The fifth and sixth releases are on the way from our distributor DistroKid. One called Love n War by SKMillion is out Sunday. It’s comprised of newly mastered versions of what was originally called Steve Dunn Band – EP and some songs from The Previews as well as two songs from B Sides. All are levelled to sound better together.

I also compiled a collection of mostly electronic songs from SKMillion’s Lady in Black and Ckwal’s self-entitled double album which comprises of two continuous mixes.  I spent lots of time separating all the tracks into individual ones.  There are also two previously unreleased acoustic songs and a couple missing ones from The Previews which were put on Love n War along with the electronic version of the traditional I call Angels We Have Heard.  All the tunes that weren’t mastered from Ckwal LP have been gone over and analyzed with my newest mastering tools from Izotope and Presonus Studio One.  I may be moving on to another DAW because I’m experiencing many technical difficulties using my new keyboard.  I really like the feel of the Arturia KeyLab Essential 61 mk3 and all the controls, so  I recently upgraded to the latest version of Ableton Intro to be more compatible.  The integration is better and customization seems much easier, however I just need them to start up reliably.  It has been one of the most frustrating weeks in the studio from a technological standpoint. Arturia hasn’t responded and Fender which now brands the upgrade they gave us of Presonus has removed functionality it seems for customization I finally templated. However neither program wants to reliably boot with my new controller. So it’s definitely controlling, lol.

The newest collection is titled Near Death Experiences (2008-2014) by Steven Frederic Dunn.   The cover is a picture of the street where I was run over by some type of vehicle in Bangkok in 2013 as one may have read in previous stories.  Many of the songs were recorded after that incident and during recovery. I had woken up in the hospital and couldn’t recall the names in my phone.  So with this album, I wanted to move away from that main style of songs with Ckwal and put my given name on them.  It’s very bizarre to say the least, however one may appreciate the unique emotions and expression during rare experiences.  I was also in a motorcycle accident in Cambodia in December of 2008.  I got stitches on the street near the coast and nearby neighbors made crutches for me at an affordable cost.  I was able to return to Taiwan where I was living at the time and the doctor who was checking up on all the purple stuff they covered the wound with, decided he needed to open all the stitches to verify.  He found an infection and dug it all out.  He said that I may have lost my leg if he didn’t catch that.  So these two experiences were life-changing.  I have described many of the journeys since in this blog.  Those can be found in the archive.  The Ckwal LP starting with Downpour and ending with When You Live Like That was made after a major lifestyle change towards the end of this time period after returning to The U.S.  I was going to the gym and listening to electronic podcasts and some rock music and made some various drum grooves to start when I felt like I had really become a blank canvas.  The grooves brought me back to more solid ground.  I eventually mixed it all together on a CD turntable deck and got it mastered when I was homeless living in Nebraska.  Apple rejected the album for some reason because of the cover at that time, despite it being mastered for iTunes. So that album and Steve Dunn Band – EP almost were released through Apple exclusively and CD Baby, respectively however I pulled the latter because it didn’t look nor feel right on the platforms. SDBEP actually still remains on Amazon Australia by SKMillion, lol.

My new celebration plan besides purchasing artwork from Brian Viveros and the keyboard in what they call Rose Quartz color, is to go to Gainesville tomorrow for Saturday’s schedule at SwampCon 2026: Return to the Sea. It’s on University of Florida’s campus. A few panels caught my eye and I needed to do something to get out and celebrate all these official releases spreading slowly around the world. I’m returning to my previous workplace part-time a the end of next week, however if anyone want to contribute to these and future projects, please visit the shop in the menu. I’m feeling very guilty about the amount I’ve invested in all this art and don’t want to disappear again. I’m already conceiving of another volume of songs that are somewhat of a companion to Stint of Devotion. I have a working title and artwork in the making. It’s pretty much another bottle of perfume by Elena Barenbaum. All the decisions in the song choices and titles are very meaningful to me and will be a major checkpoint in my life moving forward.

Some of the singles I managed to write down from other artists:
Rohaan – I Don’t Recognise You Anymore
Calvin Harris, Kasabian – Release the Pressure
Ingrid Andress – Now I Know
Tiësto – Beautiful Places (feat. Brieanna Grace)
Tinashe – The Chase
Sotomayor – Quema
Ashe – Fun While It Lasted
Lonely Twin – Thinking of a Place
Gabby Barrett – The Good Ones

Local bands I’ve bumped into along the way worth checking out:
Parada
Glass Chapel

DistroKid pages for the two albums releasing soon:
Near Death Experiences (2008-2014)
Love n War

Newest album Stint of Devotion streaming everywhere now. 100% vegan music!