Press

Here’s more in-depth information about Andy Hunt’s independent memes.

 

Far Flung Thoughts

The folks at the RPMChallenge set us all to the task of creating an entire album in the short month of February. This instrumental album is more in a progressive rock style.

Give a listen to Far Flung Thoughts

Twenty Eight Turns

My first RPMChallenge. I took some half-baked lyrics I’d written the November before, two written songs, and headed to the piano. This is the result: some pop, some rock, a jazz influence, and even a beer-bottle solo.

Give a listen to Twenty Eight Turns

Some notes on the songs:

Margarita the Maid is based on a true story that happened in NYC to close friends of one of my neighbors. Makes you think twice about leaving for a long vacation.

Élégie was a spur-of-the-moment idea to flesh out the 34 minutes of songs to 35 minutes—the minimum needed to meet the challenge. Despite the inauspicious origins, it’s a nice little interlude.

Caravan of One features my actual, unprocessed voice. I intended to use a vocal processor to sound more like Louis Armstrong, but ran into technical difficulties. In the interest of time, I just re-recorded it and tried to make my voice sound "different." I did; it scares the cats.

The best line in Shake My Fist was the last one written, about lint in his pocket, a poignant note about the stupidity of violence.

Wrong Side of the Door was inspired by our dog, who is always, always, wanting to be on the other side of the door, convinced life is somehow better there.

Nutjob is based on a true story about an older man who had a chance to do the right thing, and was just not into it.

Follow Me is probably my favorite piece of the whole album. The idea is that this young guy is setting out, leaving his home town for the big world out there, and asking his girl to come along for the adventure. He’s honest that there are no guarantees, from the world or from himself. Let’s go.

 

Unvarnished

I get to play out in public every now and then, usually as part of a larger group (6-9 pieces). But back in November 2010, I did a solo live concert with a couple of my friends. Now, when I play live I don’t have all the toys I have in the studio—it’s just me and the piano. So this live recording has all the usual artifacts of a live performance: clinkers, distortion in the recording, crowd noise and such. But it’s a lot of fun, so I decided to release that performance as a live recording. It’s kinda cool, raw, and well, unvarnished.

Give a listen to Unvarnished

 

Cold Summer Nights

Currently out of print.

What’s a ‘meme’?

I’ve always wondered, Obi Wan, what is a meme, anyway?

A meme is an atomic unit of idea that is transmitted from one individual to another. Now you know.

 

Biography

Andy Hunt is a noted software developer, consultant, author, and publisher with a passion for music.

Andy is the author and co-author of over a dozen books in the fields of software engineering, project management, and cognitive science. He and Dave Thomas founded the Pragmatic Bookshelf, publishing best-selling and award-winning titles for software developers, managers, and the geekararti.

He formed the independent memes in 2006. Andy’s style combines elements from bands such as Steely Dan, Pink Floyd, Styx, and plain old rock-n-roll and jazz standards.

Featuring local musicians, Andy records and produces the music from his studios in Raleigh, NC.

 

Studio & Gear

Andy is a recovering trumpet player and keyboardist. His favorite studio toys include instruments and gear from:

• Kurzweil
• Moog
• Korg
• Yamaha
• Bach
• Universal Audio
• Equator Audio