Wow. A lot of you voted this time around, I guess you all feel pretty passionate about your artwork. My artwork. Well, in this case, two people’s artwork which will be used to wrap around my artwork. Now I’ve just confused myself.

Anyhoo, behold, the winning album art design for The Democratically Elected Best of Matthew Ebel! Courtesy of Maria Priestley, this design took a narrow first place with 49 votes. I’ll be working with her and this design as I put together the first album I’d ever dare call my “Best of” collection. Stay tuned for the finished product!


In the mean time, here are the runners up… Taking second place with 48 votes, Steven Dougherty’s entry:

And another entry from Maria took third with 34 total votes:

Earlier this year I ran a series of polls to ask you what should go on my “Best Of” album. Boy, did you answer that call. Without further ado, here is the track listing for the soon-to-be-created Democratically Elected Best of Matthew Ebel:

• “I Wish I Were” from The Lives of Dexter Peterson
• “Everybody Needs a Robot” from Goodbye Planet Earth
• “Prayer For Danny” from Songs from the Vault, vol. 3
• “An Ordinary Guy” from Songs from the Vault, vol. 2
• “Night Train” from Songs from the Vault, vol. 1
• “Merry Christmas from Cell Block 2″ from The High Orbit Holiday Special
• “Latté Days & Porter Nights” from Beer & Coffee
• “Rain” from Filling The Pages

Not to be completely cut out of the process, though, I decided to add my own side: The Unilaterally Mandated Best of Matthew Ebel. While I may agree with some of the decisions you guys came to, I wanted to cherry pick my own from the remaining pool of songs:

• “The Last Pirate” from The Lives of Dexter Peterson
• “I Will Wait For You” from Goodbye Planet Earth
• “Let It Rain” from Songs from the Vault, vol. 3
• “On and On” from Songs from the Vault, vol. 2
• “Lost on Block Island” from Songs from the Vault, vol. 1
• “Trees” from Beer & Coffee
• “Sally Went Down” from Filling The Pages

Yeah, I didn’t add my own pick from the Christmas album, but since there are only 5 actual SONGS on that album I didn’t want to give away the store, you know? Besides, most of the fun of that project was the adventure anyway, and that’s just difficult to translate into a “Best of” format.

Now comes the tricky part… album artwork. Expect voting sooooooon…

STOP

You are not a machine.

Your natural genetic design does not tolerate 2-4 hours of travel per day,
8-12 hours of slave labor 5-6 days per week for whatever monetary compensation on 5-6 hours of sleep in a system built on penalistic principle and a life under judgmental surveillance.

Like it or not, you are human.

Stress, harassment, constant financial worries, fear, and a sense of inadequacy destroys the health of any human.

This is a scientific fact.

So why is it we accept and tolerate a system that in actual reality demands that you erase your needs and, in effect, commit a slow, joyless suicide for someone else’s profit?

You have a choice.
Stop pretending you don’t.

Quoted from an internet meme the source of which I can’t track down… but God, did it feel right for a Tuesday morning. This Too Shall Pass.

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!

I’ve decided that giving away Five Free Songs for joining my email list just isn’t enough any more… I want to give people an entire album for free! After 9 full-length album releases, it’s high time I put together a “Best Of” collection, but I need your feedback to figure out just what the “Best” really is!

Over the next few weeks I’ll be asking for your favorite tracks from 8 of my albums. Each poll will only be open for one week, so vote while you can and let me know what songs you’d share with someone who’s never heard me before!