Song Fight!
These are tracks created for the weekly music contest Song Fight!. Song titles are given, and then prospective entrants have about a week to write and record songs based on those titles. Songs are then submitted, reviewed, and voted on. I haven't won yet, but I'm optimistic. All of the songs submitted under my own name are available here; collected on this page is my opinion the best of what I've done for the site.Accelerator
This wasn't finished, and so it wasn't submitted, but I did start an entry for "Accelerator." It's a great regret of mine that I couldn't find the words to finish it. I'm pretty proud of what I did get done.
Devotchka - Moscow, Idaho
I wrote the lyrics for this track, though Devotchka, AKA Feldspar, took at least one liberty. It's based on real events and circumstances.
Gonna Be Your Man
One of my most enduring songs, this has sort of a Lou Reed vibe in words and music both. My buddies Blue and Ken helped out and put together bass and drums to go with my singing and strumming. Here's the fight page.
I Like to Pretend
Another melancholic track, this one landed in the top 50%. Woooooo. Notably this is my first track in 3/4, and also I used a click track, and also I performed the vocals separately from the guitar. I think. Whatever.
Look Good in Black
This was my second Song Fight! entry, for the contest between April 9 and April 16, 2003. As is mentioned elsewhere I have a great personal affinity for what could be termed Suicide Girls types (link is NSFW). This song's about one such woman towards whom I make something of a faux pas.
Moscow, Idaho
In the fall of 2003 I moved from Meridian, Idaho to Moscow, Idaho, the home of the University of Idaho. I duly updated my location on the Song Fight! message board, and in January of the next year "Moscow, Idaho" was announced as a title. I felt obligated to write a track for it, and in fact I wrote two: my entry, and one for Feldspar who here entered under the alias Devotchka. My friend Stu played the solo and did the handclaps for this here.
Mumbo Jumbo
This track's based on a true story. The doughnuts for dinner part anyway. Here's the fight page.
Safety in Numbers
I did this track with Blue (guitar, vocal, lyrics by me, everything else including production and mixing by him.) Here's the fight page. We released it jointly as the Marcus Kellis Experience, which, naturally, is a very weak play on the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The Spirit World
My band, Theophilus Monk, and I came together in late March of 2004 and recorded this, a rumination on existence. I'm on lead vocals, Stu's on guitar, Casey's on keyboard. Stu is also the voice of God, and I wrote the lyrics. (The votes, sadly, were lost, but Josh Woodward was known to be the winner.)
Twenty-One
I did this while I was in the dorms. I was trying to get sort of a James Bond feel with the lyrics. There's this one bit in my vocal performance that I really like. Here's the fight page.
Waiting Takes Time
Johnny Cashpoint wrote some lyrics for me and I performed 'em. This one's dirty. Here's the fight page.