Hello There....

It’s been awhile. Plans don’t always go as they’re planned. Here we are three years after I wrote those two previous posts, and really I didn’t accomplish any of that.

Well I did, sort of; I did have a version of M-Theory: Red Dwarf “in the can” as they say. But I will say that 2020 and 2021 were, contrary to what I thought, really rough as far as my creative ‘mojo’ was concerned.

As 2022 started, I had changed my mind and decided to focus on releasing Impossible Universe. I even wrote and recorded two additional tracks for the album. But, I didn’t get it out. Maybe you all have experienced “creative inertia” — maybe you haven’t. But I can say I got hit up side the head with it. I did some things here and there, but nothing to move forward. It was “easier” to just not do anything. You know how it is; you’re sitting there, watching Youtube, or some streaming show, and you think “I should get up and be productive.” But gravity seems especially strong and you just can’t make the effort to “be productive.”

Yeah, that’s what I got hit with. Not making excuses…well maybe I am, but….

Well I think I’m ready now. As I slowly got back on the “productive” wagon and starting working again final mixdowns, getting the masters evaluated and approved, researching and writing the liner notes, I realized something.

I realized what an incredible, amazing, vast, incomprehensible, beautiful, wondrous, and some might say impossible, universe we live in. I realized that humble though they are, I’ve got 12 songs about that universe that I want to share with you. And hopefully those songs will bring some measure of satisfaction, or happiness, or joy, or whatever to you. Hopefully make your next hour, or day or whatever, a little better.

And so, here we go. Impossible Universe will release this year, finally. More to come….

Out Now -- What A Guy, First Single from M-Theory: Red Dwarf

It’s here finally! The first single from my upcoming EP M-Theory: Red Dwarf. It’s called What A Guy, and if you are a fan of the British scifi comedy, you’ll know what it’s about. For the uninitiated, well, I would just recommend watching Dimension Jump (Season 4 Episode 5), then watch Stoke Me A Clipper (Season 7, Episode 2). It’s about one of the main character’s alter ego from another dimension, Ace Rimmer. I’d definitely recommend watching all the seasons, but if you can’t, watch these two and then you’ll be in the know.

And some interesting backstory: in my “other life” I am a software engineer, and the company I work for built a CI/CD framework, and named the front end UI “Ace”… yes, you guessed it: after Ace Rimmer, the subject of this track.

You can get it from The M31 Store, and you can listen at all the places:

• Spotify

• Apple Music

• Amazon Music

• Pandora

• Google Play

• …and others

“Stoke me a clipper, I’ll be back for Christmas…whatever.” — Ace Rimmer

Red Dwarf and The Impossible Universe

Some updates on exciting things going on this year!

M-Theory: Red Dwarf

In 2013, I started an EP series entitled M-Theory (more details here), inspired by my favorite science fiction television and movies. First came M-Theory: Doctor Who in 2013, followed by M-Theory: Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 2014. M-Theory: Red Dwarf is the series’ third installment — yeah I’ve been working on it for a hot minute….

I have to admit, It took me awhile to warm up to Red Dwarf, but once I was able to watch this BBC science fiction series from the beginning, I was literally hooked. So naturally I had to include a set of tracks inspired by the zaniness and utter hilarity that is Red Dwarf.

I completed writing the tracks this past February, during the RPM 2020 Challenge (more on that later). There will be tracks that highlight some of my favorite moments from the first seven seasons.

This’ll drop in November, and I’m really excited to share it with you.

Impossible Universe

I’ve had this album in the works for a few years now, since one of my passions is outer space, astronomy, and anything to do with the universe we live in. It’s about some of the beautiful and fascinating things that exist in our Universe, from supermassive black holes to exotic moons in our own solar system.

It was also written during two subsequent years during the RPM Challenges for those years.

So what’s the RPM Challenge? I’ve got a post about that here.

Anyway, the tracks are written. They just need to have the final touches applied, and then Impossible Universe will release in early 2021!

RPM Challenge

So I said I’d talk about that RPM Challenge I mentioned in another post. (If you’re reading this first and wonder what that “other” post is, you can find it here.)

RPMChallenge is an album-writing challenge that started in 2006 in New Hampshire, and its offered in February of every year. The rules are simple: 10 songs or 35 minutes of music, all written, recorded, and produced during the month of February (the shortest month of the year). Since it isn’t a contest, there isn’t any monitoring or enforcing the “rules,” except for the deadline, which is March 1st.

I heard about it from a friend and colleague at work, and I decided to participate in my first one in 2015. And then in 2016, and 2017. I took a couple of years off, and then decided to participate again this year.

Glad I did; I was able to get all the tracks (and then some extra ones) written, recorded, and produced (finally) for the third installment in my M-Theory sci-fi television and film series, M-Theory: Red Dwarf.

I highly recommend the challenge. For me, it provides the motivation to make at least an album every year. Plus, I always learn something about myself from each one. This year, I was having a terrible time trying to complete one of the tracks, you know, the old “writer’s block” thing. I just kept banging my head on how to put together this one particular track; I had the hook, but I couldn’t figure out how to put it together into a logical flow with a good energy curve. But I just kept trying different things, and after a couple of hours, it slowly started to take shape. Yeah it took awhile, but it was worth it.