If it ain’t broken, don’t’ fix it. Or in this case: If it works, don’t change it.

That’s what thought just now, while listening SAY SEA, the unchangeable element being the bass line. Yup, just three tones there, repeating over and over again. The extremely simple basis of the tune allowed me to use more daring chords, like E/C and F#/C. Just try ‘em and you’ll see.

Concerning the daring chords… This stand-up comedian fella said in one of his specials that he likes to write down absurd punch lines in a little piece of paper, put the scraps in a big bowl, and every now and then pick up one. He then has to make up the story (the joke) leading up to the previously written punch line.

I like the idea. In my case, the punch line would be for example, a really nasty pair of chords, which sounds really harsh when played on their own. I then have to build a framework to make those chords fit the tune. I’ve done exactly this in the past, and it worked great!

Another method I’ve succeessfully used is to produce two very different, even contradicting elements, and then try to combine them in some way. It may be tough, but the result is bound to be interesting.

Yeah… about the title of the tune… just learn finnish + add four dots and you’ll get the joke.

The “joke”.

Oh look, it’s december. You know what it means? (Two things)

That’s right. Räntä and sohjo.

Räntä is the heavy rain coming from the sky. It’s one part snow, one part water and one part screw you. It makes you soaking wet in a matter of seconds and if there’s any wind, it blinds you completely. You wearing a black overcoat? Not anymore! Bing, you’re a snowman now.

Sohjo is räntä’s evil counterpart. It forms when räntä hits the ground and joins hands with it’s brethren. Sohjo’s ultimate goal is to make you slip ‘n slide, although sometimes it settles for infiltrating your footwear, in case there’s any dry spots left. Sohjo + traffic = tons of fun for the whole family!

That’s december for you.

Also, SATUMAISTA. It tells a different tale, in E- and C-major.

Soul time! Not Brothers of Soul or “I shall devour your eternal soul” or souls-like-soul, but the groovy rhythm & blues kind with horn instruments and a vintage twist.

SOUL DUTY is the title, and why not!

To be a little more specific, I think the song is “algreenish soul”, without the magnificent vocals of course. It’s got very laid-back groove, something I connect with Al G. There’s also a teeny-weeny latin vibe going. You know the shaker and the rhythmic brass stuff.

Al is a rare occasion when I prefer listening best of-record rather than “real” albums, ‘cos there are a good bunch of mediocre songs in those albums. But you know, it happens when you record an album or two every year.

They really used to work back then. For example, in 1972 Deep Purple released an album, recorded an album to be released the following year, and played 126 shows around the world!

Modern artists, show some effort!

ETERNAL HYMN was a good 80% done, when I signaled a timeout. There was just too much happening in there. So, I removed the B-part altogether and expanded the original idea to cover the whole piece.

I picked up the B-part from the cutting room floor, because you never delete anything that can be used later, and then forgot the whole sketch until now. To be perfectly honest, it sounded like crap, so my decision to not include it turned out to be the correct one.

Maybe there’s something in there. Maybe the lump of dirt can be refined into a beautiful work of art. Maybe not.

We shall see.

Anyway, our tune of today is meditational synthesizer stuff with big chords. It’s everywhere and it has no hurry of going anywhere. So it’s like common cold.

What? No autumn pop this year?

Well shoot.

Instead we got TRIPLA. It’s pop rock, which should suffice. It may be a little more happy than normally, but whatever. It’s not like I have official rules regarding our famous autumn pop or anything.

Official rules for songs to be considered Autumn Pop (TM):

1) Must include guitars (mostly real physical ones)
2) Overall more plaintive than cheerful mood
3) Released during thermal autumn
4) Rules may be bent like those twisty balloons at the carnival

Yay! Rules!

Time for everyone’s favourite pagan ritual summoning holiday that has diminshed into a obnoxiously commercial and lukewarm puddle of marshmellows and lager, which still tries desperately to make us believe that we’ve been scared, and therefore entertained, by the yearly cashcrabbing, money-making, pumpkin-baking activity, which only leads to the feeling of total disillusionment and confusion what was the point of this sentence anyway!

When the time comes, Happy Halloween, folks!

NOTHING IS QUITE THERE is the title and it’s appropriate for the season. It slowly creeps in with a bang, bang & bang.

The movie I last saw in theater was “The Beyond” (1981) by the legendary smut-meister Lucio Fulci. (My last movie theater visit was like a month ago, not in 1981. It was a 4K super-duper remix) I think something from that movie carried over to our tune here. In spirit I mean, not in a taking musical influence sort of way, because the music in the movie was jazz-rock fusion, and mine’s not.

Yes, there’s some bangs (to the head), and then there’s some actual music. Off you go to the madness, in fun ofc.

Ahh, Italian horror films. There’s just something about them. Weird dubbing, unconventional plots & scores, (over)acting paired with imaginative photography, genuinely unsettling special effects, being very, very classy and trashy at the same time, and end credits that roll right after the last kill.

I think the starting point for ARPOET was the following:

– Use mostly arpeggiator synths
– Big, exotic chords
– Twist some knobs

Aaand the explanation for our three pointers there would be:

– When you press chords on keyboard, arpeggiator makes arpeggios of it, aka play the chord’s tones one at the time in a certain order
– Meaning chords with many, many individual tones in them
– Twist knobs, you know like DJ’s do – not like wrestlers do – hence altering the timbre

That’s it. The music itself is something like electronic art music to accompany time-skip videos, with Frank Zappa making special appearance in the role of the corner sun. Also, not scary, unlike…

There’s this Pigsy guy. We’ve met him before.

Who is he? What does he want? Why he doesn’t wear a cape? Why he just prances around like a darn fool?

Well, beats me.

Anyway, here’s PIGSYS RIVERSIDE ADVENTURE. It’s something that we in the music business like to call “silly stuff with fabricated real instruments & ummpah & stuff”. Plus, there’s some delightfully pointless prancing.

Coming soon: Pigsy Takes Manhattan, Pigsy: The New Blood and Pigsy vs. Freddy & Jason.

Dance music not intended to provide the set for dancing. Or sure it could if you’ve got restless feet, but I choose to stay put & place my trusty ol’ buttski safely on the rockin’ chair.

BIG SQUEEZE is story driven video game techno pop music extravaganza.

I’m picturing it all: 1ups, coins, loot, damsel in distress/prince in a predicament, fun boss, nasty boss, how is that even fair & NG+. And of course mutant space pirates platforming the medieval village, while steam-powered zeppelins split the sky of the psst-apocalyptic world.

“Don’t tell anyone it happened.”

Soundcheck is the ultimate bringer of ideas, cornucopia of riffy stuff unheard, and a pretty good situation to come up with something new! That’s when your musical defences are down, you’re just messing with an instrument without a plan or compass.

FEATHER FLOW came to me while doodling with a guitar: Playing E-major – adjusting the amp – playing A-major + a few notes here and there – adjusting the tone, reverb and so on – repeating the procedure until forgetting that you was supposed to look for a nice sound, not write a song.

Well, I’ll take it.

Also, the vibe and mood of the tune translated perfectly from my head into the tape. This is a pretty rare occasion. I usually hit very near the center, because it’s fun to leave some space for changing you mind during production. This time the path was unsurprising but pro.

I’ll take that 2.