Nightmares, Effervescent

A disturbed night. I awoke with a nightmare of Kate Bush and Pet Shop Boys singing the latter's song 'Heart'. I felt ill when I woke, as though my blood pressure was very high, flushed, my digestion blocked. This discomfort lasted an hour or so before I drifted back into sleep. Then, a second nightmare. In the latter part I was some sort of warrior or defensive organic robot, battling with a friend in a martial art. The ally, in this training, became more violent, and pinned me down. He hit my left arm in the bicep which hurt a lot, then he pummelled my arms until they were smashed and bloody. I was helpless. Then he bent my head to one side and did the same to my face, his fists rotating in a high-speed blur to smash my mouth and nose to a literal pulp. My body was left a flayed mess. I awoke in this terror to stomach pain, though my feelings of being 'blocked' had thankfully gone.

I slept again and woke more peacefully past 9am. The day started, in this late and slow state, by refining and completing Ponderous Tomes, then started work on Effervescent, which uses mock orchestral strings and flute in a manner like the Infinite Forest album. The tune is only about 90 seconds long. I've largely stuck to the score, the live version we've performed a few times. This dates from the post-Clown-Face era where I began to compose specific melodies for sections of words, rather than play 'general moods' to the whole poem.

The Candle Burns is the only remaining track that has an extant music plan, and that a simple one, coming from the moods period. It's essentially four descending chords, but uses this to dramatic effect by breaking into a solo at the climax.

Sunchild Day 2, Ponderous Tomes

More work on the new Fall in Green recordings today, actually a full and tiring day. First, completing Sunchild (I say 'completing' in the loosest of terms; these new tracks all lack words at the moment, and there are probably many stages of refinement to go). As mentioned in my previous post, Sunchild is largely MIDI driven recordings, so the composition involves tailoring those.

Then work on 'Ponderous Tomes', a poem from the Rattenfanger collection about the book Of Human Bondage, and about Persian rugs, with images of dancing in hotel rooms. The poem is packed with information that echo patterns in patterns, and the complex philosophies of human nature and the universe. We've played this live a few times, and my melody was trivial, too simple. It was a waltz in a dulcimer-like instrument, vaguely Middle Eastern, or harp-like. To echo exotic scales, I made the melody pentatonic and (to make it fun for me) only black notes in chords of G# and F#.

In the live version I play the melody as an introduction, then play it again 4 times in a row while Deb reads the first two verses (though the structure is such that the first 'verse' is actually one line, and the next is effectively 4, 4-line verses). This is too simple, so I've composed a little bit more here. The waltz continues moving from G# and F# but in scales that overlap like knots tying; this references the words about knots and weaves. I don't go so far as a fugue or anything like that, these are simple up and down staircases, harp-like, to retain that exotic quality.

The next part is about thinking (the 'pondering' of the title), so the rhythm breaks here into a thoughtful part. For this I played it live, as trying to sequence something so raw and authentic isn't as efficient as just feeling and playing those feelings. Then, for the finale and epiphanic conclusion, the melody of the intro returns for the first time.

The tune is largely sequenced in Prometheus using samples, but the solo parts are recorded 'live' from the MODX, so I needed to use the exact samples. This isn't too easy, as the MODX sound has lots of layers including strings, so I've stripped those off for my lead instrument, and my strings now follow a separate melody. The Prometheus lead has random panning, so I've programmed that into the MODX too, so that those live solo parts have the same effect. The result is rather a close match. I don't mind that it's not exact - I could make it so, but I like the balance here between controlled and free, and the sound itself reflects the changes between both.

This tune isn't scored at all. I know the melody from memory and confirmed the structure by listening to recordings of our old live events (the first version used an organ lead on the Microkorg). Looking at these events made me rethink how I file such audio, and the audio for use as live backing tracks. Now, live backing tracks are filed with the appropriate album, but there are a few tunes that we've performed live but not recorded (like this one, though this one never had a backing track), so those are filed with the event. Maybe a 'blank' album would be better.

Make no mistake, filing principles can have a marked effect on productivity. Not being able to find old stuff is as bad as not having it at all, and having a nice blank space for a new project is an incentive in itself.

Velvet Gelt, Sunchild, Patrick Stewart

A busy couple of days. Updated Prometheus yesterday with more tweaks to the sample trimmer, and then immediately used it on the Fall in Green tune Velvet Gelt. We have several tracks now that have been performed live a few times but not recorded, so I sequenced that and used the live 'accordion' sound I use, with auto-trim and auto-loop making the sampling process all very quick.

Today, more changes to the program, adding separate fade-in and fade-out times for the auto-trimmer, as musical sounds are generally fast attack and slow decay (sounds that gently fade in and suddenly stop feel somehow odd, disturbing, or just too slow).

I then got working on Sunchild, another track that we've performed live a few times. This one is unusual in that it's all (so far) MIDI sequenced, and done in Prometheus, using the complex parameter modulation effects to make the sound swell and fade, and make the tempo ebb and flow too. This method is slower than 'direct' sequencing because I can't hear the results. I type the notes and parameters, then I have to export it out as a MIDI file and reload it externally to play. It's a rare process for me, but the fading timbre of the superb MODX instrument is vital to this track. After an hour or two, it was broadly working.

I made some tweaks to how the parameter modulation controls worked. I've rarely used them and this track is a good test. I also found and fixed a small bug in the MIDI export-to-tempo routine.

The day has been dark and wet, the weather bleak. I won't see Deborah until Saturday, our Christmas day, or perhaps Friday, our Christmas Eve.

I've started to read Making it So, the memoirs of Patrick Stewart. Being poor and northern, I can relate to several aspects of his childhood, and recalled the unique delight of bread toasted on a coal fire. I noted that Simon today almost lives like Patrick Stewart of the 1940s: a coal fire, no hot running water (but an electric immersion heater, rather than Patrick's gas heater), an outside toilet, and other ancient remnants of the mid-20th century.

Though united by a terror of fathers, Patrick seemed to be more boisterous and out-going than my child self. Or was he? Memories - how they can sometimes trick one. Perhaps my child self was boisterous and out-going, supplanted by a silent, fearful and solitary adult. I had no friends or spoke until my mid-30s, but perhaps as a young child I felt part of humanity in a way I've not felt since. I clearly recall, as a child, thinking my parents were homicidal androids who had kidnapped my 'real parents' (who looked exactly the same), and recall not feeling human myself, but an outsider somehow trapped in a their world; and in truth, I never lost this feeling. My name is ancient Irish for 'otherworldly', and at times I think my ancestors were beings from the Sí, the Celtic Otherworld. At times I feel that part of me lives there in parallel.

An inspiring week.

Christmas 2023

Awake with an unexpectedly severe I.B.S. flare up for most of the night, with constant twitches and stomach pain. I managed two hours of poor sleep, and two nightmares. The first, being chased through a maze by a demonic creature, very like something from the film Pan's Labyrinth. In the second, the back garden was a flooded lake which led to North Korea, to which I tried to secretly escape in a dinghy.

The Christmas Day was calm, nice, if a little empty. A few little gifts were opened and I spoke to Deb on the phone often throughout the day.

I spent an hour or two completely recoding the sample trimming option in Prometheus, simplifying it hugely. It now seeks for the first point above the threshold, then the last point from the end backwards, copying the newly trimmed total, then fading in towards those points. Loop points are adjusted too, and other simple checks, such as for samples which never rise above the threshold. It works much better than yesterdays, which tried to fade from those threshold points rather than towards.

Christmas lunch, cooked by my mother, was at 2pm, and was lovely. Deb's trifle, which I collected from her house yesterday, was a triumph too.

I wrote a few downbeat songs in the night, one about my stomach pain which is rather good, but would need to be part of a series.

Christmas Cancelled, Prometheus v3.26

Sigh. Last Christmas Eve (or was it Christmas morning?) I had a call from Deborah from her work, to say that her client had tested positive for Covid, meaning she had to remain at work, her client and herself 'isolating'. We had to spend Christmas apart. We exchanged gifts and celebrated on New Year's Day instead.

Today I had a call that exactly the same thing has occurred, so our Christmas is cancelled again, and we won't see each other until Saturday at the earliest, assuming that she remains well. I met her and the infected person yesterday for a brief visit in a café, so there is also a chance, though remote I think, that I have contracted Covid too. I feel well enough, much stronger in fact than yesterday.

This means that the holiday week will be a normal work week for me.

I've spent today updating Prometheus to version 3.26. This started with a change (and an unexpected fix) to the MIDI importer, then adding a new feature to automatically trim samples.

The latter has proven to be stubbornly difficult! I first shoot forwards until the threshold is reached, and do the same from the end backwards, to calculate the final trimmed size, then I trim the sample and fade the edges. It works, but it seems to not detect when a sample has already been faded, and so tries to re-trim. There are a lot of complex tests to do on this, as I can trim start, end, or both. A start trim must be identical to an end trim on a reversed sample. These all seem correct, yet the 'already faded' test is proving stubborn. I'll keep trying. It's taken many hours so far. All of this distracts me from what would be Christmas.

Amp Maintenance

A day of tiredness and persistent stomach pain, which has continued for about 24 hours now.

few jobs done, but I managed to service my two Behringer 150W amplifiers. The main volume knob has crackled for some years, so I finally bought some contact cleaner and sprayed them, which seems to have fixed this. The main inputs crackle hugely when touching the cables even slightly, so I cleaned the input sockets and tested everything. It seems that the 3M mic cable was at fault, so I've replaced this, and shored up the connections to the main 5M cables with Polymorph. This may help or not, but these cables are probably the problem as the violent crackling when moving the cable doesn't seem to occur when I use a mixer (or other cables!). The Polymorph fix appears to be solid, though ugly looking.

I generally feel to tired and ill to work. Onwards we march towards Christmas Eve.

Macc Art Lounge, Paul, and Recovery

A full day yesterday at the Macc Art Lounge, my last day in the shop. Ché insists that I avoid that term, and instead say 'gallery', but the place feels like a shop to me, and I much prefer the idea of it being a shop. A gallery is a place for art, mostly non-commercial, and a shop is a place for buying and selling things; and the Macc Lounge is much closer to the latter than the former, and I'm there to sell my paintings, not showcase my latest concepts or anything like that. The space is not artistic, or edgy, exciting, modern. The art, as it is in 2023, rarely shows emotion, or personality. The word I would apply is 'sterile'. The examples (and artists) that I like are in a small minority and sidelined. To be as polite as possible, it is not to my taste.

The experience has, of course however, reconnected me with the visual arts, which was a key aim. It was genuinely lovely to meet Ché and the other artists again, to connect with new artists, and the ordinary people who came and went on the days I was there. For me, I enjoyed hearing about them, and the general chatter. I'm rarely social due to my busy and solitary circumstances, so this aspect was a delight.

Deb has had a very busy week, despite her technically being on holiday. Her heating system is now leaking, and the idiot maintenance man removed a cracked pipe, then left leaving it leaking more, so she has no hot water over Christmas, and little prospect of a repair before the new year. She's done so much for me this month and this year, and I love her more than ever.

She drove me home yesterday and I arrived to see my brother Paul, looking somewhat gaunt. Together we watched the hilariously abysmal film Beyond The Universe (I could write a essay on this film - certainly a case of being so bad it's good).

Paul has, it's an understatement to say, ecological, left wing views of the world and has predicted the doom of capitalism in his lifetime. My views are not like his. For me, economic and political systems reflect biological and universal reality; it is an expression of life, not artificial or malevolent. If poverty, power-games, and inequality are cruel then nature is cruel; and nature works in the most optimal way. Life exists to create order from chaos. He talked about stability, sustainability, how capitalism is not sustainable, but the quality of life is that it strives for what is not sustainable. All animals and plants do; they grasp and steal and hoard. They die off if they go too far, but a 'sustainable' existence is stagnation and also leads to death. The optimum is a middle way, but the only way to find it is to strive; the weak elements die off, those which don't die remain, and so the process continues.

The conversations and ideas were very stimulating. We talked about science fiction too, then played a game of Scrabble with my mum. I just won in a hard game where we both scored about 200. I rarely see Paul, so it was a happy time to be with him, a like-mind in many ways.

I slept badly, probably due to eating badly, the strain of the day and of a busy week. I still feel somewhat exhausted, but have many jobs, and many areas of inspiration to pursue. My economic reality is struggle.

One job today is to clean my Behringer amplifiers. The knobs and cable connections are very crackly, which is something I've never experienced or tried to fix before.

Deb is working until 10am on Christmas morning, and back to work next day. I wish we could be together more over the festive week.

Onwards we strive, to do our best, and for a better world and universe.

Mike At The Mic Stand, 20th Flatspace Year, Strikes

A lovely and memorable performance 'From The Mic Stand' for Artistic Echoes last night. This is a live-streamed video from a small flat, a 'boutique' film studio. I performed 6 We Robot tracks, then had a brief interview with artist and presenter Mike Chisholm:

I really enjoyed it. The live film element reminded me of my radio days, and I loved this more than a normal performance in many ways. I couldn't have done it without Deborah's help, but the night was made more special when Cherie and David rang the buzzer at 8:30 to join us for the broadcast.

The stream is, at time of writing, visible on the Facebook Artistic Echoes page. I write this with a sense of the vastness of time, and perhaps the hope that in the centuries to come, the stream will still be there, but who can say - will these words outlast Facebook? Will Facebook outlast these words?

I've felt really achey and exhausted today; yesterday was hard work. I lost my glove in Macc, and had a disturbing nightmare where a beautiful dawn witnessed by Deborah and myself turned out to be a nuclear explosion which then obliterated us all. I awoke to the sad news that Deb will be working for all of Christmas Eve, with a short break from 10am on Christmas Day, then back to work on Boxing Day.

Today started with a health check, actually part of a survey into the nation's health:

Basic health checks of height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, confirmed what I suspected: I am (physically) 'normal', which itself seems to be a little abnormal these days.

Then some festive visits to friends, appropriately initalled J and C.

Today is also the 20th anniversary of the release of the first Flatspace game (I remember that stressful day well, and the two instant sales it unexpectedly generated), and the first day of the Steam Winter Sale, so I announced these facts, and the new sale. This admin took up most of today's computer time.

I was informed that the Snow Business library event has had a story published about it:

And, finally, a reply from Distrokid support about the Spotify 'strikes'. I'm still amazed that the artists are punished for 'fake' streams over which we have no control. I was advised to seek 'Listener' playlists which looked suspicious. My song didn't appear in any Listener playlist, and I don't know what a 'suspicious playlist' looks like, so I asked for clarification, and again for my unjust strike to be revoked.

Video Filed, Argus Updated, Mural Engagement, Plans

A somewhat frustrating day yesterday. I need more, something big to run at, which encourages me to do yet more. I did, however, file and complete the videos, and updated Argus a version with a few small changes. In the evening I had the an idea for a new project in mind, for Fall in Green, and more people besides, but need to think it all through.

Another Snow Business sale today, so the total raised is over £330. I've ordered a proof of the new Lou Salomé book, which will, like the album, be called 'Lou Salomé: Empathy With Daisies', but with the latter phrase an explicit subtitle. At 12pm, David Jewkes and I, accompanied happily with Deborah, had a few hours in Crewe Market Hall at a public engagement event for the Lyceum Square Mural:

Tonight, the last Artistic Echoes event of the year will be my performance of some We Robot songs.

I now want to get lots finished. I've compiled a basic list of some of the live Fall in Green music we've performed but not recorded, so must target those first. The tracks are: The Cabinet of Dr Eckelmann, Ponderous Tomes, The Candle Burns, Sunchild, Effervescent, and Velvet Gelt. The Candle Burns in particular is one we've performed for many years; I distinctly recall performing that at our Tom's Tap event in October 2019. We'll also record our version of Mr Tambourine Man, as a single (cover versions must be paid for annually, so it's not cost effective to include this in an album).

Videos Complete

A short work day today, managed to complete the Cycles videos. I could spend longer on these, as ever. There is always a trade-off between time and quality, a limit when it must be called finished. So, six Spotify Canvases have been completed, and a main video for Cycles III. One last change was adding a film of a candle being lit at the start, this was inspired by the album artwork. I removed the moon design, and added a new 'golden ring' object for the brass instruments.

During this, I contacted Spotify about my erroneous 'strike'. The operator said that these strikes were an aspect of my distributor, Distrokid, not Spotify:

"Distrokid chose to present you with this material explaining their 'three strike' policy against artificial streams. Spotify did not produce these materials, nor do we require you to engage with them."

Of course, I have no control on how my music was or is streamed. I have never paid for streams (and never would, it's a stupid idea on every level, who would want 'fake' fame!?), never authorised any streaming artificial or otherwise, and never requested music promotion of any sort with anyone. It's odd that I, the artist, would be punished for my music being streamed by third parties that I have no influence or control over. Well, the efficient and helpful Spotify customer service agent made a note of my case. This is the best I can do.

Most of the day was spent on social Christmas trips. My big day of the week is Wednesday with a 'forum' about my mural design in the Market Hall from 12 to 3pm, then the Artistic Echoes music performance at 20:30 in Macclefield.

I need to start a new project, a new album, new paintings, a new book.

Cycles III Video, Completely Wrong Spotify Strike

A nice gamer night last night with Simon, H, and Aff. Our third of the year.

Today, steady work on the Cycles videos, completing the small Spotify canvases. Most of the productive day was spent working on the Cycles III video. Initially it involved simple lights, but I wanted to add more and looked at the old butterfly footage I filmed a few years ago for this. It didn't look clean enough, and I wondered if I should use digital butterflies instead. After some experiments, I simply swapped the glowing blue lights of the lead piano melody for butterflies, and the results looked pretty good:

Now, however, I am annoyed! I've received an extremely patronising message from Distrokid, more of a dressing down, for a 'Spotify strike' because one of my songs (one of the old songs recorded with Tor) has been detected on an 'artificial' stream or some such nonsense, and implies that I've paid for this! This is ridiculous! I have never and will never pay for streams on a streaming service. I know, of course, the stupidity of fake streams, and didn't need telling about this even before there was a policy about it. Rather than allowing any sort of appeals process, the messages simply imply guilt and give no recourse to respond, or permit any action. All I can do is click some sort of stupid 'I did it' button (a forced lie!). This is so unjust! Nothing to do with me or anything I've done. My only act is to message my distributor's customer support and state that this is a mistake.

After months of relentless SFXEngine attacks, I'm now faced with attacks on my music. What can I do? I must sigh and try my best.

Cycles Videos

A first day of steady work in some time. I started on the Spotify Canvases for Cycles. These are simple animated videos. Pretty, and perhaps too simple for full length videos in a loop. They are inspired by the cover artwork.

I also started on a full-length version for the new Cycles III track, where the sparkly light objects correspond to the notes. This is essentially a reworking of the painstaking Challenger video, but now happily done using Argus. Much faster to create, and better looking most of the time because I can move the camera and do all sorts of fancy effects. It needs, ideally, more reality, more chaos and less of the cold perfection of computer graphics.

It is very pretty though, and reminds me of my old computer graphics from 20 years ago, images like Embrace and Conch. Not a coincidence, as the root images for those images and this animation are the same light flares. Those renders from the early 2000s have served me well over the years. This is, exactly how imagined the music. A circle of piano notes, but I had also planned (and filmed at one point) butterflies; and perhaps myself playing the piano would improve it. Each choice is tested and kept or eliminated. Creation is always a slow process.

Life and the Fate of the Universe

Predictions about the ultimate fate of the universe tend to assume a cold and lifeless universe, calculated and observed as a system separate from the observer, when life is a crucial aspect of the universe. Life reduces entropy because it has evolved via a system where too much entropy is destructive. Natural selection best preserves that is which has the lowest entropy. Life supports order and order supports life.

Life not only reduces entropy, but supports and multiplies systems that also reduce entropy. Perhaps, over time, this will increase, and grow to oppose any increase of entropy in the universe by natural means.

Live at Macc Art Lounge

A tiring and busy few days. Another performance yesterday at the Macc Art Lounge, performing Christmas Smells and Christmas is to Go, but also several tracks from We Robot, then several Fall in Green tracks. This was probably my longest performance of songs so date; and certainly the longest since the two Marius Fate performances at All Saints' Church and Wistaston Memorial Hall.

After that, a lovely evening with Deborah. Today, filing all of these events, and more preparations for the revamped SFXEngine. My next public events are the Crewe mural 'forum' at the Market Hall on the 20th, and that evening a repeat performance of We Robot songs for Artistic Echoes in Macclesfield.

I'm now somewhat weak and weary. These dots of events and tasks are more draining than focus on one single activity. The year is nearly over, so preparations for 2024 must be made. What will the year hold? I feel nothing but optimism. Optimism about the future is a universally good thing. The future is the only place where perfection exists.

Crewe Library Party

A good day at the Crewe Library Winter Party event. Lovely to see many friends, and we had a quick pre-show photograph from the press photographer Peter Robinson who was kind enough to take lots of photos:

Deb opened with readings from Tolstoy:

Then the open mic poetry followed by the music performances. David Fray, the Poacher's mandolin player, injured his finger a day or two ago so was unable to play (as bandaged in the top photo!).

We rounded the afternoon off with a group rendition of Feast of Stephen by Mike Heron, performed by Mike, A.K.A. Mick Dick of the Forrest Dick band.

It was a lovely day, but tiring, with lots of carrying and lifting, and perhaps insufficient food. I felt weak at the end of it all. One of my amps was very volatile, with violent cracking when just touching a cable. One of these (probably this one, I didn't risk it) is also very noisy when turning the volume knob. I need to get it serviced when I can afford to - or I may try myself. We raised over £100, with 4 sales of Deb's book going to the LATH total. Exact total to follow.

The Book of Lou Salome

Two busy days. Much of today was spent working on a new book of the Lou Salomé poems and sheet music. This will be in a square format of 21.59cm, so about the size of an old 45 RPM single. Several new illustrations have been created for it, here is Entwined in Infinity:

I'm also rehearsing the music for tomorrow's show in the library. The month of work on Snow Business is easily distracting from the important art I must make. I need to focus on the future and the next project, the great unknown. One thing I must do is rephotograph my recent paintings with my new lighting.

Help I Cry

I wrote a new poem (or song lyrics) last night and completed it today.

Help I Cry

Help I cry to the no-one in my head
to God, the man who died
as a dream of you, of me,
of a calm summer sea
when reality is rain and dread.

Help I think to my sinking cells
and my cells say sorry
to you, for I cannot,
I must wait for the rain of self
to stop its helpless pelt.

For there is no help.
There is no help.
There is no help.

Macc Art Lounge 2023 Day 4

A 4th day in the Macc Art Lounge today, this time rather warm and cosy. The opening times are 10:30am to 5pm, but today I left at 3pm. I delivered a new painting, Flesh Vase With Stone Flowers:

Home to find two more copies of Snow Business sold, and 67 views of my Christmas Smells Lyric Video. We are about one sale away from the mark of £200 raised.

Snow Business Launch Day, MODX Audio

A somewhat slow day of administration of the launch of Snow Business, which was officially released at 9am. Social media posts were made to promote it and an email sent to those on my list. Short videos of Christmas Smells were posted on various sites and the premiere of the Lyric Video went live at 7pm.

I also discovered that I can stream separate Audio waves on the MODX as part of the Live Set option. This is a great feature, as I play to backing tracks quite often. The feature is useful, but almost seems like an afterthought, it isn't possible to vary the volume of that track, only all tracks, and then the settings are forgotten when the unit is switched off. Still, this is a huge help, as it now avoids the need for using the Zoom H4 as an external playback device. Increasing amounts of all live play are done on this one keyboard - which is fantastic.

The SFXEngine upgrades are as complete as they can be from my part, I now need to wait for Valve/Steam to approve and make the appropriate changes.

Tomorrow I'm on duty in the Macc Art Lounge, then must prepare for the two live music events of the week.

SFXEngine Updates

This year's Christmas tree procured and named Fingerbobs. The day was spent finalising the technical parts of the SFXEngine update. I need Valve's help for the key parts, so everything is now dependent on them.

Lots of jobs to do and others to contact. Snow Business launches tomorrow! The day is set aside for that, and I have to rehearse for the 3 live shows coming up over the next fortnight.

Onwards!

SFXEngine Work

A full day preparing to update SFXEngine with a new sales system. It's quite complex and involves a lot of pre-planning and setting up. A change to the program's default plug-ins means that I need to change the manual, and the tutorial and example sounds, which is time consuming, as well as create 10 new sets of downloadable content (DLC), which requires lots of new graphics and descriptions.

I've not done something like this to an existing piece of software, so the uncertainty of it all slows me down a bit. It will require getting everything in the correct order... assuming it can be done.

Well, I created the 40x new sets of art today, and performed most of the tedious but simple parts. The more complex aspects come tomorrow.

Christmas Preparations, Circle8 Jingles, Salomé Book Scores

Another non-stop day. Completed the spoken word scores for the Book of Lou Salomé (we need a title). Arranged and finalised the last of my main Christmas gifts. Recorded spoken word intros for the Christmas Smells single for Circl8 radio. I created a new 'Buy Me A Coffee' channel - which is a gift giving page for artists.

This doesn't sound like much, but today has been a constant rush. Finishing many tiny jobs is time consuming. There is a certain amount of time and energy needed to change direction. I note that copying lots of tiny files in Windows is about 1000 times slower than copying one large file of the same size; perhaps the law of 'changing into a different track requiring extra energy' is a universal one. Most of the day, was spent on the Christmas preparations, an annual essential for most people.

Perhaps tomorrow I can start on the SFXEngine changes, though today is already so late and rushed that I may need a few hours to rest and get into that mode too.

We Robot CDs, CD Images, More Snow Business

An amazingly busy couple of days of computer admin, but I took time out with Deb to do some (also essential) Christmas shopping yesterday.

First! The We Robot CDs have arrived and look amazing. These are some of the best looking albums I've had made so far, and y first song albums with full lyrics in the booklet:

These will be launched on Bandcamp shortly, this week. This inspired me to look at CD images, and I decided to scan and display all of my current CDs in a fixed format, so for We Robot, these look like this:

I did this yesterday and today for most of the CDs in my collection. It's a bit of overkill to do it for the obscure ones that I (probably) have the only copies for, but I will probably do that too one day. Here, for example, is the original Arcangel CD cover, and the first (2000-era) edition of Synaesthesia, which only ever existed on self-burned Verbatim CD-R discs:

This reminded me how my CDs have evolved over the years. The Spiral Staircase had 3 different CD editions. At some recent point I re-catalogued and documented these versions, so at least that part is done.

After that job, I started to burn a few copies of Snow Business for friends and family. My mother has ordered five copies but needs them on CD. This job is quite time consuming in itself, and took me all morning. I then compiled artists' packs of the album, so that the other artists can do this too, should they want or need to.

This afternoon, I started by repairing Deb's heating system, which turned out to be a technical problem within my capabilities, so that's good. The day is flying by. I had hoped to finish the outstanding jobs before today, but they may take until Wednesday. Next, I must complete the preparations for Cycles & Shadows 2024, then complete the scores for the Salomé book.

Then I need to update SFXEngine with a whole new sales and update system, and hopefully all before Saturday. Onward!

Macc Lounge Saturday

A nice day in the Macc Art Lounge today. I literally awoke before dawn, crisped though the hard frost to the shuddering bus to Macclesfield, arriving at the art lounge shortly after 10, with enough time to open the shop, warm the gallery and prepare for the day. We had a trickle of visitors 20 or 30 before noon, then Ché arrived, soon followed by Bruce Lyons and illustrator Michelle Shore who I'd not met before.

A minor crisis hit in the afternoon when the upper floor was flooded by 2 or 3 litres of water, but a stop-cock and a wet hoover later, and all was restored, albeit damply. I was reminded that personalities are best tested in difficult times, and the already social lounge became more-so when our little team was faced with this small emergency.

I left at 3 and heard that I'd sold a painting, my second sale of this exhibition.

I painted Domination of the Fishes in 2007, and the composition was partly an extension of my 'symphonic painting' idea as used in The Migraine Tree. A single 'theme', a shape, in this case a fish shape, is used and reused in different ways around the picture, to create something like unity in variety.

To take this idea to a next level, I tried (and try) to work out where the viewer first looks at the picture, to see the first fish. This is the start of the story, the next fish is the next line, and so on. Here, the fish starts in the sky; swimming? Then we see the desert landscape below, dry and cracked, and other fish and parts of fish. The sea is dry then. Watery tentacles and other sea-like objects crawl over the strange 'mountains' on the right, and a looming figure has a fish-shaped hole. This is something like the memory of a fish, or its loss. The figure seems to be casting a spell; the title indicates its something like a King Canute figure, dominating, or trying to control, the seas... at what cost? There are other fish parts too. Overall the feeling is somewhat sad, of loss, the loss of something.

Of course, there is more to the painting than this, and even many of my ideas here are speculations. I don't plan the thoughts or feelings of an artwork first - that would be impossible. The point of an artwork is that it can only share its meaning with the viewer (or listener) in itself. It can't be explained. We know instantly and instinctively what a good artwork 'is about' but we can't say it in any way. That information can only be gleaned by looking at the artwork. We can speculate, or gain clues, or make headway in interpretation, meaning, context - but only seeing/hearing/reading/feeling an artwork really conveys it, and it does it instantly and effortlessly.

Unfortunately and annoyingly, from about 2:30 I've been in awful stomach pain, like trapped wind. This is horrible and unusual, and notable because I hardly ever have trapped wind, and also that I had this pain on Sunday after my strange illness. With fate's grace it will pass.

Cycles 2024, Snow Business Filing,

A full day of admin here. First monthly backups, then listing the 2024 remaster of Cycles & Shadows, a process which is only half complete. It's also the technical deadline for Snow Business, so I checked in with the participants and send the CD Artwork for proofing.

Then more work on the Lou Salome book, but not much, a couple of the scores. There are 4 left now, and I need an intro or some more structure to the rest of the book. It would be nice if Deborah wrote that, but I expect she won't have time.

A few other opportunities presented themselves, and it may be that some of the Snow Business tracks will appear on the radio this month.

I'm in the Macc Art Lounge tomorrow. Last week's illness was probably hypothermia or something I ate, or a bit of both. I'll prepare as best I can. I'm unexpectedly looking forward to it, an adventure, but I wish I had warmer clothes. This trip can be a sort of test for next week.

Charge I must. Battle entropy I must. There are many good things I can, could, would like to do. Each day of life is so very precious, and so very short.

New Artist Photos, Salome Book

Gradually feeling back to my normal electric self after a slower week.

I dreamt of being pursued by a flying beetle with a hard grey case, perhaps a robotic one. The experience was mortally terrifying, having to dodge this deadly insect about the size of a small mouse. This seems to reflect, or be connected to my recurring nightmares about being pursued by black flies, bees, wasps or other flying insects. All are disturbing and terrifying. This time, the beetle was being controlled by someone, using a radio control, a small malevolent figure who was present. After much dodging, I managed to crush the beetle hard against a wall with a folder of papers. I wonder if the papers represent work? A small bee appeared, but easily killed that, evidence that my old foes were now easily defeated, unlike this new one. I leapt upon the small man and threatened him not to try that again.

The day was productive. I took some new artist photos, it's time for a change. Here are all of them over the years:

There is one missing, myself in the red glitter outfit for The Spiral Staircase and other pure electronic works 'Barry Falcon':

After this, and subsequent editing, I continued work the new Salome book of words an music. Following discussions with Deb, we've decided to include words and music on the score, something I've not done with Fall in Green works before, initially because the 'lyrics' option in MuseScore is tied to per-note, and our words are spoken independently from the music. I can, however, use 'expression text', which appears below the music, like lyrics, but doesn't track the notes. This seems to work well enough, though the words will always be a guide more than anything exact, but that is how our work is performed anyway. Deb's words flow around my music, and my music tracks her words, pace, and feelings.

The hard part will be combining many pdf files into one, but my copy of Acrobat seems to do this. The book will be square, about 20cm, so about the size of an old 45 record. It will facilitate including a CD too.

Working on the music and these words I'm struck how good and how ground-breaking it is; more ground-breaking than, say, Genesis' Lamb Lies Down, and far less popular too. Unlike them, I'll try, however, to keep pushing on and do as much as possible in our new and special area. Sometimes things are unpopular because they are rubbish. Sometimes things are unpopular because they are brilliant, ahead of their time, not promoted, not electric enough to catch on. Unpopularity isn't always a bad sign, just as popularity isn't always a good one. All of the best art is unpopular at first and viewed with confusion, as were all of Beethoven's symphonies. Our performances can elicit this response. We are on the right track.

Onward.

Charlie Munger Maxims

Don't have a lot of envy. Don't have a lot of resentment. Don't overspend your income. Stay cheerful in spite of your troubles. Deal with reliable people. Do what you're supposed to do.

A slightly paraphrased quote of businessman Charlie Munger who died today, and whose wise maxims are more succinct than any I could write.

Album Filing, Wallpapering

A mix of jobs, first the burning of the Snow Business archive CD. I code albums now as Coding R0Y-ZM R (for album)
0 = Numerical index (can be any length)
Y = Sub version, eg. alternative recording/mix or modified/mutated sub-version. Only be used for versions of album with identical title, artist, track titles, track lengths, but with alternative recordings, such as remasters or re-recordings. If an album includes extra tracks or any change of track length or name, a new code is issued.
Z = Format:
A: CD, with extra ID as follows [XY - X disc burning origin, Y printing origin]. This is not part of the main code, these letters refer to various printers or manufacturers, with H to represent home-made)
CD [DD Paper Sleeve]
CD [HO Jewel Case Semi-Page Booklet]
CD [HO Slim Jewel Case 2-Page Booklet]
CD [HH Slim Jewel Case 2-Page Booklet]
CD [HH Slim Jewel Case Semi-Page Booklet]
CD [HH Two-Disc Jewel Case 2-Page Booklet]
CD [HN Jewel Case 4-Page Booklet]
CD [DD Jewel Case 8-Page Booklet]
CD [DD Jewel Case 4-Page Booklet]
CD [II Jewel Case 4-Page Booklet]
CD [HP Slim Jewel Case 1-Page Booklet]
CD [HX Slim Jewel Case No Booklet]
CD [HX Four-Disc Jewel Case No Booklet]
CD [DA Book Yxxx]
B: Digital
Digital [Download And/Or Stream]
Digital [Download]
M = Edition/issue (can be any length of digits).

So, Snow Business is R71A, and the Snow Business Bandcamp Download version is R71A-B1, the archive CD is R71A-A1, another CD issue might be R17A-A2. If, one day, I make a vinyl copy this might be R71A-C1 or something.

The morning flew with lots of smaller admin jobs done, Christmas presents purchased, and plans for the next month or two.

The afternoon was full of work on the house, hanging 3 lengths of some heavy gold wallpaper across a chimney breast, and preparing the wall first. After that, fitting the TV to a newly placed wall bracket. This job has been pending since May and my hand accident, so it was good to finally complete it.

We Robot CDs, Omar Sharif Dream, Cycles 2024

We did, it turns out, have a Covid test available, and it was negative. My pains and fever persisted for 12 or 24 hours, then stopped in a manner which suggested something other than a cold; perhaps hypothermia or a stomach disorder. After a night of terrible stomach pain, my energy recovered well enough by yesterday to get lots of little jobs completed.

First, the final filing of Snow Business, then the postponement of Wednesday's Artistic Echoes performance and video interview in 2A King Edward Street. This will now take place on December 20th.

Then work on the We Robot CD artwork. This album was my first in years where I didn't design a full set of CD artwork during production. This, it turns out, was a somewhat ironic choice as I now needed the artwork for a batch of CDs. There are benefits to designing the art later; in particular I could use artwork from the music videos. This will be my first song album to feature all of the lyrics, I think. As usual, I'm choosing the best quality options for the CD manufacture, so an 8-page booklet, printing inside and out and on the disc.

I slept well overnight, with a complex dream:

I was trying to fix the thermostat on the water heater in the bathroom, my mum was present trying to assist. It was a small black plastic device which looked a bit like the switches used on lamp cords. It had simple electronics in, seemingly a short red wire and an old fashioned bicycle-type light bulb. I made some changes and re-attached to the wall; it fitted below the heater at the crux of a vaguely 'Y' shaped junction made from similar matt black plastic, held there precariously by tension.

The thermostat was somehow connected to Snow Business and Bandcamp and I noticed, when checking my email, that two sales/payments had not gone through because the thermostat was not working. I took it down again and realised that I needed two screws of the right diameter to hold both halves together. The ones that were there before were very long, about 50mm machine screws. I couldn't find the screws, or any of the right diameter. I went down stairs to look for some. The house, for some reason, was my grandmother's and I emerged into her garden and out-house. People were talking outside, including my mother, and I think my grandmother too. I couldn't find any screws and went back upstairs to find parts of the thermostat missing; the bulb was gone, and the plastic shell was almost empty. I became angry and upset.

At this point I think there was a sequence of scenes as though from a film, including one of a 1950s-era policeman talking about why someone would steal something so unimportant. I, as an extra (or a detective or other character) in this film, formed my own conclusion and left the scene. I became Omar Sharif. For some reason my children and wife were killed by the lack of the thermostat and I was left alone and filled with despair and anger. I joined the British army in Victorian times and became a violent warrior, killing women and children mercilessly in revenge at those who had stolen the thermostat parts. Some time later, I was at a garden function as a war hero in my red dress uniform, a sunlit garden of light gravel, conversing with officer friends. There were several exceedingly fat women present, including Queen Victoria herself, her dome-like body wobbling below a tiny head. I was receiving some sort of reward for good service. At some point I went home with a flash of inspiration or realisation. I broken open the old rooms where I and my wife and children used to sleep, those were sealed shut and somehow frosted shut. Inside, some balloons were hanging from the walls on ribbon, and holding them up was one of the long screws I needed for the thermostat. I realised that my children had innocently borrowed them to secure the balloons, that my vengeance was misguided.

Today, the CDs have been ordered and I'll have a few on sale and on offer, notably for the Decemeber 20th gig, so a delay has helped. I'll also have a few ready for the December 14th show in the Macc Art Lounge, though the details for that need to be finalised. Last time, Deb and I did a relaxed poem or two in the day, but perhaps this time a few We Robot songs would work. Everything will need to be checked with Ché.

I've also prepared a little more for my second release of 2024, the remastered Cycles & Shadows. This too will involve some CD printing as it will be impossible for me to sell the 2017 editions of Cycles, now that I know how good the new version sounds! I could simply burn individual copies for the very few remaining albums here, or order a new batch. We shall see.

Onwards we charge.

Illness

Unfortunately, being in the famously cold Macc Art Lounge all day yesterday has given me a cold-like virus and I'm now aching and running a high temperature. This is a disaster for me, I was due to give my first album performance in years on Wednesday for Artistic Echoes in Maccclesfield. I may recover quickly, I may not. I may be Covid or a cold-like virus. At the moment, it feels more like Covid, with a high temperature and headache but no sniffles or coughs. We shall see (though I have no test kits).

I have contacted Artistic Echoes to keep them informed. A future date may be required. Today I am too weak to work, but have made some changes to the We Robot album artwork in preparation for a CD release. Here is a photo of me in the Lounge from yesterday.

Macc Art Lounge

A long day in The Macc Art Lounge. The exhibition is now all set for the preview event and day, tomorrow from 10:30.

People And Places

A lovely evening and great performance last night in Congleton Library for the People and Places event. We arrived early and set up well in advance. Here's a pre-show selfie by Fall in Green:

I performed Robot and Christmas Smells, right at the start of the show:

And joined in to accompany a few others, with an ensemble for Johnny B. Goode (great fun!) and, Mike Drew AKA Mick Dick of the Forrest Dick Band for Liverpool Lullaby.

Andy Stubbs was as big a star performer as any.

There were a mix of songs, poems, acts; with John Lindley, Mike, Cherie and ourselves performing original material, which is always a joy. All participant in order:

Mark Sheeky, David Tuffin, Dave Boothroyd, Mick Lomas, Chris Godber, Bryan Hurst, Jane Harland, Glyn Roberts. Second half Andy Stubbs, Cherie Pingel-Tuffin, Fall in Green, Phil Poyser, John Lindley & The Poachers, Phil Williams, Mick Dick (The Forrest Dick Band 'light').

We arrived home beyond 11pm. Today has mostly been spent doing admin and filing of this event, and other things. The time consuming work of life orderly.

We, the Snow Business 'Electric Sprout Foundation', are in the Crewe Chronicle this week too, a great write-up. In visual art news, there will be some sort of public consultation into the Crewe Market Shed's mural. Installation work on this may take place next spring.

Sheet Music Complete, Event Preparation, Art News

A full busy yesterday finalising the Apocalypse Of Clowns sheet music. I thought it would take a while but didn't appreciate the complexity of Jabberwocky, with extensive piano parts, then organs, guitars, and lots of other parts. I notated the intro/overture separately from the rest, and fully notated the piano parts, with guidance for much of the rest (no synth solo, limited notation of the guitar parts). Notating Siamese Twin Domestic was more difficult than expected too.

This took all day, and I finalised this today and added it to itch. I also made an edit of Maggie Shaw's A Christmas Song, a backing track with guidance to sing to, and checked my own music for tonight's People and Places event:

I've also updated my website, and Fall in Green's, with new event listings directly from Songkick, which may make updating events easier. Work on Snow Business is nearly complete, and today I announced Nigel Stonier as a contributor. All are now 'announced' apart from Mick Dick.

I had some good news today regarding SFXEngine, and I'll promote that more over the coming months.

In visual art news, the mural design for Crewe Town Centre is slowly moving forwards, and a Spring installation date is now anticipated. There will be some sort of public consultation for this. The next group exhibition at Macc Art Lounge is set to open this Saturday, of which I'm a part for the first time since 2021. This was once an artist-curated space but is now under the sole curatorship of Ché. I hope to make the most of my time there.

Countryside 2024 Finalised, Clown Sheet Music

Another full and busy day of just 5 main tasks. First, preparations for the release of the 2024 version of A Walk In The Countryside. Listing with the many licencing authorities, uploading the music videos, and preparing the album for release on January 12th.

Then, 4 pieces of sheet music. These were the most difficult pieces for Apocalypse of Clowns, three complex, hand improvised piano music. Again, only the raw notes, but this was a huge job, particularly (and unexpectedly) Falling. Dead Hand was by comparison unexpectedly simple, and Knife Thrower not too bad. The other track was the joyous Herr Kasperle, which was much easier as this was sequenced.

More Scoring, Prometheus v3.25

A poor night of worries and stomach pain. I slept badly and awoke at the remarlable hour of 11am. A new hat has arrived which is amazingly good quality, I may buy another in another colour.

I sent a few messages and responded to emails, then started to work on some programming. Making the 3/4 score for Maggie's song revealed another bug in my MIDI expoerter. I've probably made more changes and fixes to the MIDI exporter than any aspect of Prometheus! I fixed it, and optimised a few features. This partly settled my mind, activating cold logic. There is great psychological power in programming, a zen of the intellect.

It wasn't until nearly 4pm that I began scoring more of the Apocalypse music. Such a slow a tedious process. It feels good to have the music completed when it is, although I wonder if anyone will ever know of it, but this, for me now, is an essential part of my creative work. Things will feel much better when all of my old music is scored. At the present rate it takes about a week per album, so about 25 full-time weeks would be needed to score my backlog. As I've probably mentioned, all of these are done to a very basic degree, hardly any playing guidance, tempi, dynamics etc., and some of the timing my need tweaking, particularly on the expressive solo piano works; but this note-by-note process is the most difficult and useful part. A future being (hello, it this is you!) can fix everything to a wondrous standard based on the recording, if that still exists. I make sure to add chord symbols to every score too. As an often improviser, those are so useful.

Today I scored the last part of Mandalino, Fairytale, Grim By Day, Life Of Pierrot, and half of Herr Kasperle.

Apocalypse of Clowns Scoring Starts

A full day that has flown! I started with more Snow Business admin, and worked on some sheet music for Maggie's song, then started work on The Apocalypse of Clowns sheet music, which is interminably complex and difficult.

It's amazing, when listening to Skin, and looking at its MIDI sequence, how little it sticks to a rhythmic structure. There is a steady change of chord in time terms, yet it doesn't correspond with a change in note terms; not in 8 or 16 notes, but odder numbers. This makes it difficult to notate. Essentially, the 'bars' change mid-bar at almost all times. The alternative is to have pauses or jumps at the end of bars to aid reading, but that too won't help elucidate the structure. When playing live, I play to the words, the pace and feeling of the day.

For Mandalino, things are a little simpler, and better still for Clown Face, a tune I wrote specifically to match the poem. These three scores have take until 6pm or so. My life feels Sisyphean today. My stomach still aches and I fele physically under the weather. Such is life. Onwards we roll our rock.

Countryside Admin

Another really full day, but at times it can seem where the day has gone. I started by proofing the 2024 edition of A Walk In The Countryside, and updating the records to replace the 2020 version. Then working on the new (first!) Spotify canvas animations for the album. The first three tracks will have unique animations, and the last tracks will share one in the colour-on-black scheme reflected in the cover artwork (which was never printed, to date there has not been a CD version of this album). This cat will nod to the music for We All Have Hope:

I've taken down the two YouTube videos. I noted that The Cat Phone Song was among my most popular of the last month; an odd coincidence, so perhaps it's an ideal time for a remaster of this album. The album is somewhat negative and not reflective of my 2024 state of being, but it tells a definite story. The two halves are related, by perhaps frustration and then surrender or catharsis. This trend was continued in Nightfood to better effect, still one of my most loved albums. On technical and performance levels, the 2024 version of Countryside is much better.

Then I re-converted the videos with the new audio and updated credits, in preparation for a 2024 release, and updated several records to this end. There is still, will be still, quite a lot of admin to perform when the album is ready for release. Then, small updates to the album artwork to reflect the change of date, and filing of the main sequences.

I also updated 4 new sales of Snow Business, and updated some little details for tracks from the artists. Then made some CD-tray artwork for this, so that buyers could burn a CD and print their own artwork. More and more of the work on the album is complete.

Then, I did a quick run-though of Sky Robes of Celeste on piano, a rehearsal for next Wednesday's performance, and burned the final CD archive copy of Walk, plus updated the official Cornutopia Music Catalogue, prepared to update the websites, listed the sheet music on itch (or rather prepared to), and put together a lyrics booklet and sheet music pack for the Christmas Smells single.

All day my stomach has been agonising for unknown reasons, something from yesterday perhaps? To try to combat this, I took a long walk at high speed this evening.

Now, to rest. Tomorrow, I'll work on more sheet music I think.

I've made a lot of music this year, and for a large part of the year will release one new music video each week. At each summit of production I think I can't do more, but already I can imagine releasing one album per month in 2024. Well, perhaps not that many, but it should be a good year. Onwards we charge.

Countryside Recording, Snow Business Listing

More work yesterday and today on the new re-recording of A Walk in the Countryside. Completed all tracks except We All Have Hope yesterday, though I recorded the vocals for that song. My voice is now so different compared to 2018 that the low notes are nearly too low, the low A is right at the bottom of my range, and singing each track an octave higher feels more natural.

We All Have Hope needed the most work. The backing was a little too sparse, and I wanted to do more than add a new vocal, so I've made some of the instruments 'sing' to the melody more, as is my contemporary practice, but not too much... the content of the songs stem from 2018, after all. The bass was a struggle with this one, partly because it's not there for large stretches of the song, and also because it's plucked. Percussive, fading bass sounds hinder mixing. Bass should be constant in volume, it's one of only two things I compress (the other being voice), because a bass can easily change dramatically in volume just by changing note. Bass that fades can easily sound muddy, so it usually mixes best as a solid 'block' of sound, with no reverb. Of course, perfecting mixing isn't everything. The expression, the final emotional conveyance, is the most important factor.

The vocals for this song are plain, one single line, but are very difficult to sing because of the charge of complex words and melody. There is barely room to breathe, and the tight timing means that it really needs to be all done in one take. Any edits would show up. After about 3 run-throughs, I managed it well enough. It was great fun actually, and great training of course, like a vocal run along one of those 'Stunt Car Racer' tracks.

Also today, lots of work on the Snow Business album. The tracks are now uploaded and the album is just about ready. I'm now finalising details like credits, lyrics, and other optional material with the artists.

Countryside and Cycles need plans for release. I'd rather do it quick and get it over with, but some aspects need planning because there's a 4-week wait to list music, and a new release of this old material now may obscure the important new album that is We Robot.

Working on these old tracks reminded me that I should be working on new ones. These re-recordings are both certainly better in quality than before, and for the short time spent on them, worth doing, but with each re-recording, the difference between older and new albums grows smaller and smaller.

Sheet Music and The Cat Phone Song

Sheet music completed today for the album A Walk In The Countryside. The hard track was Sonus, which had no sequences at all. I set the music playing and played along to it live on the piano, recording my playing as a MIDI sequence. I expanded this into the actual score in a somewhat time consuming, but reasonably accurate way.

Then I recorded new vocals for The Cat Phone Song and Life is a Twitter Hashtag (in a mere five years this song is now a little out of date due to Twitter's fate). In the afternoon I worked on The Cat Phone Song. Structurally it's almost identical, but the mixing is quite different. the old 'boomy' reverbs are gone, and the new vocals sound notably better. Few may notice the difference, but the new song is certainly better in studio quality compared to the old one, and like the Cycles remaster, this will be balanced and mastered to a higher quality too.

At 4pm I made some changes to Prometheus, little fixes and improvements. I didn't feel like charging into music, after working for most of the day on scoring, so this programming acted as a sort of break. My score totals were wrong too... I checked. I've now notated 14 albums, some 300 pieces of music, over the past two years, but I have 25 albums to go. I have done most of the difficult ones, though Music of Poetic Objects and Apocalypse of Clowns will have their fair shares of complex piano pieces. The former could easily include scores for larger ensembles, but I won't have time for that; the basic notation should help in future scorer.

In the afternoon, local journalist John White pointed out two online articles about Snow Business:

Many of the artists have listened and approved. Most of the technical work is done and I'm looking forward to the live shows, and the final mastering process for it (the album will only be half mastered, some of the tracks will be distributed exactly as supplied to me, and some merely converted from 24 to 16 bits).

Tomorrow I'll keep working on Countryside and then work out a release schedule for it and for Cycles & Shadows. I can't allow these projects to sap too much energy from the important work of new releases.

The Countryside Sheet Music

Today, work on the sheet music for A Walk In The Countryside. It's a mere five years since this album, and 3 years since my first little re-recording of the Twitter and Hope songs, but even those 3 years is a lifetime in my musical abilities which are much better now in every way. I've managed to notate 5 of the 6 tracks, to a draft degree, today.

I can't find any record of a sequence for the 'Sonus' track. 2018 was a very productive time, with new work made weekly for ArtsLab, so there is a chance that I have the sequence under a a different name, or even a chance that I used alternative recording techniques, like a live recording from my SY-85 or the Microkorg, then overlayed with the 'jungle sounds' sample. I think this is unlikely due to the complexity of the track, but its possible... perhaps the later 'Let's Take a Walk in Desert' track was created as a response to losing this one. I would haw filed the sequence if there was one. It's annoying that I didn't record what happened. This blog itself is useful for things like this!

Well, this makes transcription a problem, though that music is largely one note.

My mood is low today. I feel unusually weak, tired, and lacking in drive, but I have broadly ignored these biological messages and today has been productive. I've eaten healthily, taken a walk, and reminded myself about the good people I know and the good future that awaits me, and all of us. The future, for me, is always better than the past, and every tomorrow is something to look forward to as a child does Christmas.

Live Preparations, We Robot CD Plans

A slower day today, to reflect and plan. I bought some more experimental sunglasses and a headwear, and have now spent over £60 in the past week on a future look, to prepare for the November 22nd show and perhaps the start of more live music performances.

I worked on more artwork for a We Robot CD edition too, adding more pages. One of my goals is to create more CDs, but I need a new plan of what to do with them. I love the format, but I feel like a rarity in this regard; and feel that CD player machines are rare these days. I have, however, encountered several people who have requested a CD version of Snow Business, and 'don't do downloads'. I feel intuitively that CDs will, in the great cycle of things, come back and compete on even terms with the resurgent vinyl records. And I myself primarily buy albums on CD. The only download album I've ever bought was Sparks' Lil' Beethoven, and that was because it was only available by download at that time (I later bought the remastered CD release). This philosophy means that I should really be releasing my own music on CD.

My last big CD release was Burn of God; and I've not felt like making CDs since, partly because of the cost and lack of ability to sell or distribute them, but also perhaps because I knew that my vocal music of the time was training, a work in progress. We Robot is my first vocal album that I considered of a good enough standard (well, The Golden Age is good too). It's also my first album of songs to be performed live, apart from the two solitary Marius Fate performances, so it's a logical choice for a CD for those reasons too.

After working on the album art I prepared the keyboard for a live rehearsal of the Nov 22nd performance, and a play of 'Do You Know Where Your Heart Is?' too. All went well.