My favorite way to travel is by rail. We have a few rail lines in LA, and I like to take them whenever I can. The Metro Gold Line is one of the nicest with awesome views of DTLA as you travel over the 101 freeway. It’s a very calming ride, and I made this track to try and match that vibe.

I recently celebrated my birthday with a trip to the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific. I enjoyed all of the exhibits, but I was especially captivated by the jellyfish. I spent about 30 minutes watching these brainless, heartless creatures gracefully float around in their tanks. I took some video of them to share with you.

Paul Dateh’s new single “One for James” is available now!
Listen on YouTube – http://youtu.be/R85rpT0n6xA
iTunes – http://s.pauldateh.com/itunesone
Amazon – http://s.pauldateh.com/amazonone

Paul Dateh
official – http://pauldateh.com
soundcloud – http://soundcloud.com/pauldateh
tumblr – http://pauldateh.tumblr.com
facebook – http://facebook.com/pauldatehmusic
twitter – http://twitter.com/pauldateh

Music: “Estranged from Language” (coming soon!) – written & performed by Paul Dateh & Ken Belcher

Paul Dateh – http://pauldateh.com
Ken Belcher – http://kenbelcher.com

Twitter – http://twitter.com/pauldateh
Tumblr – http://pauldateh.tumblr.com
FB – http://facebook.com/pauldatehmusic

Thanks to everyone for an amazing 2011. see you in 2012!
Best wishes,
Paul

Listen to the A-Side: “One for James”.

Get the song on iTunes!
iTunes – http://s.pauldateh.com/itunesone
Amazon mp3 Store – http://s.pauldateh.com/amazonone

Also available on MOG, Spotify, & eMusic.

Fade Away
written & performed by paul dateh – http://pauldateh.com

artwork by joyce su – http://joycesu.com
mixing and production assistance by koichi sanchez – http://iworkthenightshift.com

Listen to the B-Side: “Fade Away“.

Get the song on iTunes!
iTunes – http://s.pauldateh.com/itunesone
Amazon mp3 Store – http://s.pauldateh.com/amazonone

Also available on MOG, Spotify, & eMusic.

One for James
written & performed by paul dateh – http://pauldateh.com

artwork by joyce su – http://joycesu.com

here’s the beautiful cover joyce su made for my upcoming single. official release date coming very soon. stay tuned!

The past two and a half years have been years of great change: a few of my friends got married, others had their first child, and others sadly have divorced. Zooming out to a larger view, the past two and a half years have brought to light incredible advances in medicine, science, and technology, but also some of the toughest financial and political crises our generation has ever known. Personally for me, one of the most significant events of the past two years was the death of my mentor James last December. Losing him has impacted my life in an unimaginably profound way.

James was the conductor of my middle school’s string orchestra, but he quickly become much more to me than just that. James became the person I knew I could always count on for help. Time after time, I would continually make a complete mess of my life, and James would always be there to help me put the pieces back together. This became our regular routine, and he practiced it regularly with me from my days as a hopelessly nerdy 8th grader, to my days as a rebellious college student, and to my current days as a (still) rebellious adult. He had a great skill for teaching, and he always found a way to turn my problems into valuable life lessons. He was a selfless teacher with a tremendous amount of patience. Knowing that I was incredibly stubborn, he never forced his ideas upon me, and he always let me think that I discovered the solutions to my problems on my own.

Two and a half years ago, James became ill with cancer. However, he wouldn’t fully admit the news to me for another year, and in the meantime he allowed me to selfishly continue running to him with my various life problems.

However, the lessons he would teach me started to appear odd and confusing. He later explained to me that he was teaching me lessons for the future — lessons that would hold no meaning for me until the very day they were fully experienced. Still not truly knowing how very ill he was, I cast away his strange words with a gust of frustration. He calmly smiled and patiently replied that I would one day understand.

Watching James’ health rapidly fail him over the last few months of his life was terribly painful. He lost a frightening amount of weight, and his strength quickly faded along with it. Yet he still fought to continue teaching me the life lessons I so desperately depended on him for. Sadly, the day for our very last lesson ultimately arrived, and James died two days afterward on December 14th, 2010.

Unsurprisingly, it took me a long while before I felt I was ready to write new material again. And when I finally did start writing, I quickly discovered my musical style had radically changed. There was understandably a great amount of darkness in my writing that hadn’t been there before, but there was also a new brightness that I had never before encountered.

At first, I didn’t know what to make of the new changes. The new material sounded so very different from my old material that I began to feel extremely anxious about sharing it. And so, I didn’t. I buried it and did my best to ignore that it even existed.

But once in a while, I felt strangely compelled to revisit the work and revise it. After many months of revisions, I eventually was able to complete two pieces. These two pieces are now the A and B sides of my upcoming single “One for James”, due for release in December. And yes, they are very different from anything I’ve previously released.

Until very recently, I was still feeling anxious about sharing the new material with anyone. That was until I realized exactly for whom I was actually writing these two pieces for.

They’re for James.

paul dateh’s new single “oneforjames” launches this december 2011. stay tuned for more details.

NANI // TRAILER 60s from Justin Tipping on Vimeo.

Ken Belcher and I recently composed an original music score for a short film entitled NANI. Check out the trailer!

The American Film Institute presents – NANI

Starring Tsai Chin (The Joy Luck Club) and introducing Johnny Ortiz

Oscar, a teenage graffiti artist, and Isabelle, an elderly nursing home resident, form an unlikely bond
through misadventures in graffiti.

Director: Justin Tipping
Writer: Justin Tipping & Joshua Beirne-Golden
Producer: West McDowell
Cinematographer: Soren Hiorth
Editor: Linda Jildmalm
Production Designer: Bonnie Bacevich
Sound Designer: Ryan Young
Original Music: Paul Dateh & Ken Belcher

Excluding percussion, this track is made entirely from elevator samples I recorded with my phone. Hope you enjoy it!

More music at http://pauldateh.com/music

Special thanks to Spring Arts Tower for letting me run around their building while pointing my phone at the walls!

Camera operator: Ernestor Garcia
Editing: Paul Dateh