Every music business professional will tell you that the key to marketing your music is to know how to categorize it into a specific genre...yeah I haven't done that yet. So here I'm going to try to explain my style of music so that you can better understand what you're hearing. Feel free to email me with suggestions, type "MIDNIGHTSUN: your style" in the subject so I know it's you.

Take some techno, some reggae, a little rap, and some rock, throw in a heaping amount of emotional energy with a twist of...me, and there you have "The Midnight Sun".

The beats are mainly techno and reggae which gives you an extremely bass heavy and dance oriented sound. You also get some awesome sounding electronic music which is one of my favorites. I love the dips and bends and different ways that you can play with the notes and manipulate the sound when you use synths and things of that sort for your music. You will however find piano and strings as well in this and in future albums (although i tweak those too sometimes).

The lyrics in my opinion should be treated like yet another instrument in the song. You'll notice that for the most part, without my voice the song just wouldn't be as interesting and without the beat neither would my voice. Each instrument, each word fits together like locking pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. Even though I rhyme like a rapper, you'll quickly notice that it's not really rap, you'll hear me scream, almost sing (I'm still learning how to sing for real) and do all sorts of things (like make sense and talk about things that matter instead of how much gold I have to make up for what I'm lacking) that rappers rarely do.

I try to vary the music as well, most rap will take on the "maintained" attitude which has a very mellow almost emotionless vibe to it. Originally this was done on accident because of how many horrors the rappers had seen their hearts had become dead. Now people just copy it because they've forgotten why it was there in the first place. Most rock has lots of whiny lyrics or confusing beats and has very abstract lyrics. Lyrics like these are either intended to make you think, or hide the fact that little thought was put in them in the first place. Most techno is very...very...VERY repetitive. Reggae has some of the best rhythms and baselines to offer but the lyrics are never really all that focused on, and if the voice is great...I just don't know what the hell they're sayin. Most raggae songs I hear have vocals that seem to be there simply because 'they should be'. I took what I hated about each style and threw it away, then I put together what was left over... But I found that what I had wasn't enough to make anything great.

For a long time I held back my words and you could hear it in my music, I had the raw materials for something good...but was lacking something else. For a long time I had no idea what it was.

And all along the way people told me that if I hadn't figured it out then maybe it was time to give up. Apparently people expect an album to be made within a few months...fuckers.

But after a while I started to figure out the best thing for music. To this day it's hard to explain, but the best word for it is: empathy.

It's like acting, before you shoot a scene you have to step back and try to relate to the character you're becoming, you have to understand what that person would do in the situation, not what you would do. You have to find a time in your life when you felt the way you imagine the 'character' feeling.

Once when I was homeless I thought about suicide, just cause I had no idea how I was gonna get out of that situation, that was for like ten seconds. Really I've never wanted to commit suicide, but I put myself into the shoes of a person who would want to die in the song "Meaningless". Like an actor I became a person who...as far as anyone else is concerned had everything they could possibly want. What would drive a person with 'everything' to want to die? I put myself into that character and acted like I was in a movie, but it was a song.

And when you make music, try not to worry about the beat or the mastering as much as the content. As vindictive and cruel as people can be, overall they're very forgiving. Nobody honestly expects perfection from you. If what you have to say means nothing, but it sounds great, you'll be a hit for a few months and hopefully you've saved your money. But if what you say means the world to a select people, they'll continue to support you for years. If you're worried about getting rich, don't be, quality will overcome quantity in the end. Succeed so we ALL can open up a can a whoopass on the industry, because after all...

Isn't scaring stuck up rich people fun?

In short if you're the type of person that likes artists like OutKast, Nelly Fertado, Linkin Park, and other types with that "feel" then you're definitely going to like this music. So keep in touch while the album is being prepared.

Buy The Album... Spread the word...change the music...kill the crap.

-midnight sun-............

Now if you like what you're reading, and if you like what you've heard, then join the mailing list and be the first to know when the album is ready to be released. Also you'll pick up all kinds of great tips for ghetto recording, how to keep the right mindset in order to overcome doubt and how to stay focused when it's hardest.

Join The Mailing List : type "MIDNIGHTSUN: joining the mailing list" in the subject and then leave me a message with your email address.