Playlist for Odes to My Triceratops, Vol. 4

I’ve created a YouTube playlist for all the videos of songs belonging to the fourth album of William Griffin’s story, in the order that they will appear in the final album. I have yet to produce all the songs, but it’s going great. The final album will only contain the best song contained in each of these videos, so this playlist is the only way of experiencing the extended album with all variations.

Link to the playlist

New song “Come and Die (reggaeton version)” from Odes to My Triceratops, Vol. 4

I never thought I would produce reggaeton versions of one of my song lyrics, given that the genre annoys the hell out of me whenever people of certain backgrounds blast it out of their cars, or when I’m forced to listen to it in many neighborhood grocery stores. But these two songs fit the vibe and lyrics very well, in part because it doesn’t sound entirely like traditional reggaeton.

New song “Come and Die (northern soul version)” from Odes to My Triceratops, Vol. 4

To produce these songs from lyrics already finished, I go through a disciplined mapping of what each part of the lyrics intends emotionally, then I execute a comprehensive sweep of more than 600 musical genres to see which would capture the specific emotional needs. I shortlist that to about six main candidates (sometimes mixes of adjacent genres) and ten reserves. For most song lyrics, I’m lucky if I get two genres that are true matches. For this song, “Come and Die,” I’ve ended up with an absurd number of bangers. More versions to come. It’s even stranger when I consider that this used to be the first half of the poem titled “Rex the Wrecker,” not an independent song.