11. Ariel Powell – They Cover You in Snow

An immersive and passionate jam with myself. I don’t remember what inspired this, but I was feeling it.

12. Ariel Powell - Garden Calendar

Some things start as a soundtrack to a video or slideshow, and that’s what this was. It turned out nicely enough that I’ll call it a song! It could almost go under the lightningrod salesman name, due to the electric drums. But it’s nice chill guitar, and very post-rock. So I’m claiming it!

13. The Lightningrod Salesman – APAX

Here’s a weird thing that I recorded in my brother’s basement when we lived there, in between houses. I had just been gifted a saxophone, which I am still very rough at. This number has a weird, something’s wrong kind of vibe.

14. The Lightningrod Salesman - Oh, How the Spring Doth Weep!

This started as a cover song, see if you can figure out which one. I think it turned out quite distinct from it’s inspiration. I might still go back and add real drums to this. The piano is nice and evocative.

15. The Lightningrod Salesman – EOL Intro

Originally intended as an intro to ‘Empire of Lies’, I decided that it didn’t fit, and I was bothered by putting the good Dr. Paul’s voice into this hellscape of sound. But it’s a cool little piece, and Dr. Paul’s voice echoes through with the harsh truth.

16. Ariel Powell – Whispers and Prayers

From the original version of ‘The Leaves, Shimmering Gold’, this is yet again another misfit that I rejected from the newer versions of that album released online today. It’s really more appropriate under ‘the lightningrod salesman’ moniker, but this song was born first.

17. Ariel Powell – Only With Each-Other

This is an alternate version of the last song on “Empire of Lies”, “Snow Jar”. I went back and forth trying to decide which version to release with the album, since I had both in-hand. This one is kinda tighter, but the other version was the original, and I really liked my brother Toby’s vocals on it.

18. Ariel Powell - Another Lost Day

Man, I’m glad I’ve found my Keeper since this pathetic little indulgence.

Haha it’s kinda cool anyway. There’s an epic and expansive aspect to whatever this is. Rough vocals, I know. The masters are lost to time, but cool jam, I hope.

19. Ariel Powell – Mother, I’m Alive!

The oldest song in this collection, circa 2001.

I was a senior in high school when a very close friend in the dorm died. He was besties with my brother, and well loved by everyone in the school. He had a wild, flamboyant, theatrical and dtramatic personality. He was a cripple, with something similar to cerebral palsy. He was literally a hunchback, but he played the hammer dulcimer beautifully, hiked multiple mountains despite being crippled (a true example of willpower), and he knew how to laugh. This song’s for Justin.

20. Dudes 4 Deep – I Used to Be Happy

The first ever Dudes 4 Deep song. In the loft, at my parents, in our early 20’s, not sober.

Something magical happened here, half of us really didn’t play instruments. But somehow we made a weird thing happen, and therefore went on to make even weirder things happen on subsequent days and evenings of not-soberness.