that nearly blew out my ear drums at the start. just to let you know.

wonderful Piece!!Great work!!💯💥💥✨️✨️

Impressive composition!! I love its rhythmic force of drums and wind instruments. Congratulations for such a spectacular work.🔝🔝🔝💯

a softer track to repair your hearing damage by listening to my metallurgical track!

C'est Un Trou De Verdure Où Coule Une Rivière (It's a green hole where a river flows)

Of war and peace...

Happy Friday to my SC friends. Today’s musical offering is very special to me because it signifies a breaking away from my old patterns. Long story short… old Justin was pretty set in his music making/production routines (solo work belongs on solo albums. Collab work belongs on collab albums. And never the two shall meet). 

But new Justin is proving to be surprisingly more flexible in his thinking; an interesting (I might even go as far as to say… shocking) result of my new paradigm. And while it might seem like a ‘nothing burger’ to most people… the way my brain is wired, this is a huge change… and one I am grateful for.

So today I happily offer my first collab song, also intended for my first hybrid album. The song is called ‘Life In Twilight’… and my guest artist is our dear friend, Carlos Vivanco (https://soundcloud.com/carlosvivanco-1, https://carlosvivanco1.bandcamp.com), offering up the lovely Alto Sax and Guitar you hear in this piece

If you haven’t already crossed paths with Carlos, you are missing out. He is one of the most prolific people I have encountered in my travels. He plays about 30+ instruments, each with impressive skill. And if the instrument doesn’t exist... he creates it himself. And 'musician' is just one aspect of his inspiring and adventurous life. He is a great example of a person who discovered his passions early, and is now living a beautiful life pursuing those passions. We need more people like him in this world, reminding us of what is truly important.

On a personal level, the stuff Carlos has taught me over the years has helped me ease into this new sober life with tremendous grace. The music theory and instrumental lessons have helped make my sonic worlds more sophisticated (and therefore more rewarding to craft). And the moving and breathing meditations (Chi energy exercises) have proven fundamental to my mental/spiritual well being too. Needless to say, he has been a major influence in my evolving life; and I will be forever grateful. 

Carlos, I am honored beyond words that you are the guest artist on my first hybrid album. It signifies a great new direction for me. I’m excited to be on this path, and I’m glad you agreed to join me. 

To everyone else, we hope you enjoy “Life In Twilight”, the first of two new songs with Carlos that will ultimately wrap up my upcoming album “What Color Is Your Paradox?” 

(And yes... this is the last song I still had in the archives from my little break; originally finished on 1/20/2024. It's all going to be new content from here on out). :)

Paradox?

Life In Twilight | Carlos Vivanco & GrevusAnjl

Written and performed by Stefano Manotti

A song born after spending an entire day in the woods... A song against depression, an enemy that makes us forget about the beauty surrounding us... Life is a struggle, and we must fight to see beyond our sorrows...

LYRICS

Courage came on my first sunny day
Birds fly higher, life is beautiful today
Let me touch The morning grass
Let me see What lies beyond

I am alone but I'm touching everything
Eyes are tired, but life is beautiful today
Let the wind make me fall 
I just want to forget These walls
 
The sun is hiding now 
Life can win if you play 
You feel dizzy, but life is beautiful today

Life Is Beautiful Today

PS Perkins: Guitars, bass, lyre, vocals
Ron Thomas: Autoharps, Drums

Production notes:
---------------------------------------------
Very early on we wanted to use autoharps on this song to create a sort of swirling backdrop, reminiscent of the harps in Indian/Bollywood soundtrack songs of the seventies.

Right away there were challenges because the song is in B flat and is not wholly diatonic to begin with, utilizing a chord built on the augmented lydian scale in the choruses. So rather than transpose the song to a more amenable key (since the chromatic bits weren't going to work no matter what key we used) we instead re-tuned the autoharp. Moving through the strings one by one we tuned them either up or down a half step where applicable to bring them into key. Where the augmented chord hit in the choruses, we excluded those notes so that the autoharp was filling the diatonic parts of the chords and omitting the accidentals. It took us several tries to get it right. In the end we arrived at a chord progression that could be strummed on the autoharp and the modified chords could be played with existing dampers.

We also tuned the lyre so that the top half of the strings included the chromatic augmented notes while the lower register of the lyre was tuned using the diatonic, so the lyre could play the melody all the way through both parts of the song.

The inspiration for this song was essentially fourfold:
--------------------------------------------------------
First, H.P. Lovecraft's terrifying necromancer Joseph Curwen (from "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward") who masked his true identity in order to thwart suspicion from his fellow townsfolk. He has many secrets lurking in his underground catacombs where he performs acts of necromancy most foul, extracting the "salts" of the dead in order to raise them at will and learn the secrets of ancient eldritch deities.

Second, a poem by Rudyard Kipling titled "En-Dor" which was a warning against the rise of spiritualism and the cost of communion with the dead in the early 20th century.

Third, the biblical Saul who traveled in disguise to visit a witch at the city of Endor in order to summon Samuel from the dead and garner advice on defeating the Philistines, but who only prophesies doom for Saul. Saul dies later the next day in the battle of Gilboa.

Lastly, the story of Odysseus communing with the underworld where he enlists the help of Tiresias to have a chat with the dead and secure for himself a safe journey home.

They all seek communion with the dead for one purpose: to gain knowledge which only those who have crossed over between realms might possess. 

Lyrics:
-------------------------------------
A mask may reveal what it’s meant to conceal
From those who are standing beside us
Armor of pride, so we learn to abide
By the monsters which hide deep inside us
The monsters which lurk deep inside us
Oh, how they scratch and they bite us
The monsters which lurk deep inside us

Only to know what the professor knows

Eating black bread, wearing clothes of the dead
The soil soaked in honey around us
For fear if we failed, leave the ogre unveiled
And it’s back in the grave where they found us
Back in the grave where they found us
Freed from the ties which had bound us
Back in the grave where they found us

Only to know what the professor knows

In the catacomb vaults, we extracted the salts
From cadavers to lengthen our youth
Chanting the names at the edge of the flames
And a mirror to show us the truth
A mirror which speaks only truth
See how it seeks not to soothe
A mirror which speaks only truth

Only to know what the professor knows

In the underworld maze, in the night of no days
Concocting the plan we’re devising
Much to endure on the road to En-Dor
And to snatch from Elohim arising
To snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising
Snatch from Elohim arising

BARDS: Of the Shimmering Seraphs

The Professor

2024/2/26

Website

koyomi

'Just Lettin' It Hang.'

UPLIFTING

Delicate Spaceship

I Need love

His eyes crossed my eyes
Like a laser ray
I've been projected somewhere
Else than on the Earth
Help
I need love
Help
I need love
 
With him I feel like dancing
Barefoot in the light
I feel like walking on the sea
Planing in the air
Help
I need love
Help
I need love
 
Like the Earth needs the Sun
(I need love)
 
Like the stars need the stars
(I need love)
Like the sky needs the sea
(I need love)
Like the summer needs the winter
(I need love)
I need love (x7)
 
As i need music
As I need light
As i need water
As i need air
Just a little love
I need love
Just a little love
I need love
Like the bird needs wings to fly
(I need love)
Like the moon needs the night to shine
(I need love)
I need love

Besoin d’amour - France Gall cover

Music : Janne Hennie & PJ Project
Vocals & lyrics : Janne Hennie

I always felt alone
Had no one to lean on
There was heavy clouds over me..
I was let down as a child
And lost all trust in people
Had to find my own way to survive..
I was so afraid of being let down again
Of those who said they loved me
And said they were my friend..

So I built a wall
I built a solid wall
My own place where I could feel safe..
No one got through there
No one could sense my fear
No one could hurt me
I could hide behind my wall..

Then you came
And everything changed
You broke through my wall
Made sure I didn't fall..
I felt I could trust you
when you said you loved me
I felt safe when you said you were my friend..
You wiped all my tears..
I could share all my secrets
You held me close
And chased away all my fears..

I had built a wall
I had built a solid wall
My own place
where I could feel safe..
But you got through there
You could sense my fear
But you didn't hurt me
I didn't have to hide anymore...

Behind My Wall W/ Janne Hennie

This piece depicts a journey of ascent from lowlands to mountain peaks with ever expanding vistas. I wrote it for Simon O'Shaughnessy, a business leader in New Zealand who is releasing a creative Journal/Workbook and wanted some original music to describe the adventure of ridge walking as a metaphorical picture of a key process he sees in creative development. https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonoshaughnessy/

Of war and peace...

Andrea Braschi

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