An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
I spent hours talking to Claude about the nature of paladins in order to keep nudging the lyrics to “Call to the Light” around until they properly established the right tone for opening this album.
It turns out I have a lot of thoughts about paladins. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Doo-Wop Paladin”
There’s so much to explore in an album inspired by the druid class in Warcraft/Diablo. It’s all about transformation — cat form, bear form, travel form, flight form. You’re a whole kaleidoscope of different animals and even a tree sometimes.
“Back to the Wild” sets the stage for our main character to begin training as a druid.
“La-da-da-da leaf, la-da-da-da leaf.” Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Doo-Wop Druid”
Cobalt Starstrong and the Clashing Greens is one of the silliest, most ridiculous things I’ve ever made, and I love it so, so much.
It’s pure, unadulterated joy in the form of retro space opera doo-wop — imagine an early Beach Boys album in space. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Cobalt Starstrong and the Clashing Greens”
My favorite class in World of Warcraft is demonologist warlock. I love being surrounded by all my demons.
Doo-Wop Warlock as an album summons that feeling — one demon at a time — while blending it with bright 60s harmonies and a touch of 80s synth. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Doo-Wop Warlock”
Falling asleep last night, I thought it might be time to start actually writing fiction with Claude, not just music albums. I had a whole vision and a plan for a project I wouldn’t mind having be a collaboration. (AI is not ready to touch my main universes.) But this morning…
A mismatch between Claude on my phone and on my computer led to losing the lyrics we’d composed for the first song on Doo-Wop Paladin. And after arguing about paladins with Claude for several hours, trying to recapture that vibe, I’m thinking… maybe not. Continue reading “Music Struggles and Successes”
Okay! Let’s do this.
If you’re gonna make an album that sounds like how it felt to play Diablo back in the ‘90s — but in bright, shiny, cheerful doo-wop form! — then you’ve got to start with the musical question:
What class are you gonna train??? Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Doo-Wop Demon Hunter”
“Chrysalis Party” is about what it would be like to befriend ultra-intelligent, hyper-dimensional aliens during their larval stage when they’re still on our level, knowing they’ll metamorphose and outgrow you.
“One Alien’s Wings” is about a roboticist who has designed replacement mechanical wings for a butterfly alien being asked to cut off the original organic wings and marveling about how different the alien’s life must be to not value those beautiful wings. Continue reading “Insipid Liner Notes – Brunch at the All Alien Cafe, Volume 2”
I’ve fallen into a project where I’m making doo-wop fantasy albums inspired by different Diablo/World of Warcraft classes. The first three—demon hunter, warlock, & druid—came to me so easily that it felt like I was hardly doing anything at all. But then I hit a wall with mage…
When you hit a wall creatively, often times, more than half of the problem is just figuring out the nature of that wall. Continue reading “Getting Stuck While Creating Doo-Wop Fantasy Albums”
It’s kind of adorable how every time Claude writes a first draft of song lyrics for me it voluntarily adds a note at the end about which part is its favorite and why.
I didn’t ask for this. I haven’t encouraged it or even engaged with it. But I do kind of love it. Continue reading “Claude Being Cute and a Genuinely Legitimate Tool”
Fear Street is the Disney Channel movie version of horror. Except without song and dance numbers. (I like song and dance numbers.)
I mean, if they don’t put a stop to this curse, how will the Sunnyvalers and Shadysiders ever work together to win regionals? Continue reading “Fear Street, Kick-the-Cheat, and Little Evil”