James Kirsch (or JimmyK) grew up in Newton, MA, and studied himself some e-lectronic music at a small liberal arts school/conservatory named Oberlin. It's in Ohio, right next to the middle of nowhere.
One day, a small yet innovative company named Propellerheads came up with a stellar piece of music software called Reason which completely changed my life. It enabled me to have a giant modular studio like I did at school, only virtualized on the computer. I started seriously tooling around with it and got mightily inspired. So much, that I made an album, called General Fuzz (2002). At that time I released my music under the musical moniker "DJMessy", because my nickname at Oberlin was "Mr. Messy" (people called me Mess), and I threw DJ in there to give it a musical edge.
A year passed. I got engaged. I figured "what better time then now?" to write a second album, what with all the wedding planning that was demanding my attention. My second album, Inner Sunset (2004), was all about me stretching my musical wings, exploring different underlying contexts for electronic music. I'm quite proud of this one, even if it isn't as accessible as the first one was. The last three tracks are all acoustic, very personal songs. Friday on Thursday (track 9) was the processional to my wedding. Paddington Bear (track 10) was written for my friend Githa Ong, who sadly passed away after a long battle with Leukemia.
After Inner Sunset, I discovered a new piece of software called Live, created by the good folks at Ableton. This software integrated more advanced musical technology, which is always a good time. Live also has sophisticated digital audio recording capabilities, which means I could start having my friends (who are quite musically talented) come over and work on stuff collaboratively in my studio. Booyeah! At this point I decided to change my musical moniker to General Fuzz. People would ask me "where do you spin?", which is a fair question if I'm introducing myself as DJMessy. I ain't no DJ.
I finished up Messy's Pace just in time for Burning Man 2005 (my fourth year in a row). I went up, had a fantastic time, and gifted 500 copies of it to unsuspecting people. That process was enough fun that I repeated the experience with my next two albums.
I really wanted to explore the collaborative writing process further after Messy's Pace. I started gigging a little more, and began to meet more musicians. I also started composing songs with parts for other instruments. I learned more about recording techniques and how to push the technology farther. Musicians would come over and totally inspire me with new parts, directions, and ideas for songs. My fourth album, Cool Aberrations (2007) is a tribute to the power of collaboration. The tracks range from soothing melodies to raging funk jams. If you are interested, I created a page describing the making of this album.
After Cool Aberrations, I wanted to create an album that set a vibe and maintained it. Super chill turned out to be the chosen vibe, and Soulful Filling (2008) was the result. I'm real proud of this one. The making of page was a huge effort as well, since I created a custom flash application to support playing multiple tracks simultaneously. It's pretty cool - you should check it out. Really.
People ask me why I am not selling this music. Mostly it's because I have a day job and my underlying goal is to have my music heard. I know in my heart that there are a few people who will really resonate with my music - I want to maximize the probability that my music will find those people. If you enjoy my music, please tell other people to check out the website. Donations are also gratefully accepted as well.
Take care, and be well.
General Fuzz
