Hey Joe man, love how personal an honest your songs are, this one especially. When you take those personal feelings and present them, other people relate and they become universal. That's the best transition in art, to me. Excellent work, man!

Nice song about the day to day drudgery, but still uplifting. Great song!

Should I stay, should I go….i dig how the line stair steps down.   You write very well, musically and lyrically .  Very nice

very fun and catchy song, like the tempo change at the end

I just love your songs. They are always fun, and thought provoking.

ooo those are some mighty relatable lyrics. well thought out and well delivered. top tune

Daily Drops

喜び

In memoriam, the bombing of Guernica, Spain, April 26, 1937. A lamentation in music.

And in 2024, for the injured, displaced, and departed around the world as invading forces of tyranny rain down death and destruction upon innocent people.

I literally cried as I updated my old composition about the bombing of Guernica. 

Originally composed in GarageBand, I finished the first version of this song on April 26, 2013, not consciously aware that the date was the anniversary of the atrocity committed by fascists against civilians during the Spanish Civil War. I had had ambitions to create an animated short about its history and Picasso’s famous painting when I could afford the technology. So my first step was to use available resources and create the music, which I did 11 years ago. I have yet to produce the animation. Maybe someday. The cover art gives you an idea as to how I envisioned the graphics for the animated short.

This Guernica composition is my first attempt at composing neoclassical music. As a girl I would sing and hum made-up symphonies as I conducted an imaginary orchestra. I’ve got hundreds of improvised concertos, sonatas, fugues, and arias deep in my memory banks that sometimes creep into my contemporaneous music.

This week, as the anniversary of Guernica approached, I imported my old music file into my current DAW and refreshed it, adding French horn, the first instrument I played as a young student. I also added audio of propeller planes recorded live in March and April 2024. And I pushed the previous violin and cello parts to the limit, so if you hear a screeching violin or a groaning cello, it’s intentional; war gives millions of reasons to scream and wail. The composition’s 8-chord structure is repeated as if to state the obvious — we, humans, have yet to contain our violence individually and collectively. We witness and experience the horror of mass murder and war around the globe. Every. Damn. Day.

I realize my song probably isn’t going to be a favorite for listeners, not my usual chill music. But I’m also a firm believer in the idea that sunlight is the best disinfectant. With this music about Guernica and the history of 1937, I am reminded how far we’ve come, and yet, how little we’ve changed. But change we must, and I believe humanity will change for the better. The question is when.

Guernica

Everything that can be heard was sampled from IPG1's fab vocals, except the one-bar Sting interlude. Thanks for keeping on doing this Ian!

https://soundcloud.com/ipg1/
https://soundcloud.com/ipg1/sets/clear-and-present

Clear And Present with Ian Greaves aka IPG1

LIGHT OF DAY

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

THE TEMPEST

peter manto's Album

Velvet Screen

L'Arbre des Âmes pourrait être l'endroit le plus sacré pour certaines peuplades, et leur permettrait de communiquer avec leurs ancêtres, ou faire l'objet de certains rituels .... 
Son accès est souvent interdit au étrangers ....
À quoi ressemble-t-il? 
Je vous laisse l'imaginer en écoutant ce nouveau concept.

***************************************************************************************************

The Tree of Souls may be the most sacred place for certain peoples, allowing them to communicate with their ancestors, or be the object of certain rituals .... 
Access is often forbidden to outsiders ....
What does it look like? 
I'll let you imagine as you listen to this new concept.

The Tree Of Souls ....

Jerusalem Rhapsody

Altair IV

If you only knew how hard I tried
To put on my happy face and act like I’m satisfied
Then maybe you might start to understand
Why I can’t stick around and and be your happy man.

I want to see what’s over the next hill
This present situation is making me feel ill
I’m gonna keep on trying until I get it right
And I don’t care if it takes me the rest of my life

I’ve spent way too many years in front of a computer screen
Absorbing radiation, designing complicated machines
Some folks would tell me that I’ve got it made
It’s not a backbreaking job and at least I’m getting paid

I know there’s lots of people who are worse off than me
And I’ve got no right to complain
They say the grass is greener on the other side of the fence
But I suspect when I get there it’ll be the same

So I maintain the status quo
I try to go with the flow
Every day I ask myself 
Should I stay or should I go

I want to see what’s over the next hill
This present situation is making me feel ill
I’m gonna keep on trying until I get it right
And I don’t care if it takes me the rest of my life

I’m gonna keep on trying until I get it right
And I don’t care if it takes me the rest of my life

Gonna  Keep On Trying

L-Prefetching

'perhaps, the best...'

Baby, unfortunately you have gave me
no choice but to leave you,
'cause you're crazy.
Indeed, at once it was 'maybe.'
But, now it is definitely 'no.'
Although I am sad to see you go.
And wish you all the best.
I still love you.
And always will for what you've been to me.
Eternally. 

I pushed you through your spare room window
and never left.
You made me poutine, burned your arm and had sex. Perhaps the best...

perhaps, the best

When I need to lay my troubles down about things beyond my control, I take a stroll across the Indigo Bridge for safe passage over the Big Blue. The only toll required to crossover — temporarily letting your worries go. And, hopefully, you enjoy a songbird serenade on the trip to the other side. 💙✌️

70 bpm
DAW Apple Logic Pro X
MIDI Akai Pro MPK 
E-instruments:
Steinway Grand Piano
Boesendorfer Grand Piano 
SoCal Ballad Piano 
Deep Organ
Cellos
Upright Ballad Bass
Studio Brush Kit 
Studio R&B+ Kit
Lo-Fi Remix 
Latin Kit 

Audio of bird chirps recorded live June 29, 2024.

Cover art: Derived from a public domain photo of the Golden Gate Bridge via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Golden_Gate_Bridge,_San_Francisco,_California_LCCN2013633353.tif

Indigo Bridge

Watch the video on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/cWoWGl3O2zg

A Century Of Loneliness

SitnThere

Heavy Punk Rock 'n' Roll band turns into Synthwave nowadays! Brand NEW album "Ultraviolet Cosmos" available NOW!

Songs with a twinge of humor (and some a bit more serious).  
I do not use AI to create my songs. 
Recently I have had the urge to pick up my guitars (Taylor 114ce and Fender Squire) and I have been trying to use more guitar in my songs.  
My go to .vst plug ins are  EZkeys 2, EZ Bass and  EZ drummer 3) and my DAW is Logic Pro 11. 
I welcome your comments and enjoy listening to all the great music on SoundCloud. 
All songs are originals and copyrighted.

Gonna Keep On Trying

Joe Stroffolino

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ON PURPOSE

ON PURPOSE

ON PURPOSE

Mugfish76

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