Thank you to all of you who’ve bought/downloaded/listened to the latest Mister Fusty album, “Cloth Ears”. I must admit I was toying with the idea of retiring Mister Fusty and this would’ve been the last album, however because of the positive feedback with the latest set of tracks I’ve decided not to put Mister Fusty back in his wardrobe just yet….:)

 After a month of intensive activity, taking part in the RPM Challenge, it’s finally here, the latest album from Mister Fusty. It’s a little rough around the edges due to the time frame but probably no more than usual! Half the tracks have vocals, half are instrumentals and it’s goofy, whimsical and at some points a little strange.

You can listen using the player below or at Bandcamp, where you can download the album in any format you like (including lossless) for as little as £1 (about $1.60 or 1.18 EU?) or you can pick your own higher price if you really like it. You can also download an mp3 version for FREE at Soundcloud. If you prefer the likes of Spotify, iTunes or Amazon then the album will be available there and most other download/streaming places in a week or so.

I hope you like it, it was fun making it.

OK, so it’s DONE. The RPM Challenge album that’ve been working on the last month is complete. I will post the CD off to the organisers on Monday and will make it available online then also. Look out for it!

I’ve made another podcast (as I’m too lazy to type out a whole blog) briefly describing my experience with the challenge and a quick guide to all the songs on the album – with clips. If you can stand my boring voice do have a listen..

Here’s the artwork for the new album, it’s title is “Cloth Ears” and the track listing is below, this is the album I’ve been making as part of the RPM Challenge. All being well it will be released into the wild on Monday!

I Knew You

Van Gogh Lanyard

Unexpected Item in the Bagging Area

Twice Nightly Richard Whiteley

Spilsby

The Same

Was ist Das?

Mantra Decanter

Robert’s Rocket

Last Bus Home

The end is in sight! I’ve had a productive few days and I think recording/composing-wise I’m done. I have 10 tracks in total and all I really need to do is fine tune them a bit, perhaps make a few alterations, additions and mix/master them. I already have cover art which I will reveal, along with the final decided track listing, by the weekend. Here’s the last preview I’m going to put up, it’s a song called “Robert’s Rocket”. It’s a bit goofy but the album as a whole is I think quite goofy and strange!

So we are just over half-way with the RPM Challenge, already – doesn’t time fly? This is just a quick update on the progress so far.

I think I’m ahead of schedule but I realise that the remaining time will fall away fast so I’m not getting too complacent. I have 9 songs in various states of completion at the moment, I’d say 4 or 5 you could class as finished. Although I could go back to them and decided I don’t like something, which often happens! The rest need work on but at least have some meat to their bones. So really I’ve only got one new song to add! Here’s a list of songs so far, these titles could change of course.

“Twice Nightly Richard Whiteley”, “Spilsby”, “The Same”, “I Knew You”, “Robert’s Rocket”, “Van Gogh Lanyard”, “Unexpected Item in the Bagging Area”, “Was ist Das?”, “Cold Harbour”.

This time I’ve made my update an audio one, for a change, so you can listen to me ramble on how about I’m doing with the challenge. It could help if you are having trouble sleeping if nothing else…

You can listen to the podcast here 

So…. I’m a week into the RPM Challenge of making an album in just one month. Up to now I have three tracks complete, “Twice Nightly Richard Whitely” (previewed in the last blog post) and an instrumental called “Spilsby”, which you can listen to below or at SoundCloud, and a song called “I Knew You”

I’ve also got a backing track for another song that is quite near to completion,  I’m not sure if it will be an instrumental or vocal yet, I’ll probably work on this tonight. I also have a small fragment of an idea, just a few loops & chords really, that I’m not sure what to do with as yet. I often start on something then put it down, try working on something else and go back to it. Often I have 3 or more songs or fragments on the go and I find this ‘rotational’ method helps if I get a bit stuck or short of ideas.

I had a cold this weekend which slowed me down a bit but I think by mid-week I should have at least 4 finished tracks, which is almost half way, so I reckon I’m on schedule!

As you may have read in a previous post I’m attempting the RPM Challenge this year, which involves creating an album in just the 29 days of February, so here is my first update. I’ll be posting regular updates here, that’s the plan anyway, of course I could find I don’t have time!

The challenge has started well as I have a song more or less complete and it was achieved surprisingly quickly, you can listen to it using the player below or at SoundCloud.

Before starting this endeavour I was assuming that the direction of the album would most likely be instrumental and electronic, with few guitars, electric bass etc., simply because I find this type of music quicker to get going on and quicker to make – time is of short supply of course! However I’ve confounded this on the very first “session” by making a mostly guitar based vocal song. I don’t know why, it just seemed to flow that way, so I’ve created a nice little whimsical short song called “Twice Nightly Richard Whiteley”. Listeners of a certain age with a knowledge of British TV might be able to make sense of the lyrics which are reproduced below.

The backing track came about quite quickly, however vocals as usual took a lot longer and I’m still not sure about them. I’d forgotten that it takes me quite a long time to get vocals down, perhaps because I’m not a great or confident singer. So as time is limited I’m not sure there will be many vocal tracks on this album. But you never know…

Usually my songwriting process goes thus: Create chords and backing track, scat sing over and over the music until I come up with a melody and then usually a phrase or two comes out of this singing to build the lyrics on. For some unknown reason the phrase “Twice Nightly Richard Whiteley” popped into my head!

Richard Whiteley was a popular TV presenter here in the UK, he’s now sadly deceased. “Twice Nightly Richard Whiteley” was his nickname and it’s ended up being a song about nostalgia. If all of the songs on this album come about this quickly then I’ll be very glad. Something tells me it’s not going to be that straightforward though…

Onwards.

It’s twice nightly Richard Whiteley
The Calendar guy with Countdown Carol
I smile so sweetly at nostalgia creeping
Up on me like a lost friend

Flashing fingers Ted Rogers lingers
Rattles my head like a coin in a tin
Maybe I’m crazy, the past it haunts me
Cart me off inside Dusty Bin

The truth is clear
The past is dear
To us it’s home

Nancy it’s true, I can paint along with you
The past it seems a different colour
Mr. Men are my brethren
The Clangers are still on the moon

OK. So the gauntlet has been thrown down and Mister Fusty is up for the challenge.

Record a whole album in just the 28 days of February of either 10 songs or 35 minutes+

Crikey.

I’m going to give this a go, for the fun of it and also because I’m curious how it will affect my creativity, music making skills, songwriting, well being etc. I’m going to be posting regular updates of how I’m doing on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and on the RPM Blog,  so “follow“, “like” and keep checking, if only to see if I’m still ok. If you hear nothing for a while assume either I’ve declared, “CAN”T BE ARSED!!” and given up or I’ve gone mental.

Wish me luck.