This song was inspired by "The Cold Heart" (German: Das kalte Herz), a fairy tale written by Wilhelm Hauff. It was published in 1827 in a collection of fairy tales that take place within the narrative of The Spessart Inn.
Although written almost 200 years ago, the described conflicts of mankind are still up-to-date, maybe even more than before. Preferring status und prosperity over humanity is something which has become socially acceptable.

Special thanks for prelistening and precious ideas to my dear friend Gary Reeves!

Lyrics
Peter was in the charcoal business
never in peace with the live he was living
made a deal with the forest spirit
Three wishes and a new life given

Descending to the darkest corners of humanity
what was it you were thinking of when you lost your pity
 
Inside your stone cold heart
You‘ve built a world of disregard

It did not play out like you were whishing for
glassworks went down and you needed much more
sold your heart to Dutch Mike to keep living
a heart of stone and the fortune you were given

Descending to the darkest corners of humanity
what was it you were thinking of when you lost your pity

Inside your stone cold heart
You‘ve built a world of disregard

Flourishing business kept you going
but your smile was eternally frozen
when your drivers faded and you had murdered love
nothing left there but an empty heart

Descending to the darkest corners of humanity
what was it you were thinking of when you lost your pity

Inside your stone cold heart
You‘ve built a world of disregard

Stone Cold Heart

I did not use AI support at any stage in the creation of this piece.

When I started composing this piece in December, after buying Spitfire Originals Intimate Strings on sale, I had these thoughts: If this is what the future is going to look like, I didn't sign up for it. Although in my youth I read and watched a lot of SF films presenting both utopia and dystopia, I always preferred the bright future. However, what I see on TV, on YouTube and outside my window is starting to resemble the latter...

Despite this, I hope you like the piece at least a little bit

To make this track I used:
Ableton Live 11 Standard
Spitfire Originals Intimate Strings
Spitfire Originals Cinematic Percussion
Spitfire BBC SO Discover (free)
Soundpaint 1928 Vintage Steinway Grand Piano (free)
Arturia Augmented Voices
Arturia Augmented Mallets Play (free)
Strezov Sampling Afflatus Minimalist Violins Legato Freebie (free for Kontakt Player)

Beside plug-ins I used 3 samples:
Two from BBC Sample Library:
- Rioting - Riot in Belfast - with breaking glass, rubber bullets, distant cries and chants
- Chatter - Club atmosphere, busy mixed chatter at mealtime (mid-distance) - 1981 (1C25,reprocessed)
and from Freesample.org
Real War - Marines in Firefight Gunbattle (Raw audio) by qubodup

Picture in cover: Freepik

Future Perfect?

Manic riff for 2 tenor saxes held together (some of the time) by sensible flutes, 'bass' alto saxes and trad. beat. 
Pic. by NM - from hot air balloon trip in 2007...the first (and last).

Crosstown Dash

Tis a noble sport but it does have its downside. The lifespan of a wrestler is typically reduced by 15-20 years attributed to the health consequences of the sumo diet. They are also banned from driving cars partly due to being too big to fit behind a steering wheel. This song, however, is about another fight which we must win!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSnhY0xBK7k

I’m a sumo wrestler
Don’t fit in a Tesla
I weigh 400 pounds 
Or ‘bout that
And a lotta the food’ll be
Rice, ramen noodles
Yeah
Ya gotta be fat

No gougin ’ no kickin’
Just slappin’ and trippin’
Huff, luffa 
Keep your breathing in sync
Throw salt in the air
Show your palms 
That’s just fair
Make sure your mawashi’s 
Tucked in
   
Le lutteur de Sumo
Il ma fait ‘ah’
Il ma fait ‘oh’
Le lutteur de Sumo
C’est si bon
C’est si beau

No gougin’ no kickin’
Just slappin’ and trippin’
Make sure your mawashi 
Tucked in
 And remind that bozo
Once he touches the doho
It means that he loses
I win

Huffa luffa
Huffa luffa
Huffa luffa

The Sumo Wrestler

Heartache In My Levi's

Bombs drop

Super nova lights 
The southern sky
Right before the bombs drop
Ending all of life

1,2
3,4
Shut the fucking door


I walk across this earth
It’s truths written in lies
The sun kisses my face
I’m already dead inside

Before Bomb$ Drop

listen in it's proper order  at Sonic Structure and Silent Stretches https://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/sets/scalar-fields?si=a4ded6b0462f4929b3f05def556b0a35&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharinghttps://soundcloud.com/sonic-textures/sets/scalar-fields?si=a4ded6b0462f4929b3f05def556b0a35&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

album coming soon to Bandcamp!


instruments and voices: Jeff Gardiner and jo richter (and one outside voice generated via magix hub and some further artefacts that just manifested during the process)
further reading: How Forests Thinl: www.anth.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsi…Introduction.pdf
modulation, arrangement and all that: jo richter @sonic-textures
lyrics: Jeff Gardiner in collaboration with jo richter
image: Jeff Gardiner in collaboration with jo richter

whilst I was looking
for some kind of semblance
of something somewhere in the tangled undergrowth of
silent thoughts and bellow-voiced persuasions
that might be well described as somewhat sidewinded akin
to the kinesthetics of the barnacles and brambles and
cliffside-dangling while still clinging, perspiration hope
I met the transcendental hobo drifter
down in the scalar fields , tied with a rope
to roaming notions of delusion
and love and love and running from a mistress,
his or mine, known to be crow of crowleyan dimensions

endowed with much renown among the locals
for telling truth and spitting frogs
and hailing hail and splitting rocks
and all the while the transsedential drifter
ate from his open can of beans upon the pitted fire

and whispered ruthless, patient, cunning, sweet
on repeat:

[in the sonic version, the following
icaro is overlaid by a voice-
over explaining the term "icaro"]

„the tunnel of dances
the funnel of trances
the fuel for chances
the focus of tidal glances
paint eyes on your forehead
wide eyes on your forehead
so the jaguar knows
so the jaguar knows
that you are not dead
not asleep and not dead
not asleep and not dead yet.“

and all I heard and all I got and all I simply understood
was to hush that voice, that voice within my head
to hush that voice, that voice within my head

it was then I noticed, not without bewilderment
the wooden spoon in his left hand
a spoon not made of silver
not silver and not gold but wood
and it was then I very nearly understood

scalar fields pt 4: talons heels(reloaded)-with Sonic Structures and Silent Stretches

jigs T is not responsible for any kind of brain damage , listen at your own risk 😂

stimulants

'ghetto falsetto' with Harmful if Followed and sixstring mac 

Isaac and the apple:
Mac: music, lyrics and vocals
Harmful/Shane: lyrics, vocals, backups 

one man verity show:
Scotty: lyrics, vocals, backups, art 

Well the night’s effervescent and I’m on fire
Full of anti depressants to blunt my ire
Well aware of the presence of my desire
It feels very pleasant as I get higher
And I’m clad in a fashion to catch the eye
So why does everyone ignore me as I walk by
It would be a different story for a different guy
But I’ll never find the glory unless I try
So why do I lie so low 
Why don’t I let them know
Let them bask in the glow
Of my ghetto falsetto 

Most are fucked up from the drugs they take,
and don't care to interrupt all the love I make,
but I can't quite erupt so, I'll simply fake,
and make believe
that I have climaxed, because all the noise
that keeps me far from relaxed and trapped in the void, 
I've always had a clean nose but perhaps I'll toy 
with singing in falsetto. 

These streets are full of cackles and high pitched screams
A ghetto manifesto haunting my dreams
Monotone narration to a story I know
A baritone ending won’t leave me alone
I’m not crazy it’s the world around me
I’ll deal with the shit eventually 
Then get past the truth I know
That I’m too low for ghetto falsetto 

But it don’t mater how high or how low 
Unless you mean it nobody will know
All you need is the seed and the get go
Let go of the ghetto falsetto

ghetto falsetto (with Harmful if Followed and sixstring mac)

Chills (2025) Remastered

Written and performed by Josh McAlexander

A hold on me (Original)

2nd page for various off-cuts, outtakes, oddities, pre-mixes, remixes and reminiscences.
Main page:
The Windscale Blues Experiment   @windscaleblues

Crosstown Dash

Nigel Manning (windscale blues exp 2)