No, what it comes to making music, I don’t have any rules. And by saying no, I of course mean yes, I have plenty of rules.

Here’s a bunch:

§9 – Completed tune must be like, really, really good.
§14 – Maintain a good posture.
§87 – Mellotron is not mandatory, albeit desirable.
§203 – Wear pants, unless it’s very hot.
§5678 – If at all possible, when working, try to have some fun.

DATES wrecks a few of these rules to pieces – it has both a modulation and a fade-out.

That’s perfectly fine, because of the following rule:

§1 Breaking these stupid rules is absolutely ok.

Take that, law!

Greetings from the world of Chiptune!

As you may already know, I’m mostly a C-64-kinda guy. Action-packed, hard-rockin’ riffs from the space that is.

However, SMALL-TIME EPIC here is made in the spirit of the opposite camp, meaning NES. (Nintendo Entertainment System)

So, what we’ve got here in chip-orchestral, adventurous, epic goodness.

And purple pumpkin kingdoms, pointy ears, horrible monsters in terrible mazes, evil villains and an inevitable happy ending in a colorful, fantasy world, where life is just a dream!

Good morning.

Beep-beep.
I used to be a Monty Python-reference.
Then I got my head chopped off.

Name of the game is THAT STRANGE FEELING OF DEJAVU.

Can you guess the original idea?

Pop culture references are so 90s.

Heck yeah.

INSANITEETTITILAT is the most fun I’ve had for a while. In the field of producing a tune, that is.

Sometimes it’s fun to go all in, defy the laws of nature and good taste and make something like this.

The tune features my super secret technique of “synthesized random cloning”. Succees number 3, if I’m not mistaken.

Me lucky bugger.

YOU KNOW IM HERE is autumn pop. It’s more melancholic than oh-so-happy. I think the time of the season is suitable for the tune, because this year the winter really hasn’t come at all. At this very moment I’m hearing the rain hitting the window ledge.

The tune is presented in a classical fashion, with mostly organic instruments. Ok, there’s the moog bass, but in the golden age of pop it used to be a regular guest.

Like, in the golden age of TV Talk Shows, Harvey Pekar used to be a regular guest.

“Bob and Harv’s Comics”. I must have that.

So, I was producing this tune… Minding my own business… Building a horizontal weave… And some pulsing, you gotta have that…

Adding drums… Making ’em sound really airy… Digging it…

Taking my time to listen the whole thing again and again…

“This is starting to sound like Ligeti in space”, I thought.

Therefore: LIGETI IN SPACE.

“Study more about latin rhythms” has been on my ToDoList for a quite some time. For like several years, to be honest…

So much to do… So much interesting stuff to dive into… And so little time… Or rather, so much of that precious time must be sacrificed for doing laundry, walking & breathing at the same time and video games…

So let this be a reminder, me. Study that stuff! Mambo, rumba, salsa, samba, tango, merengue, mariachi and cha-cha-cha. And when you’re done, study charanga, ranchera, vals criollo, twoubadou, bachata and Stan Getz.

Oliver doesn’t.

In the meantime, here’s some poppy, kinda latinic/caribbean stuff: EVENING AT LUPES.

I hope they serve mojitos there, ‘cos they are delicious!

The soundtrack of my childhood, in order of appearance:

– Random folk & childrens songs
– Chopin & Louis Armstrong
– Euro Disco, especially british & italian
– Music of Commodore 64 games
– Hard rock, played by dudes in leather pants
– Mike Jackson & The Beatles

OUTLAWLESS is category five kind of fun.

It’s more tough than slick. Perhaps played by fellas in black leather pants, instead of pink ones.

Some make-up yes, but only black eyeliner. And a big hair. Not huge, only big.

THE NIGHT OF THE ANALOG ASSASSIN is chiptune horror music.

Or “horror music”, I should say. It’s not really very terrifying. It’s like a modern horror movie that’s pretty fun, with a few jump scares. Something that doesn’t actually get under your skin.

It’s just as far away from truly horrifying movies as those movies are from real life horrors.

You know, real life horrors like running out of toilet paper or embarrasing yourself publicly. Or train ride without internet or not optimally chilled white wine.

Or dentists appointment, lengthy struggle to get your wisdom tooth removed & the following discomfort for daze.

There’s your true horror. Third world style.

Yep, you read it. TAKING IT EASY was the first tune I made in 2020, right after my holiday break.

As the title suggests, what it came to producing a piece of music, I decided to take it very easy. No need to construct an immortal musical masterpiece right away.

So, what you’ve got here is some harmless “Good Old Entertainment Music”, played by an eclectic combo of instruments.

And brushes.

Coming up at kongano.com, some time in this century: An Immortal Musical Masterpiece!