Derek's heavy-metal debut (video)

Paul Thurrott and Leo Laporte have used my tune "More Red Than Red" as theme music for their Windows Weekly podcast since 2006. But on their latest episode, they thought about maybe replacing it with the title track from the album "Enigma," by Microsoft's retired chief of Windows development (and longtime guitarist) Jim Allchin. So I tried to dissuade them:

IHR TV #5 - A Plea to Paul and Leo of Windows Weekly
from Inside Home Recording TV on Vimeo.

The "Turrican Van Halen" reference is part of the Windows Weekly show—it refers to the old Commodore 64/Atari/Amiga game "Turrican."

I made this available as Inside Home Recording TV Episode #5. You can also download it (H.264 video) or watch it at Viddler, Blip.tv, Facebook, YouTube, and Vimeo. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

In the Hollow (Stars Hollow theme)

A silly theme song I wrote for the Stars Hollow podcast, which was focused on the TV show Gilmore Girls. Go grab the MP3 file of "In the Hollow" (4.6 MB). Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

A Pizza Without Time

I think the title for "A Pizza Without Time" (5 MB MP3 file) came from an off-hand remark by my friend Richard Campbell on the Mondays podcast, but I created the tune for Lucian's Planet TV Show. The screechy intro and burbly synth sounds were inspired by the 1980s theme for Friday Night Videos. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Camp Walk

"Camp Walk" is a 2.5 MP3 file, and a short little tune used by Roland Tanglao as the soundtrack to a brief movie assembled from pictures taken during Moose Camp at Northern Voice 2006. I custom composed and recorded “Camp Walk” for the occasion. It is a hard-rockin', vaguely White Stripes-y instrumental that's a minute and a half long. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

More Red Than Red (Windows Weekly theme)

There are two recordings here, both based on the same source material: "More Red Than Red" (2:45 min) and "Less Red Than Red" (1:30 min). I wrote "Less Red" first, for a short web film that Roland was putting together (I don't know if he ever finished it). I made a longer mix of the same composition with some extra instrumentation (most notably piano), which became "More Red." Some time later Leo Laporte started using it as the theme for his Windows Weekly podcast with Paul Thurrott, which is where most people probably recognize it now. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Comcast Connection Blues

Chris Pirillo wrote some lyrics on December 7, 2005 as a blog post. Then he asked me to write a song around them. The result is perhaps the whitest possible white-boy blues, wherein two guys from the Pacific Northwest complain about an unreliable broadband Internet connection. It's "Comcast Connection Blues" (4.8 MB MP3 file), baby. You may download it and cry your broadband nights away. It features me actually singing for a change, and also includes what I must say is some surprisingly fine lead blues guitar, which I recorded using my Stratocaster in only a couple of takes. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give Chris and me me credit.

P and P

"P and P" (2.8 MB MP3 file) is a remix of "Pirilloponzi," a song I put together using sampled voices from Chris and Ponzi on the Chris Pirillo Show earlier in 2005. This version no longer has vocals, but it's the same guitar part I recorded before, with completely different background tracks, and speeded up to 140 beats per minute. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Washing Off Like an Aardvark (Planet TV theme)

"I'm washing off like an aardvark!" said my seven-year-old daughter a few days ago.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"I dunno. It just sounded silly."

"I like it," I said. "I should use it as the title for my next song" (3.8 MB MP3 file).

And so I have. It's a stompin', semi-Latin hard rock instrumental. Later on, it became the theme of Lucian's Planet TV Show podcast—so I made short, shorter, and shortest versions for him as well.

Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit.

Meltdown Man (as heard in "Paper or Plastic?")

"Meltdown Man" (3.8 MB MP3 file) is a rockabilly instrumental I created in the summer of 2005, and which was later licensed by the makers of the documentary film Paper or Plastic? I recorded it because I heard a rockabilly tune one day and wanted to see if I could create something similar, with a single electric guitar, bass, and drums. I think it worked out pretty well. Licensed for you to share and reuse, as long as you give me credit. This song is also available for you to buy on my album, Penmachine Sessions.