Jacob Earl

The Beach, by Jacob Earl from the album Cold Hearts, Old Hearts

Today is the 13th anniversary of my first RPM Challenge: Cold Hearts, Old Hearts. It is a semi-autobiographical shoegaze-y album about love, travelling, and growing old. The last track, The Beach is a very short, moody, instrumental outro, that I conceived of at the old quarry in Killarney, Ontario.

Flesh and the Hunt, by Jacob Earl from the album Flesh and the Hunt

Yesterday was the 12 year anniversary of Flesh and the Hunt, my 2nd RPM Challenge and one of my more popular releases. The title track is a longer song; a slow lilting build up to an electropop, glitch-hop beat. Thematically this song ties the album together, a concept of harshness of physical life.

Auntz And Unclez, by Jacob Earl from the album EDWARD

4 years ago I released EDWARD, a short story about cancer. Clocking at just over 11 minutes (5 songs), it's one of my shortest albums, mostly about the death of my Uncle Chris, who's been gone 19 years now. The 2nd track (Auntz And Unclez) is not a subtle parable; it's about death of our loved ones.

3 years ago I released my 49th album, A darkness fell upon me. I released it as a ltd edition cassette as well as digitally. It was about my struggle with chronic pancreatitis and ED. Cough It Up is one of my fav tracks I've written, a gritty alt-country acoustic ditty with incisive visceral lyrics.

4 years ago I released Drumz And A Baalloonn, the sister album to Silly Little Sacrifices. The third song on the album is Kissez; one of the best songs I've ever written and recorded. Underpinned by a deep bass groove and minimalist beats, the swelling electric guitar seeps in with perfect lyrics.

16 years ago I released Had We Met In Another Life. This was actually a serial blog release and I think I released the first track originally Jan 31, 2010, and subsequently put all tracks as my first ever Bandcamp album. The title track is my fav, a lamenting ballad for my uncle who died of cancer.

Cock Fights, by Jacob Earl from the album Silly Little Sacrifices

Happy 2026! Yesterday was the 4 year anniversary of one of my fav albums I've made, Silly Little Sacrifices. And it features one of my best songs ever, Cock Fights. It's a rap-glitch adjacent ditty held together with a spiralling ukulele riff and breathy drums, underpinned with a live clarinet wail.

ChemicalZ, by Jacob Earl from the album ChemicalZ

Today is the 2 year anniversary of my 52nd album ChemicalZ. It came together very quickly at the end of 2023. The title track is a raw little homage to chronic pain, being queer, and all the little mitigations we make to enjoy a life that is sometimes very painful. It features very reverb-y ukulele.

Because We Didn't Look Back, by Jacob Earl from the album Because We Didn't Look Back

20 years ago I released Because We Didn't Look Back. It's not a good album! The songwriting is solid, but I was trying to experiment too much with production and glitchy beats, and it comes off as amateur and inconsistent at best. The title track is a nice lofi gem about the end of a relationship.

Limited Light, by Jacob Earl from the album As Surely As All This

Today is the 12th anniversary of my acoustronica album As Surely As All This. My fav track is Limited Light. Clocking in at barely over a minute and a half, it's a simple 2-chord strum with heavy dark synth backbeat. Thematically it's about struggling with being an artist and wanting a better world.

The Wolf Queen, by Jacob Earl from the album The Empire

8 years ago I released The Empire, a concept album about Skyrim. It was originally an RPM Challenge, recorded in February, but I didn't finish in time. I came back to it later that year, finished the lyrics and vocals, and left some tracks instrumental. The Wolf Queen is my fav song from The Empire.

Twenty-five, by Jacob Earl from the album JUST THIS ONCE

Yesterday I dropped my 60th album JUST THIS ONCE. The first track, Twenty-five is my fav; one of my best songs to date. It is a quintessential sad bop. Synth and bass-driven with an achey lead guitar and clarinet coda, it is about fading memory and nostalgia. Notably there is no chorus, just verse.

White Fux, by Jacob Earl from the album White Fux

6 years ago I released my mini instrumental album White Fux. When I wrote Chop Off The Head, I recorded 20 songs, and 5 of the songs were outtakes. They somehow didn't fit on Chop Off The Head, and I had no lyrics for them, but I thought these brackish glitchy tracks deserved a release of their own.

Oryx, by Jesse Dangerously; Jacob Earl from the album Before The Flood

11 years ago I released Before The Flood, my first of two cassettes based on Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy. Oryx is about the titular character from the first book, Oryx and Crake, narrated from the perspective of the obsessive Snowman (Jimmy). @dangerously.ca helped me weave a great rap vibe.

24 Views of Mount Fuji, by Jacob Earl from the album In Reel Time

18 years ago today I released In Reel Time; probably one of my worst albums. It was a very depressing time in my life (more than usual) and I was struggling with my songwriting and production. I decided to re-record 24 Views of Mount Fuji, originally on my solo debut Tigers. It's a glitchy version.

New Echoes, by Jacob Earl from the album New Echoes

Today is the 3 year anniversary of my album New Echoes. I wrote and recorded this album while suffering chronic pancreatitis. It's about physical and emotional pain. The title track summarizes my feelings:
"So far away from it now
I'm like a piece of myself
Always looking in
To remember the guilt"

We Have Lost Contact, by Jacob Earl from the album We Have Lost Contact

A few days ago was the 17th anniversary of my album We Have Lost Contact; part of a series of 3 mini albums released in 2008. The title track is one of the simplest songs I've written, and also one of my favs. I've recorded several versions and the original is by far not the best, but it was first!

Secret Skin, by Jacob Earl from the album Chop Off The Head

6 years ago I released Chop Off The Head. I recorded 20 songs and pared it down to 15. Secret Skin was one of the first and favs. It's a great glitch-rap synth uke bop that I originally wanted @dangerously.ca on but it didn't pan out. But I love my lyrics and delivery on this song, so it worked out.

Underground, by Jacob Earl from the album The Joy

8 years ago today I released my mini album, The Joy. With only 4 songs and clocking in around 15 minutes, it is one of my shorter albums, and probably one of my least favs. The standout track is Underground, a sparse minimalist electro beat with repetitive mantra-like lyrics and a looping uke riff.

Insomnia, by Jacob Earl from the album ANXIETY

7 years ago I released my shortest album, ANXIETY. It's a concept piece about struggles with mental health and embracing neurodivergence. Each of the 10 songs is only 1 minute long for easy digestion. One of my favs is Insomnia; autobiographical, as I used to suffer a lot with chronic sleep issues.

Blood Of A Young Wolf, by Jacob Earl from the album BLOOD BLOOD

4 years ago I released my album BLOOD BLOOD, a collection of cover songs. It includes my interpretations of tracks by Arab Strap, Young Fathers, Charlotte Cardin, Songs: Ohia, Okkervil River, and more. One of my favs is my ukulele version of Blood Of A Young Wolf by Canadian hip hop artist Buck 65.

Ghost Stories, by Jacob Earl and Damn Selene 2 track album

6 years ago I released the double single Ghost Stories: two tracks originally composed circa 2015 and co-written with my friend Damn Selene, who wrote the lyrics and did vocals while I produced the music. This became the first single for my album Chop Off The Head. These ditties are short and sweet.

Byzantium, by Jacob Earl from the album Reincarnations

8 years ago I released Reincarnations, a redux of a serial electronica blog I originally released 2009-2013. The concept is love through the ages in different reincarnations. Byzantium was about the philosopher Philo, imagining him falling in love and having a tryst while writing engineering works.

Winter, by Jacob Earl from the album The Post.Script Project

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of The Post.Script Project; a weekend in a studio with my best buds helping me create my first "solo" effort. Winter was recorded with me on bass, Ozzy on drums and guitar, and Jennifer on vox. She did about 4 or 5 takes, and Dave strung them all together expertly.

Choke, by Jacob Earl from the album Horizontals

Recently I wrote about my serial album Horizontals, originally released in blog format 2010-13. The 3rd track, Choke, came 15 years ago and is maybe my fav song I made during this time. It was one of my first forays into rap-adjacent music and I love my vocals, beatmaking, and live instrumentation.

Promises, Promises, by Jacob Earl from the album GIFTS

Today is the 3-year anniversary of my album GIFTS; a dark and grieving reflection on giving and receiving. Promises, Promises is a plodding, dirge-like waltz, underpinned with lilting ukulele strums and wailing clarinet.
"Wanting the Rapture didn't bring it
Hope doesn't come just 'cuz you sing it".

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, by Jacob Earl from the album YAWN

Yesterday was the 2-year anniversary of YAWN. The album tag-line is "An exploration of dark nothingness". I got very sick in 2022 and also lost my heartdog. When I came out the other end, my depression and grief consumed me. Let Sleeping Dogs Lie, with its angry riffs and sad lyrics, sums it all up.

Fairytales, by Sonora from the album Road 44

Road 44 came out 23 years ago today. At 6 songs, it's a seemingly short album, but packs a wallop with over 30 minutes of blistering wall-of-noise concept pop. Fairytales is an early piece we composed together; at least 2 demo versions exist, and I still love the lyrics and driving bassline I wrote.

Wild Life, by Jacob Earl from the album Dark Dreams

5 years ago I released Dark Dreams, a short album of new versions of older songs. Wild Life was originally released in 2008 on my album Old Habits Die Hard. The first two stanzas are tattoed on my arms as a memento mori to my uncle who passed away of Cancer in 2007. The song is about living for now.

Curtains Drawn, by Jacob Earl from the album D4N13L

A year ago I released D4N13L, my 56th album; an autobiography of grief and sickness. It took me a year and a half to make and I almost shelved it. The final track on the album is Curtains Drawn, a minimalist soundscape with spoken word style vox, about all the time I spent in the hospital last year.