International

Concept

Album

Month

This album centers around a core set of covers representing the diversity of our musical influences. Each cover is then balanced with an original inspired by some aspect of the covered song.

I'd rather not say yet. It's ambitious. For me.

This year, I'd like to make an album centered around another journey — this time, journeying to an alien world. The goal is to aim for a more cinematic vibe, telling a story while sticking to my electronic roots. I also like albums which smoothly transition between tracks, so I'm going to try and have no pauses for the duration of the album. We'll see how it goes!

Tracks inspired by the color blue.
Or something.

This will be a concept album inspired by, and making reference to, my second trip to Aotearoa New Zealand -- this most recent trip having been a 30 day excursion in the Fall of 2022.  I attempted to write some lyrics while there, but they are currently on the shelf.  I imagine there will be a fair amount of nature imagery in the songs supporting this project.

No matter how fervently we seek the light, there are always remnants of our journey, forgotten and unchecked in the shadows.

Before they can be let go, they need illumination.

We wrote and recorded an instrumental album called Neon Palms in 2021. We actually wrote and recorded most of it over just three months so we thought we would see if we can do a album that revisits the moody electronic cross post-rock vibe of Neon Palms. We aim to start and finish the album in the month and will probably record 60 minutes worth of music which we will cull to the desired length. A lot of the songs will be recorded as jams in the studio and then refined and edited but we like to capture an honest raw take full of emotion in the moment.

A Hitchhiker from the theorized Planet 9/Planet X. Showing local people around in "his" solar system

Due to real life, my participation this year will probably break many of the rules again... but I hope to create some content worth tuning-into... maybe some music, probably some video documentary...  maybe some photography.

The concept is wrapped around the attic renovation I am working on, which is relevant to INCOALMO because part of the attic will become "The Loft" studio (replacing what is now "The Guest Room Studio")!!!

Since early 2022, I have been trying to write and record a “loose” concept-album, with a vaguely progressive/art-rock style (with “pastoral-prog” leanings), featuring pieces inspired by my favourite anime and manga series. I have two tracks “in the can”, but the project has stalled for various reasons, and I need something to kick it back to life… let’s do this!

Just bought a Tascam Portastudio 414 MKII 4-Track Cassette Recorder, very similar to a 4-track I owned growing up. I want to get back to that “limitation” of using just 4 tracks at a time. I have some more retro-style original songs I’ve had on the back burner but haven’t fleshed out. This seems like the perfect format to get these out there, as they don’t fit my usual genre of music.

The past few years I've signed up for InCoAlMo and started off ok but lost steam before completing anything.  So this year I'm going to run with that as a concept to begin with.

I'm not trying to make a complete album, I'm going to make half an album.  Of half songs.  That are half-baked.  And half of them are halfway done in the litter from previous years, so I'm halfway there.

(If you're keeping track of the math, that means I'm already like 1/64th done!  Woo!)

Archimedes

We have yet to figure that out! And since we're still moving into a new house in a new state, we're going to lower the expectations on ourselves. Rather than our normal 12 finished songs, we're going to aim for a shorter project this year.

As has befallen me in the past, I take this InCoALMo challenge as an opportunity to wire up and activate my home studio and writing gear.
Preludes to Perjury (and) Nice Girl were in fact my very intense and somewhat overly ambitious tasks from two years ago,  tho I still intend on presenting those projects in some form, some day.
FOR NOW, let's see if I can wrestle with the self discipline needed to modify my own working habits and the paradoxes of creativity which are ever at odds with my tendencies to get "hip"notized and somewhat 'Lost in the Loops'😅

..wish me luck!