Confession: I have no knowledge nor experience of any kind of asian folk music. I’ve listened some J-pop, paid attention of the soundtrack in a random Hollywood movie when the chinese character is first introduced and can name several Beatles songs which have Indian influences.

Unfortunately that doesn’t mean anything.

Sure I made some research about instruments and stuff before making this song, but that only made me realise that I don’t know jack. Because my days on this planet are most likely quite limited, I think I’ll save studying ragas, the secrets of koto and chinese traditional opera for the next life.

Without further ado, northern boy’s attempt to create something oriental: THE TALE OF THE PIG AND TWO SNAKES.

About the PUPPET HEDGEHOG RIDING A RED CONVERTIBLE IN A POOR QUALITY ANIMATIONs title… Yeah, that’s exactly what I started seeing when I’ve recorded a good 3,5 bars of it. It’s funny how sometimes songs appear so strongly before your eyes.

It took awhile, maybe a couple of hours of brainstorming to figure out that the hedgehog in question is none other than Robert from the movie ”Meet the Feebles”. But what the heck is a puppet doing in an animation? Figure that, me.

About the song: Not much. It’s just some simple feel good pop, with a touch of reggae.

And yeah, ”Meet the Feebles” is awesome.

Making blues sound bluesy enough in konganos context can be a bit tricky. Blues doesn’t have much of a melody, it’s only got blues. And rhythm, well it’s there but it sure isn’t in a starring role.

I think I found SMOKEY WINDS’ blues from a dialog between guitar and organ. Neither of them say very much, but what they do say, it’s all blues. Communication in a language of blues.

I had a mantra when playing in the guitars: ”Play less. No, less than that. Play less!”

With this addition, there’s now at least three songs in each genre category. Small yay for that.

I don’t have a lot to say about this weeks song. It’s dance music, with danceable rhythm, simplistic melody and, well, not much more.

Unnecessary fun fact of the day: The ending, starting approximately at 4.17, is the first thing I recorded for the track. I only left it there for the giggles. Neat little sound, isn’t it?

*drum roll – DANSMANIA.

The very first note I wrote about this tune was just two words: ”a drunk”. (Or is ”a” considered as a word?)

Then I decided that bassoon’s my weapon of choice.

After writing just a few bars of melody, the song started assembling itself.

SLOSH WALTZ depicts a drunks staggering trip from bar to home. The fellow in question is well dressed, top hat, bow tie, cane and everything. And what do you know, he looks just like James Finlayson, the scottish actor.

Our hero lives in a world, where the only colours that exist are black, white and their numerous shades. His movement is quick yet clumsy, as if the time is moving faster than it usually does.

After some adventures, including passing out for a while on the back of a milk carriage, the drunk finally gets home. The whole thing ends to a good tripping.

I call this one a waltz even though there’s not a single 3/4-bar in it. The slosh part in the title should explain it.

Introducing something serene compared to the previous ambient tunes I’ve made.

TEMPLE BY THE SEA is a place where you can rest and leave all your troubles behind (for awhile). In the daytime sun shines in and when the evening comes, thousands of bioluminescent insects provide the lighting. And I mean nice insects, the ones that respect your personal space.

Bird sounds are made with delayed guitar and slide. It’s an old trick by guitarist extraordinaire Adrian Belew.

The track is best served on a low volume.

GLOOM SUN SOLITAIRE is metal. Although here in Finland this kind of metal is pretty much considered as easy listening. You know, there’s some clean guitars and melody. And if there were vocals, it most likely wouldn’t be growling, snarling or screaming in pain.

About the specific genre within metal… I don’t know, man. I’m an old metallist allright, but I’ve completely lost track of the ”new” genres. There’s guitar melodies in thirds, simple power chords and a short passage with some fancier chords, so I’m just going here with the definition of ”classic metal”.

The guitar tuning is Drop D, which is awesome. Two more notes on the bottom without sacrificing any brightness.

Sometimes a song doesn’t want to be completed. The song in question was supposed to be a kind of an indie guitar pop tune, played with physical guitar and bass. I recorded most of the instruments to the point where I was able to do some preliminary mixing, and that’s when the song started to play dirty.

Couple of guitar sounds just couldn’t live peacefully side by side. Bass was being powerless of humming uncontrollably. The drums were actually very nice but the unity of the song was nowhere to be found.

Luckily I’ve got some tricks of my own – I guess that’s called craftsmanship.

So, I pretty much just gave the song the finger and replaced guitars with synthesizers, the lively bassline with a extremely straightforward one and changed drumset from an acoustic to electronic.

The result: One completed song

Bonus: It’s something completely different I thought it would be

Amount of fun gained: Lots

Sporty fun-fun pop of the day: SPACESQUIRREL OLYMPICS OF 2115

Sometimes it’s the tinest of things that give a song the finishing touch. PRAIRIE IS CALM was already completed, when I started messing with reverbs (which I normally use very sparingly).

Small room echo, maybe some more. What about a huge one? Canyon, big cave or arena one

Bingo.

Let the soothening begin.

It’s time to put out some shorties. This time three of ’em. Naturally they can be found in SHORTS.

”Yesterdays news of the future” is a theme song for a fictional news report or current affairs television program. I was aiming for a contemporary mood but delicious DX7-sounds forced me to go all retro.

”T.M.Q.” stands for a thrash metal quickie. And that’s about everything I’ve got to say about this one. Playing this kind of guitars always gives me blisters…

”Oh the joy & inevitable fail” is a remake of a tune I made years ago for a short film. A very short. The film had a grown-up getting excitedly to a swing -> swinging wildly -> jumping off -> hurting his foot and limping away.

I’ll be releasing these short ones every once in a while, a few at the time.