2024 was a time of exponential growth  for all us of here at Earthstar. The winds of change blew from every direction – always pushing forward.

*Magen Buse*

So this happened 2024 …We started the year with super skilled singer/songwriter/photographer Magen Buse. She had come in to wrap up some tracks on the first single “just us two” by her band Mage & the Daydreams. Magen is OG Earthstar family and goes way back with us to the early years (Flower Punks) when we were first getting our studio mojo on.

 

*Siren Ortega*

Siren Ortega returned in March to complete her 2nd album Love, Siren… just in time for her 12th birthday. This kid is so prolific that she can really give hope for the future of our society. I don’t think that I had achieved her level of sociological awareness until my early 20’s. As would be suspected, she has already written the material for her 3rd album & I can only imagine the volume of material this kid is going to leave behind. One thing that really helps is that she has 2 unbelievably supportive parents – one of whom is also quite successful with her own music (mom aka Princess Superstar).

In addition to her writing, Siren plays all of the instruments, comes up with gorgeous harmonies on the spot and this time, she even recorded 2 of the songs on this album by herself at home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Minimally Invasive*

JX had been contacted by former client Ben Sainsbury to co-write & produce a couple of songs for a creepy new video game game called Minimally Invasive. The initial plan had been pretty low key until we recruited drummer Dave Abbruzzese (Pearljam), bassist Scott Reeder (Fireball Ministry, Kyuss), vocalist Royston Langdon (Spacehog), vocalist (& JX’s former band-mate) Harry “the Dog” Bridgen and longtime friend & OG earthstar family member Dana Lee Anderson.

We accidentally created a slamming all-star band.

We started with just 2 songs but they were coming out so good that we added one more. Afterwards, Royston & JX would also end up being voiceover talent in the game itself. This project was lots of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Dani Felt*

Music industry force of nature Dani Felt came in & did some epic vocals on her upcoming single “Superhero”. Dani was a welcome guest at Earthstar courtesy of Pandion Music Foundation.

*You + Me*

“You + Me” is a truly special project between longtime friends Alecia Moore (aka Pink) & Dallas Taylor (City & Color). We did their first album Rose Ave. here in 2014 & it is such beautiful expression of an intimate emotional journey that this duo has taken together. For each of them, this album represents a sincere & intimate departure from what they may be doing with their successful ‘brands”. They were accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Matt Kelly For this project, they were joined by engineer Simon Gooding.

 

*Ariana Savalas*

Vocal powerhouse Ariana Savalas (Postmodern Jukebox) wrapped up a mix on a track that she had previously recorded here. Unfortunately, she was in Paris so it was a remote session & we didn’t get a visit from her teen heartthrob puppy dog Ludwig.

*Jamie Sorrentini*

Jamie Sorrentini returned and graced with her mystical music & vocals. This time she was accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Ram Dass.

*Vicky Mathis Curtis*

Songwriter Vicky Curtis brought her uber talented brother Stuart Mathis in to work on a couple of songs that she is writing. She was joined by co-writer James Whelan,

*Colleen Stewart & Sarah Christine*

Songwriters Colleen Stewart (rad keyboardist) & Sarah Christine came in to do some gorgeous vocals on a cool project that they were collaborating on.

*Kareem El Sawy*

Singer/songwriter & neighbor Kareem El Sawy came by for a couple of sessions recording some great acoustic guitar & vocal pieces.

*Itai Schwartz*

Producer/mixer Itai Schwartz showed up & knocked out a complete jingle in one afternoon.

*Jada Rose*

Jada Rose has been ongoing project for the last couple of years. Unexpectedly, Jada experienced a serious artistic & stylistic transformation over the course of the last year. The lyrics & vocals that we started off the year with sound nothing like what we ended with. This woman’s style has been rapidly evolving at an exponential rate.

Her most recent project (which would be my last full album at Earthstar) included a whole new crowd of talent & style. We wanted to create an old-school, live album featuring older New Orleans flavored grooves. We found a fantastic crew of road dogs – these cats are constantly gigging & making a schedule with them was like herding cats. It was so worth it. When it all came together, it was pretty magical & we knocked out 16 tracks. It was also fun not being the oldest person in the room for a change. I don’t think that Jada will ever be able to approach recording any other way but live from here out. We’re hoping to release sometime in 2025. Guest musicians were drummer Tom Fillman, bassist Vince Tividad, guitarists Billy Watts & Cary Park, keyboards John “JT” Thomas with 2 amazing soloists: harp master Jimmy Z & Fiddle Sorceress Aubrey Richmond.

  

*Mark Wilder*

Mark Wilder joined us in late November for a vocal session with Trevan McClure. Mark always shows up with exceptional vocalists & Trevan absolutely rose to the occasion. This would also be my last session before I escaped back into the wild.

*Azar Lawrence*

We closed out the year with a high powered gathering led by jazz legend Azar Lawrence (Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner) who brought in a magnificent rhythm section and threw down some gorgeous tracks. Producer/engineer Adam Moseley was at the wheel.

 

Joining Azar were Yayo Morales, Brian Swartz, Gerald Brown, guitarist Takahito TAKA Mori, Robert Turner, Lynne Fiddmont, & Tracy D Hannah.

1 single (cool cover of Lovesong by The Cure) with artist Mikayla

 

1  double album called Galactic Poem with Earthstar improvisational band Portizar along with drummer/artist Gregory Beylerian, JX & composers Juan Luqui & Nico Borromeo.

 

1 album called Amazonia with Farmer Dave for their band Californiosos.

*Rebecca Trujillo – Vest*

Mrs. Nonstop – Since the last blog one year ago, Rebecca Vest still doesn’t have any blank spots on her calendar.

Beginning with the music, this year she released the album “Heartful of Peace” by Osmunda Music:

This album is a collaboration with Rebecca’s longtime sister/friend Abby Wills. It is directly integrated into a wellness curriculum which is available to the general public.

When not momming or making music, the rest of her free time goes to her non-profit Pandion Music Foundation (which in itself is also nonstop).

In addition to 2 live broadcasts per week, they also hosted 3 separate events here at the studio:

1 – Sip & Supe in collaboration with 2Indie – that evening, we were host to guest speaker music supervisor Jordan Young.

2 – A 3 day Summer Teen Camp benefitting our local, underserved youth population. A crash course for the kids in collaboration, music production & just working together as a team. It was a smashing success & likely to be the first of many.

 

3 – Sam’s Recording Academy – a workshop run by Sam Knaak for the 3rd year running.

 

*The passing of the torch*

Over the last 14 years,

I have worn many hats here & have left just them all behind for the next generation of those who will be tasked with stewardship of this magical place I even wrote a 30+ page instruction manual for the entire property before leaving ;).

I am passing the hats (one at a time) to the new studio manager Dane Sandborg who is either brave or insane enough to accept the challenge. I’m sure that in time, he too will be wearing more of the hats (or may have to recruit others for the fashion show) but it’s a tremendous amount of new input with a massive learning curve… so please go easy on him. Dane is an exceptional bassist & is beginning to flex his production muscle as well. He’s got exceptional people skills & that is 90% of the gig.

All hats off & wishing my Earthstar clan the very bestest!

*The road goes ever on & on*

As I escape to the quiet forest, I can’t help but to feel a ton of gratitude for all of the amazing experiences & all the lessons that I have had here with such a diverse group of incredibly talented creatives.

Thank you all!

AS WE CLOSE OUT THIS YEAR & BRING IN 2025, HERE’S THE LAST WORD FROM THE EARTHSTAR FAMILY:

LIVE MORE, LOVE MORE, LAUGH MORE.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!