Nicolas Danielson's Blog

Woo! Today is the official release of Monkey Prism’s latest App, entitled Riley and the Magical Laundry Basket. RMLB is an interactive book for toddlers that my brother Chris and I created – I also had the TOTALLY fun job of sound design for the project…various dinosaurs, frogs, tons of monkeys and much more, it’s been a great adventure.

The art is by Nina Rouselle De Polonia, who has been simply amazing. Definitely hit her link to see her other work. We’re excited to have yet another project in the works with her already!

Help spread the word about this app, and if you’re so inclined, please give it a review it in the App Store. If my niece could talk right now, she’d totally recommend it. She looooves it!

Find on iTunes
Press Release

I was invited to do the sound design for my friend and musical collaborator Kate Tucker‘s new video…here it is! The song is Bullet Train, off her 2010 release White Horses. Thanks also to the badass Brianna Atwell for playing viola with me on the antique shop background music!

Moving Studios and Red Valise Recordings present a short film by Miriam Bennett. Featuring Kate Tucker and Darryl Dickenson.

Uncle Roman’s Jetboat is the new band that Tom, Charlie, Scott, Adrian and I have been doing…the band was named the same day as our 1st show, in Indianola, WA after a months-long battle to agree on a proper name. Luckily everybody was drunk and a local friend started talking about the Great Outdoors movie.

“Do you want to cruise the lake in comfort, or do you want to kick some butt on a jet boat?”

Damn right.

Come see us play at Chop Suey on August 2nd – It’ll be our 1st and final Seattle show since Tom is moving back to London and Charlie is moving to NYC. We just finished recording an EP this week and should have 1 track to give away for free at the show. See the vids below for a couple random clips from the recording. So excited to share these tracks!

August 2nd
Chop Suey Presents:
ETERNAL FAIR
Uncle Roman’s Jetboat (feat. former members of The Kindness Kind + Tom Beecham of The Raggedy Anns)
Gems
$8
8pm Doors / 21+

Hey All, Here’s the trailer for the movie Boy Wonder I told you about a few posts ago. The music is an old Kindness Kind song called Timeless…for some reason we never played it live, but it was always one of my favorites.

More later! Finishing up some mixes, as well as finalizing the sound design and foley for Kate Tucker’s video for her song Bullet Train, from White Horses. Deadline looming!

Talk soon.

Hi Friends,

Just a quick note letting you know that the final 6 tracks by The Kindness Kind are now up on iTunes for download! Check them out here.

I’ve also just begun mixing a group of demos for the collab I’m doing with Kate Tucker. Last week was a whirlwind of recording all the strings, as well as playing drums until my arms were nearly gone. It’s been awhile, and I’ve missed playing them. Looking forward to sharing these songs with you.

Oh, and check out the Videos page I just added…I’ll be adding more media to the page soon.

Bye.

Back on 5/21, I played piano with The Seattle Rock Orchestra in their Queen retrospective at the Moore Theatre. Here’s my favorite song of the night, as far as epic and crazy shit that makes my fingers tingle. March of the Black Queen is an experience. The lovely Tai Shan sings.

Every one of the singers completely killed it that night…one of which is Allen Stone. Here he is singing Love of My Life. Beautiful. Soulful. He is the real deal.

On a sidenote, I just returned from playing at the Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge, with SRO doing Radiohead. I played keys and electronic gadgets. Again, the singers…Tom Beecham, Noah Gunderson, Ian Williams and Kaylee Cole were AMAZING. Hopefully some videos will appear on YouTube soon. Also I have to say it was one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had in my life…thanks to everybody who made it great…the Raggedy Van crew rules.

N.

Busy and exciting times! New music, new bands, new goals, new…everything.

First off, I’ll be playing with the Seattle Rock Orchestra in their backing band this Saturday, May 21st at the Moore Theatre. SRO is paying homage to the early prog-rock craziness of Queen, then doing a full rundown of Night at the Opera. Some fabulous musicians and singers are involved…check it out if you’re in the area!

Also SRO-related, I’ll be playing keys/electronics during their Radiohead tribute show at Sasquatch Music Festival at the Gorge on May 28th. It’s going to be a hell of a way to spend my birthday. Camping? Yes please. Tickets have been sold out for awhile, so hopefully you have one.

Now here’s a wordy run-down of life:

A bit earlier today I ran across a page scribbled front to back with random thoughts I had about the word primordial. That random stream of consciousness triggered a slew of demo songs that will be put somewhere soon as part of Kate + Nikku. We’ve got 4 of 11′ish songs fully demoed out – I just need to finish touching up some piano, and record the strings (with the fabulous Brianna Atwell). Excited!

Scott, Charlie, Adrian and I are forging ahead post-TKK and writing new music…right now we’re working with a singer named Tom Beecham, formerly of the Raggedy Anns – you’ll hear of him, he’s fantastic. So far we’ve got 9 songs in various states of completion, and are aiming to have an EP done by late summer.

Speaking of The Kindness Kind, we have a couple songs in this movie that’s been making the festival rounds…and seems to be doing awesomely. It’s called Boy Wonder…check out the trailer here and listen to our song Timeless. I’m hoping we’ll be seeing it in Seattle at some point.

Also, Monkey Prism is working on a couple of new games as well…i’ll keep you updated as that progresses. Somewhat recently we released the official Peanut Butter Jelly Time app….based on the infamous viral video of the early 00′s, of course. It’s a freebie and it’s gotten a tooooon of downloads. Check it…it’s also been proven to calm crying babies.

It feels a bit odd to be in the beginning stages of multiple projects at the same time, after having a consistent group for 6 years…but that is a sign of new and exciting things. 2011 is square one on all accounts – after some adjustments, I’m used to it and life is good. As a certain badass Roman Emperor said, “be your own savior while you can.”

There we have it! I’ll try to write more often.

N.

2010. What a wild ride, culminating with the end of my band, The Kindness Kind. But now is the time for new things for everybody. If you’d like a free download of our final 6 songs, go here:
The Kindness Kind – The End Tracks
(Download and Unzip. Mp3′s)

Share them if you’d like – I’m happy they will see the light of day in some way! Our other 2 albums will remain available on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

2011 is mostly a squeaky-clean slate. So what is next??

I’m collaborating on a new project with Kate Tucker, which we’re doing remotely as she’s living in NYC these days. Very excited about it! Kate + Nikku.

I’m also continuing to work on more instrumental songs, I have a few new tracks I’m working on (with David Balatero on bass – from Operation ID), and should have them available in the next month or 2. There’s a few tracks from last summer in the player on the right for now.

There’s also a new iPhone/iPad/etc game in the works. We’ve got a great concept and a great team put together, with the programmers in San Diego, the artist in NYC, and me doing sound from up here in Seattle. It’s a little more family friendly than the last. Ok, a LOT more. :)

Finally, I’ll be appearing with the Seattle Rock Orchestra for the rest of their season at the Moore Theatre – next up, Radiohead.

Oh actually….LASTLY….old TKK mates Charles, Scott, Adrian and I are talking about a new band in 2011. Let you know.

Hi! Updates are happening – in the meantime, please check to the right for a music player.

If you’re interested in using a track, please inquire at info[at]nicdanielson.com and I will get back to you.