Spark

As it usually happens, when inspiration strikes it comes out of the blue so to speak ... today, after years of break from crafting Scumfusion material, I suddenly felt that I need to lay down basic grind beats and record the simple riff idea down. Even before doing it, I knew it's Scumfusion material - and it certainly is. About 50 seconds long blaster, very rough demo only.

And as it so often also goes, I can't say at this stage what happens next and / or with what kind of timeline. I do have strong feeling that some brutal tunes might be forming, but we'll see. Anyway, it felt refreshing to return to SF after a long break. :) And this time (it's war) there will be no chirping chiptunes or stuff like that mixed in. It will be back to basics with scifi soundscapes possibly thrown in - but no chiptunes or any inventions like that. Even that I like 2017 release musically a lot, still, but it was one of a kind experiment which gave birth to Chipfusion.

I'll write more if / when grinding continues.

Music video

Crafted a lego music video for 'Spheres of Draitoz'. Check it out here or watch it below.

Like evidence for previous analysis

I recently completed yet another (third release already) for Chipfusion, which - if you managed to read that previous lengthy analysis post - funnily works like an evidence about what I thought when I analysed Scumfusion's 'Latemogelian infiltration' release. That how I liked the idea of combining crazy chiptunes and extreme grindcore stuff. But while I liked the idea, it was beyond my producer skills to produce that combination with enjoyable overall sound. Yeah.

Well, with Chipfusion I don't aim for any grindcore style, but it's about relaxed, computer gamish (1980s) music styled, fusing some influences from other genres with the chips. Sure some influences (some might argue a lot, not just some) come from metal music and yes, it's not hard to take note. But Chipfusion is not supposed to be "brutal" or "noisy", really, anyway.

The third release (came out December 2019) has 20 tracks having all kinds of influences, but as I work with intuitive flow - there are some moments that border on being rather brutal for chiptune music. Someone can almost sense a hint of Scumfusion in there. Hah! And I didn't even realise this until I had the album finalised, I just felt that some tunes needed to be "short and quickie" things. Then I realised how they have sort of Scum vibe going in them - and this is where comes the evidence part, too:

Chipfusion is "chiptune music first, and primarily, anything else only after that, mixed in" ... and it works so much better with this Chipfusion's production, if compared to Scumfusion's 'Latemogelian infiltration' experimental release. You might not be interested in chiptune music, if so - then just skip the rest. But if you want to hear what I mean, real evidence - it works so much better, this combination of "some metal influence into chiptunes" than the other way around. Check out this song to experience what I mean:

When it comes to Scumfusion, I haven't yet worked any new material. But there are certain elements going on in my life, or have been recently that ... well, like I recently stated to some friend; I could craft extremely angry and explosive grindcore stuff if things go like this. Don't know when it happens, but I'm sure it will happen at some point. Recently Chipfusion's "lighthearted" funny music has been a good outlet for me. 

Analysis (but NO paralysis)

Now that some time has passed since 'Latemogelian infiltration' was released (2 years ago already, wow!) it's time for some self analysis and observations from creator's point of view.

Back when I got that idea for combining scumgrind and chiptune music, I really liked the idea and I had a massive inner fire for crafting the material, too. I think musically speaking that is very audible in that album, there are some of the best Scumfusion songs I've ever composed if you ask me. For example check out (if you haven't yet!) "Spheres of Draitoz", "Warbegunugebraw" or "Unintelligent by design". Overall as I look and listen this album, I'm really happy about it, the way it came out musically speaking. But ... what?

While the mixture of chiptunes and grindcore made an extraordinary package, it also brought some massive problems to production. This is instantly evident as listening to the album. And that's also the point which makes this album a bittersweet one. On the other hand I was (and am) extremely happy about how I made it the kind of extreme grind album it is, and sort of returned to roots of whole Scumfusion, into time and era where I had no limits whatsoever for extremity / noise.

I'll be the first one to admit the fact that I've never been a producer kind of guy, and that is also explanation to some extent for how this album sounds. But the main reason is combining two separate music elements, having chiptunes as one track, then mixing guitars, bass, drums and vocals on top of that ... combine that with me "not being the producer type" and this album is the result. Unfortunately it sounds like a garage demo. Really! :) Musically I love lots of music on it, production ... well, it's embarrassing one.

Analysis does not stop here. Some trivia / background follows next.

If you followed this blog back in 2016/17 when I was creating the 'Latemogelian infiltration' you might recall about how I first stated that I started some new project, extreme stuff, but "I'm not yet sure if it's Scumfusion" (or something like that). It was about combining chiptunes and grind, yes, and wondering if that is something I want to release under Scumfusion's name. In the end it was easy decision as the material was clearly grindcore and I have Scumfusion - no need for two grind projects for one man, ha! But before I made that decision, before it was easy one to be made, I even designed a logo for "new project" if it would not had been Scumfusion. It would had been Latemogel then (read that from end to beginning and you'll get "Legometal"). That name ended up into being part of Scumfusion's album title as we know. This is how the logo I drew, looked:

Well, would it had made it any different, had it been Latemogel instead of Scumfusion? Nope, I don't think so, really. It was meant to be Scumfusion album, even that the production turned out horrible in the end. At least no one can say it's "too clean sounding" for grindcore, ha ha!

Something else, then, after these thoughts? Yes.

It's something that has slowly come to me, even that it feels like it's dead evident. Whenever I'll be returning to Scumfusion, it will not be about combining chiptunes and grindcore anymore. The production problem being the main reason. So, ... it's back to basics and even with my "unproducing skills" I'm sure it will be much more listenable (but still certainly not too polished, I can promise that, grind needs to be dirty and raw to some extent).

This decision of dropping chiptunes away comes from the fact that I continued Chipfusion already in 2018 by making album called 'Toinen' and I'm extremely satisfied with that release. I mixed some metal elements (guitars) into chiptunes, and the beats vary from techno to extreme metal, easy to produce and this also means that yeah, Chipfusion is good outlet for chiptune creativity. No need to insert that into Scumfusion anymore, but let Scumfusion be grindcore which it is. Also makes producing much easier, yeah.

They have been released ...

... and the official release date is 13th March 2017.

First here are the full album streams at youtube for both the main product (Scumfusion) and the so-called sideproduct (Chipfusion) :

You can find the Scumfusion album also from CDbaby and from Bandcamp and it's coming soon to places like Spotify etc. You can stream it also from Mikseri. The same goes for Chipfusion's release, as it's already available at CDbaby and likewise at Bandcamp and it's coming to Spotify etc, too. And it's available for streaming at Mikseri.

Enjoy! I sure enjoyed creating these releases, especially the Scumfusion one. I think it contains some of the best blasters by Scumfusion so far. Which makes me very happy indeed. :)

I'll be putting the lyrics here into this blog later for Scumfusion release. Bandcamp's album package contains massive graphical lyrics set in PDF format as bonus item.

Tracklists & cover artworks

I've spent pretty much all this weekend finalizing the details and some media I've decided to craft - like full album video with visualised lyrics. Actually I just got the massive video edited and it's being rendered. Might be able to get it to youtube still tonight. I didn't have time to put this information here yesterday, but now is the time.

Here's the tracklist and song lengths for the 'Latemogelian infiltration' :

01. Intragalactic   3:28
02. Blackformation   1:50
03. Discovery of Lucid Pearl   2:12
04. Fasten your starbelts   0:37
05. Star blast festival   1:09
06. Mutated star rats   0:59
07. Exoriant radiation   1:57
08. Neogalacticohesion   0:51
09. Unintelligent by design   1:37
10. Pulse from galactic filament 333   0:47
11. Spheres of Draitoz   1:07
12. Space raynergy system   1:39
13. Dimensional constant   0:45
14. Red nil sworn first   1:01
15. Artificial duality   0:34
16. Warbegunugebraw   1:09
17. Red nils worn last   0:55
18. Planetary security gates   1:42
19. Xilixirious elements   1:13
20. Green slime from Zaidazopth   0:59
21. Drones   0:33
22. Extragalactic   3:26

As you can see by just looking at those titles, it's definitely scifi. No surprise there!

Well, here comes the coverart pics, front and back covers (click them to see them larger).

Latemogelian infiltration - front cover

Latemogelian infiltration - back cover

And here's the tracklist & song lengths for Chipfusion release 'Yksi' :

01. Chipgalactic   3:15
02. Chipformation   1:49
03. Discovery of the Chip   2:03
04. Fasten your chipbelts   0:36
05. Chip blast festival   1:08
06. Mutated star chips   0:59
07. Exoriant chip   1:45
08. Neogalactichip   0:51
09. Chipped by design  1:33
10. Pulse from galactic filament chip   0:41
11. Chips of Draitoz   1:06
12. Space raynergy chip   1:50
13. Dimensional chip   0:44
14. Red chip sworn first   1:02
15. Artificial chip   0:50
16. Chipbegunugebpihc   1:08
17. Red chip worn last   0:55
18. Planetary chip gates   1:36
19. Chip elements   1:12
20. Green chip from Zaidazopth   0:58
21. Chips  0:31
22. Galactichip   2:37

Rather familiar looking song titles, right? Yeah. :) The chiptunes are pretty much 100 % unaltered if compared to how they are mixed into Scumfusion album. Just one real exception; song number 15 has slightly longer midsection than how it goes in Scumfusion song (with the very same number, too). Other than that, it's the same chippers with minimalistic techno beats crafted by yours truly.

I didn't create back cover artwork for Chipfusion, just the front album cover, which also happens to be strongly connected with Scumfusion's album cover. It makes sense in a twisted way. Here you go (click to see it larger).

Yksi - front cover

Soon to be released (parts one and two)

After several days of listening and checking how the 2nd master version feels, I decided that it's the final master version. Nothing to be fixed. I've already started submitting the album to CDbaby first, and I'll progress with few other streaming sites during the weekend. Going to make full album video for youtube, containing visual lyrics, etc.

Not just the SF album release, but I'm simultaneously releasing also chiptune album under the name of Chipfusion. It contains the chiptunes used in Scumfusion's new album, with minimalistic techno beats replacing all the grind / metal elements. It's a funny package and makes an interesting listen and kind of comparison to the Scumfusion album. How different can an album sound. Very different indeed.

I'll post album coverart(s) and tracklist later into this blog. Possible also for Chipfusion since I won't be making any separate blog etc for that release. Since this release is connected directly to Scumfusion, its' details are going to be here as well.