Change Is The Only Thing That Doesn't

So much going on these days, and I suppose that is a very good thing.

I met a guy online a few weeks ago. I do that quite a bit as some of you may know. And, yes, he's attractive, plays the same side o' the fence as I do and he's an artist and musician - and not your garden variety, either. No, he's higher class.

Oh yes, and he's French Canadian.

Well, the point is that we seem to like one another and that gives me a huge lift, but he also challenged me to produce an album's worth of musical material within a 2 to 3 week period. It needed to be "relaxation music." Why such specifics? That's fodder for another blog, so let me continue:

I took the challenge and here, at the end of two and half weeks, I've got an album's worth of music which will be released in cyberspace in either late May or early June on iTunes, E-Music and Rhapsody. The title of the album is "Starlight and Darkness" and it is, for want of a better method of describing it, a suite of ambient pieces that describe an evening, from the gloaming of the day, through the fall of night, the emergence of the stars, the transportation of awareness to the space between reality and dreams and the eventual return of daylight.

There are problems with the recording, I will not lie. It was, for the most part recorded on my Mac with tools that are not necessarily up to professional standards, but that's okay. It still sounds pretty good. Damn good in fact!

The first "single" is my arrangement of "Shenandoah" which is subtitled "Daughter of the Stars." It was played on a local community radio station the other night. I can't believe how scared I was when I found out! But it sounded fine.

You can listen to that radio station, by the way, on the internet! Just go to the KOPN home page and click on the appropriate link!

What now, you might ask? Well, the Canadian artist and I will meet at the end of April and see what happens there. No matter what happens, I've found someone that understands where I'm coming from artistically and we will no doubt collaborate on some projects. Also, after having made an album of low key ambient music I feel it's time to make a leading edge psychotopunk record. Something that might even be difficult to listen to....three......fore..........

What do you mean "You can dance to it?"

A O I O on MySpace

A friend of mine was listening to the music of my band, AOIO, the other day and he kept shaking his head.

"I just don't get it, Stuart. There's no melody, no drums, no pop hooks - how can you call this music?"

All I could say was, "at least you can dance to it!"

He looked at me with a dubious eye, as though I had just called the Pope "a conservative German Papist with expensive red Prada loafers and a Papal iPod" and said, "What do you mean 'You can dance to it?' There's absolutely NOTHING danceable about that stuff!"

Without missing a beat I responded, "It's because you're only using two legs to dance. Everyone knows that guys dance better when they use all three legs!"

Become a friend of A O I O and learn to dance on all three legs!

A O I O on MySpace