Jonasgrove

Hey, i'm Jake, and these are some songs and demos I've made (usually by myself) over the past couple of years. I've been in quite a few bands throughout those years, and when I'm not playing, writing, or jamming with my friends and other musicians, i'm usually fiddling around with music on my own and recording random song ideas floating around in my head. I like to play and write stuff that falls into the categories of indie rock, alt-rock, shoegaze, experimental, ambient, acoustic folk, jazz, and electronic (although I try to escape the confinements of genres as much as possible). I mainly play piano, keyboards, drums/percussion, and guitar, but I dabble in others like banjo, mandolin, harmonica, bass, and kazoo. I'm obsessed with weird sounds, I guess you could say, and I'm constantly trying to find new ways to create sound via arrangements, effects, synths, happy accidents, etc. Although pretty much all of my posted songs are solo stuff, I enjoy making music much more in collaborative efforts, and am always on the lookout for any possible jam session. Enjoy!

Basically this is just my solo stuff ranging from two years ago to now, but I have been in bands such as A Hat for Every Mood (indie folk and rock), The Blueberry Wave (psychedelic jamband), Perfect Orange (classic/indie alt-rock), an unnamed jazz quartet, and currently, Lunar Circus (still discovering our sound).

I don't really play live by myself, but when I do perform, it's in bands (and duos) that are either long-term or spur of the moment. I love playing live and try to do it whenever possible, although I'll admit I'm lazy about booking gigs and advertising. I suppose that one of the strangest, yet most excellent gigs I've had was playing minimalist ambient music at a local coffee shop, Javamonkey, in Decatur. My friend and I sat in near darkness playing reverb-drenched Brian Eno kind of stuff, while there were maybe only three people in the room at a time, and the only light source was a glowing plasma ball in front of us, next to the tip jar which read "Pay your respects to the orb". Weird, huh? But totally worth it.

Wow, this could potentially be a ridiculously long list, but i'll try to narrow it down a bit. Well, some of my all-time favorite artists are Pink Floyd, Radiohead, the Beatles, Wilco, R.E.M., Bob Dylan, Miles Davis, Ben Folds, Beck, Led Zeppelin, Sufjan Stevens, and the Flaming Lips. Some more recent favorites are Neutral Milk Hotel, My Bloody Valentine, Of Montreal, Frank Zappa, Television, Sigur Ros, Nick Drake, Outkast, Spoon, Dire Straits, Ween, Brian Eno, Deerhunter, the Black Lips, Ambulance Ltd., Can, Keith Jarrett, Panda Bear, The Sea and Cake, Sonic Youth......and the list goes on. I've definitely left off/forgotten some other stuff, but I think that's a solid list for now.

I use a Pacific/Zildjian Drum Set, a Yamaha electric keyboard and synth, an old upright piano, an acoustic guitar, and a semi-hollowbody Epiphone Dot Deluxe. For recording, I use a Tascam US-122 interface with Logic Pro (just graduated from Garageband) on a MacBook Pro, and any built-in effects, pedals, and mics I can find (currently enjoying my new Blue 8 Ball mic).

If you like my stuff, feel free to comment! If you hate my stuff, feel free to express your anger with comments!!