Do you ever have those dreams that just kinda go on and on, that are about nothing or nobody you know…it’s just a bizarre conglomeration of all sorts of memories, passing thoughts, random places and events, and just general lunacy? Yeah, me neither. OK, I have those all the time. They’re usually a whole lot of bizarro fun! When I can remember them, I write them down or talk about them on a voice memo/dictaphone.

Today, I tried an experiment…putting one of those stupid, ridiculous, random dreams in song form. You know how sometimes when you first wake up, you’re in this quirky weird mood and you start making up goofy songs? Oh, just me…Wow. I should see a therapist. *sigh* Anyway, this little ditty was conceived in such a manner. Early morning commute, singing into my tape recorder.

Just reading these absurd lyrics should show you what kind of a messed-up dream I had! Ohhhhh but the song…what a way to begin 2012. With what is quite possibly the dumbest song I have ever recorded. But it’s catchy!!

The song’s called “Sugar Booger”. WHAT???? Yeah. That’s what I mean. Random. My grandmother used to call me sugar booger when I was little, just a funny little pet name. So I guess that’s where that comes from….

No clue about the lions, attack ants, grocery store, and saw mill. All I know is that Sugar Booger runs a saw mill, and he tames lions, and apparently can command ants to come out and raid picnics. Oh, and he’s weird looking.

LISTEN TO THE SONG

Here are the stupid lyrics so you can sing along:

Sugar Booger was a unique man
a thousand ant piles at his command
when he snapped his fingers and
he wiggled his toes they would all come out of their holes…
well he marched em on down to the picnic site
them unhappy campers never could get a bite
Sugar Booger was a scavenging delight

Sugar Booger
he talked to the animals
he was really nice
you didn’t ask him twice
he could even translate to vegetable

Sugar Booger
he roamed from place to place
he sorta looked like a dog with the legs of a frog
he was a freak of the human race

Sugar Booger
Ran a big saw mill
just a grindin up stumps and a shreddin up clumps
and he took em up on the hill

Sugar Booger went to the grocery store
His lions needed food so he bought em some more
when the little cubs got a taste of the grub
they started running all around the floor

Sugar Booger
Went to jail that day
His lionesses made too many messes
but they were just trying to play

Lyrical genius coupled with an unparalleled musical arrangement and a stellar vocal performance. I think this is a Grammy hit song.

Gotta love the little ARP string  “solo” in the middle

So there you go, a weird song about a weird dream! Good luck getting it out of your head…LOL!

Happy New Year!

MooT

Akumajou Densetsu

aka Castlevania III

This is not a video games blog, so I’m not going to talk about a video game…but I am going to talk about some amazing video game music which has stood the test of time…and a version of it that unfortunately didn’t reach the ears of many people outside Japan.

The Castlevania series of video games is one of the longest-running video game franchises, and like a lot of those (Mario and Sonic come to mind), its music has become an iconic part of the experience. For many gamers, it doesn’t get any better than the third installment, released in late 1989 for the Famicom in Japan, and later in 1990 for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America.

Those who were lucky enough to play the Famicom version got a much richer audio experience however, due to the addition of Konami’s VRC6 chip inside the game cartridge. The VRC6 adds another three sound channels to the console’s usual five, allowing for much fuller chords and effects. The NES, on the other hand, does not support additional sound channels, so the music had to be watered down considerably to sound passable when the game was localized for North America.

The original hardware of the NES, the 2A03 chip, has five sound channels: 2 Pulse waves (with variable pulse width), 1 Triangle wave, a pseudo-random Noise generator, and a Delta Pulse Code Modulation channel for audio samples.

The VRC6 chip adds to those: 2 additional Pulse waves (with much finer control over pulse width), and 1 Sawtooth wave.

Just adding three oscillators makes a world of difference. This is some of the finest music ever to grace an 8-bit video game…I like it so much that I want to share it with you.

I used my mastering knowledge to put together what is, to my ears, the best-sounding version of this music. I didn’t have access to the original machine, so I used an emulator – and not all emulators are created equal. I tried a few different ones before deciding on JNES, an older, but quite good, NES emulator which supports the VRC6. Those of you who are very familiar with these machines may notice that this one sounds a bit different from the real thing. This was an aesthetic choice on my part. I just simply liked the more aggressive sound of this emulator. It suits this material perfectly in my opinion. Sorry about that, purists. Accuracy is great and all, but my goal was to convey this music in the best possible way. No spatial effects apart from stereo panning were used…unlike the CD version of this music that you can find – it has all kinds of ugly reverb added to everything. What’s up with that?

While I was working on this project, I became very familiar with the tunes, and was amazed at how they manage to build the intensity from the beginning of the game all the way up until the final battle with Dracula. Also, a lot of the tunes are in the same tempo, and in compatible keys…it gave me a great idea. Why not tie them all together into a big fat medley that takes you on a trip through the game? That’s exactly what I did…and while I was editing, I knew that I wanted it to have beefier drums in it. My first attempt was to play real acoustic drums to the whole thing, but that sounded too raw compared to the pinpoint precision of the 8-bit music. I finally opted for programmed drums, but real cymbals played live – that was the perfect combination. It turned these tunes into some of the funkiest video game music I’ve heard in a minute! You just might want to get up and dance.  Add to that some extra synth spices, and some creative studio effects, and here’s what you get:

I don’t like “remixes” in general because I feel like most of the time people hack away at what made the original tune great. I don’t like to think of this as a remix – it’s really just an “enhancement” of the original tune. I took great care to preserve and complement the things that made the original music so amazing.

Download that piece, along with the entire soundtrack, in 320k MP3 format HERE.

Thanks for listening! I’m so glad to be able to bring this music to fresh ears.

Enjoy!

<Moot>

If you like this music that I’ve just given away for free, why not consider donating? It only takes a minute.

STANGA

The words don’t seem to mean much on the surface…but beneath that surface lies a different story. The song: “Stanga”. The author: Sly Stone. Sly fans know this song as recorded by his little sister Vet’s group, Little Sister, on a 45 released under his fledgling company/label Stone Flower.

The musical backing was all provided by Sly himself, on Maestro Rhythm King drum machine, Fender Bass, Fender Telecaster, and (I believe) Farfisa combo organ through his signature wah-wah pedal. If you think it sounds like There’s A Riot Goin’ On you’d be right…it was recorded during that same heady, electrified, Funkafied period….

But what if he had saved it for his own group to record? What if he had sat on it for a couple of years and brought it out during the Fresh sessions?

The idea struck me all at once while driving down the road one day. I will make that happen. I will record my version of what it might have sounded like. This thing has been on the back burner for almost a year, getting little tweaks here and there to the arrangement, adding parts sporadically. FINALLY, at long last, I’m finished.

I think this is the funkiest recording I have ever made. All instruments and voices were played live by me – no MIDI or any other shortcuts. It’s real and it’s raw. And it might be the first time you’ve ever heard me play Sax or Trumpet.

Prepare to be FUNKATIZED.

Dig it:

(The track is downloadable too – just click the little down arrow on the right side of the player.)

INSTRUMENTATION:

Yamaha bass, MPC-2500 (Rhythm King samples), Acoustic drums (hi-hats were two 16″ Zildjian crashes!), Rhodes Suitcase 73, Nord Lead 2x through wah (Organ sound), DeArmond electric guitar through wah into Epiphone Valve Junior, King saxophone, Bundy trumpet, tambourine, vocals (recorded with Studio Projects C1 mic).

Hit me and let me know what you think! Hope you dig!

MooT

It’s here! The new album from Moot Booxlé, Talkin’ About Christmas!

Produced, Arranged, Performed, Mixed, Mastered, and whatever else by Moot Booxlé.

Many of you had asked for a whole album of funky talkbox Christmas music after seeing my Talkbox Christmas videos on YouTube. Well, the wait is over, my friends.

I got a late start working on this music, after having spent the past month or so working on a Christmas musical. That is my good excuse for delivering this to your ears so late into the season.

Anyway, put a glide in yo stride, a dip in yo hip, and come on and download this here thing!

TRACKLIST:

1. Little Drummer Boy

2. God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

3. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town

4. Jingle Bells Etc.

5. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas (remix)

6. This Christmas

7. Greensleeves (What Child Is This)

NOW AVAILABLE FROM BANDCAMP.COM – in just about any format you could want – including Apple Lossless and FLAC!

CLICK HERE!

For now…Enjoy the music, and have a Merry Christmas!

On the ONE,

MooT