :) Thanks again everyone for making me have a cool birthday and for all of you who wrote me a message, I will write you all back. :)

Happy Birthday to me & Who will drive my soul…

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:46:21 GMT

The Portrait of a 28 year old.

“Who will drive my soul?” - Lights

Yes. As you can see I'm not quite happy with this particular birthday. I think I stopped being happy about birthdays after 19 though. :) This body has been through a lot. This life has experienced too much at times…

I woke up really early today. Last night I treated myself to some pizza and fell asleep listening to In Flames – The Soundtrack to Your Escape, and I sort of was dreading this day all week, but you can’t press pause and it arrives faster than you’d hope, just like any project deadline, like clockwork.

I look back on my life in reflection at the 28-mark, and have two schools of thought… there is the pompous and useless “wow, look at all you’ve done, you’ve accomplishes more than most people in and around your age group could dream of”, and self-deprecation on the other hand “you haven’t achieved anything Justin. You could have done so much more, why did you throw it all away?” Do you ever have these internal fights with yourself? How do you find balance? Maybe it is the Virgo inside me.?

“From the nightmare we've created, I want to be awakened somehow.” – Within Temptation

Looking back into the past too far, can be a dangerous thing, just as dangerous as looking too far into the future. It’s pretty common to want to do both of those and think of all the the things that could have been. I think of all the people who have come in and out of my life while I was living this life. Nobody is perfect and I try to be a good example to myself, and keep my self respect and integrity. I think about all my mistakes, all my triumphs, all the risks I've taken, all the adventures, all the travel. I try to quantify it, and understand it. I try to find a purpose for it. I’m not sure if I'll find a conclusion to that anytime soon.

“Collapsing like houses of cards, and landing on splinters and glass” - Zeromancer

This is simply yet another milestone. I get kind of lethargic and sad on these kinds of holidays. I’m not sure why. I think it’s because I haven’t found my happiness. Am I happy? Not really. There are short bursts of happiness, but nothing that is sustained very long. I don’t do drugs, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, I don’t self-medicate in any way like that, maybe that’s what I'm missing out on? :) j/k. I face all the emotions head on, writing everything down, archiving the feelings, with music, photos, videos and anything else. I’ve been keeping a separate journal called “Surviving…” all year long, each entry is like 4 essay’s long, and they are to document everything, so I can look back to it for a book/story idea later.

Or, rather, I actually found pure bliss, and lost it just as fast. You would never believe it if you heard the full story, but I lived a real-life surreal-fairytale complete with all the bells and castles you would imagine would be in a fairytale, and watched it crumble right before my eyes like a house of cards that was never meant to be. This has been a very trying year for me in particular. A very trying-to-heal-year, trying to re-adapt to normal life. I’m still right smack in the middle of it all the mess. So many memories go through me, at light speed. I visit places or see photos that trigger memories, or slow down my heart to a crawl.

"can you forgive me for trying again, your silence makes me hold my breath" - Within Temptation

I’m not really that great with words or writing in the end and I adore other artists and their lyrics and poems. The only way I can express myself is musically. The music is my words most of the time, but most look past this and don’t realize it. Releasing tracks like “The Fall of Prince Darkly” are just as much a blog entry as any words could ever be…

“You never see me beg, For another shot, And you never see me change, Into something I'm not, Famous last words” - Zeromancer

Honestly, to end in a positive note… I really can sense a real true feeling of change coming upon me, nothing crazy, just little things that can add up to something better… I have theories. I need to work harder, be a better person, not only to the world, but to myself as well. Not only for career, but for personal as well. I need to be more present, less melancholic and escapist. I need to relax, trust more and get this show on the road. :) I need to refocus and double my efforts as I go forward, so as to take advantage of every moment of time that I can. There is a sense of impending doom looming, so I must fight it off, by not taking life for granted.I need to be less lazy, I need to work better, more efficiently, and so much more… I need a personal revolution. I think I'm at the verge of one such event.

“running, all around, all around, all kinds of beautiful” – Dan Wilson

Here goes the rest of my life… ready, set… Thank you to all the the amazing artists and songwriters out there in the world whom have helped me along the way, especially through this difficult part. Thank you to all the sponsors, societies, ensembles, companies, listeners, labels, fans, press, artists, programmers, directors, musicians and people who have believed in me and supported me all this time. I’m not sure where I would be without you all by my side rooting me on. Honestly. I’d probably be tucked away in some back room of some building you’ve never heard of , hammering out on a Casio keyboard or something, recording into a tape player, not being able to show any of the music to the world. You made this career possible for me.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to move forward in a meaningful way. You all my my greatest respect and gratitude. And to those of you whom will give me beautiful opportunities in the future, I solute you. :)

In closing I wanted to leave a passage from my good friend and amazing artist, Jerry Rees (creator of things such as Brave Little Toaster (which I watched again today), as well as Imagineering at Disney. He wrote this heartfelt passage after he heard The Fall of Prince Darkly (concept). You should also check out Jerry’s tribute to Radiohead’s “All I need”, which can sum up my whole post.

"At times I feel swept up in the spiritual tides of a cathedral pipe organ. At other times enchanted by the carnival impishness of an antique band organ. But it's all dressed up in something more magical than either of these hints. I can close my eyes and see the bright sparkle of dew drops in Nyko's dark garden. I can imagine the story of Prince Darkly unfolding with beauty, danger, vulnerability and amusement. When the music stumbles just before the 5 minute mark, I feel the hand of a storyteller at work. Does the Prince falter? Does he realize a flaw? Does he experience a loss? The redemption that comes through just as you reach 6 minutes wells up with such heart and strength! I keep replaying the passage from 5:58 through 6:18 over and over. There is such a feeling of humanity - of longing realized - of realignment and rightness. And the sound you achieve here feels like a music box has grown up to take the place of an entire orchestra! It's fairytale music my friend! Magical modulation! Gorgeous!" - Jerry Rees

Thanks Jerry! oh yes, and thank you all who’ve left me wonderful birthday wishes on all the social websites, myspace, facebook, etc. I thank you all. :)

Flashback: Spring 2009 / Jamming on some keyboards

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:34:02 GMT

Shots from video courteousy of Naomi Mercer. The keyboards are Alesis A6 and Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 2008. The Dave Smith one was my favorite out of the two. :)

That’s What You Get

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:43:30 GMT

When you fall in love.

Final Arizona Sun Rays…

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 10:04:48 GMT

We are heading into a new section of the year, atleast, I am. I thought that this picture of the sun summed up how I feel lately. Wonder what’s next…

The Fall of Prince Darkly™ Concept Music & Art Released!

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 08:34:40 GMT

What is The Fall of Prince Darkly?

A few months ago I composed this conceptual score called “The Fall of Prince Darkly” with my brand new core i7 system. I threw it into a scraps folder. Only last night did I find it again, and it wasn’t as scrappy as I thought at first. It’s quite abstract in some places, and conceptual in nature, but it does tell a fantastically sad tale worth a listen if you have a few minutes. You can listen to it at Myspace.com and TheSixtyOne.com respectively! :) The story is a fairy tale I've been writing for quite some time, that I think could be a pretty spectacular novel… :)

I had only shown it to a few close friends, but was urged to share it with the world, and so here it is, enjoy. :)

The beautiful image is by Nykolai Aleksander! She heard it, and it almost instantly created this beautiful scene in her head, this is merely a concept image, much like the musical concept, but together they are quite wonderful to listen to and see. Interestingly enough she had the same vision for the garden as I did when creating the music, which I find to be a fascinating artistic collaboration. Many respects to Nyko for everything she’s done for me over the years. :)

Justin in Moses Avalon’s Confessions of a Record Producer (10th Anniv. Edition) Book!

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:27:43 GMT

What is Confession’s of a Record Producer to me?

It was the first serious music business book I ever read almost 10 years ago, and I found out about it while working at Guitar Center back in the day… I just recently ordered the 10th anniversary of it because I found out I'm on the very first page in the book! :) Page 1. :)

It became sort of a bible for me over the years and gave me the in depth understanding I needed on contracts, budgets, labels and other advices.

I am in indie artist today but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t on the bus having the same fame-tasting and wine-and-dining that bigger artists have experienced. As it mentions in the book, I was offered it all in a big way; 3 times by major labels. At the time, I respectfully held out, because something didn’t feel quite right about the boilerplate in front of me and I needed my creative control. Creativity is the one thing that I need to hold onto in the end, it is what defines me as an artist.

I was subsequently interviewed in a Billboard Press book “I Don’t Need A Record Deal!” by Daylle Deanna Schwartz which is also an excellent music business and indie business book packed with great stories and advice for the indie musician.

Both Daylle and Moses were very kind to add me to their amazing books, and to this day I thank both of them so very much for it. It is truely an honor! :)

What is Confession’s of a Record Producer: Surviving the Scams and Shams of the Music Business to the world?

Review taken from flipkart.com:

It started out as rage against self-serving "insider" books by executives. Not until Moses Avalon wrote from the viewpoint of those on the creative side did we finally get a fair and balanced view of how the music business really works. It's been 10 years since Confessions of a Record Producer published real-life numbers showing what artists made on so-called "hit records" and how producers, labels, managers, and even the artists' own lawyers conspire to cheat them out of royalties. Since then, Confessions has made it onto the required reading list in nearly all major music business programs around the world, including NYU, UCLA, USC, Full Sail, and prestigious law schools like Loyola. It's stayed in the top 10% of all books distributed by Amazon and won testimonials from top industry pros confirming that it's the only publication that tells the real story of how artists get ripped off and how they can protect their assets. Now, in a special 10th Anniversary Edition, author Moses Avalon, one of the industry's most sought-after consultants and artist's rights gurus, has put even more teeth-wrenching reality at the reader's fingertips. The anniversary edition has updates on all of the old shames and many new ones created by the internet and the ongoing transformation of the music industry. Highlights: * The only published critical analysis of the performing rights industry * Detailed numbers on how new royalties from digital downloads are calculated, collected, and manipulated * The changing team. Once considered to be the immortal trio, manager/lawyer/producer has now become webmaster/aggregator/viral marketer. Who to tool up with, and who is just a tool, are revealed * Deep inside thenew so-called "360 Deals" offered by the major labels. Are they a desperate attempt to stay alive or can artists finally get paid? * Are CDs really dead or is it an RIAA manipulation? How long can we expect the industry standard to stay relevant? * Plus a DVD-ROM containing private lessons from Moses Avalon's world-famous Confessions of a Record Producer Workshop a hot ticket every year for top music lawyers, managers, producers, artists, and songwriters. Groundbreaking charts and graphs show industry consolidation, who owns what, and where the future of the music business is headed.

Pictures of the book and Page 1!! :)

You NEED this book. Go get it, and step out of the looking glass for but a moment… :)

State-of-the-Justin-Address and Madly wearing all the Hats!

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 08:15:25 GMT

So what’s going on with me lately?

My time to reflect on the year (so far). It’s been kind of a year full of insanity for me. Every once and a while it’s nice to take a breather, from photo entries and just spill some rambling. What a year… and not just because of all the flights, trips, meetings, business, etc. But also because of tons of little personal things, and a lot of big personal changes and stuff. Long story short, I'm still alive, no matter what has been thrown at me on this rollercoaster.

Feels like everyone wants a piece of me.

Yeah, it’s neat, it’s good and bad. On one hand, I'm very excited, with all the recent happenings, as my inbox is filled to the brim with messages from people I could only have dreamed of just a few months ago (more on this later), or random calls with sweet opportunities (wish I could talk about it now.). Things just really seem to be happening for me. I’m honestly, shocked, surprised and humbled in the most intense kind of way. I had no idea.

On the other hand…

I’m finding it becoming more and more difficult to juggle everything all by myself and “wear all the hats”. It’s no wonder most “artists” have some sort of “entourage” to help them with each thing along the way. For the most part I still do it all myself, from start to finish, from the technical, the creative, the business, communication, etc. All the various hats I must wear. Recently in an interview video, Carl Jacobson from Cakewalk called me “a Renaissance man”, amongst other very kind comments. My friend Michael saw that video and it inspired him to draw a picture of what it must feel like to be a renaissance man (as you can see here, this fellow is trying to juggle and hold up all the hats at once. quite difficult!.)

Taking a break and working hard at the same time?

Yeah, believe it or not. I’ve been trying to juggle “taking a break” and “finishing my projects” both at the same time. It seems almost impossible, but I must pace myself, through short bursts of quickening and sprinkled with breaks just to stay sane while enjoying the opportunities and satisfying the clients. I’ve got a lot of remix projects to complete, some libraries to complete, some programming/designing jobs to complete, and a strict cue of deadlines right ahead of me. and Next week is my birthday which is just a calm before another giant batch of storms… for the fall…

Anyway…

Just wanted to fill everyone in on the current chaos, which doesn’t really scratch the surface of the epic intensity that is ahead of us all…

Oh yeah. I got this sweet new VS100 in the mail the other day. So far, so good. I’ll give another update on it soon! I’ve been having a blast with it! Easy to setup and use, now just to learn all the nuances. Earlier this year I had done a video about the VS700, but right now I only have the VS100, which I think is just as cool, in a more mobile kind of way. Would be cool if the VS100 also had a Roland keyboard built inside of it (which was my favorite feature in the other one), but it seems really damn capable of a lot. I even got it to work with other DAW’s just fine. :) Some exciting updates soon, I promise. :) Thanks for being patient and hanging in there with me all this time. :)

New Justin Lassen song “Winged” for new Oyagi Wii game!

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 19:10:08 GMT

The Story of “Winged”…

In July 2009, I was approached by Oyagi Games LLC captain and ringleader Luc Bernard to contribute a remix/variation to his Mecho Wars Wii Special Edition soundtrack. I had previously worked with Luc back from 2002-2004 on a slew of projects. It’s been a while. We discussed what I’d do, and his words of what he wanted from me “anything you want.” At the time I was just getting over something pretty personal (as is obvious when listening to it) and the words and melody just came to me after hearing the initial track.

Luc sent me an iTunes store code for a free copy of Mecho Wars as well as a beta copy that runs on my PC, which was pretty cool to play (still have it on my ipod touch)I listened to the score to the iPhone edition of the game created by Sean Beeson and a few other composers/remixers like Justin Wasack, and really fell in love with their “Winged” instrumental. I asked them for the master tracks and BPMs, got them promptly, added a bunch of my own stuff, wrote a melody for it and sang some vocals, added guitars, beats, loops, etc. and came up with “Winged (Version)” (2:50) that I’ve hosted up at Bandcamp.

I hope you enjoy listening to it, as much as I enjoyed singing/writing/playing for it. All three, Luc, Sean and Justin liked my version of the song very much. You should definitely check out their work on each of their own sites. Really inspired and talented people to work with. :) Working with Luc is interesting, he’s a man of few words, kind of awkward but very creative. Sometimes his chat’s make me laugh just a bit. So to quote Luc “It’s really good”. :)

Justin:    okay heres the link
Luc:    oki im going to smoke and then listen to it with my earphones i want to not focus on anything else while listening
Justin:    okay
Luc:    ill tell you when i start listening
Justin:    okay
Luc:    going to listen now several times
Justin:    cool! _
Luc:    its really good
Justin:    thanks Luc!

"We certainly could collab in the future too :)" - Sean Beeson

"Hopefully our artistic paths will cross again in the future" - Justin Wasack

Winged (Version)
By: Justin Lassen

did you ever see the light
did it open up your eyes
did you wanna be the one?

i don't know the way
you know what to say
say it proud and strong...

bring it back, what they say
bring her back, and they'll sing...
bring me back, everything
and bring back, you and me

i don't even care
i don't even care
i don't even care
what they say....
(what they say?)

you don't know me
i don't know you
does it matter now anyway..

past is already passed
she clipped my wings real fast
Not sure i'm gonna last . . . .

i don't want to be here (waiting for you)
i don't want to be here (waiting for you!)

I don't wanna be here when you change your mind (again)
I don't wanna be here when you're all said and done
I don't wanna be here when you change your mind (again)
I don't wanna be here when you're all said and done

In disguise...
In the skies...
In her eyes...
lies lies lies...

sing along...
bring it home...
mean it, hun...
i'm all alone...

I dont want to understand
Understand what I don't want?

credits
released 21 July 2009
Lyrics/Melody ©2009 Justin Lassen
Music/Remix © Sean Beeson/Justin Wasack
Covered and Performed by: Justin Lassen
Re-Remixed/Additional Production/Vocals/Melody: Justin Lassen
Inspired by Original Composition from: Sean Beeson
Original Remixed Version: Justin Wasack

Justin Lassen previewed in this months 2DArtist Magazine! (August 2009)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:36:41 GMT

If you subscribe to 2DArtist Magazine, you might notice that the “next month” preview section has the painting of me and talks about the interview I did for them, for the September issue! My friend Nyko (whom also did the interview, pointed this out to me!) Thanks 2DArtist and thanks Nyko for painting me! and thanks Paul for creating “The Chase”!!! :)

"'The Chase' by Paul Gerrard is just one of a collection of stunning images from artists all around the world, created as part of Justin Lassen's Synaesthesia project. We catch up with Justin in next month's issue with a special artist-on-artist interview by Nykolai Aleksander, so check back in with us in September to witness more fantastic images like this one, which inspired the haunting sounds of Justin Lassen." - 2DArtist Magazine, August 2009

BEYOND SYNAESTHESIA WITH JUSTIN LASSEN BY NYKOLAI ALEKSANDER! stay tuned…. :)

Welcome to Colorado, The Switzerland of America!

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:32:58 GMT

Took a bunch of these photos while on the trip. Here I am near a gorgeous look-out point. It’s no wonder they call it the “Switzerland of America”. It’s true! I’m eating chocolate ice cream (speaking of Switzerland!) :)

Leaving Arizona, there was a lot of this kind of scenery outside the windows in the heat. :)

A cool drop off… Looks so giant that it looks like a blue screen… stupid camera!

The campground at Molas lake was really nice. Lots of neat stuff to do there.

Another sweet drop off… again, you can’t really tell, can you? Don’t push me! :)

The left picture is a foggy morning when clouds were just in the camp site over the lake. and the other picture is over-looking Silverton, CO, the Victorian mining town. Small and quant..

Gorgeous! :)

Lots of cool random stuff like this on hikes, rides, walks and trips around the area. :)

A very steep drop off, so steep that it was scary to take this picture. If I fell backwards, that would have been the end. :)

I love nature, can’t you tell? :) j/k. Probably a headache that day.

Miniature train sets, or post cards? you decide.

Really high up, overlooking some nice scenes…

Check out the fog? it’s like we are IN THE CLOUDS! Glad I had my Euro-coat! :)

Check that out, that’s WATER turned to ICE, but it looks like it’s FLOODING WATER that’s ready to come crashing down on me…. it’s like time froze still for a moment, this was at the top of “Engineer Pass”. I wonder how long it’s been frozen like that?

Pretty! ;)

Colorado Adventure, Part 7: Off-roading!!!! Grrrrr!! and Brrrr!

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:31:06 GMT

We drove to Colorado, through Arizona in Jeeps. so naturally we off-roaded in Colorado, and this is the reason we have so many beautiful photographs from the trip, and from so high up. No way we’d climb mountains, without vehicles like this. it was hard to breath up in the mountains, we were up as high as 13k feet at times (from sea level), so I felt like a zombie sometimes when breathing…

Cool under-mountain passes. cold! :)

It’s so tough to see with photos because of the lack of depth, but looking out the windows of the car, sometimes you felt like you would fall 20,000 feet a painful death.

Again, you can’t really tell, but this is INCREDIBLY steep and high! so high that the clouds were touching us. :) It’s really insane, I want to get a camera one day that can truely show you the depth. a lot of the shots end up looking like boring Post Cards, because of the lens… where is Hal when you need one? :)

Luckily we had this neat GPS thing in the Jeep. and here I am at the top of “Engineer Pass” at 12,800ft!!

I thought it was interesting that this kind of tundra stuff only happens in arctic regions or high mountains. No walking or riding on it. fair enough. Also here I am at the top of Stony Pass at 12,650 ft!!! I had a headache that day!