bert jerred

While you listen to my music, please visit my newest non-musical project: a documentary-in-progress about the ecosystems of Oswego County, where I live. Here’s the blurb:

Our objective is to make local wetlands visible to the world. We believe that generating visual interest in such ecosystems is conducive to greater environmental stewardship. Our photo libraries and digital videos are published here and elsewhere under creative commons licenses with the hope that they will serve as useful documentary raw materials for others.

http://oswego.wordpress.com/

How many of these songs were inspired by or written on Martha’s Vineyard? Hard to say. But most… Wrote all of “Under the Stars” and “Circuit” there on Samoset Avenue… Ever been there? Circuit ave.? Goodness it’s almost time to go back.

Thanks to my brother, who kept those old CDs - there are now several albums up that have never been available on Jamendo before. Enjoy!

“Living Breathing” was a project that I enjoyed listening to on the drive to work (when I needed to drum up enthusiasm); I used my brother’s guitar & am, one brother-in-law’s electric bass, and another brother-in-law’s drum machine (unprogrammed - just tapped by hand) along with some keyboards and a Tascam 4-track tape deck that Ben (the aforementioned brother) let me borrow. I think I made over 300 songs on that machine before it gave out. I just kept going, comforting myself with some notion of Elvis Costello plugging away at his debut record while the baby slept in the next room. Isn’t that what he said in an interview once?

“Innerworkings” was the wintery sequel, with many nods to Arc/Weld-era Neil Young business. There were many very dark beers consumed during the recording of these songs.

“Together” was an experimental thing - using weird sound samples and some short wave radio to begin to experiment with Jeffix-esque soundscapes. Should I be slapped for using the word “soundscapes”? Perhaps. Nonetheless, these albums were written and recorded about six years ago, so please keep that in mind. I didn’t know what I was doing. And projects like “Built-In” and “Kingdom Road” were just plain old experimental. They were the 2nd and 3rd ever ‘albums I’d ever made. Again, listen forgivingly.

Also: every single one of my albums - of which there are 45 currently available - is now available (or will be momentarily) in high-def at my Jamendo shop. Why not buy the whole collection?

And pay attention to the cover art - it’s not the original stuff, but it’s far better. All new/recent covers are cc-licensed materials from photographers on flickr, so please check out their portfolios, as it were…

More to come!

New cover art for some of my albums… Please follow links in the album descriptions to photographers’ web pages on flickr (and beyond). Thank you!

I somehow lost my own original copy of this video. Good gracious.

Twenty five copies - then we break the mold! To visit my shop and buy “Lazarus,” please go here. If there’s some other special thing that you would like me to sell in my humble store, please suggest away!