So, I was visiting some familiar places back in Northrend.

I rode my trusty wolfy like heck, all across the continent. I met some people, ate some cheese, and let the lightning flash.

The weather was mostly lovely, albeit a bit cold. On specially lazy days, I enjoyed sitting on the pier with my fishing pole. Then I got back to bullying some piggies and help strangers to find their lost luggage.

It was all fun – for about 30 days. Then I was happy to get back home.

Afterwards – this was weeks after my return – it turned out, that a humble musical thing had followed me home. I recognized it… I think I first heard the thing in Dragonblight… Yes, I think that’s what the place was called. Then I casted my spell and made BLOOMINGUS to come alive.

I also considered getting some letters on top of my head, that says “salty”. But after a serious thinking – of about 1.1 seconds – I decided not to. Because I’m not insane.

No wait, I am!

Earwormed in 2022:

– By-Tor And The Snow Dog by The Rush (again?)
– Mother People by Mothers of Invention
– Secret Messages by ELO (again?)
– Every song by Genesis and Aphrodite’s Child (again and again)
– Every second song by the Move
– The Blues Walk (the theme of “Levyraati”), with lyrics of my own (“ei se mitään…”)
– Beat It by Mike Jackson (the stupid, but oh so lovely bass part)

So much musical stuff that harassed me…

On the other hand, TADAA didn’t bother me at all. In fact, I didn’t even remember I had such a tune.

That’s something we musicians like to call, “being professional”.

TL;DR:

From now on, there will be 1 less tune per month.

The Longer Version:

Well, not much to say. Minus one musical object per month really summarizes the whole message here.

The answer to the question “why?” is just as obvious. I am in dire need of the most valuable currency there is, time. By giving myself every now and then a few days off of producing music for kongano, I gain the equal amount of time to do something else. Like music!

The “no-update-week” will be the last of the month.

And hey, some music for ye: RYOKALE.

Catch!

A bit early now, aren’t we?

Yes, yes we are!

Yeah, I wanted to do the update, before heading out the Christmas land, removing the cape of Arki.

So, here’s something that’s relatively suitable for the season: ORGAN WERK OPUS 525 IN C MINOR. No further explanation in needed.

Regarding the headline of this post, yes, I was thinking that tomorrow’s the big day, as well as the Tim Burton movie, but also the song: “The Night Before” is an early Beatles song, from the “Help” album and the movie. Great song and great guitar solo! I’m going to listen it right away.

Happy holidays everyone! See you next year.

The name of the game is EVERPOP. (A little joke there)

At first – just a second ago – I wrote the title on the tune with two o’s… And it made me much more amused than it really should…

Anyway, the tune is fun. It’s vintage alright, and I tried to make it sound as organic as possible. It has basically two parts that keep on repeating, with some variation on instrumentation.

Of the two parts, the theme 1 is definitely more dominant.

Smiley-smiley.

Also (overly) enthusiastic drum stuff! That is good.

Major is happy and minor is sad. Right? (Major and minor in music, that is)

No. It’s all in the context of the music and listeners brain.

You can fill a song with bright major chords and clear melodies, but if the tune’s beat is sticky and overall feel dark, and you spice the whole thing up with lyrics about loss & desperation, you get something that really isn’t happy at all.

The folk music of Balkan – on the other hand – is filled with minor chords and melancholia, but the rhythm in that music is very often so lively, that sadness is the last thing on your mind. (I’m counting out the lyrics here, because I only speak ‘n read Canadian & Cimmerian)

DUMMY IN THE HEAT features a lot of diminished chords & intervals, which are like double minors – two minor thirds on top of another. And the tune’s mood is hardly a sad one.

All in the context, man.

And your brain.

Let me presente ye, le canticle christmas – se: LA DI LA LAND.

It’s definitely something, I like to call “8-bit orchestral”. I quite recently got a new piece of software containing that kind of sounds, and making the tune was a perfect way to really get to know it’s secrets.

There’s bells and cling-clong and elves and magic in the air and stuff. (“The stuff” being 8-bit strings and flutes and bassoons and harps and whatnot)

Merry december folks!

Ok so, SMELL OF THE IRON was supposed to a real, tangible bass in it… It’s just… I made a demo bass track, which was nice to have there, when I was recording guitars… And when I was done recording ‘em, I noticed that I liked the synth bass track! It’s synthetic alright – much more than I intended – but it provided great balance to the dark & bassy guitars, that were after all the core of the tune.

So, that’s why.

Explanation accepted. You are forgiven.

Thanks man!

Coming up next week: Not metal!

“Thumb piano stuff”, I said to myself the other morning.

Then I did some googling.

I was already aware that thumb piano (or finger piano) is the same thing as kalimba, the latter being the official name of the commercially available product. Kalimba is of course based on the East & South African instrument Mbira (or ikembe).

Then I listened some authentic finger piano music.

What I got out of it was:

– Melodies aren’t very “melodic”, they just sort of float there
– No “strong” chordal stuff, meaning… lots of chords with major 3rd or 5th (interval) as a bass note
– Lots of repetition

Then I placed my hands on the keyboard and started messing around. Uncharacteristically for me, I barely used any quantization (making every note’s time exact). I wanted to keep the tune organic & lively.

So, that’s where FISH IN THE WATER came from.

ONE TRICK PONY is pretty much a one trick pony, because that’s what it is.

That’s it, thank you, goodnight everyone!

Ok, a few more words: The single-minded trickiness was just how it turned out to be. Adding stuff is not always the solution.

About the saying, this is the most obvious idiom I’ve ever googled. TL;DR, circus! That’s all you need to know.

From ponies to fishies…