Takoyaki Surprise OST by Meredosia

\This soundtrack was commissioned to me by my friend Matt Edson of Red Triangle Games. Takoyaki Surprise is an action game where you control both and octopus and his swordfish companion to fight off evil food and save the princess. Of all my releases, this probably had the longest production time, mostly because I was writing the soundtrack as the game was being made. And the game took about two years. This turned out to be a good thing because I was able to learn new skills while working on the project and apply them when it came time to get everything finalized for release. I was even able to get my friend Emily Timm (of Sun Urchins and Ghost Mice) to sing lead on the credits' song.

Typically with rock albums, I'll write the songs and make a quick demo, get around to recording drums, get around to recording guitars, and get around to doing vocals. This soundtrack was sequenced with OpenMPT where the performances are perfect as soon as you type in your desired notes, so there was no 'getting around' to doing anything. At times I tried to get ahead of the project and ended up having to start songs all over, which is fine. It's never a waste of time to write music. And you'd better believe those scrapped songs are going to show up somewhere.

You might notice how most songs are themed around a different type of food, which was a very fun challenge for me. In fact, some of the songs were based on jingles I'd jokingly written for restaurants I had no intention of patronizing. Either way, I love having a theme to write a song around instead of going into natural minor riffs and singing about being a misunderstood artist.

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Tchildrin EP

The nu metal band Tchildrin was probably the first fake band I had an idea for, with a strong character for a vocalist roughly based on my teenage self. In fact the chorus for The Forever Anthem was written when I was 14 years old, but I never shared it with anyone until I was touring in my early 30s. It was a great idea of mine (if I don't say so myself) to have my bandmates chant the chorus with me every day in the van, to keep our spirits up and have extra fun for free.

When I visited Washington in 2022, I thought I'd record a lot of songs but that didn't happen. However in Olympia, the most obvious thing to do was record a song with the talented Pat Labahn. We recorded the forever anthem demo, with lead guitars and auxiliary percussion by Pat. He spent forever getting those parts so perfect. As for myself, I figured I'd rerecord all my parts at home to fit with the rest of the Tchildrin songs.

In the spring of 2023 I wrote and recorded the rest of the songs, for a split with Jeff Varner's Brundle Fly project. Like many splits, the other half didn't come together so I released this as its own EP. Jeremy Swindle played the guitar solo on Hammerface. Yes, I probably could've done my own solo but I thought it'd be more fun to have a friend in on it who has been living for rock and metal solos instead. There's no cassette for this release, but maybe some of the songs will go on a weird, limited compilation as something to sell on special ocassions.

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China Buffet Dollar Tree by Super Famicom

Here is yet another album from Super Famicom, my solo project since the year 2002. As with last time, these songs had been sitting in Demo Hell for a while. I recorded the drums and bass back in 2023 and then I got bored or busy. Distracted with new achievements. As you might expect, releasing a new set of songs isn't a huge event for me warranting a big celebration and years of promotional activity. Of course I share it with the internet to be fair to anyone who might be interested. Releasing the material is, to me, a final step in considering it Finished.

Do I consider this the Best Super Famicom album? Of course. If you've ever listened to my music before, I definitely think this work deserves your attention more than whatever I did as a kid. Of course you can always let an algorhythm choose what music you should discover. However, if you've ever been to one of my shows at any point in history, the music of Super Famicom is Your culture. I often feel like commercial platforms are trying to shift the purpose of releasing music. This 'content' wasn't made by some celebrity, using you to gain exposure for their brand or increase ad revenue.

The music of Super Famicom was made because its creation is imperative to connecting with my inner self, inventing what I believe should exist in a world that is more liveable than before. Providing a semblance of Agency in my own life, it is too personal to hawk or commoditize. If that is the kind of music you're interested in experiencing, please check it out. Thanks!

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Dave Ep by Meredosia

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This is an exciting release for me, for sure. It's my first successful remote collaboration, with my friend Dave Lowther. We'd had played many shows together with his old bands Burl and Telepathic Lines. During the pandemic lockdown he decided to record some songs of just drums and send them to a few of his songwriter friends. Immediately, I wrote and recorded guitars for all three tracks but never got them 'finished'. This was before I'd started the fake band of Menards. And this is my year for finishing things and shedding the weight of unfinished songs to regain some of my creative freedom. So I finished the tracks and I'm thrilled to share them with you. Is it still True Midwestern Emo, worthy of the Menards name? You tell me.