Category: update

On other sites · update

10 years on, and where I’m at now

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October 2016: first MAM post hence my first public post about music. The writing is bland as expected (and my typical blunt defensiveness of a Misunderstood Quirky 80s Singer got edited out LOL) but the taste in colors and use of Unico as a symbol endured.

Hello, long time no see. The truth is, I just haven’t been thinking of Moons And Melodies much these recent years. I’ve continued to make those personal comps even through those lowest points where the blog slowed, while my relation to writing complicated to the point I considered stopping or at least setting it aside.

Well, funnily enough I wound up jabbing at it again, at least sporadically; most memorably in a sort of comeback to Rateyourmusic’s front page with a review of an electronic project called Ova Looven, partly as tribute to the singer in light of his recent passing. I returned again this year to write about Siouxsie’s dizzyingly creative Kiss In The Dreamhouse – refreshing after so much forgetting to ‘talk more about her music’, LOL. I followed this with a longer look at Hyaena, if not for the front page. This relative contentment with my writing ‘voice’ seems to come in part from simply more maturity and mental clarity.

I realized ‘damn, maybe Moons And Melodies could have a surprise post or two’; I have all these new interests and all this evolution to show now. For one, there was ‘It’s Living Inside Me’, a mix for Vulpiano’s CAMP Radio series, which was a purposeful 180 into the most visceral, aggressive sounds to inspire me – Blanck Mass, M.E.S.H., and guitar distortion to name a few. I eventually reflected this with my Fangs tracks. Sadly, with Vulpiano on hiatus, I’ve had to release most newer songs by myself.

Image for It’s Living Inside Me

A surreal fact is that this October marked a decade since Moons And Melodies started. It’s hard to say how I feel about lots of old posts after changing so much but it’s certainly been a ride and led to many impactful connections. Either way I admit it’s been hard to have so much drive for truly reviving the blog; for one I never figured out how to get much traction here, and the platform for music writing seemed to grow more neglected. Maybe I wish I found more ‘peer’ blogs/writers for interaction. Like with my own music, I also lacked patience for the ‘promo’ side of things.. I’m not in this for ‘fame’ but it still gets tiring and empty to feel like you’re talking to a wall.

My RYM proved the more fulfilling place to share, as I wound up with some kind of following; beyond some reviews like mentioned, you’ll find many lists. One of which is actually my second-ever interview. Those who liked my posts (or songs) inspired by atmospheric synth styles may be interested by ~ memory in a bottle ~, which got over 100 likes (!) this year. With more going on IRL it’s again sporadic, but it represents the smarter successor to MAM. If the, what, five or six of you who see this happen to miss my posts then, I enthuse you to visit. Thanks again to all who’ve shown support.

update

Addressing my relative hiatus

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As it turns out, early October marked five years since I began this blog…! I wanted to post ~something~ to mark this occasion but I got way too caught up in other stuff.

I’m going to get honest with you all now; 2021 feels like another of my most difficult years. That’s the main reason, besides Seahorses’ bizarrely extended cycle, that I posted so much less for these past 11 months.

Beyond that, my difficulty with focusing on new compositions continues from where it began in 2019, as much as I sorely miss letting out my inspiration. As usual, I’ve struggled with finishing my handful of exciting pre-existing drafts too, whether it’s adding to them or the complicated post-production. As I mentioned last post, my confidence as a writer took a hit and therefore this has impacted certain plans.

Don’t get me wrong, I still have some plans for this blog, I just feel reluctant to promise a whole lot at this point. Plus, if/once I do get more creatively active, I would want more to focus on my own music.

Mixes remain my most dependable pet-project. I have several ideas for these leftover from my more active days, and I’d still love to get cracking on them, I guess I’m just not as energetic with them as before.

I hope that this blog brought you some interesting discoveries or listening pleasure over these years, for it’s many flaws. I’ll call this time a hiatus, but posts will happen when they happen.

Mix · My music · On other sites · update

May 12th, 2 PM Pacific on CAMP radio: a companion mix to my upcoming ‘Seahorses’ album

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While this ‘archive album’ is suffering the worst case of delay since my 8-bit album last year, I’m still set on getting it out there this month, hopefully before it enters the ‘late’ period. To coincide, I decided to guest on Vulpiano’s monthly mix series for the listen.camp online radio station with a dip into the sounds and styles that inspired the album. I always felt that electronic music and easy listening shared this understated knack for aquatic or underwater themes, so this was a novel concept to revisit.

That means lots of ‘underwater’/surreal production effects, synths that go drip-drop, library obscurities themed around marine life, steel drums and a handful of surprises. For instance: the latest Bebel Gilberto album, which sounds eerily close to mall-themed vaporwave, and one of the most underrated Siouxsie singles in “Swimming Horses” (just because). Plus, of course, two tracks from Seahorses itself. Those are latest single “Fish In Oceania” and “Blue Whale” (which I lift from the download-only version of Ocean Flower; it actually originates from the Seahorses project).

The mix will go up on CAMP’s Mixcloud in the following days. You’ll find ‘similar wavelengths’ on my old Curios From The Background series and the Neptune mix.

Seahorses working track list:

  1. Fish In Oceania – 2:00
  2. Floating By – 2:19
  3. Dorsal Fin – 2:21
  4. Manatee – 2:11
  5. In Our Submarine – 2:16
  6. A Wandering School – 2:03
  7. Mouthbrooder – 2:12
  8. Jellyfish – 2:03
  9. Sand Dollar – 2:37
  10. Blue Whale – 2:54

Download-only tracks:

Deep Trenches demo (0:45), Seahorses (2:15), Lullaby For Sad Porpoise (2:26)

Other updates:

  1. As for the ‘piece’ I mentioned working on with the Mouthbrooder post, that found it’s way to a rough and complex state. I’m not so sure what to do with it right now and sadly, posting it in some form here feels more doubtful than before.
  2. In this next month or so, I’d love to get back to more regular posts, since my extreme focus on That Piece led to delay for many ideas. Still, I think I have enough to juggle for May considering my plans for a special occasion in it’s last week. It’s nothing too big or fancy, but it’s a day I posted about on most previous years here!
  3. I’m in plans of the next ‘traditional MAM mix’, but it’s not happening until sometime in summer. It can say it has some things in common with the previous one..
  4. New RYM lists: [bitter]sweet / loving / emotional synthpop, Beautiful Robots Dancing Alone: existential trance, Lyrics I find interesting / relatable
  5. No plans for front page reviews at RYM right now. I have more important stuff on my plate; I did a lot already and the Dax Pierson review got a frustrating enough response to remind me why I ‘retired’ from it.
  6. The new album from the very 80s, very YMO-ish J-pop group Crystal is ridiculously fun and also beautiful, please listen to it.
My music · update

‘Fish In Oceania’: 2nd single for my upcoming Seahorses album

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See my previous post for first single “Mouthbrooder” and what I’ve been doing this year.

Seahorses is a downtempo/’aqua-lounge’ project originating from way back in 2016; I was inspired by Spencer Nilsen’s Ecco The Dolphin music, the space age of the 50s-60s and ocean-themed library music from the 70s.

Tentative track names & sequence for Seahorses

  1. Fish In Oceania
  2. Floating By
  3. Manatee
  4. In Our Submarine
  5. Jellyfish
  6. Dorsal Fin
  7. Mouthbrooder
  8. A Wandering School
  9. Sand Dollar
  10. Blue Whale

‘B-sides’ “Lullaby For Sad Porpoise” and “Seahorses” will be exclusive to the download.

My music · On other sites · update

New single: ‘Mouthbrooder’ for upcoming ‘Seahorses’ album

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Bandcamp

This two-song single is a taster for Seahorses, an upcoming 10-track downtempo/’aqua-lounge’ album I ‘fished out’ from my archive; it goes way back to July of 2016! I decided it had too much potential to leave behind and it gives more context behind my obsession with aquatic sounds and imagery. I’m ~hoping~ to release it sometime during March 2021.

‘Mouthbrooder’ will appear on the album, with b-side ‘Seahorses’ as a bonus track hence ‘hidden title theme’.

~

Also, long time no see. I’m aware that this is the longest pause between posts in awhile so I guess this is the time I let the 3-5 total people who read this blog know what’s up. On the one hand it’s the typical ‘life happens’; I wasn’t in a good place through most of 2020 for both obvious and personal reasons, and now I’m struggling a bit to get it together. On the other, that led to my many bubbling project ideas, over-ambitious as ever, to delay A LOT. One project in particular? It’s taking me SIX on-and-off months and counting. Ughhh.

In the meantime:

  • I did get around to uploading sample songs for 80% of my music projects to my otherwise desolate YouTube account! I’m hoping that some people digging around for music will find me there, but I’d appreciate if you subscribed! Especially when WordPress has this annoyingly closed-off ‘only members can follow’ system. You can find the full Spires EP there too, since that wound up the second MOST popular Vulpiano release on Rateyourmusic. It’s too bad I keep getting this feeling that I can’t get back on that level, in both ease of making the music and quality..
  • I stepped away from my ‘RYM front-page-review retirement’ to praise my mutual ~simoon’s new synthpop project, Bride. It’s a definite ‘lost entry’ in my 2020 list and she could use more attention, so give her a listen if you enjoy things like Pink Industry, Geneva Jacuzzi and space-age synth music.
  • Another RYM thing: I made a top 5 ‘best songs’ for my own music in hopes of giving viewers a more accessible intro to my discography. Yknow, now that it’s this weird cross between ‘archive’ and ‘all-new’ songs.
  • Other recent RYM lists: Mermaid Music, honey-like vocals and the best of 2000s chill-out!