Starting a new blog wasn’t on the agenda today, but it just sort of happened…
Since October of last year, I’ve been messing around off-and-on with generating music via A.I. As with A.I. art, this is a very controversial and divisive platform. The way my musician friends react to finding out about my pastime runs the gamut from them being curious to pissed off.
Each day, a new post will appear featuring an A.I. generated song that you can listen to. Below that will be the title and text of the song. Below the title and text will be an A.I. generated image created using the song’s lyrics as a text prompt for the image. Below that you can read the brief musical text prompt used – along with the lyrics – to generate the audio for the song. Finally, below that, you can read a brief explanation of how the song came to be.
It might sound like a lot, but it’s actually very brief. The first song is called “Time Sighed” and can be listened to by clicking on the link below. I’ll close with the brief story of the song’s origin, which is there in the post…
“In early 2023, someone donated a Steel Tongue Drum to the youth center that my partner and I founded and operate. Each morning or afternoon before we opened, I would play around on the instrument and I gradually started writing a song. As the song was forming on the instrument, a vocal melody began to form but for months I couldn’t come up with lyrics that felt like a good fit. Finally, some lyrics were written based on an experience that had occurred a couple of years prior during a kind of guided meditation that a friend led me through via zoom. During that guided meditation, many of the images mentioned in the song were experienced, like the Red Ladder to The Clouds, the Ancient Cartoon God frolicking with a Grey Female Alien, and another alien sitting in Lotus Pose before a Cave.”
I’ve made some rap songs. We can do that, though. We could either get together or you can send me some lyrics if you want and I could input them. Lyrics and a Song Title. Also, it’s good to enter musical prompts. Sometimes what I do is google “How to describe the music of (a certain artist).” Like, say that you wanted a song to sound like Wu Tang Clan. Right Now I’ll google “How to describe the music of Wu Tang Clan.”
Here’s what the A.I. came up with when I googled that:
Wu-Tang Clan’s music is often described as a unique blend of sharp lyricism, gritty production, and old-school rap influence, all while incorporating martial arts themes and Eastern philosophy. Their debut album, “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),” is particularly known for its raw sound, lo-fi production, and the use of kung fu movie samples, making it a landmark release in hip-hop.
So what I would do is just edit that a little bit to create a musical prompt:
Sharp lyricism, gritty production, old-school rap influence, martial arts themes, Eastern philosophy. Raw sound, lo-fi production, kung fu movie samples
There’s a certain poem I often use for trying out new musical prompts and stuff. I’mma go ahead and enter that poem, along with its title, and the musical prompt that might make it come out in the style of Wu Tang. I’ll do that, download the result, and attach it to this email. Right now it’s 11:50AM so we can actually determine how crazy-fast that this can be done. Be Right back…
So now it’s 11:52AM and I’m already listening to the 1st of two results. HAHAHA, it doesn’t sound ANYTHING like WuTang, though. I’ll download the two songs and attach them here.
Ha, version 2 also doesn’t really sound like Wu Tang. Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.
2 Attachments • Scanned by Gmail
After this exchange with former Willow Saplings Youth Center Intern Ramon, I was looking at “Memories” on Facetiousbook. One of them from more than 10 years ago was a link to a YouTube video featuring Five Starcle Men, a highly eccentric and experimental band hailing from Lancaster, CA that my weird buddy Brad introduced me to back in the late 1990’s. Five Starcle Men have developed a bit of a cult following over the years, so I wondered if Experimental A.I. Generative Google might know about them and be able to describe their music. Here’s what Google’s Generative A.I. came up with for the search “How to describe the music of Five Starcle Men:”
Five Starcle Men, an experimental and underground band, is known for their heavily distorted, sampled music, often featuring dextromethorphan-fueled rambling and alien abduction themes. Their music is characterized by a blend of chaotic, electronic sounds, spoken word, and drug-induced narratives.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown of their sonic style:
Distorted and Edited Samples:Their music is built upon a foundation of heavily manipulated and altered sound samples.
Dextromethorphan-fueled Rambling:Members of the band recorded their music while under the influence of the drug dextromethorphan (DXM), which contributed to the psychedelic, rambling nature of their lyrics and vocals.
Alien Abduction and Other Themes:Common themes in their music include demons, aliens, space, and other surreal or fantastical concepts.
Electronic Gadgets and Circuit Bending:They utilized a variety of electronic gadgets and experimented with circuit bending, adding further layers of distortion and unconventional sounds.
Live Performances:Their live shows were known for their unique costumes, alien-related props, and loud, often chaotic music.
“Pizza Hut Families Rule”:A notable song, “Pizza Hut Families Rule,” was often played at their live shows and sometimes resulted in police intervention.
Delusional Reality:Members of Five Starcle Men constructed their music and performances to create a heightened, sometimes delusional aesthetic for themselves and their audience.
Five Starcle Men, an underground experimental psychedelic …Nov 16, 2020 — What’s notable is that, of the found music we have, their music became less and less coherent, as if they’ve gone mad.Reddit · r/LetsTalkMusic
Gomba Reject Ward Japan | FIVE STARCLE MENFive Starcle Men: These kids were involved in alien drug torture and deadly cartoon culture governments. They loved performing the…Lost Frog Productions
Five Starcle Men Discography: Vinyl, CDs, & More | DiscogsProfile: Lancaster, CA / Austin, TX / Colorado Springs, CO-based experimental outfit active from 1992 – 1998. Their music consiste…Discogs
I shortened that to: Heavily distorted and edited samples, Rambling, alien abduction testimonials, Circuit-bent toys, Drug-induced ramblings, Themes like demons, aliens, and space, Highly experimental And then added some actual Five Starcle Men lyrics and the song title that the lyrics were from and SUNO generated something for me that didn’t sound any more like Five Starcle Men than the Wu Tang Clan prompt-generated music sounded like Wu Tang Clan.
Then I looked up How to Describe the Music of… My friend Brad’s old Recording Project. And that’s how I got the Musical Prompt that resulted in the song this post is based upon, only with some of my own lyrics (“Gargoyle’s & Garden Gnomes”). And now we have a very strange new persona to explore (Stark Placenta Men).
There was actually one time when I was possessed for a year So you were drinking Budweisers all through the night I drank Gin Beams That was like another shipment for your monsters Laughing at my petrified parts They pick off their pricks and they throw them like darts Help, my ribcage has been opened And this cut has been analytically designed A great offer to fly your ears to a place Where they will hear Pure sounds
Give the kNot to the spiderface And Sirens will answer the chirps of the Frogs We all knew he had it coming, anyway Well at least it wasn’t the frog who croaked At least the mop didn’t kick the bucket To pay my respects I kicked a field goal To that old procession in the sky Christ The Lord raised his hands: “It’s Good!” Just then, Saint Peter blew the whistle Whistleblowers are not whistling They’re only blowing A blow job doesn’t really involve a whole lot of blowing A snow job doesn’t fall after a heavy snowing
If your child turns from gray to red while suffering from asthma He may be a cop If he fails to shed her skin every seven weeks Change her plasma If she circles three times like a lying dog Give him a diorama Of mud and sticks And monks, for kicks And kick off your pajamas! And get up out of bed To smack the smile off the face of yet another beautiful blue morning sky
I want an apple of that bite At licking I deliver the spite Of the decade now ending Adjacent to many new kinds of spanking mental patients
Yesterday’s post featured the song “Roll Me In The Ditch,” which I mentioned was the first song SUNO generated for me back in early October of last year (2024). In case you haven’t read previous posts or I haven’t spelled it out, there are three basic components that go into having a song generated for you on the SUNO platform:
Enter the lyrics (one can also choose to have instrumental songs generated, or have SUNO come up with the lyrics or flesh out your own lyrical ideas)
Enter some musical prompts (style, genre, tone, featured musical instruments, etc.)
Enter a song title
If I’m remembering correctly, part of why I chose “Roll Me In The Ditch” for the first attempt at asking A.I. to generate a song for me was that I’d spent a lot of time with those lyrics to the point where I had a strong idea of the melody and arrangements. It had become a fully-developed song in my mind that I could clearly hear. So I probably was curious as to how well the A.I. & I could collaborate on a song that sounded the way it sounded in my head by using limited “musical prompts.”
The two versions of “Roll Me In The Ditch” SUNO initially generated weren’t what I was hoping for, so I tried again with the same Lyrics, Prompts, and Song Title. The second pair of songs were also not what I wanted, but one of the two versions on the third attempt sounded eerily similar to the way the song I was writing sounded in my head.
Because I was so pleased with this first song-experiment on SUNO, I used the same “Bluegrass” prompt for the first 15-or-so songs that SUNO generated for me. From the start, my intention was to take poems and lyrics I’d written over the decades and enjoy hearing them as fleshed-out songs.
“Roll Me In The Ditch” was generated on 10/9/24. In just now scrolling through the catalogue of songs on my SUNO profile, “Kick Off Yer Pajamas” was the first attempt (on 10/12/24) at a song using a different musical prompt (which was copied above, below the creepy “Budweiers” image that A.I. Art generative platform “Deep Dream” generated for me a few minutes ago based upon the lyrics to “Kick Off Yer Pajamas).
As with the song “Oh Glorified Oogle, Oh Squeegee Bum god” (the subject of Post #2), a version of “Kick Off Yer Pajamas” generated by actual humans does exist online. And as with “the google song,” one of the musicians who helped me with the Human Version of Kick Off Yer Pajamas was my esteemed friend Darby Dixon, who played acoustic guitar on the Human Version of “pajamas” that I’ll link below. I sang the lyrics, and another friend who sometimes goes by Jimi Camero played electric guitar. Yes, yes, let’s see if I can find that Soundcloud link for the Human-Generated “Kick Off Yer Pajamas…”
The “pure sounds” your ears will hear upon visiting the link above represent a pretty rough demo three friends improvised in 2009 or 2010 using Garageband.
One more note: As with the previous two posts, the song generated for “Kick Off Yer Pajamas” last October hadn’t yet been made into a “Persona” when I decided to make it the subject of one of these posts. Lately when I create a “Persona” from a generated-song I’ll often use a word or lyrical phrase from the song to give the “Persona” it’s name, which can be thought of as a Band Name or the name of a Solo Artist. Several different varieties of “Spanking Mental Patients” or “Spanking New Mental Patience” were rejected by SUNO on the grounds of containing elements of some other Persona existing somewhere on the platform. “Pure Sounds” didn’t seem like As Fitting of a Name for this new Persona, but it will have to do. So now, to close this post, I’ll go find some other lyrics that might be a good fit for this new “Persona,” who is programmed to create “Driving, angular, melodic punk featuring a crooning, yet playful, singer…”
“Arguing With Memes”
Have ya ever tried partakin in a nuanced debate with me Before belatedly comin to see You were simply arguing with my memes?
I must confess, my friend, to growin wary of expressin my beliefs I’d rather just go online and find a fine and pithy line Juxtaposed against some image summin up what’s on my mind
Have ya ever tried buzzin by the hive mind of the powers that be? Before belatedly coming to see You’re just a dog barking up the wrong tree?
I must confess to understandin that this tree’s bark bites much worse than me I’d rather just take the scraps that fall down from the laps Of faceless patrons at the table able to make spam of maps
Have ya ever tried partakin in a nuanced debate with me Before belatedly coming to see You were only arguing with my memes?
Reddit · r/LetsTalkMusic
Lost Frog Productions
Discogs
IMa.Gi.BAND 