Songwriting, experimental music, etc.
It has been a while since I last undertook a musical challenge. Song Fu has passed on, but in its place has risen SpinTunes. This is a similar set of challenges to Song Fu, but with a judging panel rather than a public vote. I missed the deadline for the competition itself, but did...
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I’m just back from a week in Paris where I visited the fantastic Cité de la Musique, home to the Musée de la Musique with its extensive collection of instruments from centuries ago up to the modern era. The focus of the museum is classical music, with only slight nods to folk/world/rock and other...
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Several months ago I pulled together all the short stories I have written within the world of “Some Other Scotland” and produced a small, 40-page booklet for promotional use only. It features all the short tales written up to that time, as well as one story that has yet to be published (and will...
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I went to investigate the reason for one of my favourite bloggers’ recent quiet spells today (he has changed blog host before and I suspected that was the reason) to be met with some tragic news. Doug died following an incident where he was tasered by police at a store for a minor misdemeanour....
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First of all, I’ve signed up to do a song for the ‘Viva la Fry‘ project. Click on the link for more details of what it is. I have no idea what to do for this, but my inclination is to keep it very simple, maybe just uke and vocal. No deadline has been...
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For the first time since it started, ‘Masters of Song Fu’ has been won by a challenger – well done Molly! They have already announced the date for sign-up for the next round, but I think I’m going to take a rest from the Fu for a while. I need to devote more time...
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The latest to come out of the Roy Harper stable is not his long-awaited next studio album, but this little film. It’s a joke you’re probably familiar with, but it’s so well-presented that I couldn’t help but smile. I’d love to see Roy do more of this sort of thing (once he’s finished that...
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Another ‘Masters of Song Fu’ comes to a close with the final voting round posted today and it’s been fun. The format of the competition has changed significantly from the first time I entered, with all contestants staying in until the final round and letting us enjoy a much bigger collection of new songs....
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I’ve been listening to Jutze’s album “HETEROSCEDASTICITY” on and off over the last week and thought it was worth a plug here. Jutze provided a couple of sets of backing vocals for ‘Big Red Nose’ and is the only other person to complete a shadow Frankensong for the final round of the latest ‘Masters...
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Here’s a low-budget video for the latest Song Fu challenge song. Only the title was set for this round, so I took a little inspiration from the rather mixed reception the finale of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ received on the internet. Like several other popular cult series, it finished with several untied loose ends, some of...
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