Amado Ohland

They came over, they demolished everything we wanted them to; we ate lasagne and watermelon and drank wheat beers with a dash of lemonade. Here's to friends. Sadly, my song today does not do them justice.

Oh how I wish I were talking about Cecil the lion, and not Samuel, Sandra, Freddie, Walter, Meagan, Tamir, Michael, Eric, Trayvon, and too too many others. Why, one might ask, do I call out the names of African Americans, and not those of the servicemen killed in Chattanooga? It's not because the murders in Chattanooga are any less senseless or tragic, I assure you. But it's gotten to the point wh...

The thought occurred to me the other day: all of my songs are, in a sense, one song. (Hopefully, NOT in the sense that "they all sound the same.") From this way of looking at it, what I do when I make music is to re-combine aspects of my song -- ones that fit together -- to meet a mood or occasion of-the-moment. AND -- if making music is one of the things you do -- this same thing hold true for yo...

A song about what happens at the end of a 25 hour day.

The first song of the last month of the first year. And you think I'm not going to get a little over-excited?!? I am. And that will have its effects, some of them good, others not so much. Enjoy!

Last song of the month. For the last couple of months, the "set closer" has been way too similar to the "set opener." Today I decided I could go all the way: change style, change key, and just use one little bit of the central idea from the first song in this one. For once, I'm happy with today's song. Warts and all.

Pick up the box. See what's comin'. Get it done. Come back for more.

I'm to the point where I'm wondering where this stuff comes from. I still recognize myself, but in another sense I don't recognize myself anymore. Is that weird? Is that self-involved?

76.5 b.p.m. and a 4-minutes timer were the only constraints I gave myself going in. Could I, I wondered, make a piece with a dramatic form, one that occasionally re-engaged the listener? Don't think I did. I think it's a hypnotic loop with something over the top that may be melody and may be noodling (you decide). Enjoy, nonetheless.

This track is a reply to “SSS Prompt 25: Alive!” More on the Society for Spontaneous Singing at http://singthis.org . A reply to a fairly challenging Prompt, as I experienced it. There were simpler ways to approach it, I'm sure. But to me, it boiled down to this: "How is it, to be alive? How would you impress upon another how it is for you to be alive? What ought they to realize about it?" This, t...

After yesterday's pretty track with words, I was ready for some action. The math suggested the tempo, and 102 is good for walking. The mood suggested the time signature and mode. The rest fell out of my mouth, like it does. Enjoy.

I sang some words I made up while I sang some words I made up while I sang some words I made up while I sang some words I made up while I sang some...

Not all who wander are lost. Come with me. See what's to hear, in this particular terrain.

Safely far away from the punishing radiation of the local gravity well, the rocky, icy body observes the goings-on of the other principle dancers of its sol system. There's never a dull decade, from this vantage. Its attention turns first to all 8. The hyperactive one, and the other three rocky ones spinning quickly, perilously close to the nuclear powerhouse at the weighty center of the dance. It...

The making of some art is an exercise of living life more fully.

Okay, now here's a departure. It's a rap. But it's in some language I don't know.

Wow. Okay. I just listened to it after a bit of a break, and the beat resolved itself to a different place than it was while I was singing it. So here again we have an example of something that was performed with one organizing principle in the artist's mind while it was being created, that fits more neatly into some other organizing principle. So, I'm fascinated by the idea of what this transcrip...

I started my melody, and tried to "say it." When I was done... I noticed I had to try to "say it" again. When I was done... it seemed it needed just another shot. Maybe I said it. If not, well, we'll try again.

I'm not saying we won't. I'm just saying we mightn't. And if that's what comes to pass... well, if you're one of the many people I had in mind as I was singing this song, you should know just how deep a lasting impression you've made on my life. Thank you for that.

It was time to fully visualize this forest metaphor I've been playing with, and the exhilaration of being able to run around in this metaphorical forest and navigate its dangers. The pace is swift, the tones are sweet, and the melody is a little dangerous for a singer at my level. It's not perfect! Enjoy it.

Some of these surprise you. I didn't know that today's song needed to be in three, or six, or four-plus-two, whatever this is. And I didn't know that this is what I had to feel today. Turns out, it was. So grateful that I got to sing it.

Frankly, not my best work. AND, I think I rotated the snare drum around, and it is playing at the wrong times. Sounds seriously wonky. BUT guess what? It's a cheery walk in the sunshine nonetheless. 'A' for effort. Sing more tomorrow.

The gods of the sea are wildly different in various mythological traditions. But just as I like my personal spiritual practice to have a broad, comparative-religions kind of base, I like my mythological invocations to have a comparative-mythologies base. So this is to Ægir and his daughters, and to Manannán, and to all the Sirens. I am the shaman/wizard of my people, and we must pass to the other...

An important constituent ( my wife ) named this one and said that she liked stuff with interesting and lush looped parts. I know her also to have a distaste for mooshy ballads, and a preference for faster stuff. It all went into this mix.

Did I do groovier things earlier in this project? And am I only evolving based on the most recent things that I've done? In an ideal world, I'd be able to remember all 210+ songs I've done and I'd know what sorts of things I want to advance next. As it is... well, at least today I remembered the days when finding grooves was as important as finding new nuances. Move your body.