My treasured, most excellent followers, amazing fedizens, mischief-makers, music-lovers, and creatures of multiverse. I’m excited!
Today, under the light of a full moon, I present to you, a brand new Dgar song! Airlock is out now!!
Also, I have bonus shenanigans.
I’d like to give some algorithms a good punch in the face, and shock them into noticing this, my first new release of the year. If you would be generous enough to give my new track a play (or three) on your favourite streaming service (and your second and third favourite streaming service if you’re up for it), I would very much appreciate it.
This experiment will need a lot of people, so please don’t scroll by. I really do need your help to do this. It’s a short song, a bit over two and a half minutes, and I’m really excited for you to hear it!
It’s my dream that I can spend my days making music and sharing bad jokes for all you beautiful beings. I’m working hard right now to release at least one new song per month for 2024. The goal is to supplement the income from my part-time job, at least enough that I don’t need to get a second job.
Additionally, if we can make a meaningful impact on a song release with this kind of action, I’d love if we were able to help other musicians and songwriters of Mastodon with their song launches in the future. Perhaps we can come up with a hashtag for this kind of mission? Please leave your thoughts, suggestions, and expert knowledge in the comments.
I’ll pin this toot, and share the insights, stats, and relevant results for this experiment in the comments as they become available.
Thank you for your help in my attempt at breaking the interwebs. Hopefully we can give some algorithms something to think about!
Boosts are very much welcome and appreciated! I adore those favourites and likes too!
I have a playlist on Soundcloud of my own original rock music and I’d love for you to check it out, preferably on some good speakers, up loud. I’m really proud of this, and would love to hear what you think.
If you have “I like music” in your profile, you must listen. It’s the law!! 🫶
So I wrote Stupid in my late teens and would play it on occasion in company. The usual first response is "You don't actually think you're stupid, do you?"
I didn't really know how to respond to that. The song is about myself, yes, but I don't think I'm stupid... most of the time. Because, sometimes I was made to feel stupid, because I'd forget stuff, or be absent minded. In fact, all the verses are about how others sometimes made me feel. I didn't know it at the time - it was decades later that I made the connection - that I was writing about ADHD.... I assume... I've never gone and got diagnosed. Anyway, shut up, I'm not stupid. Here's my song I just re-recorded. If this was a new song, I'd wait till it was released before tooting it, but an old, terrible version has been up on Soundcloud for over two years. It's gone now, and this is the new updated version. I'll have to pick a date in February to release it to all the streamy places.
Edit: Date picked. Stupid will go live on all the other streamy places on the 16th February, 2024.
Robots have taken over.
The Sun’s gone supernova.
I’ve run out of cola.
I’m driving in my rover.
Yeah.
I pull into a rest stop.
I ask the guy for soda pop
They glurged at me and pointed up.
To the distant mountain top.
Yeah. Yeah.
I buy a Dizzy 8-0 Ray.
Load my rover in the bay.
In the twinkle of the day.
We’re looking A-O-K.
Yeah. Oh yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
I fly up through the mist.
The engines growl and hiss.
To my lips I hold my fist.
For luck I blow a kiss.
The clouds begin to peel.
The scene is revealed.
My rover makes a squeal.
It’s excited for a meal.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
I switch to landing sequence.
It parks in perfect silence.
Rover climbed up the side fence.
While I checked my finance.
Yeah.
I slide through to the shop.
Buy some pink space soda pop.
Pay my creds to the cashier bot.
Tip my can and drink the lot.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Oh yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Robots have taken over.
The Sun’s gone supernova.
I’ve run out of cola.
I’m driving in my rover.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.
Great plan #Dgar. Release your new track on the same day that Taylor Swift drops her new album. Brilliant. Oh, and The Wiggles dropped an album too? Great. That’s just great.
#Dgar Now telling Greek mythology stories and listening to #DgarMusic
Daedalus, according to Greek Mythology is the founder of carpentry, father of Icarus, and a renowned craftsman and inventor, among other things.
After attempting to murder his nephew in a bout of jealousy by trying to throw him down from The Acropolis, he fled Athens and found refuge in Crete.
The King of Crete, King Minos, welcomed him, hoping to employ his extraordinary craftsman skills.
In other news, Poseidon, god of the sea, was keen for some good, old fashioned animal sacrifice. He gifted a bull to King Minos to sacrifice, but the King thought he’d keep this awesome specimen, and instead sacrificed a less impressive bull from his own stock. Poseidon lost his shit, as Greek gods often did, and put a curse on the Kings wife, Pasiphaë, that would cause her to lust for the Bull he had gifted her husband.
So Daedalus turns up and the queen asks him to build a cow suit.
And he does.
So she does.
And then Pasiphaë gives birth to the Minotaur, half man, half bull.
King Minos loses his shit this time, as the Kings of Ancient Greece often did, and ordered Daedalus to build the Labyrinth to imprison the Minotaur. Then, Daedalus, and his son Icarus were themselves imprisoned in a tower, as they would not be allowed to leave with knowledge of the queens escapades and the Labyrinth.
It was here, in the prison tower, that Daedalus would build the wings for Icarus and himself, and conceived plans to escape the tower and fly away from Crete, across the sea, to freedom.
Icarus looked over his wings, as his father, Daedalus, tightened the leather straps that held them on.
They had been planning this moment for months. They’ve been collecting the feathers, treating their candle wax, building the wings and keeping them concealed from the guards. Daedalus, now double-checking the straps of his own wings, indicated to Icarus to ascend the final flight of stairs to the tower roof, and followed behind him, carefully making sure their wings don’t catch on anything.
The sun was high. Icarus squinted as they came onto the roof. The ocean sparkled as the breeze rippled the water. Icarus could hear the waves faintly beneath the sounds of the guards enjoying their lunch below. They’ll be distracted, unlikely to look up from their food.
Daedalus turns his son to face him. Suddenly a guitar riff is playing. Icarus is concerned that the guards have discovered their scheme. Fear fills his eyes. Daedalus holds him firm, nodding slightly to the beat of the riff.
His father breaks into song, and Icarus realises he’s in a musical.
Listen to this song, a song about the advice Daedalus gives his son, Icarus, before continuing with the thread.
I was listening to my own music last night, which is not unusual, I listen to my own music quite a bit. I like it. But as I listened to it last night, I began to view it for the first time as a body of work. I’m not sure what it was before that moment, but as I played through the almost-hour long collection of my original songs, I was struck with the feeling that this is… a thing, a representation of something, I’m not sure what. I’m usually good with words, but I’m finding it difficult to describe the shift I felt. I know I must continue to add to this body of work, and that the work must stay true to itself. Music for the sake of music, and tunes that I personally enjoy listening to over and over again. I’m not sure if it was because I’d just binged on Ween, or maybe had too much sugar, but it was like an epiphany, and The Dgar Project has taken a new seat in my own consciousness. I am a songwriter, and this year, I’m writing songs.
Here’s the link if you’d like to open up the #Dgar for yourself and see what’s inside.
Okay. I am more aware and have learned much.
Firstly, I do have the most amazing followers. Y’all continue to show why this community is different to any other social network.
As I’ve said before, my account is not one dimensional, so I end up being followed for different reasons. Recycled dad jokes, music - mine, other indie artists on Mastodon, or whatever I’m randomly listening to, silly memes, absurd recipes, Oxford commas, pics of Tora, Greek mythology… anyway, I’m a person, not a brand, and Dgar is my music project, not a business. I’ll endeavour to make better use of hashtags to separate some of my different “series”, in particular the music posts. So “For Your Information” I’ll try to remember to use the following hashtags.
If you’re looking for a #FridayNight#playlist with a wide variety of #music from radio smash hits to obscure psychedelia, weird and unique music from a heap of #MusiciansOfMastodon, and of course my own #DgarMusic for good measure, try putting on the #DgarRadio playlist on shuffle and turn it up! 🎵 🔊
Airlock is a sci-fi themed song set in the Space Pop universe. It’s the first song I released this year, and the first song I had released after having a break for two years or so.
Anyway, I don’t think you’ve heard it yet. Wanna give it a listen?
The near future will see permanent bases and resource extraction on The Moon. The current Artemis mission is moving towards this goal as I write this post. Plans to set up operations at the poles are being laid or underway in more than a couple of Nations already. Kids in school today may be offered jobs on The Moon from private companies.
I imagine that these jobs would be quite elite. One day the trip may be safe enough for tourists with Lunar hotels and such, but I think the early days will be much harder. Workers will have to be qualified astronauts and the expense of sending a workforce to The Moon will require spending a long time there, being too expensive to send you home every weekend. Here on Earth, Fly-in, Fly-out workers can work long shifts with arrangements like 14 day on, 14 off. As a FIFO worker on The Moon, you will likely spend much longer.
The job will be well paid, and working on a new frontier will be exciting, but would quickly lose its shine.
The Sun would go up and two weeks later it would set, and home - Earth - would just hang there, through a two week long days and two week long nights, spinning in place.
All this inspired my song “It’s Always Monday On The Moon”, named because Monday literally means Day of the Moon.
[Verse]
I took my baby
To the esplanade
We grabbed a bite to eat
And found a place to park
They said to me
I like your car
Was then I knew
We’re gonna go far
We headed to the beach
And we chased the tide
We watched the sea
And the sun collide
We put some dolphin stickers
On the sides
Of our little black hatchback
And go for ride.
[Pre-chorus]
It looks so good
Looks so right
Driving along
Taking in the sights
[Chorus]
In my little black hatchback
Driving from town to town
Taking all the back tracks
In the coolest little car around
[Verse]
We drove out back
Looking for some fun
It was like we were sailing
On the sun
Look out world
Here we come
In a little black hatchback
That wants to run
We went on a search
For something new
We climbed the mountains
Just to see the view
You vowed to me
And I vowed to you
To connect our souls
And forever be true
[Pre-chorus]
It feels so good
It feels so right
Driving along
Afternoon delight
[Chorus]
In my little black hatchback
Driving from town to town
Taking all the back tracks
In the coolest little car around
[Solo]
[Pre-chorus]
It’s so good
It’s so right
Driving along
Into the night
[Chorus]
In my little black hatchback
Driving from town to town
Taking all the back tracks
In the coolest little car around
My little black hatchback
Driving from town to town
Taking all the back tracks
In the coolest little car around
Written, composed, performed, mixed, and produced by Jon O'Hare.
Every now and then someone will toot a comment comparing #Dgar with a famous artist or band, and those comparisons are drawn across a wide spectrum of different genres. It’s always nice to be likened to someone who has made a name for themselves in music. I usually read such a comment, quietly beam to myself for the compliment, toot a “thank you” to let them know I appreciate the sentiment, and then continue on in a much better mood. It’s always nice to hear from people who have listened to my songs, to know what they think about the music, or how they interpret lyrics, or just their favourite bit. It’s humbling, because I didn’t make them for anyone but myself, just playing with music. Making the songs that I want to hear. Well, there’s a couple I made for other people, but they were specific people, not like, everyone. And the rest I wrote for my own amusement. So it’s really cool that so many people, like you, like #DgarMusic. And while I do draw inspiration from some of the great musicians that I have been compared to…(Dgar continues to ramble incoherently for a further half an hour. You pick out bits here and there but conclude that they’re basically just repeating themselves. You feign interest and nod as their eyes glass over and they stare into the middle space.
Suddenly you jolt awake. Morning light streams into the room through the window where the curtains were abruptly drawn, causing your eyes to hurt. You look away, raising your hand. You become aware of a blanket around your shoulders as you begin to focus. Dgar is holding a warm beverage out towards you. You take a breath through your nose.)
Morning, sleepy head!
(You take a sip. Mmm. Exactly what you need)
Hey! Can you believe someone compared me to Ween? People compare me to people all the time. It doesn’t bother me. I thank em. I move on. But for some reason, I can’t stop thinking about Ween! Y’know what I know about Ween? Nothing!! Abso-fucking-lutely nothing. There was a song about Pushin Daisies Up that was huge in Australia in the 90’s. That’s it!! I can’t name another single Ween song!!
(The blanket and warm beverage is good right now, Dgar seems to be a little bit crazy)
You wanna know what I’ve been doing? I’ve been listening to Ween! I go and find their first album and I play it! I PLAY IT!!!! GodWeenSatan: The Oneness, song one “You F****d Up”. Yes! Song two “Tick”. I stop the album there so I can pick my jaw off the floor. Where the fuck have Gene and Dean Ween been all my life? Right. Listen I’m one album in. I’m gonna binge this shit. You gotta go.
(Dgar takes the empty, still warm mug from your fingers, crouches in front of you, momentarily making eye contact, smiles, and snaps their fingers)
When it becomes Friday, this month’s song will be available on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Tidal, and all the other streamy places. It’s based on a true story, and is still performing really well on Soundcloud where it’s been available for a couple of weeks now.
So if it’s Friday the 29th, go and check out my new song wherever you prefer to stream music. It’s pretty catchy!
✌️😊🤘
Here in Australia, as you probably know, it’s the future. So it’s Weed Day, 20th April, 4/20 already here. :420: :420leaf:
#Dgar has released a new track for those who celebrate, called Gettin Stoned, a collaboration with Andre Louis (@Onj).
Last time I announced a release at midnight like this, there were issues with people not being able to play the song until the release date reached their time zone, which was annoying. This time, I hacked the system and released it a day early, so I feel comfortable that everyone should be able to play it immediately.
I present to you the latest in #DgarMusic!