ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING
Remixes, Remasters and Covers!
Some of your favorite DJ Rojo songs are back, in brand new versions!
“You Don’t Even Know (The Love) and “Crutch Boy” are both from the first DJ Rojo album. They are two of my favorites from there, but I was just learning song creation and I they didn’t quite have the “oomph” I was looking for. So here, I present remastered versions of them that are probably more how I would have made these songs TODAY.
Meanwhile, “A Party of One” and “The Bear Song” are the two “singles” from the second DJ Rojo album. I really love the original versions of these songs, but I know that they weren’t “dancey” enough to play in clubs, which I really wanted — especially for “The Bear Song”. So here are dancer remixes of both.
Finally, there are a bunch of songs that I felt could use stripped down versions (with just guitar, violin, and a hint of percussion). So here you will find “folk covers” of some very personal songs that mean a lot to me: “I Fell Off a Cliff,” “Storyteller,” “Better Than Yesterday,” and “Everything is You.” I always start my song creation by singing the lyrics I wrote into my phone, so they always start as something very raw. I later add the stylings (which have been mostly synth-pop, industrial, electronic) — but I wanted to showcase some of these songs in more “pure” forms, as I think structurally they work quite nice as folk ballads.
You can download all of the songs from this new album here:
Descriptions for each song are below (lyrics coming soon!), but if you want to just dive in and listen to the whole album, use this player:
I wanted to write a love song to my husband, but I thought it would be funnier to put my jokey spin on it. We’ve been playing the “I love you MORE” game (that many couples are familiar with) for 20 years now, sometimes taking it to great over-the-top lengths. So what better than a “diss track” for how much my love is stronger than his? (I’m still expecting a “retaliation track” from him at some point, where he says HIS love is actually stronger. As if!!).
The original version of this song was fantastic, but the ending was too “light” for me. I wanted more intense shouting at the end.
“YOU. WILL. NEVER. KNOW! (The loooooove)”
YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW (THE LOVE) (EPIC MIX)
While most would see this as a tragic event, I have always seen it as something that radically changed my life for the better. Had this never happened, I would probably still be living in L.A. (a city I hate) and probably working at a Starbucks (not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I’m happy I’ve been able to work in two of my dream industries).
Basically, this event really opened my eyes, radically changed my outlook, and made me want to change everything about my life.
The original is great, but I think this folk cover really turns this song into something super special and personal.
I FELL OFF A CLIFF (FOLK COVER)
He’s overly optimistic, and just wants to “keep on dancing,” despite how the world might treat him…
The original had a very ’80s vibe, and this remix still captures that. But I wanted to make it even more intense and a little bit more modern — adding industrial and even funk vibes.
CRUTCH BOY (HE'S HAD IT HARD MIX)
He’s been a photographer, journalist and documentarian, specializing in visual storytelling. But he’s also known as an oral storyteller as well.
He just really loves to tell stories in any way possible, so this is a little story about him. His enthusiasm is infectious, and you can’t help but get swept up in it… 🥰
I would love to have this folk cover version played live some day!
STORYTELLER (FOLK COVER)
So yeah… I’ve had a lot of “parties of one” in my lifetime….
I really wanted to make this a song that could be played at actual parties, and so a “dancier” mix was needed. I experimented a lot more with this one…
A PARTY OF ONE (DUDE, WHAT THE FUCK MIX)
It’s been a mantra all of my life, when things aren’t going well. I think to myself “well… is today at least better than yesterday?” Maybe it isn’t by much, but… at least it’s something…
This song absolutely deserved a more stripped-down version. So this folk cover really makes this song shine in a way that it was always meant to.
BETTER THAN YESTERDAY (FOLK COVER)
I really wanted this to end up being played at Bear events, but the original just wasn’t “dancey” enough.
So here’s the club mix version. Play it away, DJs!
THE BEAR SONG (CLUB MIX)
As a romantic and funny/silly song, I thought a folk cover version was just perfect.