collaborations.
Below you will find some music I’ve worked on with other artists.
poltergeist & kardinal sinn - purgatório
The third installment in a collaborative trilogy with Kelly (aka. Poltergyst, Poltergeist, Geist, K€££¥, Kelly Mac, Kelly Ryan, etc). “Purgatório” is our most epic album to date. This time, Kardinal Sinn was a main collaborator throughout the whole piece, and is featured on most of the tracks. Up-and-coming rapper, Leonardo, even makes a guest appearance on two of the tracks. All music engineered, mixed, and produced by me (aka. River of Blood), and all lyrics, vocals, creative direction, and found sound advice by Poltergeist and Kardinal Sinn. Hit to 1/4” tape and sonically-sweetened through old-school analog gear by The Lullabye Factory in Amsterdam. Recorded in the summer and early fall of 2022. Artwork by Masson. For fans of lofi, hifi, modern psychedelia, rap, pop displacement, audio collage, sound design, comedy, industrial, trip hop, spoken word, classical, pop culture references (TV / internet / movies), rare sneakers, Twilight Zone, Greek statues, and that special realm where musical genres blur together and become unrecognizable. This collection of music/lines is our collaborative reflection of an absurd time in history, where people (especially sensitive, creative types) often feel caught inside a strange perpetual state of cultural, spiritual, technological, and political purgatory. The only way we know how to push through the surrealism of this era is to express ourselves through art and music, talk mad shit on the microphone, and laugh our asses off in a makeshift home recording studio.
mazes - peace bridge
The fourth and final album by the band Mazes found my friends and I collaborating once again on a couple tracks. I provided background vocals. Gorgeous album, and it’s always a pleasure anytime I can work with these cats I knew from Chicago.
mazes - things i threw in the well (scott masson mix)
This was a fun remix I did of Mazes beautiful song “Things I Threw in the Well”. None of the remixers on this particular compilation were given individual stems. We just had to take the original stereo recording and go to town on making it different. Quite a challenge, but very rewarding and different from a normal remix album.
arsenal - lotuk
A great modern pop band from Belgium known as Arsenal hired me to write the melody and lyrics for their track “Estupendo”. I was also hired to sing it as well. The song’s animated video was featured on Perez Hilton’s website for awhile, as well as Kanye West’s site. It was recently licensed by a bank in Belgium in 2020. There’s some great footage of the band performing the song in front of a lot of people on Youtube as well.
The guys in the band had heard my band OFFICE over the intercom at a coffee house while they were on tour in California, and contacted my old manager to set up a collaboration because they thought my voice would work well with their music. It was a really fun project, and the music they sent me felt right immediately. I barely even had to spend a lot of time on it, because it was just one of those magical creative moments in life. They simply sent me a rough instrumental through email, and I wrote a song from the perspective of a person who misses their lover, and will travel any distance around the world to get them back. I figured “love” is a universal theme that everybody can stand behind, especially since I wasn’t familiar with Arsenal’s audience.
The music has sort of a house/euro-disco/world music flavor, so I made an attempt to channel Depeche Mode, Bee Gees, Human League, Everything But The Girl, etc….all of whom I adore. I also stuck with the more androgynous part of my singing voice, since it lended itself to a more worldly concept. I recorded the lead vocals and harmonies in my Chicago apartment in 2006, and did some minor structuring of their rough musical composition in order for my vocal melody to sit correctly within the music. Then I sent them my isolated vocal files through the internet for the guys to fly into the production. They fleshed out the recording and turned it into a bonafide “hit” in their country. Good times.
the oscillating fan club - oscillations of a beast
Psychedelic pop band from Detroit. I worked closely with the band as a “creative consultant”. I played some instruments, edited audio, mixed, co-produced, and sang backups on the album.
the juliets - the juliets
Baroque/chamber pop band from Detroit. I worked closely with the band as a drummer onstage, and as a “creative consultant” in the studio. I played some instruments, edited audio, mixed, co-produced, and sang backups on the album.
belterra - belterra
Electro pop music from Detroit. I worked closely with the artist as a “creative consultant”. I edited audio, mixed, and co-produced the album.
pink lightning - blue skies
Carnival avant-pop music from Detroit. I did co-production and mixed the tracks they recorded at another studio.
kelly - collection of lines
Avant-garde rap music from Detroit area. I produced, programmed, played instruments, mixed, edited audio, etc.
poltergyst - aaahhhhh!!!!
Avant-garde rap music from Detroit area. I produced, programmed, played instruments, mixed, edited audio, etc.
google yourself (page not found)
Written by Scott Masson and Katie Barkel. I produced, edited, sampled, and mixed the song.