Some thoughts that have been percolating in my mind lately (cover photo:  photo of my halloween skeleton edited with a not to scale termite and silver spoon: adobe stock images)

***
Copyright 2025
Vocals , Chords and Lyrics by Joe Stroffolino
Organ (playing my midi keyboard with sound from Logic Pro BeBop Organ)
Single Strum track  (playing my Taylor 114ce)
Second fast strumming track: PG music real track
Bass: PG Music real track
Piano:  EZ Keys2 (with sound from Native instruments Piano uno)
Drums: EZ Drummer 3
***
They say that life is a test but not everyone’s dealt the same hand
Some are born into privilege, while others struggle through quicksand
We play the cards we’re dealt as we try to find our way,
Doing our best to keep our heads above water as we go about each day.
People born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they’re rich and the die is cast
Other’s get a wooden spoon, which the termites eat, and it’s struggle not to finish last
They say money can’t buy you happiness, but it’s hard to put a smile on your face
When the game is rigged and you can’t even get to first base.
How many billions do you have to accumulate before you’re just running up the score
At what point do you decide that you don’t need anymore
Telling rags-to-riches stories, so the common man believes it’s true,
“Keep those taxes off the billionaires cause someday that might be you.”
 People born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they’re rich and the die is cast
Other’s get a wooden spoon, which the termites eat, and it’s struggle not to finish last
They say money can’t buy you happiness, but it’s hard to put a smile on your face
When the game is rigged and you can’t even get to first base.
 Politicians smiling and acting like they share your blues,
But they’d collapse in a minute trying to walk a mile in your shoes.
Lottery tickets selling hope, though the odds are that you’ll never win
You’ve got a better chance of being struck by lightning than ever cashing in.
You’ll be paying off those loans for the rest of your life from that useless college degree
As the corporations implement AI trying their best to replace you and me
 The universe is billions of years old; we come and go in a flash.
We spend our short lives obsessing over cash.
 People born with a silver spoon in their mouths, they’re rich and the die is cast
Other’s get a wooden spoon, which the termites eat, and it’s struggle not to finish last
They say money can’t buy you happiness, but it’s hard to put a smile on your face
When the game is rigged and you can’t even get to first base.

Life Is a Test

Big And Bouncy

Part 4 of the final track of Then She Reaches For The Gun's 2nd Album
released in Jan 2025 - nomatesensemble.bandcamp.com/album/i-am…m-with-you.

Then She Reaches for the Gun was formed in 2021 by Mat Ward. At its essence is sound collage, Ward invites musicians, sound artists, poets and anyone interested to send him files to be used, abused and showcased ‘as suggested by the work’. They are not always musical but field recordings, spoken word, engine noises and drunken rants. Animals participate a lot too! The raw material is arranged with one phrase asking for the next in an alchemical and intuitive process that will most often feature dozens of tracks weaving in and out of each other, colliding, harmonising, arguing and laughing along the way.

Both the aesthetic and the compositional methods use what Frank Zappa called Xenochrony - the mixing together of separately recorded and rhythmically opposing musical phrases to create polyrhythmic and polytempi compositions.The work also features fragmented story telling with the human voice (in many languages) appearing unannounced throughout the tracks offering up snippets of thoughts, conversations, jokes and existential angst. The absurdity of humanities desperate claim to have any real understanding of its place in the universe is revealed through the recorded follies and genuine emotions of the artists. The project is a celebration of chance, diversity and community. It pays homage to all musical tastes and genres whilst maintaining a sense of humour and irreverence that is needed to stay sane in the climate of 21st Century contemporary culture.

Then She Reaches For The Gun is

Humans

Adam Meredith - Ford XD with XF front mods/Voice
Ambient Annie - Electronica/Field Recording/Voice
Andrew Harper - Field Recordings
Angostura Elwar - 2 x Behringer CRAVE analog synths/Yamaha P200 electronic piano
Antonella Eye Porcelluzzi - Text/Voice
Ariad Music - Clarinet/Percussion/Piano
Axel Weiß - Electric Guitar/Robot Voices
Banalytic - Experimental Electronics
Belial Pelgrim - Digital Strings/Electronica
Brendan Corey Benson - Electric Guitar
Carolyn Wigston - Voice
Chicago Word Brigade - Electronica
Dan Hewins - Bass Guitar
Dane Renshaw - Drums/Voice
Dani Kirby - Keyboard/Piano/Voice
Dylan Banks - Intonarumori/Voice
Frank Wilke - French Horn/Trombone/Voice
Garbage Truck Disco - Drum programming/Electric Guitar/Joyous Pop Punk
Glenn Ward - Electric Guitar/Skyhooks
Hakan - Moog Voyager XL
Hverheij- Drums/Electric Guitar/Synth
Johnny Python- Bass Guitar/Drum Programming/Electric Guitar/Text/Voice
JZsuperstar - Electric Guitar/Field Recordings/Keyboards
Lady ElectroTrek - Organ
Libby Laksmi - Jazzy Loops/Synth Bass
Loop(c)y - Electric Guitar
Malo Bernard-O’Meara - Drums
Maxx Black - Guitar/Ukulele
Minimal Drone Girl - Cat Wrangling/Field Recordings
Oberlin - Eurorack/Piano
Paolo D’Emilio - Electronica
Paul Miller - Electronic Percussion/Keyboards/Phat Electro Bass
Phil Bywater - Saxophones/Voice
Raul Mainer - DAW Programming/Heavy Metal
Robert Jefferson - Akai Rhythm wolf/GakkenSX-150 ll/Korg Kaosilator/Percussion
Rosin Dust - Violin/Field Recordings
Sarah Megahertz - Speedway Noise
Scratch Kelly - Beats/Electronica
Stan Magendanz - Electronica
Ten Atmospheres - Field Recordings/Synths
Texmex Shaman - Electric Guitar
The Windscale Blues Experiment - Clarinet/Flute/Saxophones
Timothy Korstad - Demons/Electronica
Thomas Bergheim - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar
Tobias Schmitt - Electronica/Processed Organ/Text
Tuonela - Demons/Electronica
Vartch - Drones/Things/Trousers (not T-shirts)/Voice
Widar’s Spiritual Front - Electronica/Ms Pacman
W:I:L-o’ the-wisp - Bass Guitar/Electric Guitar/Electronica
Wivresse - Electronica/Voice
Zanshin - Acoustic and Processed Drums

Mat Ward - Arrangements/Bass Guitar/Double Bass/Field Recordings/Intonarumori/Marimba/Noise/Percussion/Piano

Dogs
Boogie
Brophy
Buddy
Hancho
Jack
Momo
Neska
Poldo
Senna
Shyamsundara
Star
Oily (cat)
And many cows from Milis, Sardinia

Cooking Hard Boiled Eggs in a Cheap Motel In Adelaide Part 4

Track 5 from Wigmore Allen Gibbons 2025 release called FRINGE - available at www.terrywigmore.com/wigmore-allen-gibbons

*Keith makes observations everywhere he goes, and in this instance, his tours of local castles led to this idea - those great, huge, thickly-hewn doors are actually hung on very small hinges. Of course, Terry sees the image as a metaphor -great change often begins with small starts. Literal or metaphorical? We 'll leave that up to the listener.

Great Doors Open

    I walked along a beach…soft sand at my feet
    I travelled past a man…his chin down on his chest
    This man is not asleep…He’s too long past all that I guess
    It may sound pretty stupid, yet…there it is
    Great doors open on small hinges
    I don’t care no more…I don’t care
    I don’t care no more…I don’t care… 
    Great doors open on small hinges
    On this unmitigated nightmare
    No one walks the lonely path I trod
    More disasters left by the wayside
    At the time, didn’t look so bad

    1.47 (Instrumental Break)
    
    He joined in halfway through the movie
    He ain’t gunna chew this cabbage twice
    That dozy man out on the causeway
    Awoke upon his own advice
    Great doors open on small hinges 
    He don’t care no more…he just don’t care
    He don’t care no more…he just don’t care
    Great doors open on small hinges

Wigmore: Music, Production
Allen: Vocals, Lyrics, Guitars, Bass

Great Doors

What you can do with 16 bars of piano MIDI notes :-)

Fragile

© Gary Courtland-Miles & Tim Elliot 2025
 ℗ Gary Courtland-Miles & Tim Elliot 2025

Healing Radiations* _ by Shekinah Fire

This piece is an emotional journey from a dark and sinister origin to a bright and hopeful finale. If you like passionate low whistles combined with tasteful orchestration, you should definitely give it a listen.
As with my recent work I've added a lot of live recordings (e.g. the low whistle performances). You can find quite a few "behind the scenes" views in my YouTube shorts: https://www.youtube.com/@TorbenFugger/shorts

A Glimmer of Hope

Some fun with "Vital" (free VST) and Outersect Modeler (physical modeling) ...

Etude nello spirito di Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti

Cast of Characters:

Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark –- VST Middle Eastern instruments (Duf Drum, Daire drum, Darbuka, Riq, Qanun, Zurna horn, Ney flute, strings), female vocal sample, 'ululation' (high pitch yodel), and composition

Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Custom fretless 5-string bass 

Llanpsych - Fluffer for the keyboardist and keygrip

The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — vocals and lyrics

J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – saz, shakuhachi, and synth

K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken — cymbals and Chinese percussion

TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — traditional gourd-body sitar and mastering.

  Josh had the idea for doing a traditional Palestinian song, as he is an avid fan of their music. He wanted to raise awareness of this music and tie it to the idea it may cease to exist as a living musical tradition sooner than later. Everyone in the band was immediately on board with this idea, and set about to make it happen. 

  Mark, who is an expert percussionist, learned a basic traditional Palestinian drum pattern, in a very authentic fashion. He laid it down, along with an Arabic sounding modal melody line portrayed by the quanun, which is a kind of zither. Josh found this pattern fascinating, and added his five string fretless bass to the it shortly after. Carl jumped in very shortly thereafter, and came up with some really amazing vocal melodies, as well as wonderfully prescient lyrics. He even learned more than several phrases in Arabic, which he sang in there, too. We were all very impressed by this, of course.

  JJ was next up, adding his magical, melodic, and exotic saz, shakuhachi, and synth to the mix. Ken threw in next, adding his perfectly timed brass and Chinese percussion to the mix, too. Last, but certainly not least, Stephen recorded his subtle, exotic, traditional sitar to the piece. 

  Once we had it all recorded, we turned it over to Mark for a mix, as the whole thing is really his baby. Stephen mastered it, though, as he is our resident professional producer.

  Our hope is that this song inspires you to dig into Palestinian music, and through that, you recognize the magic and the humanity of millions of Palestinian people who are suffering unimaginably right now. But most of all, we hope you enjoy listening to this as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:

Sisters and brothers
Daughters and Sons
We would give you food
But the road is blocked to sun
Proud Palestine
Brave brethren
Our hearts are with you
Our souls are weeping

Inhumane blockade of bread
Pains collective minds 
We want gone this dread
Let's find our kind
Please be strong
As we right this wrong
Hope prays that day will not be long

We pine with your God
To find a normal truth
Where your kids can grow and learn good youth
Sisters and Brothers
Daughters and Sons
We are with you Palestine
Sending love through song

The eye sees but the arm is short ( العين ترى والذراع قصيرة )

We are in the same boat ( نحن في نفس القارب )

Winds do not blow as the ships wish ( لا تهب الرياح كما تشاء السفن )

Being alone is better then being with someone bad (أن تكون وحيدا أفضل من أن تكون مع شخص سيء )

What is hidden is more then what has happened ( ما هو مخفي أكثر مما حدث )

Every problem has a solution ( لكل مشكلة حل )

Good intentions count for as much as good actions ( النوايا الحسنة لها نفس أهمية الأفعال الحسنة )

All is well that ends well ( كل شيء على ما يرام إذا انتهى بشكل جيد )

Oh My Darlin' Palestine - Eclectic Collective

Rise

My music is dependent on where inspiration takes me. I hope you enjoy something here!

Rise

TSM

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