It was 10 years ago today that my original compositions produced for the LIQUID IMAGINATION web zine first went live. Today I am reissuing all 16 tracks in one complete compilation under my instrumental music project Brandon: Unsung.
This featured music was composed, performed, programmed, produced and recorded by Brandon L. Rucker. Originally published on the web by Liquid Imagination web zine.
On December 1, 2009, John Arthur Miller (“JAM”), then-publisher of the online web zine LIQUID IMAGINATION, contacted me via email to, firstly, pile on enough kind words to make a grown man blush, and secondly, to discuss the possibility of merging my music-making abilities with the featured poetry published in the Liquid Imagination web zine. He had read my bio. He saw that I had spent over half my life playing music in various underground bands, and had evolved into something like a one-man musical franchise of sorts, composing, performing, recording and releasing my own original music all over the web as well as on CD.
Ultimately, I was asked to join LI’s amazing staff as the Music Composer/Coordinator, working very closely with then-managing editor (and now publisher) Sue Babcock. What a wonderful opportunity and journey it was. I remain truly honored and grateful for the opportunity, and I admit, quite proud of the work.
The way it worked was: a web page was created for each individual poem, with a layout creatively adorned by photos, graphics and the poem’s text. Once that was in place I then took inspiration from the words and images and composed the musical piece from my own unique interpretation of the whole — whether the results of my interpretation was accurate to the author’s intentions or not was not the point of the confluence and sum of the parts in conjunction.
I wrote more extensively about the process and each piece in an article published in the fifth issue of Liquid Imagination, which can be accessed via: The Synergy of Poetry and Music.
Coming soon: I have plenty more music to upload and reissue on Bandcamp for the ease of sharing.
