I've been writing my own songs for a while now, since at least the late 1970's.

I do it because, I like writing pop tunes. Even while playing to mosh pits, I wanted to make music that was catchy enough to maybe whistle after you left the show.

I purchased a battery-powered Fostex X-15 portable 4-track recorder in '85 and have enjoyed writing tunes ever since. It freed me up to write the kind of guitar parts I was capable of (read: not complex), and liked hearing.

Around 1986, I once told a woman I worked with at an advertising firm that I played guitar, and she asked to hear a tape - I guess she expected Andre Segovia or something, but I put on Rockabilly Roadtrip and she just started laughing - I guess she didn't expect something as twangy and in your face.

Anyway, on the sketches I've always played mostly all the instruments, except in a few instances.

Lately I've been playing with Propellerheads Reason, which is an exceptionally cool virtual studio. The Reason pieces are not played, but written and then processed... my objective is to continue creating pop tunes that could be played live by a band.

1980's rehash
(Martotardo Music)

Recorded home studio, 1985-1996

Notes:

This is sort of a "best of" the 50-odd songs I recorded over that period, remixed for Compact Disc.

John Manhardt plays bass on lovebaby, and Susan Laracy sings on longlegged-guitarpickinman.

Other instruments include, electric and acoustic guitar, bass, Mattel Synsonics drum pad, Roland TR-909 Drum machine, Yamaha VSS-100 keyboard, kalimba, mandolin, paint cans, etc.

Original DBX mixes
(Martotardo Music)

Recorded home studio, 1985-1989

Notes:

These are songs I like that didn't make the cut for the above CD, so they are not remixed or cleaned-up in any way.

John Manhardt plays bass on neighborhood, which later became a TAD song.

Interestingly enough, of the above 22 songs, only a certain way, neighborhood, and cute little dogs ever made it into the TAD set list.

New Sketches
(Martotardo Music)

Recorded home studio, 2003-04

Notes:

Ok - so as you've figured out by now, I give my songs some dumb-ass names... that's alright: it entertains me!

These songs are really experiments with Reason, but I like them enough to post.

The songs / recordings on this page are copyrighted.

These recordings / songs / files may be linked or downloaded for personal use, but may not be used for commercial purposes without permission.

Please contact kenkramar@kenkramar.com
for further information.