Ahmed Sirour

This track is called "Vitamin H" as reference to the boost in energy it seems to give me every time I listen to it! Granted, this is actually the instrumental part of a collaborative remix I did with an artist, under a different title, but I felt the title/lyrics of the vocal version didn't fit the energy and vibe of what the instrumental felt like if released on its own, so I chose to [re]introduce it under this title.

I hope those who hear it feel the energy and infectious vibes that will draw them out of their seats and off of the wall to get loose on the dancefloor!

0xaa17e4f791e778bb3632a68cd85c2c1b727a68af05e684f9f897439d7424a0fb

Different Rooms, One House

Vitamin H (IU2LU Rx)

This is the instrumental version of an Afrohouse track I call “Co.Co  Co.Co”. It's a riff in the song, by itself, but it actually stands for “COlonialism COrruption CObalt COngo”. Initially, the reason I even made this track was to explore more into the realm of Afrohouse and Afrobeats, which is burning up the charts around the world as a fast-growing, hugely popular genre of music coming out of the African continent. But then I felt I could add to it and talk about an issue that truly affects us all, since you wouldn't even be able to read this note or listen to this song on any of your various electronic devices without the horrific exploitation of the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo (a country located in the heart of the continent of Africa), because the world's largest supply of cobalt, which is crucial to any device requiring a rechargeable battery, comes directly out of the Congo. To be more specific, without the Congo's over 70% of the world's cobalt supply, even the rest of the world's countries with cobalt mines, combined, are not even close to enough to supply the world's high demand for it so that we can continue to have smartphones, laptops, tablets, power banks, electric vehicles, and ANY electronic device with a lithium-ion battery. The blood of the Congolese people is quite literally in every device that we own and their exploitation needs to end!

I felt I needed to do something through my art to help raise awareness, so I encourage you to go to my website and listen to the full vocal version of this song–which features soundbite quotes I used from interviews and documentaries with prominent activists who have been to the DRC–detailing the human rights atrocities they witnessed there: https://ahmedsirour.com/track/3888065/co-co-co-co-teaching-version.  Any sales I receive from the full vocal version on my website, I am donating 100% of the proceeds to a vetted charity (or charities) who directly support the victimized Congolese people in these cobalt mines, like https://FriendsofCongo.org, for example. 

For this instrumental version, which I had initially planned to press on Catalog, I will also donate partial proceeds I receive from whomever collects this record and/or Co-Signs it. While I made this version to dance to, I hope you also learn something from the full version and want to get involved to help stop conflict cobalt and hold all these tech companies accountable so that the people of Congo can reclaim and thrive from their own country's mineral wealth.

0x964d18b8b4fe1e51ab3c48750fc2afb8ed9bc1f6d24ae433e4523ccfcce8741f

Co.Co  Co.Co (instrumental version)

New release (as of 2.22.24) to celebrate my b'earthday but to also honor someone I'm connected to who is part of me, who survived unbelievable odds, ultimately on my behalf and others...a short love story across space & time.

0x8e8069b7e0b3d9949ee15e9adc2bea728efd0e0e9ca8d95c335a488dd573509b

Mary Eve

This is one of the secret bonus tracks that was part of The After 2am Sessions LP that I released in 2012, although I later released it as a single all on its own. The song is the House music dance version of the original that was part of the "Erotic" section of the album; a slow jam for sexy encounters, but I figured I would make something for the dancefloor that could fit the lounge bar vibe but still have some Soul in it–musicality, basically.

Oh, and I did the artwork as well (including photographing the model). Hope you enjoy the sensual, Deep House dance vibes, to either Cosign and/or add to your collections.

0xfbea5ad33862093fb7310c64093a10d82d2e1dff51d406a41b757ef700020e5e

Foreplaying (Sensual House remix)

My grandfather passed away 2 years before I made this album, and I wanted to honor him in some way, since this was the first album that anyone in the family had ever released, although I was preceded by my aunts and uncles who could all sing and my younger uncle was a songwriter and pianist.

My grandfather loved Classical music and this is one of the passions that he and my grandmother shared, along with old-school church hymns (especially from the British side, since his native Barbados was a British colony), and they even met in the church choir in Brooklyn, where they emigrated to, which would result in them marrying and having their 6 children, and their second daughter being my mother who brought me into this world.

That history aside, I wanted this song to have a kind of march-like drum because he was a very stern man and conservative man, but as the track progresses, you hear the light piano and strings because his behind his tough exterior, he was actually a soft-hearted man on the inside, and I wanted to capture that about him, musically. I miss him, as well as my grandmother, but I very thankful for both of their influences, even though I hated, as a child, when my grandfather forced me to listen to his Classical music records (which was torture to me, back then lol). Thankfully, I grew to appreciate it in my adulthood 😂

0xb0710f6d896d5c7affcac09a8f5e87184e5ddc5509beb8ec8cf8c6f8e5a5ccc0

The After 2am Sessions LP

BONUS - Goodbye For Now (the Neville Leacock Suite)

In the Black church, this song is what would be considered the "benediction"; the song to close out the service with a soul-moving message. If the original, instrumental version was to highlight those who show humanity towards each other, this soul-stirring version would be an "altar call" for others to get their hearts right and do better for their fellow man and woman and love and care for one another. 

It's an especially fitting theme for today's tragic issues and crises, and it was rendered beautifully by the unequalled vocal dynamo that is Cleveland P. Jones, who wrote these lyrics and sang it angelically (I only did slight vocal arrangements in the final song edits). Even though there's no drums, the finger snaps and overall rhythm was set to 6/8, which is the traditional time measure for Gospel songs, even though this one isn't one, but it carries that essence, as well as a slight nod to the Doo-Wop era style, which I used the upright bass to mimic how a male vocal of that style would sing it.

This song, I felt, was a perfect ending to the album, in terms of the official 12-song setlist (before going into the 2 bonus tracks I didn't reveal when I debuted this project, but are now part of the visible set but denoted as "bonus" tracks).

0xc7a28da63baf848d8516cfbe6f5d2a83b6b466e5864167cea5edb115c44858bd

Love One Another (the Vocal Re-Edit) [feat. Cleveland P. Jones]

I could write a much longer description, but in short, this was inspired by the transitioned of the great Whitney Houston, on the night that it happened back in February of 2012. All I can say is that I felt immense sadness and after quickly teaching myself the chord progressions, I pressed record and did this all in one take. I must have certainly captured the sadness I felt when I recorded it because a number of people who heard it, over the years, told me that it made them shed a tear. Music is powerful, most certainly spiritual, so it must be created carefully and with proper intention. I hope Ms. Houston would have been moved by this simple but heartfelt rendition. 🙏🏾

0x8e61548331d0e3b7d6a0beed4bbf774372d79743a378f9965d03660443803af8

I Believe in You & Me (in tribute)

As it says in the title, although unlike other songs that are instrumental meditational tracks, this one is not the type you do yoga or sit crossed-legged to. This was a song I made as a sort of musical, non-worded conversation with God/a higher power. It's meant to be a spiritual reaching out to, but even in writing this, it's still hard to fully explain, so the music should really do all the talking.

0x13a05982a485e20bbaf749dfc28211065d2eecd9e5afd1175e70aff4a8fed25e

Meditation

This song starts the last third of the album–the Spiritual. I composed it right after the huge tsunami that his Japan in 2011. I did so because after seeing the devastation that hit them, I was moved by the outpouring of humanity from various corners of the world, in solidarity, to help them. As time went on, this song has applied to that same spirit in different scenarios, including the various crises happening in 2024 (at the time of me writing this) and in solidarity with those suffering unbelievable things at the hands of very evil people who have completely abandoned their humanity. All that can save this world are those who love one another, or else what will become of this planet?

0x680ad621597487e9082313b43925b8a1de30428c9220200dfa5519aa25b8365d

Love One Another

A song I produced for an artist that never was recorded to and still available if she ever decides to record to it. Until then, it remains an instrumental, and it closes the Erotic set with a more orchestral, classy, cinematic ambience than the previous 3 in the set.

0x8485a861cbcc461205dee1fb4a8b130fee0e7f9b75581d0dd0303cd7b2e7363a

Can I Have You?

Keeping with the Erotic theme and unambiguous song titles, I wanted to make this sound a steady buildup, as actual foreplay would involve in lovemaking, so I layered each instrument I played, little by little, until the full instrumentation of the sound was realized, and then deconstructed as I removed them bit by bit, back to the kick drum/heartbeat...but I made it so that if you single-repeated the track, it would be a perfect, seamless loop, in case the song wasn't long enough for some people's "late night sessions".

This song is also the longest song of the album at  8 minutes and 19 seconds. Originally, I wanted to outdo a famous instrumental song called "Moments in Love" by Art of Noise, which has been used in numerous African-American movies for love scenes, but I didn't make it past their 10 minute mark to be longer than it was. BUT, when I realized that it wasn't a true instrumental because at some point there are words briefly spoken, then I realized mine was the true long instrumental and I felt I won a private competition I set for myself.

That aside, it's a great instrumental for sexy time and I can personally attest to that 😉

0xe94f257fdcfebc3578d90a54f967e3d98245cff0a85a961cac5b1f02492b0174

Foreplaying

Similar to the previous track, the title speaks for itself, although there's a slight mix of electronic with acoustic instruments. I also thought of this in terms of mentally scoring a love scene in my mind to make this.

Originally, this was a spoken word piece with an actual erotic poem I wrote and recorded to this, BUT, as my debut album, I was afraid of my mother hearing it and the thought embarrassed the hell outta me! 😂 A few albums later, I did do another semi-erotic poem that I publicly released...but I'm pretty sure she never heard it or will ever send it to her for critique lol

0xc88e8bae8bae27d9bbfedb429d422030b6de705494b505adbf48f5b2f65d9847

Groove Nocturnal

This one starts the "Erotic" third of the album. The title is pretty self-explanatory, if connected to a sexual connotation, and the pulsating beat and electronic vibes are a sharp contrast from the acoustic piano and mellow vibe of the preceding 4 tracks.

Later on, a good friend of mine and singer, Teisha Marie, made a vocal version of this that she wrote to and I produced called "Desire (the Hidden Places)", that has a nice seductive sound that I vocally-arranged for her to sound differently than she usually does (a usually strong singer whom I coached to sing in a whispering kind of seductive voice for that version).

But instrumentally, on its own, this could definitely score an intense love scene in a movie, in my opinion (or a 3rd date night) 😉

0x2ee231da1e56f81ba779dcde698dfb515799af0587a653461ba2e565eddd7065

The Hidden Places

This song makes me chuckle, sometimes, when I think about the way it came about in being made. It was actually one of the last songs on the album, and I think I made it two days before the album release day.

The woman I was dating and living with, while I was making this album, got into a big argument with me and essentially was annoyed with me being in the apartment steadily working on the album, even though she initially was supporting my efforts. As a fellow artist, though not musician herself, you would have thought she would have understood, especially as I was approaching release day, was super-focused, and had already informed my followers weeks ahead of when it was dropping. She felt I should have also been looking for outside work, but didn't realize I was putting my heart and soul into this project, and was quietly working in the far corner of the living room away from her, with headphones on so as not to disturb her or the roommates (who were far more supportive at that point than she was). I had already given her what was owed for the month as we had agreed so I surmised her main issue was just me not conforming to what she thought I should do (controlling issues), because I had obviously kept my part of the bargain. 

She thankfully went out that night and I was so pissed off with the negative energy she left me with as I was less than 48 hours away from completion that I took my frustration out on the music...EXCEPT...I played the OPPOSITE of how I felt! I decided to use her negative energy to record how I WANTED to feel, as opposed to how I really felt, and out came this beautiful piece that had a double-meaning. The obvious  one was to breathe and take it easy because "slow & steady wins the race", but it was also encoded because I cleverly incorporated her online username into the song title but only she understood it once I explained it to her, and even she thought it was clever and liked the song except she felt conflicted that the first time a man made a beautiful song about her, that it was actually because of how negative she had been and he made it to calm down and tune her out, so it was like a back-handed compliment! 😂 

She didn't think the album would do as well as it actually did, because I actually made more sales in that first week (and then month) than I would have if I had compromised my own convictions and listened to her to get a normal job. I ended up overpaying her, on purpose, what I owed for that month and didn't take her offer to stay another month and left 3 days later to her surprise.

I didn't wish her ill will, whatsoever, but this song always reminds me to listen to my heart and stay on the path and to take negatives and turn them into positives, which I  certainly did! 😉

0x90f2359f97a57bc1610f02816f5facf0aaadac61e9a1e5475d176136be094337

Slow & Steady

Years ago, I met a woman with whom I had electric chemistry with. It was really strong but we also had differences in religious outlooks, plus the fact that I was considering going overseas for musical opportunities but had told her, in no uncertain terms, that I would forego all of that if she wanted to pursue a serious relationship together. Obviously, she felt torn but didn't want to be the cause of me missing out on potential opportunities because of her, plus she couldn't rectify our differences on how we viewed religion (she being very religious and me being the opposite, though still spiritual). I think a year or two had passed and I reached out to her by phone, just to see how she was and it was a great conversation...it even gave me some glimmer of hope that maybe our chemistry still had enough to create something, despite the. obstacles. Deeply inspired, I created this solo piano piece, and in only one take, and sent it to her.

Suffice to say, we never worked out and went our separate paths, but this song was a reminder of how close to love we could have been had certain differences not gotten in the way, but now that I'm older, I realize that almost just isn't enough and to just be grateful for the experience and what it taught me to help me grow and move on, but I always listen to this fondly, as a beautiful memory of that wonderful conversation and feeling, about a woman I once knew, long ago.

0xc71ecf6599d6698549f316c8b007ee838a8434b4a816669726ab3929ad470a90

Almost Love (A One-Take Serenade)

I created this original instrumental arrangement around the vocals from the iconic "Lovely Day" (which was written and sung by the legendary Bill Withers), as a tribute to one of my favorite artists/composers of all-time, who transitioned from this life on March 30th, 2020. The interesting thing was that I had had this arrangement in my mind for roughly 20 years, because I had seen a GAP clothing commercial that came out in 1999, and it used that remixed version of that song, which I really liked, although it was essentially just a Hip Hop drumbeat added to a slightly sped up version of the original. However, my mind tried to improve the idea and slowly started to change the arrangement into something completely different that still complimented Bill's vocals but turned it into a House dance version with a funkier vibe that still felt joyous and happy to honor the spirit of the original, as well as the life of the man who made it. The reason I took so long to make it was that, as a self-taught musician, my skill level hadn't yet reached where my mind was imagining how it should sound. As my skills exponentially increased over time, I had not really seriously thought about my arrangement of that song until Bill's passing triggered that memory of it, and out of love for his artistry and legacy, I lovingly worked on it to finally bring that idea into fruition, in tribute of a great artist and human being.



Since its 2020 release, it's been heard around the world, played by many international DJs, in the club, on the radio, or live-streamed (especially when it debuted during the pandemic and all the world tuned in to various online DJ sets while quarantined at home). This is one of my most favorite remixes I've ever created, and it's a pleasure to finally mint it to add to the Catalog.

0xd4dc96ca0c6bd56893147576d4c9fc33193187e05b6e08a095c97b4ce6330f1d

Lovely Day (AS tribute remix) [instrumental]

This is a remix of an original song that I released last year on my b'earthday, on the 22022022 album, called “I Will Make It”. The original was kinda like if Bobby McFerrin (the famous acapella vocalist of "Don't Worry Be Happy" fame) made a dance track, since I did the main verses, ad-libs, the background vocals on the hook/chorus, the bass line, and even the rhythm guitar riff all just with my voice. 

The reason why I chose to make a remix of this particular song, at this moment in time, was because the positive lyrics of it came back to my mind, and that usually happens when I’m in need of motivation, and songs with inspirational words come to my mind and tend to help me through things right when I need them the most; only in this case, the words were my own. And I call this version the “Healing House Music remix” as I gave this song a more harmonic and melodic arrangement than the original one had, which was more minimalist; I even included some sounds near the end that are purposely soothing to ease the mind & soul, but still strong enough to deliver a driving soulful/deep house beat to keep people moving on the dance floor, whether that be in the club or a room in their home or wherever they might happen to listen to it. 

This one is has already started to create buzz and it's only just dropped one day ago, at the time of this pressing, and will be a great addition for a solid collection and collector of quality music–especially for the electronic/dance genre.

0x94d407ae6eb3019eb21f1620972530a6502c2e22b02535c016e75c7d90d4e505

I Will Make It (Healing House Music remix)

As the title clearly conveys, this is a song I created for the purpose of easing the mind, calming the soul, and basically removing as much stress as possible from the day to day madness many of us experience in life at times. The additional aspect of tuning the song to the frequency of 432Hz, which is said to resonate with this planet's own frequency, was also deliberately done to amplify the positive vibrations, especially if one wishes to meditate to this.

However, it's not so much new age as it was just taking a melodic idea that I created, on the spot, when I was feeling stressed and low and started to build a song to feel better and more relaxed, and then as it started to work, I just kept adding more elements to it that felt soothing. The drums were the foundation because I wanted something rhythmic but light, so there's emphasis on the brushes, with it's ASMR kind of light touches across the cymbals, the snare, and soft crashes. Then the bass line I created that was both the bottom but also had its own incognito solos that you'd hardly notice during the song. Then the warm pad to fill in the spaces of the song like harmonious atmosphere and the electric piano solo that came in for a moment then reverted back to chords layered above the pad and bass.

If by the end of the song you're feeling at peace and feel somewhat better than you did than before you pressed "play" then it did what it was supposed to  do. In the world we live in and the crazy things happening day to day, a song like this is needed–soothing, soulful sound therapy.

0x2a832c70c37848e0918880e2a6efb523451913be8963835e5d2cd893cb78e787

22022022

Soothe Our Souls (S.O.S.) 432Hz

I actually started this song idea when I was in Thailand, which is obviously thousands of miles away from the country where this genre of music originated from. I had initially intended to use this composition as the background music for a series of stories from my real-life travels around the world, and this one was specifically for a story I was going to narrate about how I unintentionally offended an important person in the Brasilian arts community, but by doing so, I actually ended up attending the biggest night of a sold out carnaval evening, and as a VIP (but that's a whole other story for another time).

What ended up happening is that I then was getting ready to leave Thailand and so I wasn't as focused on the song then, and was temporarily in Vietnam, trying to figure out where in the world would be the best fit for me at this time, until I finally decided on Brasil, but not because of the song. Either way, because I went there, and ended up meeting some very talented musicians within less than a week of my arrival in São Paulo, I met the super-talented Brasilian guitarist, Ricardo Barros, whose father was the famous Théo de Barros, who was one of the growing number of Brasilian stars during the 1960s who were making Bossa Nova a household name around the world of music, and even composed famous well-known songs in that genre like "Menino das Laranjas", which I had known for years but didn't really Ricardo's father composed that (crazy!). 

Anyway, I let him hear some of my music when he invited me over to his house studio a few days after Christmas 2022, and he let me hear some of his (his chord arrangements are so advanced they boggle the mind)! I then let him hear my bossa arrangement that I had been working on, to get an authentic ear to give me some feedback and he said he really liked it! I even offered for him to record any guitar solos on it if he felt inspired and he didn't hesitate one moment and launched into it, and...voilà! A collaboration between me from Brooklyn and Ricardo from Brasil came into fruition, thus Brooklyn Bossa!

Since releasing it a few months ago, it's just been going all over the place and I keep getting feedback from people who love it, from various parts of the world and from Brasilians, themselves, which is the biggest compliment of all! So there...if you want to be the NFT owner of this special song, make your bid because the investment will be worth it, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up in a TV commercial or film because I feel it has that kind of sound and charm to be in a movie score/soundtrack!

0xa5ba5d1e94958fd67f7488b5b1213b56b65af9affaf836847fca797da7ea3e74

Brooklyn Bossa

In the Summer of 2016, I had just completed a project called 'thEARapy', which was a slow and relaxing EP that fused sounds of nature with my own original music, but towards the late Autumn, nearing Winter, part of the year, I decided to go in the other direction, beat-wise, and decided to do an all-original House music project exploring my various takes of the genre and electronic dance music, in general. This track, as it says in the title, is the introduction track of the album and gives the listener a brief oral history about the origins of the genre, which had architects from both the Chicago and New York areas who created the blueprint of a music phenomena that would go further than its predecessor, Disco, had and ever would go, and spawn almost countless sub-genres of it. My original music that scores these stories builds the music bit by bit, instrument by instrument, to crescendo into the energy and vibe of a House track fused with a funky/soulful vibe, celebrating one of the best creations to come out of the Black music pantheon.

It's like the old Akan word from ancient Ghana called "Sankofa", which is a symbol and reminder that you can't know where you are or where you are going until you first know where you came from, and that's the message behind the groove of this track!

0x32782ec9464514e2f52fe3cc81c4de25188924341696d40c5abe401dd0b16a18

Funky Introduction

At the opening of this song is the reference sample (the basis that the rest of the song is built on) of me playing on an old upright piano in the house of a young Parisian drummer who invited me over for an impromptu jam session with his bassist friend, back in 2013. It was an interesting year because I began it by taking a random trip to Europe, arriving in Berlin on January 20th) to spend approximately 3 months in the region (or at least that's how long my round-trip ticket from New York to Berlin was). The funny thing, though, was that I only had about 2 weeks worth of cash to survive on with no additional money that was coming to me, that I knew of. It was kinda crazy for me to book that trip, knowing that in advance, so it was basically a sort of leap of faith, if you will.

At that point, when we were just improvising that day, I had been in Paris longer than the initial 10 days I had planned to be there (at that point, I think I was living there about 3 or 4 months in, of the total 6 months I would be there that year). However, I wouldn't revisit that rough recording of that day until maybe a couple years later, and then still wouldn't finish it until just after the beginning of the new year of 2017, just before my milestone 40th birthday the following month, on February 22nd, which would be when I would release it among other songs I had been holding on to and hadn't finished. It was a speech by the legendary DJ Jazzy Jeff that prompted me not to hold on to too many songs I had, and just release them out into the world, because tomorrow wasn't promised, so might as well send it out to the world so that eventually I just "die empty", meaning leaving it all out on the field...not leaving with unfinished work, if you can help it.

And so here, on another year we enter, 2023, I felt it apropos to mint this song, "This New Day (Gratitude)", which by the title alone is sort of self-explanatory, but I'll take it a step further and say that with ANY new day, be it January 1st or any of the remaining 364 days to follow for 2023, let there always be gratitude and let there always be the same energy we give New Year's Day with the feeling of new beginnings and turning your life around and starting on a fresh, blank new page in your life book...let it be the same for any day, any moment you truly wish to make a change in your life, and then remember to express gratitude for every day you are fortunate enough to wake up and participate in, knowing that yesterday wasn't a guarantee you'd get, and that today is pretty much another reset to try something again or do something new because hopefully we'll get tomorrow, but since it's not guaranteed, might as well make the most of RIGHT NOW!

That's the whole point of this instrumental song that needs no words, but the feeling of the drive of it can be felt. And I'm going to set the reserve price for this song at 1 ETH because it's not only the 1st day of the 1st month of the year, but it's the number that is most important to me when I think about when I consider how to take on life...1 moment, 1 day at a time.

I guess this is another way to look at this being "1 of 1", huh? 😉

Good luck to whomever collects this special piece! 🙏🏾

0xcb8e27ce15b275fdb8f9745b024a570d5e7947b1bae51431bca8b9e2fa3e54ac

This New Day (Gratitude)

In the late Autumn of 2008, I was getting more settled into my Master's degree program in Audio Production at the University of Westminster, London (U.K.), and I had had enough classes with my professors in how to setup a live studio recording session and how to work the mixing desk to start practicing on my own without much help from the staff engineers on duty. I want to say this was maybe around November or December of that year. During that time, outside of class, I was still playing live gigs as a part of various bands playing around London, as well as playing at jam sessions at a few open mic spots. One of the musicians I met, in such scenarios, was an American expat guitarist from Florida named Myles Kayne (his last name threw me off because I instinctively mistook it to be the same as a certain well-known, controversial artist, but then I saw the spelling and it was simply pronounced like "cane"). I don't remember exactly how I met Myles, whether on a gig or a jam session, but all I knew was that he was DOPE! He could hit you with some stanky Blues riffs, some mind-blowing funky licks that James Brown would have made many faces and "ughs" to, and then he had that touch that could turn poetic and beautiful like something you'd hear in a somber flamenco or bossa nova ballad. Basically, that cat was nice with it!

I remember inviting him over to hang at one of the studios on campus, as he was really feeling my style of playing and wanted to jam when we both could meet up, and so when he dropped through, I set up the mic for his guitar and recording space so that if we had any good ideas, we'd catch it in the moment (which is how my comedic but true song called "I Don't Like Bananas" came to be that same day/session, but that's another story).

He asked me if I was working on anything, so I let him hear an idea I had that would be the basis of "Warm Rain", but it was only some chord progressions of soft pad sounds that seemed like what you would hear during a yoga session or meditation. He started fiddling around with it, but then I suddenly had a concrete idea for guitar, and since I don't know music theory or read music at all, I had to sing the lines to him (a la George Benson style) for the arrangement I had in mind, and this man mimicked me on guitar to perfection! For the parts that were harmonic (since no one I know but Lalah Hathaway can sing more than one note at a time, simultaneously or harmonically), I played them out on keys. So, quite frankly, the guitar parts you hear in this recording are, note-for-note, my vocal guitar arrangements that he followed me perfectly as I sang them out, and it's one of my favorite tracks, as it is for many others who've told me such over the years, since it and the project were released.

I added the rain sound effects later, after I had recorded and mixed the other keyboard and piano parts that I had added to the final draft. I am honored to have this piece collected by a true music lover, and I hope if this ever is passed on to other collectors over time, they will also appreciate the quality of the work that went into this impromptu but nonetheless inspired session that created this piece of music that I hold dear to me and am proud of.

If I had space, I'd include the stories of fans who've written me about their experiences connected to this song. They are some really moving stories, and are from different parts of the world.

0xd11150ac90e63a2af588e890e0a7ffc2c4bc655ebe795df73199fe862293516d

Warm Rain (featuring Myles Kayne)

I first encountered Cleveland P. Jones in Atlanta, GA,  about 22 years ago in the year 2000 (how funny to call it that, two decades and two years after the fact). It was at a popular open mic/jam session, and have you ever been to one where people sign up to perform and all of a sudden, mid-way through the event,  a singer gets on stage who is so amazing, who captivates the audience with every note uttered, and who pretty much burns the stage with their unbelievable talent and stage presence that others who knew they might be called up next quietly and quickly made their way to the exit because they didn't dare follow up behind THAT?! Well, that's Cleveland, but the crazy thing was that during that time, he was always humbly and comfortably cool with just being the background singer for various artists around town or on tour...but I always wondered why someone with the gifts of a certified headliner was content with being near to but outside of the spotlight?

Fast-forward a year later and Cleveland's doing his Master’s degree program in Boston, and I was back from London having completed my own after being gone for 2 years but now know how to produce and engineer, and so I go by to visit him in Boston but also see if I can talk him into recording a track because I really felt the world needed to hear this amazing artist. Cleveland, however, was very hesitant to do so and resisted the idea, initially, but eventually came around, and we managed to first release a cover of the jazz standard made famous by Nat King Cole ("Nature Boy"), which got a lot of great buzz! It was that catalyst that helped Cleve to get over his initial anxiety about his unique vocal register and learn to embrace it and see himself as a lead singer that all the rest of us who knew him completely believed he was meant to be.

"Sensitive" came about as kind of a fluke, because we were actually recording an entirely different song, to try and put together a debut EP for him. It was when we decided to take a recording break, at his home studio, that he went to make a snack while I stayed in the studio area and decided to play around on keys to just clear my head of the project. I then played a combination of chords that made me stop, go "hmmm", then played it over again and felt something spark, so decided to record it then loop it to see if I heard any ideas. Cleveland walks back in, and I ask him to listen to the loop and see if he maybe he hears something magical in it as I do. He stops moving, closes his eyes while standing there in the middle of the room, then opens his eyes again and starts humming a melody, over and over, punctuated by one identifiable word..."sensitive". He then looks for a pen and pad, then starts writing something while still humming, and still saying that one word, then stops humming altogether and just writes like he's taking notes from a fast talking professor.

About 20 minutes pass before he mumbles what seems to be a verse that he's trying to get right, then walks over to the microphone, puts on the headphones, and signals for me to get ready to start recording him, and then he begins singing the very first verse, which is what you hear in the first minute of this recording...the first time the public has ever heard this rare first take that never made the final mix of the song. Also, for the purpose of context, the song actually had to do with his ex, whom he was still getting over, and the emotional wounds were still fresh as she did a number on his heart, but what great songs haven't had such a powerful catalyst as heartbreak to create something special?

What you hear in the first minute and a half is the genesis of "Sensitive", in its original rough & unmixed, early arranged form before it merges into the final draft that many have come to know and love over the past 11 years that this song has been in existence, received airplay around the world on various independent and major radio stations, including on Gilles Peterson Worldwide where the famed DJ did a rare thing in featuring it on his BBC Radio show in two consecutive shows, back-to-back. He even went further to contact us later via email, with a licensing contract, to ask to have the song be featured on his Brownswood Bubblers Seven album compilation (interestingly enough, as track #7 as well). Most importantly, it introduced Cleveland P. Jones to the world as the soloist and the headliner (not background singer), that he was always meant to be! For me, it was the opportunity to test my musical and production skills  by creating an orchestral arrangement (which took me a week to do) that actually fooled many DJs and musicians who thought we had a big production budget and hired a small orchestral ensemble of instrumentalists and vocalists, instead of the actuality of it being just one man singing all the parts and another man playing all the instruments on keyboard...while in the hood, in a second-floor apartment in Boston where we had to wait sometimes for dogs to stop barking and occasional sirens to pass by before we could continue recording!

Just as we embarked into new territory and had no idea what would happen when we finally released this song to the world, it's revisiting that same kind of feeling as we release this NFT version of this song to the world and honestly have no clue what to expect as we embark in new territory yet again. To the lucky collector of this one-of-kind song (and one-of-one version that isn't even available anywhere else on other streaming & download platforms), we are thrilled to offer this to you and hope you value it as much as we have over the years and for many years to come as we now know this song will far outlive us!

Good luck, everyone!

0x47a3b333eed1aee7aa487a5801c086fea5afe41ca191f62f6109118e73086d91

"Sensitive" (special NFT edition) - Cleveland P. Jones & Ahmed Sirour

Before I give you the backstory of this track, I just wanted to mention that this is my genesis NFT, thus these are my very first steps into this blockchain world (forgive me if I’m using any terms incorrectly). Oh, and if you're wondering why the price is "0.22277”, that's my birthday, actually. 😉

In the late Summer of 2008, I flew to the U.K. to begin my Masters degree program in Audio Production (sound engineering and design) at the University of Westminster, London. At the time, I was renting a room in a flat in the South London neighborhood of Clapham North, and my roommate also happened to be my landlord as he owned the house we lived in. He is a contemporary artist/landscape painter, primarily, but also an online radio DJ, and so he was always having artistic types come by for dinner, and usually Asian artists since he is Japanese, himself. One of the artists who came by one afternoon for lunch was a Bangladeshi poet/spoken word artist. I came to discover that she was considering recording a CD of her work, and my roommate wanted me to meet her to possibly help her with that, musically and production-wise. I was still learning how to record in the studio on my own, early in the semester of my course work at the university, but at that point I knew enough to be able to conduct a session without any help from my professors, so I set a day for us to meet and do her recording session. She recited a poem she called “Moon’s Eye”, which we did in a couple of takes, just to have some variety and pick out the best parts for the final vocal track. Then while she sat there, I randomly played a few chords on the keyboard just to warm up (and set it to a Yamaha grand piano), before I finally pressed “record” and just started playing. The interesting thing about this track was that I did the piano part in one take, which even surprised me, so what you hear in this recording was only played once. I later arranged, played, and recorded the harp and upright/double bass parts to compliment the piano part. Funny enough, the poet didn’t end up using the track and I’m not sure if she ever went through with the rest of her project, but what I did see develop was her and my roommate getting closer, and now they’ve been married for over a decade now with 2 children 😉. As for the track I made, well...I decided it would be a good song to use as the intro for my EP project I released on Bandcamp to little fanfare in 2011, but would later turn into my full debut LP in 2012 that did get a much better reception; and, consequently, it did catch the ear of a Day 1 fan/supporter who over a decade later would become a curator for a site called Catalog and chose to onboard me as an artist in recognition of his appreciation of the positive impact that album had on him (thanks Dutchyyy)!

The title, as you can now see, was inspired by the original poem’s title, as a nod to what it was originally intended for. Also, the song made me envision a couple romantically slow dancing to this, in a secluded garden at night , under a full moon or “in the moonlight”, but it's really up to the listener to interpret whatever they feel or perceive when listening to this song–mine is just the origin story.

0xc4296c4c24befb1523b891dc690894f10c5cb0bfb095be297750f91d4c8b0bd1

In the Moonlight

Son of Brooklyn, World Citizen. 
Art Dealer, Sound Healer.

Playlist collection of Ahmed Sirour's debut album, 'The After 2am Sessions LP', and selections from his discography presented as Catalog-minted records for his special broadcast on his actual b'earthday, 2/22/24 at 3:30pm.