Mussaur

HERE WE GO

On (almost) all streaming platforms: HELLO.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/4HDShqQMh5L57wJ8QnjRVy?si=hT05DmMKSl-41Rp2PIt_FQ

Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/iY6TYGApjpXvpKNK6

𝗖𝗼𝘀𝗺𝗶𝗰
An old song revived and turned upside down. One thing didn’t change: the lyrics. I wrote them more than 30 years ago. They turned out to be powerful words that did not fade as the years passed. On the contrary, they are perhaps even more true to me today than they were then. The song is a kaleidoscope of sounds, instruments and voices. Turn it and you'll hear new things every time. It's just life itself.

Ｐｏｅｔｒｙ Ｏｆ Ｍａｄｎｅｓｓ
Perhaps the most pandemic-influenced song. The samples are from my birth month, July 1968, and taken from a three-hour recording of a conference on the relationship between psychedelics and psychiatric disorders. Or something. President Johnson also has a say. You hear a common basic line-up of drums/bass/guitar/organ. Sometimes you shouldn't make things more difficult than necessary.

🄷🄷🄷
Old tech meets new tech. You hear the voice of Voder, the first ever vocoder, on a 1939 recording. The thing was manually operated by ladies only. According to the recording they were the best at it. Other sounds are more of this time. I like Voder more than the real dude.

ʙᴏᴏᴋ ᴄᴏᴠᴇʀ
The most personal song on the album. Don't be fooled by the happy sounds. Or do you also judge a book by its cover?

🅸🅽 🅹🅾🆄🆆 🅷🅾🅾🅵🅳
No explanation from my side. It’s whatever you think it is. For the non-Dutch speaking listeners: I'm in your house. I'm in your head. I'm not leaving.

Total playing time: 13:29. As I've promised, succinctly. I'm anxious to hear what you think of these songs!

xx
mussaur

ABOUT MY MUSIC

I'm an eighties guy. Whatever I do, the music from that decade is in my bones and somehow the sound of that era always sneaks into my compositions.

Five tracks are coming up. Bass is always present and lays the floor of the songs. The drums are 'old school' with more or less classic kits. Together they form the imperturbable rhythm tandem, the heartbeat of the tracks. Further: acoustic and electric guitars (and sometimes not), synths and organs, arpeggiators, sometimes my own vocals, sometimes samples. A melting pot.

And I hate long hassles. Unless you are an extremely gifted storyteller with a lot to tell, three minutes will be enough to tell the story of the song. Done is done, I don't want to tire listeners by procrastinating. My songs therefore tend to be short but/and hopefully powerful.

xx
mussaur

NEXT: LET US HEAR THOSE DAMNED SONGS MAN!

WHAT ABOUT THAT NAME

Mussaur. Nice to meet you.

I borrowed my name from the Mussaurus patagonicus, a dinosaur species. The first find was one of about 15 centimeters. The paleontologists thought they had discovered a small species: Mussaurus is derived from the Latin word for mouse. It turned out to be a young specimen. An adult Mussaurus was about three meters long. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

They lived about two hundred million years ago. They were sweet creatures, grass eaters with an apple now and then. Herbivores, vegetarians if you will. And more important, as far as we know the Mussaurus was the first dinosaur species to live in groups.

Compared to the young musical dogs of today, I am a relic of the past. A humble dinosaur. But maybe there will be a story after it, who knows. Although most of my music is created in the solitude of my home studio, I consider myself a 'people person'. I strongly believe that every person thrives by virtue of his or her social connections. Take that away and there's little left.

Coming up next: a few words about the music.

Image: Eva K. (GFDL 1.2 or FAL), via Wikimedia Commons

Coming up!

This old dog is learning some new tricks and reinventing the pleasure of making music. I’m not aiming for a golden cage or anything else stupid. It’s fun baby, like playing with a bone.

I’ve been a DIY-kid all my life. Tech now gives me almost infinite possibilities to shape the music that vibrates in my head, heart and soul. The lockdown of last winter gave me the key to unlock this Pandora’s box. At least that's something to be thankful for, amid the pandemic woes.

I'm going to throw five songs into the world. Now I know why modern artists are speaking of ‘dropping a new track’. Sharing these five tracks, from a pile of never-ever-really-ready songs is somewhat like dropping my pants in public. It’s scary as hell. So forgive me for hiding behind an alias. It's my loincloth, an indulgence for my fear of never being good enough. And hey, you know who I am. Let me just fool myself ;-).

I hope you will have the patience and peace of mind to listen to them once they go live. Stay with me and let me know what you think of them.

xx
mussaur

Mussaur updated their website address.