Tag Archives: Review

ALBUM RELEASE: Latest Grits Vol. 1

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Click Here To Taste Them Latest Grits

My life goals for 2026 are mostly music related.

One goal was to figure out how to get my original songs onto streaming platforms like Spotify, etc
[x] Check.

The Latest Grits albums chronicle my musical experimentation.
Latest Grits, Vol. 1 is the wildly eclectic kickoff to this series.

There are songs I wrote to my mama, to lovers old & new, to my scowling neighbor, to no one but myself, to I have no idea because that was years ago & I don’t know now & I knew less then.

There’s one instrumental; an improvised piece on a borrowed banjo, captured on a peaceful day watching an Ohio snowfall.

There’s my imagining of a blackbox recording from a downed tourism spaceship, possibly caused by the cruise-ship-style dance number that can be heard rippling through the degraded, yet still somewhat danceable, audio. That one’s a treat. A fan asked what I sampled for some of the vocals/music. Nothing. Well, myself. Recording, distorting, playing, looping, collaging.

Volume 1 is a collection of 15 songs of unknown year, but around 2020, give or take.

These are songs that rose through 100’s of raw recording sessions & into my personal “Playable Jukebox”. That means that, at the time, each of these tracks captured something of what I deeply needed to express. Sure I could record new versions of (some of) these songs, but why?

The Latest Grits Project is specifically for releasing those captured recordings, letting the grit shine through.

That’s ^ no surprise to anyone who knows me. Raw honesty & authenticity are important to all I make, to all of my life.

The tracks are simply ordered alphabetically.

Any resemblance to an intentional transition from one song to the next is purely coincidental.

Though, I did title each song, so? Perhaps counter-intuitively, this ordered approach (which quickly reduced the number of decisions I needed to make) added an element of randomness.

You can give the composer/producer credit for the inevitable emotional arc of the album’s alphabetical tracks if you want.

GAME: Listen in reverse order

Because yeah, there’s a randomized arc, but what new curves crook up the road when the tracks are played in reverse order?

Track 15 down to Track 1?

What’s that arc?

Click Here To Taste Them Latest Grits

Song Release: “Unless Your Name Is Me”

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Don’t tell me how to feel
Unless you pay my bills
Don’t tell me who to be
Unless your name is me

Like all the songs I’ll be releasing, Unless Your Name Is Me exists in an infinite number of versions.

One measure I use to gauge whether or not lyrics are solid, is their genrebending capacity

Can I jam the poetry loud & aggressively, giving the lyrics a confrontational edge, charging with rhino energy?
Is the structure nimble, malleable enough, that the poetry could sweat its way through a Blues progression?
Will the syllables grow quiet, drift down feather-soft, wrapped in warmth, lulled into a lullaby?
Do I keep breaking my own heart, just a little, again, every time I play it?

This Down & Dirty Demo version of Unless Your Name Is Me specifically exists because of one person.

Months ago, I sent 2 co-workers (from the dayjob) a horribly early, rough cut of this song. That’s always scary: not just allowing, but causing, the professional & personal lives to collide. A long time ago, I gave into those niggling impulses that refuse to go away. Like many times before, this giving-into-a-gumption resulted in a positive turn.

My co-worker & part-time friend, Hallie, loved the song.

Now, Hallie is the coolest cheerleader I know. She believes in people, helps them succeed. She’s fun & bubbly & sometimes sassy, in the best sort of way. Hallie is also near-infinitely patient, offering so much grace to the people she helps. It’s easy to connect with Hallie. We don’t even have to try to make each other laugh, it just happens.

Hallie’s encouragement while this song was still in a very embryonic stage, gave me that extra push to keep working on it, to keep playing & workshopping it at Open Mics.

Creating is often a solitary activity. With visual art, music, whatever the medium, it’s the moment of an artist sharing their inner world with the outer world that feels the riskiest.

I took that risk with Hallie. Her enjoyment of the art I’d made confirmed for me that, yes, it was worth sharing. So now anyone who stumbles upon it, and feels some good vibes, should absolutely amplify those good vibes to the people all around them. It is so easy to make someone’s day just a hint brighter.

Hallie~

Howdy! Thanks for being you. You are the coolest cheerleader I know. You were in my mind as I recorded this version of Unless Your Name Is Me. Your positive energy, your love for people, your sassy self. I don’t know if you can hear the physical smile running through the song. If you can, it came from my thankfulness for your encouragement & the absolute joy of knowing you. You’re a gem.

~Lucas

Listen to the down & dirty demo version of Unless Your Name Is Me,

Simply search for the title, or LUCAS HARGIS on your favorite streaming platform.

Click below to listen on Spotify:

Song: “Unless Your Name Is Me”
Artist: Lucas Hargis

For your listening enjoyment, also available on YouTube.

Beta Comments: FREEBORN

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Holy FREEBORN, Batman!

Apologies for neglecting the blog posting over the last couple days. I have been churning out a chapter a day on FREEBORN. So far, I have been receiving amazing feedback from my betas. There have been a few minor issues I have corrected, but no major flaws.

Tonight, I received this as portion of some feedback from Tamara Hickman  http://tamarahickman.wordpress.com/ based on the first seven chapters. Of course, I took out the few ‘suggestions’ and just left in the positives for public consumption. 🙂

HOLY CRAP, MAN! Where is the rest? I need it!

I was sucked in, and couldn’t stop reading. There are large sections with no notes, and those are probably the places where I was completely enthralled by the story. If something jarred me out of the story, I noted it.

All of my preconceptions about this story are gone. I didn’t think that I could enjoy the story as much as I did. I love the characters, and their interactions with each other are fluid. The dialogue is sharp, and I can see distinct personalities in almost all of your characters. The introduction of the infected candystriper is genius, and I can’t wait to see how it plays out.

Your story is extremely dynamic, and there is never a moment where the friction/action/conflict stops. There is always something going on, driving the story, and I could tell that right away when it forced me to stay up until 1:04am, reading to the very last word. And then I wanted to cry when there was no more. =)

Holy Handgrenades, Bat Man! Hurry up and finish this book so I can get my claws on it!

Review: FREEBORN

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By chance, I happened upon an opportunity to share the first three chapters of FREEBORN with a stranger–Alexandra Davidoff. We ‘met’ in an online forum where I was seeking feedback on the Pitch. Things progressed from there, and I emailed her a draft. Today, I received this comment in my inbox.
 
Freeborn is an intriguing piece. I like your style of writing, there’s almost an element of poetry in with the descriptive parts that makes it easy for the reader to understand the thoughts and emotions of your MC. I’ve never read anything that’s similar, and that’s a good thing. You’re very unique. I loved the concept, it wouldn’t appeal to everyone but it’s originality made it addictive. I think the chain of events in the first chapter make for an addictive opening, and the interaction between the two characters, Adam and Katia is fantastic. I felt for Katia. Her sadness, her rage, her self doubt came alive with your narration. I loved how the infected bellies were vividly described. The scenes were definitely easy to see in my mind, and the characters were memorable. The dialogue was well balanced with the narration, not overpowering it; I personally like description over dialogue, but your style holds a great balance between the two and I think that would appeal to your readers very well. The plot is adventurous, filled with adrenaline. Things move fast but aren’t confusing. It was an easy story to read, and I found myself smiling back on certain scenes as I moved forward. You have a great sci-fi adventure tale in your hands.”
 
That kind of feeback is good to hear. It echoes comments from two other beta readers that have read through the first seven chapters. I am definitely encouraged to continue writing this story. On to chapter eight!