Since the start of last month I have been blending the sounds of my Casiotone and Yamaha Portasound collection back into my music. While they always start as something new I can't help but get the urge to go back once more and reimagine my older pieces.

This one in particular is a song I created in 2019, and will turn 6 very soon. It began as a song in B flat but found its way into A flat for later versions in 2020 and 2024. I blended the original and the newer leitmotifs to create something more uniform and the structure lends itself to a full extended version I made later on in 2019.

sleepingaloud2025

B-sides and out-takes from the "Prototype Jive" Sessions. 2003. Many of these songs were studio experiments and were left off Prototype Jive in order to maintain the "live" atmosphere.

Socially Challenged Euphoria (Aka Psychic Crosstalk theme)

16 Socially Challenged Euphoria

I originally made this song in 2019 just around the time I was wrapping up some GCSE music work. A lot of my work from that time was built around experimental chord structures like how the descending bass with the ascending chords creates some interesting 7ths. (Sleeping Aloud is also a good example of the type of chord progressions I was going for at the time.)

loverslane2025

Birthed from a Casiotone MT-205 this song began a micro trend in my music where I'd make one named after each month through 2020. I'd only recently got ahold of the 205 and quickly went to work using it in songs.

It stayed as a short 30 second track much like other demos I make but returned to it by the end of the year to extend it. That summer I'd created an alternate version with preset synths and a hard Simmonds snare that was sporadic and wild and clocked in at 4 minutes long, but I remain fond of the original sound.

aprilshowers2020

Great Rig is the first song I recorded with an audio interface direct from my Casio MT-100. I'd used soundalikes and plainer stock presets within my songs up to this point but having this new piece of gear (a Great Rig, one might say) was revolutionary to me as I was carving a style of my own.

Its a simple song but one I was very very happy to have made. It opened the flood gates to what I could do going forward. I was just leaving that summer's bitcrusher phase hence the extra crunch.

greatrig2019

It snowed for just one day a couple of weeks ago and its yet to come back again. Its nice to see.

I was toying around with this chord progression in a few styles and this one was my favourite. Maybe if it snows again I'll come back to this too.

snow2025

two demos from the the fast forward cassette magazine demonstrating Robin Whittle's early 1980's modifications / upgrades to Casiotone CT-202. Performed by Alan Underhill. Circa 1981. No idea if Part1 was ever released or if anyone has a copy of it still. 

alan underhill - silicon sundae pt2 -  casiotone 202 - ff09-17

alan underhill - silicon sundae pt3 - casiotone 202 - ff08-18

This version of Lemon was originally meant to be for a "30 Seconds Of Fame" reel during my first year of college. We were asked to make a 30 second video that introduced us and our music.

I decided to rework Lemon with it being the first completed original song I made, however my video would end up being a mix of live work and shorter studio excerpts so this was shelved. I would end up using Rainy Sunday from the month prior as an example of my studio work.

lemontv2020

Near the end of October I had a try at extending Cherryl Stevens, the song I made while rerecording my Casiotone MT-240 samples. Everything you hear comes from those new samples, with some narration from a cheesy instructional video I found online. Once I began moving onto my Yamaha Portasound samples this file got left and I never got around to posting it.

The new sections are taken from songs I hadn't gotten far with in the past, like one just called "wah wah pop 24" and a 2020 song called Love Bite. I used a similar approach in a few of my full-length songs in 2020.

cherrylstevens2025 [extended]

Not too long after Cherryl Stevens I started making more music with the MT-240. The April Showers motif makes a reappearance in here, I find its much easier to fall back on the motifs I already have when writer's block rears its head in the creative process.

aprilshowers2025

Dancer is one of the earliest songs I created in 2020. I would have been in Year 11 in school and I wasn't feeling particularly great around that time hence the sadder chord progression. I originally packaged this in with some other songs I had on the back burner and ran a short concept release on my now inactive music social media called The Demo Collection. The version that ended up being on that project was a heavier, extended arrangement with some ear piercing synth sections.

While I haven't touched the sides of the extended version's file, I went and updated the Casio elements of this original demo arrangement which is dated January 19th 2020.

dancer2020

It uses a unique drum loop from Casiotone.
カシオトーンのユニークなドラムループを使っています。

Casio PT-82,
Gibson LesPaul Studio,
Bugera V5 Tube Guitar Amp,
Fender Jazzbass,
Marshall MB15 BassAmp,

#casiotone #gibson #jazz #fusion #rock #blues 

Bandcamp

Alien Invasion - Casiotone, Gibson LesPaul Studio

all major chords
verse C D C D      
Chorus E F# A# G#   motorbike girl, ride straight to my heart
bridge F F# A# F#     I play a casio (sic), She rides a yamaha
photo : yamaha frog 750 concept prototype
keys: Yamaha pss-140 / Disco pattern

BRIDGE 1
i play a casio
she rides a yamaha
i stay home
she travels far

BRIDGE2
you've always got
a place to park
what if we kissed
outside the family mart

CHORUS
motorbike girl drive 
straight through my heart
our time is precious
fuck love, make art

CHORUS2 (or verse)
let's photograph cicadas
until it gets too dark 
identify some new species
pull some old equipment apart

cycles synchronized
your words make me believe
my oxytocin deficiency cured
your signals have been received 
(a new idea has been conceived) 

Her helmet is cute
with little bunny ears
the only hint she's older
is how she shifts through the gears
(is her communication is clear)

The boca juniors shirt
nylon fibres glistening like a moonlit ocean
handed down for three generations
a heirloom of commitment and devotion 
(a monument to greater expectations)

I neglect my plants 
while I nurture things that don't love me
Like computers 
and obsolete electronic technology

after all this time
I am owed and apology (i'm owed a future)
she says it's my destiny
It's written in my astrology

motorcycle girl (yamaha pss-140)

C Eb F Ab - acending
Bb A Ab F# - decending 
F Bb C - ostinato 

they are too busy on the production line
too busy living their lies to have the time (chasing some prize)
to think of solutions outside the box
to know what the people really want

chronically ill get things done
the disabled have a job to do
noticing the details that get ignored
preserving all the media that was lost

appreciate beauty or develop good tastes
all your productive work is a waste
perhaps the obstacles give us perspective
we are forced to meditate and be reflective

they'll never find towns that aren't on the maps
they'll never notice people falling through the gaps
only the disabled take the time to notice
chronic illness brings life into focus

they'll never smell the roses
they'll never connect the dots
because they are in perpetual motion
and cannot stop

when everything works it's taken for granted
when a system is broken it requires analysis and thought
we are the monks preserving lost media and knowledge 
yet we are said to have not contributed anything of "value"
we need people with lives interrupted
arcane rituals and minds corrupted
this is a job for volunteers
not people with careers

we are the externalities 
that you don't want to count
but we furnish the world
with the things it couldn't function without

chronically skilled (time to think)

MASHED SQUIT (hungry jack sh*t mix)

Track 23 IMEF invisible monument erection foundation 2002
not sure but i assume the strange noise was made using the frostwave blue ringer
but obviously must have re-processed it in cool edit to have some phasing / panning variations, it could also just be the flanger feeding back into itself.  I don't really remember...but 2002 it was more likely to have the ringmod in the effects loop.

James Earthenware - Running Upstream

(opening) Track 2 from the unreleased 2002 album "invisible monument erection foundation"

James Earthenware - Sadness Appreciation Society

Azami Records
#ShowaDigital #KashioKei #AzamiOngaku
Defiant and diverse melodic/VGM/BGM music.
incl. Sakitto Menda related side-projects. 
Likes late Showa era digital keyboards.

Manga artist, Bedroom musician, Cat owner.
Books: "The Mysterious Frog Princess", "The Mysterious Mummy Girl", "37564 Academy", "Girls' Alliance", "True Horror Stories", "Graveyard Classroom", "Crab Woman"
Music: "Young Antonio's Alien Experience", Inun-do, "Attack of the Killer Hamster", Monofonus Press (USA)
Band: Mankos (2003-)

CD: "Antonio Young Man's Alien Experience" Inundo
Cassette Tape: "Attack of the Killer Hamster" Monofonus Press(USA)
Book: "Mysterious Frog Princess""Mysterious Mummy Girl""37564 (Minagoroshi) Academy""Girls' Alliance""True Horrible Stories (Blue Comics BLACK BUNKO - Mysterious Horror Complete Works)""Graveyard Classroom"and "Crab Girl"

archived work and occasional newer projects

New tracks tagged #casiotone