Sneak peek! 2 tracks from the album I've been working on are presently available for download on Bandcamp....here:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/dumpster-fire-parkwood

Snaggeth, if you choose! I'm super stoked about this project, and I hope you enjoy!

Dumpster Fire + Parkwood

Dumpster Fire

Heyo, unconventional percussion enthusiasts! I made a sample set using a 1950s Remington portable typewriter. Then I made a track using those samples (and a phone sample). This is the track. 

I put the samples up on Bandcamp for free, and you can snag them here:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/typewriter-sounds-sample-set

I also made a short video about it:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRt7d3ZluJf/

If you have any interest, feel free to snag and make something neato!
Hope everyone is well!

Typewriter Sounds - Sample Set

Typewriter Sounds

Hey pals. It's been a minute. Hope you're all well. I made some new music:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/heracleion

These are the first three tracks, all together:
Bell Island Boom
Singing Sand
Pasquale

Hope you enjoy!

Heracleion - First Three Tracks

About 10 years ago, the third theme from this piece was played by my old band at what was probably the worst show we've ever played. The only show at which I've ever been confronted and yelled at by the bar owner after we got done playing. It was bad! We never played this piece again, though I doubt it was the reason the show went so poorly. I think it just triggered bad memories for a while. I've recovered now.

Magnetic Swan

Spookytooth

http://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/parliament-bicycle-messenger-service-ep
EP free on Bandcamp, thanks for listening!

Parliament Bicycle Messenger Service

The kid and I walk out of the post office on a windy day. He suddenly clutches at his head, then scrambles around on the ground, grabs a handful of nothing, then secures the invisible object back on his head. I ask, "What just happened?" He says, "Ghost hat." 

Ghost Hat

Sparrowhawk

So, this is Ghost Hat part 2. Truthfully, it was written a little before part 1. But that's of no consequence, because it wasn't finished until after. Anyway, track names, are a pretty arbitrary thing to me, if you hadn't noticed. I'm on the way towards letting my 5-year-old name them all, he does a better job than I do. 

Two things of note:

1. I have finished (more or less) the typeface I was working on from 6 months ago. I was not able to do what I had hoped with it, but it is a functional, installable True Type font. 

2. I've uploaded to Bandcamp eleven recent tracks (mostly already posted here, with a couple newly finished ones), the typeface file (TTF), and a PDF booklet with a little story about my personal interaction with the typeface. It's called "Have This Music and Typeface and Story." (This is the part where you realize I wasn't joking about letting my son name stuff for me!)

Here's a link:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/have-this-music-and-typeface-and-story
It's free. Have it. 

On a related topic, super happy 2015 to everyone!! @caalamus and @chelmets have already released great new albums, and it certainly looks to be an awesome year for new music!

Ghost Hat... (see description for link to new album!)

Ok. Here's what's happening:

With any luck, on Friday, during Carthage's art walk, at the Antiquarium, your friendly local Mayor of Donutville is going to be  showing (audio version of showing?) a sorta-messy quadraphonic installation. With lotsa cables tucked in the corners and probably some (4, specifically) speakers propped up somewhere. Preferably not all together. That would defeat the purpose. And maybe some streamers? I'm still working on the logistics. And the music. All of it, actually. Still working on all of it. 

However - here's this. This is one of the pieces from the installation. It's in stereo here, but I have a working four-channel version with stuff bouncing all over the place. Possibly migraine-inducing? It's too early to tell!

Writing-wise, I have about twenty minutes done so far, and hoping to hit a solid thirty, um, in the next two days. I need to. So, if you're around Carthage on Friday - what? oh. ok, nevermind. I'll take a picture or something. Actually, after I get past this, I'll probably do a stereo mix of all of it and bandcamp it, because I've been having lots of fun writing at two in the morning lately. 
 
Image: "sometimes down hill but mostly it just rolls by," courtesy of my wife, R. Bachman, also showing at the Antiquarium on Friday. 

Peace be with you, friends! Keep a couple of fingers crossed for me? I have no clue what I'm doing… again!

Got small and fell in an inkwell

Hey Paisanos!

Long time no speak! I sincerely hope everyone is doing well. I'll catch you up briefly: 1. I got a new job about a year and a half ago. It's good. Unlike my previous job of working 15 hour days and spending most of it waiting, on a computer with an ample internet connection; these days I work normalish hours and am extremely occupied for the duration. Less time for Soundcloud, but the change has also diminished my hatred for all existence, so that's a positive. Then what? 2. We opened an art gallery. It was open a year. Then it closed. Don't be sad. As cool as it was, it was also an unbelievable financial burden. 3. Then my computer broke (water + child.) I replaced it after a while, but all my files are gone-ish, and that's a bummer. 4. Then we moved. Lotsa changes, yeah! 

I've been working pretty much singularly on one secret project since I got the replacement computer, but this previous weekend was Gamejam. Gamejam, thru gm48, is a quarterly contest of gamemaking (you probably guessed that part?) with a 48 hour timeframe. My friends Vinnie and Bacon make games for this, and they asked if I'd be interested in making music. I said, "indeed!" and the rest was history. 

How's it work? I'm glad you asked! From the time they announce the theme, there's a window of 48 hours to concept, design and build the game. The theme was "descent." Vinnie and Bacon decided to make it a sequel to a game they made during a previous gamejam, wherein you fire squids into the ocean in search of treasure. 

Bacon suggested something in the realm of "aquatic ambient metal," with each level having separate audio for "above" and "below." That's what happened. I got to play so much guitar over a 48 hour window that it was almost like high school again, only minus the merciless tauntings. 

The second track was actually written for the original game by Bacon, and he kindly asked me to rework it. Check his soundcloud out here: https://soundcloud.com/kas_1000

If you want to check out the game, here's the link:
https://gm48.net/game/504/sinker-squid
It's a free download, but it's PC only. 

What's been happening with everyone? I pop on and listen from time to time, and have heard some really great tracks from everyone. I spent two straight days listening to @wouwouandthewormling and it was great. Bacon and I work together and we've been on a vaporwave kick lately. I was happy to pepper in a bit of @oliver-buckland

The only other developments I can think of are that my kids and I read the whole Harry Potter series in the last three months, and have just started The Hobbit. Next is Lord of the Rings, then Beowulf, I think. I've been listening to a lot of Enya. Never thought that would happen. 

Ok, that's all I can think of. Drop me a line some time? Cool!

Sinker Squid Soundtrack Smashup

We did a video at my work for a gala, celebrating this non-profit and their new initiative to expand their community-building work from El Salvador to Nepal. I made some music for it. 

To prepare, I spent a day listening to traditional Nepali music, and then a day listening to traditional El Salvadoran music. Those were wild days. Then I recorded some stuff. I have no idea if there's any real correlation to those traditional styles here. It was like making dairy free macaroni and cheese, which I do not advise, despite my friend Cameron's highest recommendation. In this scenario, I am the textured vegetable protein, pretending to be cheese without having a real understanding of what it is to be cheese. 

These tracks are pieced together from loopable snippets I made to fill certain amounts of space for each section of the videos. The videos were then shown at the gala, and it was over. I just found these files on the drive from the computer that died and pieced them together. I think it was about two years ago? Sorry for being the textured vegetable protein.

Number 1

Cottontail

GM48 - theme "Color is Important"

Programming = Vinnie
Art = Bacon @kas_1000
Music = Buttons (That's me)

We made a game in 48 hours. Three of those hours, for me, were spent making/editing drum sounds. This mashup contains two of the four iterations of the main theme. Check the game out here:
https://gm48.net/g/1174

Once In A Hue Moon - Game Score

Once again, avoiding a significant load of homework papers that need to be written - I worked on a project I've been thinking about for a couple years. My wife is a ceramicist, and we have hundreds - hundreds - of ceramic pieces hanging around on shelves. I made a song with them. 

Video here of the process: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bwx5YnGnI2J/

Ceramics here:
http://cavacats.com/

Ceramic Music With Cavacats

Because, let's be honest - the arrow is never actually in flight. Every time an object "moves," a new pixel is born and an old pixel dies.

Metaphysical Racecart

Heyo! Just popping in really quick here, but I'll be back later. I've been working on Time Machine Chronicles part 5 and will have a new Bandcamp album this weekend. Here's a track!! Hope everyone's well!

BACK!  Posted over lunch break and didn't have a lot of time. As usual, I have a bunch of thoughts, and not a really concise way to share them. This happens when I wash dishes by hand, which is every day. My hands are busy and my mind is all "let's overthink some stuff!" 

First, I have, on many occasions, commented how I find it irritating that bands/songwriters always seem to mellow out through the years, and almost never go the other way (like shifting toward heavier or more intense music.) The Wren Hollow project has been really interesting for me, because where it may seem that I am doing exactly the thing that bothers me, these songs are actually all old. These are the ones that I never finished - and there is a variety of reasons why I never finished them. The most frequent reason was that I thought they were too serious, or too soft. So, the end result is the same, even if the route is slightly different. 

The second thought I had after I adjusted the mix of the songs again. That thought is that it's harder to care than to not care. Don't get me wrong. I love lofi production. I enjoy knocking out 5 songs in a weekend, knowing fully well that they're going to sound a little unconventional - crunchy, maybe distorted - maybe mixed a little poorly - maybe a little quiet. The value to me is that I got the idea out and manifested it into something more tangible than thoughts in my head. That's the thing, right? I don't mind rough edges. But once you start caring, everything gets harder for your future self. Because you're like, beholden to the past work you have done. If you work really hard to make the recordings sound the best you can, it's harder to be like "screw it" when you start mixing. I typically only encounter this when I'm working with someone else. This project has been different than other personal projects for me. It's got slower, more serious songs, I care more about the lyrics, and I care how it sounds as a finished product. That's scary. You scared? I'm scared. I need to listen to the mix again like, through a few different speakers. 

Penultimately, you already guessed this, but I have incorporated Wren Hollow Wrens into the Time Machine Chronicles. Did the same thing with Twin Wizards. Will share the full section 5 of the story this weekend - typically instagram and my website are the primary vessels for that. 

More of the songs that will be on the album are here:
@wrenhollowwrens

Although most have been reworked/re-vocaled/remixed again since the original posts. 

Final-final thoughts - on the Soundcloud app, they show "Latest Tracks from People You Follow" which is AMAZING - does anyone know if that exists on the web version? My problem is that I hate using my phone to listen to SC, and I can never get my comments to work there. But that's the feature I've been wanting, so I don't have to go to the accounts I'm following and open literally 50 tabs to check everyone's profile. Eh?

Twin Oaks - New Wren Hollow album coming this weekend!

Here's the whole thing so far, in little sections:
https://mayorofdonutville.com/time-machine-chronicles/

For this section...
Part 6: The Mayor of Donutville has a time machine (side b, tracks 3-4)

Having been able to successfully grab hold of one constant point in the past, the mayor was feeling slightly more confident that he might be able to return to his own time. He was still falling, however. He landed on a surface, stood up and looked around. It was dark, but the floor was smooth, and there was a ledge that overlooked a large canyon. As he stood there squinting, he began to hear a voice coming from around a corner. He crept closer and peeked around to see.

Around the corner was a giant dark room, but moonlight was coming in through a bay window. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he began to make out shapes; a long dining table, chairs and large grandfather clock. He walked into the room and followed the sound of the voice – it was coming from the clock! He listened to the voice until it stopped talking, and as soon as it was over, the floor dissolved and he began falling again.

This one's on bandcamp now too if you wanna snag:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/time-machine-chronicles-part-6-the-mayor-of-donutville-has-a-time-machine-side-b-tracks-3-4
They love me because my album titles are stupidly long. 

Hope everyone is still doing well! I had a good chance to sit down with SC today and catch up a bit on everyone's superb music. Continue kicking ass, everyone! Crap. Just remembered I forgot to check Stricknice's profile. Alright, Jason's next then. 

Lyrics: 
I don't remember me, bathed in noise and worry free
I don't remember me that way. 
I don't remember you, cold and dark and full of truth
I don't remember you that way
I don't remember them, full of sorrow, worn and thin
I don't remember them that way
I don't remember us held in by our loneliness
I don't remember us that way.

+ 

The time has come for me to leave, now.

Time Machine Chronicles Part 6 - 12 speaks & Temporal disruption

3 track EP is free on Bandcamp, please feel free to snag! 
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/time-machine-chronicles-part-7-the-journey-of-henrik-ferdinand

Here's the next section of the story:

After about an hour, Henrik and Ferdinand had ridden their bikes over the steep incline of the mountain trail, and were now faced with a choice between two pathways into the shrouded forest. “Let’s eat really quick, before we pick which way to go,” said Ferdinand. They leaned their bikes against a tree, opened up their pack and pulled out a sandwich and an apple. “This is stupid,” said Henrik. “It’s getting dark and we have no idea which way to go. What are you staring at?”

Ferdinand silently pointed at the path on the right, half of a sandwich hanging out of his mouth. Henrik turned around. Darkness had filled in the forest floor, and all of the grass blades on the pathway were glowing purple. “That one,” said Ferdinand. They finished their snack, hopped back on their bikes, and headed down the glowing trail. The further they went on their journey, the more strange things they noticed: trees with pink bark, a bird flying backwards, a rock that was chiming like a grandfather clock. As they crested a hill, they saw a very bright light in the valley below. “We’re getting close!”

They careened down toward the light at top speed. The purple glow was almost blinding as they dipped below the trees and out into a clearing. They skidded to a stop, and allowed their eyes to adjust. There, standing over a bright purple fire stood Onias and Jupiter, eyes wide with surprise. Ferdinand, speechless, reached into his backpack and pulled out the poster he and Henrik had drawn. He unrolled it, and held it up in front of the wizards. Jupiter laughed as he looked at the drawing. “Look, Onias! It’s us! And your nose looks huge!” His smile faded when he read the words. He turned to Jupiter, who was staring at him: “The mayor hasn’t returned?!” 

Supplemental notes: 

I'm only posting one of these three, because I'm still low on cloudy space. I picked this one, almost exclusively because it's in 5/4. 

My friend @chelmets tweeted a while back about Spitfire Audio's survey thingy. I don't know if you all are interested in plugin instruments or not, but if so, check this out:
https://www.spitfireaudio.com/shop/a-z/bbc-symphony-orchestra-discover/

You can get the Discover BBC Symphony Orchestra plugin for filling out a survey, and waiting two weeks. Those are terms with which I can get on board. Lovely interface, and most of these sounds were made using the plugin.

If you're like "WTF is going on here?" - this is part of a serial story with music that I'm working on. Welcome! You can catch up on the whole story in one place, here, if it so interests you:
http://mayorofdonutville.com/time-machine-chronicles/

Hope everyone's well - I'll be back in a listening and catching-up capacity soon. (Capacity is a weird word. It looks weird.)

Time Machine Chronicles Part 7: The Journey of Henrik & Ferdinand

This track is "The Bird Expert" | Album link is here:
https://thegreatandpowerfulgizmo.bandcamp.com/album/percival-owls-good-fortune

Part 8: Percival Owl’s Good Fortune (a temporal disruption)
(UPDATE - SWEET FANCY MOSES I UPLOADED THE WRONG EXPORT - FIXED NOW! I'M SORRY FADY!)
Around the time that Henrik and Ferdinand were riding through the forest, Olav looked out the window of Mrs. Busbee’s shop and realized that it was quite dark. He wished Mrs. Busbee a good evening, and walked back across the street to turn off the lights and lock up his shop. He looked at his desk and remembered that he had been interrupted in his installation of a new typewriter ribbon when he heard the commotion across the street. “Might as well finish up before I go home,” he thought, and walked around to his seat. 

He pulled out his chair to sit. “EEP!” Olav jumped back. There, sitting in the chair he had left just a few hours ago, there was a slim, square package. He looked around his shop – he was positive nobody had entered while he was gone. Cautiously, he picked up the package and peeled back the paper sleeve. It was another album, like the one left at Mrs. Busbee’s shop! A small note on the back read, “Recovered from 2006 with love. PS send help – MOD”

-----
Friends, we're nearing the end of the Time Machine Chronicles with part 8, which is an unfinished/now finished Great and Powerful Gizmo album from 2006. World's crazy right now, and I hope everyone is healthy and well. I gotta catch up on your music and messages now. Peace and love to you all!

Full story here:
https://mayorofdonutville.com/time-machine-chronicles/
--
Lyrics: 
People will tell you I don't know a thing about birds, but that's just simply not true. 
Birds'll poop on your shoulder, and they'll sneak into your attic,
'cause that's just the kind of thing that birds like to do. 
Birds are deceitful, crafty and mean, basically as bad as common thieves.
One time I loaned a bird my favorite t-shirt, and he ripped a hole in the sleeve.
People will tell you I don't know a thing about birds, but that's just simply not true. 
Birds'll crash your party, and they'll spike your favorite punch, 
'Cause that's just the kind of thing that birds like to do
O, one night I was sleeping peacefully in my bed, when I heard my bird alarm going off, 
so I ran down the stairs and caught a bird in the act of trying to steal my socks. 
ALSO
Birds are terribly two-faced, they just tell you the things they think you want to hear. 
They don't care about being honest.
Birds'll say nice things to your face, but then badmouth you to your friends when you're away. 
IN CONCLUSION:
People will tell you I don't know a thing about birds, but that's just simply not true. 
Birds'll build your hopes up, but then they'll crush your dreams,
'cause that's just the kind of thing that birds like to do.

Time Machine Chronicles Part 8 - Percival Owl's Good Fortune

Free download on bandcamp: https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/time-machine-chronicles-part-9-twin-wizards-infinite-scroll

The story section for part 9 is really long and I don't think it will fit here. It's on the bandcamp page as the album description, and it's also on my page with the full story to this point:
https://mayorofdonutville.com/time-machine-chronicles/

#10 will be the final section, and I'll probably release it in a couple of weeks. 

I've been mostly gone from online stuff for about 3 weeks. Work's been slammed and I've been struggling to keep on top, and my eyes are all twitchy and uncomfy when I try to look at screens any time after 5 pm. I hope all of you are well. Seems like things have been in a continual downward spiral, but there are rays of light here and there. 

Oh, while I'm here, a couple of interesting things I observed or learned recently, that may or may not be of interest to you:

1. There's a spider called the "ant spider" that looks and moves like an ant. It pretends its front legs are antenna, and it's kind of adorable. Also terrifying. Very fast. 

2. The black-capped chickadees went away from my back yard. My aunt said they had left her farm too. But then they came back. Or at least two of them did. I'm happy to see them. 

3. The hierarchical division seen in public school and in modern business derives at least partially from the Prussian Army?!

Alright, that's all I have. Stay safe, stay positive, and I'll be back to listen later.

Time Machine Chronicles Part 9: Twin Wizards ||| Infinite Scroll

Story is too long again this time! The whole thing is here:
https://mayorofdonutville.com/time-machine-chronicles/

This download is free on Bandcamp here:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/time-machine-chronicles-part-10-the-mayor-of-donutville-has-a-time-machine-side-b-tracks-5-6

This is it! 10 story sections, 10 releases of varying lengths. 

One interesting note about these last two pieces of music: The first one (Twelve Speaks Again) is about the newest thing I've written, and the second one (Home) is one of the oldest things included in the entire Time Machine Chronicles, dating from about December of 2000. I remember the date well, because I was hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with my pops. The idea that music preserves memory has been a huge part of this project.

Thanks for coming along on the journey, it's been a blast.

Time Machine Chronicles part 10 - The Conclusion

Free on bandcamp:
https://mayorofdonutville.bandcamp.com/album/perpendicularism

More tracks on @wrenhollowwrens

"What Hath God Wrought?"

Hey! It's Leighton. This is some music I make. Thanks to the Soundcloud community for the support, and for all the great music. I'm not on here very often and my music making endeavors are extraordinarily scattered, but I still exist. Apologies for not listening more to the wonderful music that you are all kicking out.

Mayor of Donutville

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