Today’s Therapy: Ronald Jenkees’ Days Away

You are in for an electronic treat today folks, for today is the amazingly magnificent, wonderfully talented Ronald Jenkees! I was first introduced to him via a viral video sent to me four years ago and, oh man, is it fun to watch Ronald play. You can really tell how much he enjoys it.

Love the introduction “Hey Youtubes! Thanks for watching!”, it gives me a sense that he is a very genuine and friendly person. I also love the progression of this song, it somehow manages to become increasingly more epic as it plays. Special thanks to STS9 for composing the backtrack that Jenkees solos over.

Well four years later (and 2 amusing albums later), we are lucky to receive his newest edition to the music world: Days Away. Now by this point I had high expectations, I mean how can you top his older rap song “It’s Gettin Rowdy”, as well as the keyboard solo in “Clutter”. I even wrote a rap song myself overtop of the instrumentals from “The Sunfish Song”. Maybe I’ll send it to him one day and see if he comments on it. That would be so cool if he did! But as Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 once told me… “Out with the old in the new”, so enough about the old stuff!

This album was much heavier on the heart-thumping mechanical keyboard sound than his previous work. He tends to use this effect for the chord progression while throwing a couple “8-bit” melodies which intertwine beautifully to create the full electronic sound. I have to admit, this gains the nostalgia factor from all those nintendo games I used to play (and still do, who am I kidding). If you have checked out the bios page from your writers (please do!), then you know I’m a huge fan of bends on the guitar. Jenkees incorporates this style in his writing by using the pitch bender on his keyboard to create his guitar solos featured in my favourite song off the album, “Red Lemonade Remixed”. Yes, he remixed his own song which is also on this album, but I prefer the remix.

I enjoyed the melody in this song because the notes he chooses to sustain are perfect choices. Also, LISTEN TO THE BENDS! Ronald explains that this song “Came from a place of jam, and that place…I don’t have a map for it, but we’ll see if we can go there today”. I wanted to say that he clearly has this fabled map and refuses to share the knowledge and melodic powers he has gained with the rest of the world…but he seems WAYYY too nice to hold onto the secret for himself.

What more can I say about this independent artist other than thank you for this wonderful music that you’ve created and thanks for all the hard work you put into making a career out of something you clearly love. Truly inspirational Ronald, I cannot wait to hear what you come up with next.

– Karly D