Ok, this one needs a little explanation.

I’ve wanted to compose a national anthem of a fictional country for a long time. And in fact, the tune has been almost ready in my brain for at least a year. Only one thing has been holding me back:

I was afraid that the song in my head is an actual national anthem. So, before I could start working on the song, I’d have to make sure that the melody in question is original.

There’s about 195 countries in the world (late 2016), and apparently all of them have a national anthem or equivalent theme song.

Good show!

Although some anthems are shared between countries, that’s a good bunch of songs to listen to. I had to narrow down the list a bit.

I ended up listening 77 songs, that being the number of countries that’ve appeared in football world cup along the years.

Anti-bingo! Neither of those songs had any resemblance with my melody.

The rest was easy. And now we got NATIONAL ANTHEM OF PREPOSTRISTAN.

(By the way, of the 77 songs I went through, my favourites are Montenegro and Senegal.)

“I looked around and saw purple things. Maybe curtains. Colored lights swept the room. There were people dancing in slow motion, looking focused. The air was thick with smoke and lust. Love was nowhere to be seen.”

– Zeus McFethry: Shapes of Grin

The title TOUCH OF GLASS may not be as hot-hot-hot as the images I got, but at least its got class.

Piano music. The rice of the music.

The hammer and nails of ear-visual impulses.

This time not-quite-over-the-hills-and-far-away. More like FAR AWAY ACROSS THE STREAM.

Did I mention it’s piano music?

I really enjoy making old-school chiptune pieces, such as THE PATH BEHIND GRAVITY. Why, I don’t know.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia of simpler times, when world was only in 2D?

Creating lightning fast synthesizer solos is also great fun. That I can explain: Sense of power, baby, sense of power.

Yeah.

Also, happy new year peeps.

So, what we got is rock. Hard but not too heavy, meant to cause partying more than headbanging.

After I declared the tune ready, I already knew I was gonna call it “… of love”.

Creature? Tragedy? Force? Too stupid, sad and obvious.

Moment? Persistence? Explosion? Too cheesy, weird and come on…

While pondering, I looked out the window and lo and behold, icy particles were falling from the sky. Therefore HAILSTORM OF LOVE.

Although I can’t remember exactly what I was going after with TRO CUA, it most certainly wasn’t christmas music.

It might have been some fantastic dream with lots of vivid colours and happiness and stuff. Like a caleidoscope with a smile. In space.

Anyway, there you go.

Next weeks update may come a bit late. It’s time to relax and overeat because that is the law.

Merry christmas folks!

Ok, so this one’s about what’s going on inside a fictional supervillains mind: Devious shenanigans, madness and lust for power.

Except this guy ain’t no Blofeld or Dr. Doom. He’s more like an evil version of Lenny from “Of Mice And Men”, with hints of the greedy landlord stock character.

Without further ado: PANTOMINE VILLAIN EMPTY CAGE.

Besides the title, there’s very little to say about SPIRITS OF NOSTALGIA.

…

Happy december folks!

…whereas the main riff in VARJOAALTOJA is also a very short passage from another piece of music, not found in kongano.

I liked the short bit so much that I wanted to base a whole tune around it.

This method is certainly not creating new in the purest sense of the word. But hey, it gets things done. And sometimes it’s refreshing to work while wearing your composers socks.

Two years of kongano has taught me many, many things. For example:

– Write every idea down. “Surely I remember this one.” No, you don’t. Write it down now!
– You don’t have to wear your composers hat when composing. (Not to be taken literally)
– Coffee & muesli are great snacks, but not when mixed together

Words of wisdom.

Above all, I’d say, is recycling: Whether it’s a nice beat, pleasing sounds, some technical idea, state of mind or whatever, I am entitled to use my stuff in a whole new context.

CRANCK is rock music. More indie than heavy but pretty rattling nonetheless. Check it out.

Its A-part is also a part of another tune, located apart from kongano…