Some writing music: Part 121

Hello there inmates!

So February has finally arrived! This year is continuing along at pace, I must admit. Maybe it’s true what my parents say that the years go by faster as you get older. I’m unsure if that’s a good thing or not. Anyways, how is everyone doing this week? Getting back into post-lockdown life? I know it’s been a while since the lockdown (at least in this country) but the world has seemed rather slow and sedate in getting back into the swing of life. The job market is one big example of that right now…

Enough about all of that real life slop. You’re here for virtual slop! The Harlequins writing music to be specific. I posted a clue earlier on for todays musical theme. I feel like it was a reasonably obvious one this week. Did you see it?

Todays musical theme is the great nation of Germany! Yes, our germanic cousins over on the mainland continent! A land of great culture and personality. I know that the germans have something of a stereotype of being stiff-lipped and unemotional, but I personally have a soft spot for them. Obviously the country has a long and varied history. Conflict and oppression and innovation. Much of which you’re likely to be aware of yourselves.

There is a great amount of musical influence from Deutschland. I would even say the nation has given us a few genres of their own. One in particular that I’m a huge fan of is industrial. I would even say that industrial music is quintessentially german, though obviously people of other nations partake too. I feel like I’m rambling again. This has become slightly listless hasn’t it? Haha! Wanna hear some of my favourites?

Without further nonsense, join me as we delve into the musical minds of Deutsch artists the land over!

Megaherz – Vorhang Auf
https://www.megaherz.de/

Rapsoul – Gott Schenk Ihr Flugel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapsoul

Rammstein – Mein Herz Brennt
https://www.rammstein.de/en/

Mark Forster – Ubermorgen
https://www.markforster.de/

Revolverheld – Immer Noch Fuhlen
https://www.revolverheld.de/

And there we have it! Fantastisch! There’s some interesting ones there eh? I was almost tempted to just put industrial music on this list, but I think that would be doing Germany a disservice. I hope that guys enjoy this list and give each of these artists a good look. They all deserve it, even if you don’t understand the German language so well.

So, something you might understand a little better is social media stuff! The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and a page over on Twitter as well! Please consider following me over on those pages as well. It really helps me out! Also, if you really understand what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page! Thanks for everything my friends!

Until next week, auf wiedersehen and have a very crazy day inmates!

Some writing music: Part 120

Good day inmates!

Apologies for the slightly later posting of this edition. I’ve had a reasonably full day attempting to make my room here at the asylum look presentable. How are you all doing? Enjoying the later days of this most chilly of months? I’ll be glad when spring comes and the heat starts to rise I must admit.

I don’t know about you, but I fancy some music. Did anybody see the clue from earlier? I thought it was rather glamourous, you know? Makes me want to grow a glam-rock hairdo, you get me?

So, if my clumsy excuses for secrecy have no doubt revealed, todays musical theme is glam! Whether that be glam-rock, glam-pop or otherwise. I’m quite a fan of dressing up, as any follower of the asylum may be able to deduce. I like facepaint and fancy outfits. I like wacky hair and theatricality. Glam is pretty much all of those things, with rather funky musical beats to go along with it. I find it rather hard to describe when I actually think about it. It’s a pretty varied genre in all honesty, from the earliest opuses of David Bowie and Elton John to more “stereotypical” glam-hair bands like Guns N’ Roses or Kiss. They all have this almost eccentric quality to them, like if the mad hatter had a band. They’re larger than life, flamboyant and are always easy to sing and bop along to. Five of them are also on this page you know. Haha!

So, join me as we delve into the musical minds of glamourous artists the world over!

David Bowie – Life On Mars?
https://www.davidbowie.com/

The Sweet – Wig Wam Bam
https://www.thesweet.com/

Abba – Waterloo
https://abbasite.com/

Adam Lambert – Down The Rabbit Hole
https://www.adamlambert.net/

Alice Cooper – School’s Out
https://alicecooper.com/

And there we have it for another edition of the Harlequins writing music! I could have included so many artists in this one really, as Glam has such a broad scope. I could have included Elton John, Slade, T-Rex, among others. But alas, I have this self-imposed rule to include only five, so there’s your lot! Haha! As always, I encourage you all to give these artists a look, they certainly deserve the attention in my eyes.

So, talking about attention and such, how about some social media stuff? The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and a page over on Twitter as well. I post clues for my poems a few hours ahead of time, as well as various other mad hot garbage. Check it out sometime, it would mean a lot! Also, if you really enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page as well. Thanks for everything!

Until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

Crystalline Sky

That time at the lake,
As the mist looked on expectedly,
When I cried sad crystals,
And they flew skyward,
Joining hands with constellations,
It was then that I knew,
As my eyes still spilled celestial ink,
That the night sky was built on hurt lovers,
Cosmic beauty derived from pain,
The night was an anthology of romantic tragedies,
A sky of stories,
A landscape painting of bloodily cut diamonds,
Bled on to the firmament by the brush of our tears.

Some writing music: Part 118

Good day inmates!

So another week is here eh? How’s it been for you? 2022 thrown any spanners at you yet? I certainly hope not, that would be rather rude. I’m really not enjoying the winter, I’ll admit. I’ve had a stinking cold yet again. It’s more annoying than debilitating at this point. It also seems like almost everyone I know is getting similar things. It’s not the great plague either, just the time of year I suppose. Still, it’s not stopped me writing at least.

So, it’s time for part 118 of the Harlequins writing music. I wonder if one day I’ll get to a thousand parts of this series. That’s quite an insane thought, even for me. Did anybody see my clue earlier today? I revealed that I’m showing off a single band in todays edition. Did anybody work out who the band was?

Yes, that’s right! It was Paddy and the Rats! Now, they are a band I’ve listened to for a couple years after finding them purely by accident on the great tube. They are a rather distinctive band from Hungary that take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Celtic and folk music. At times they can sound like a fairly standard punk rock band, but then throw in an accordion, electronica and a variety of instruments I don’t even know the names of. They have their fair share of upbeat jigs, but then are quite capable of slower, more sombre melodies. I’m going to try and show you guys just how broad their music chops can go. Let’s go, shall we?

Join me as we delve into the musical minds of Paddy and the Rats!

Paddy and the Rats – That’s My Nature

Paddy and the Rats – Join The Riot

Paddy and the Rats – My Sharona

Paddy and the Rats – Dark After The Night

Paddy and the Rats – Ghost From The Barrow

And there we go! Quite a varied array of songs eh? I could listen to these guys all day to be honest with you. It wasn’t actually too easy to narrow down my choices to only five songs, but I could hardly put the bands entire discography on here. They even did their own version of the song ‘Drunken Sailor’! It’s really good! As always, I’ll include a link to their website here for your perusal. I hope you check them out, they really deserve the love!

Here you go! https://www.paddyandtherats.hu/

Speaking of links, I ought to include my own eh? The asylum has a page over on Facebook, an account on Instagram and even a Twitter page! Please consider following me over on those as well, it really helps! Also, if you enjoy what I do here at the asylum, please consider supporting me over on the Ko-Fi page as well! Cheers for everything!

Until next week, have a very crazy day inmates!

Espionage

Let me tell you a story,
A yarn of spies and the spied upon,
Of a world under our own,
A world of shadow and masks,
A world we are not privy to,
For the better,

She is a woman,
But also an agent,
A clandestine weapon with fake lashes,
All false wigs and suppressors,
A dame of deception,
She had slain tyrants while wearing unfamiliar faces,
She once had a lover,
But the flag stole him under its yolk,

He is a man,
But also a tool,
An extension of his nations left hand,
All handguns and sabotage,
An artist of wetwork,
No foreign dossier is safe from his gloves,
He longed for a normal life once,
But the flag kept drawing him back,

It’s a tale of two nations,
A love story spelled out in gunshots and dead drops,
Of two souls under opposing masters,
Once brought together by their humanity,
But rent asunder by the flags inhumanity,
Forced in future to kiss via crosshairs.

Muted Soul

Stashed in this dark cubicle,
Like a vintage speaker inoperable,
I languish in pained silence,
No more does poetry and music escape these lips,
No longer do I monologue,

I am alone,
No incoming voices,
No mechanics come to fix me,
Just perpetual let down after sore event,
Spurring me to depressive inaction,

With each crank of the dial,
I am less myself,
Turned down in volume,
A muted soul,
No longer to produce a syllable nor tune,

The loneliest sound is a single teardrop.

Rotten Vulture

Atop a statue once depicting liberty,
Perches a foul creature,
An avian actor,
Decaying piece by ruinous piece,
A scavenger feigning regality,
A vulture wearing the feathers of an eagle,
Mould and droppings falling upon a flag,

Nonetheless this animal is loved and reviled both,
Regarded in both sycophantic and tyrannical aviaries,
It wants not for fodder,
The carcass of a republic lies below,
So it rends at putrid meat no longer protected,
Picking at the scraps of the citizenry,
The flesh of a populace with potential,

Each wing of this beast is dyed an opposing shade,
One crimson,
The other a dull blue,
Battling over which part to gnaw at,
Even as they rot and fester,
But make no mistake,
Both factions are wings of the same rotten vulture.

Bassline

Do you feel that bass?
That tone in the atmosphere,
A low hum in sequence,
Pounding like artillery,
You begin to sway at the sound,
Intoxicating as it is,
It’s a legal high,
A sonic assault upon your composure,
A hysteria of the limbs,
It threatens to shatter your shell,
Make you move against your judgement,

It’s only a matter of time,
The beat continues unabated,
You’ll dance to this bassline,
With a grin that’d make the joker blush.

Abyssal

The waves are the embodiment of mystery,
An oblivion of crushing weight and shadow,
More unknown than the dark side of the moon,
Though its wane and wax has a rhythmic aria to it,
The abyss has a song all its own,
A dread tune,
Like tentacles licking at your eardrums,
Distorted static of whalesong,
The crunch of crabshell underfoot,
Its lyrics manifest as thalassophobia,
A warning in the mind,
Sharks teeth and squid beaks upon your nape,
Salt and brine on your tongue,
The knowledge that man is not welcome.

The Screen

I know that monitor is not just a device,
I know what it means to you,
It’s your social safe space,
The real world was always too bitter,
You met these souls without seeing their faces,
Side by side exploring myriad galaxies,
Across battlefields rendered in digital space,
Amicable rivalries upon podiums that never were,
They were and are real,
They are not mere pixels and handles,
They are friends,
Past and present,
And perhaps future also,
People not profiles,
Place a hand upon the screen,
You can feel their palms against yours.