the brief
the brief
I have been blessed with brilliant 'collaborators' in these songs. Without them there would be very few karosongs.
To the start of 2023, there have been eight artists become my unwitting partners. The only artist whose music I knew before I started channeling songs with their work was Jesse Cook. The work of the other five was placed in my path.
Why these eight artists? I don't know. Why the particular async tracks I have worked with? I can't say, except I think there's a match between the work of these musicians and the way that karosongs are sung.
The opening credits of The rain must fall 3.1 (which shares it's title with Yanni's async track) calls the combined song a "lyric-musical pas de deux."
I thought it was a nice line at the time it came, but I've since come to understand that — unlike most vocals that take over the melodic lead from the instruments — karosong vocals track the lead instrument in the async track as though it's doing a duet with that instrument.
Not an easy task by any means, especially for an idiot musant who has to be trained into every vocal nuance. And it means there has to be 'room' in the lead instrument for a duet to fit in, which is not true for many instrumental songs, even many songs by my collaborators.
It's the tracks that have room in the lead instrument that can become karosongs, but I don't know how I first recognize an async track as a potential karosong.
But I do. I just somehow know, I am drawn to tracks that I can work with. It's not a conscious process. At all.
RH Coxon
Robert Haig Coxon
Robert Haig Coxon was my very first asynchronous collaborator even though his album The Silent Path was not the sort of music I normally listened to. It was too 'new age' for me, too ethereal, too long.
But it was put in my path (meaning left in the CD player for me to happen upon) by my then wife who was a yoga teacher and used music like The Silent Path in her classes. (See the songsheet for the story.)
Two karosongs came out of that encounter, making a trifecta of firsts.
One song was the first 2.0 version of a 1.0 karosong, which happened to be Transformation, the very first karosong. The 2.0 version married the original lyrics with excerpts from The Silent Path, including the full length of Coxon's track Towards the Light.
The second song was Awakening, the first 3.0 type asynchronous collaboration, in this case with Towards the Light.
The tricky part to Awakening was that it overlaid the last three parts of Transformation like a call and response.
Awakening's 'narrator' is a multiplicity, a "we", so it would ideally be sung by several voices or a choir, both to convey that multiplicity and to help separate it aurally from the Transformation vocal.
Transformation 2.0 with music from The Silent Path
The first 'release' of Transformation 2.0. It is entirely spokesong. arc01 / circa 2012. [8]
Awakening 3.0 with Towards the Light by Robert Haig-Coxon
arc01 / the first 'release' version, circa 2011, shared with a small circle of friends, primarily from the meditation. I was multi-tracking the vocals at the time, and you can tell the song was not fully mastered yet because the three vocal tracks sometimes wander in and out of sync. [8]
Transformation 2.0 with Awakening 3.0
Even though these two songs were literally channeled and recorded separately, their call and response works as though they were written together. Awakening starts about 05:15. arc01 / from December 2010. [8]
Yanni
Yanni
I have elsewhere described karosongs and Yanni as 'body and soul'. I was specifically writing about the middle period of the second phase when I had began to recognize how exquisitely the 1.0 lyrics fit into their asynch tracks. That was the period when I began to call these works asynchonous collaborations.
Writing this at the beginning of 2022, after 16 asynchronous collaborations with Yanni's work, I would still describe the relationship the exact same way but with deeper appreciation.
More than any other collaborator, it was Yanni's work that opened me to the songs, the music, the singing lessons. He became my most important musical influence (at least to the degree that an idiot musant can be influenced).
Ever. Even more than The Beatles!
The only thing I 'knew' about Yanni before his Highland intersected with my It was a gift was that his music was "you know . . . nudge nudge wink wink . . . new age!" Boring in other words.
It was a mistaken impression. Yanni is a musical phenomena and his music simply transcends labels. Check it out if you're not familiar with it.
2.x collaborations
Seven of the eight 2.0 reversions were made with async tracks by Yanni. They follow in the order they came, which was not the same order as the songs came in the first phase.
It was a gift 2.3 with Highland by Yanni
A song of love and great joy at first meeting a karma partner, becoming a song of quiet satisfaction looking back across the years in its second version. arc03 / recorded late July 2021. [7+]
Bluebirds 2.0 featuring With an Orchid by Yanni
A 'love you but goodbye' to gordon's first wife Leanne, the bookend to Proposal and the first in the karosongs 'karma track'. arc04 / recorded in Vancouver mid February 2023. [8-]
Away is no longer there 2.3 with November Sky by Yanni
The second eco/poli-flavour karosongs, starting the progression towards later much stronger songs. arc04 / recording from late October 2021. [7+]
Finding the voice 2.3 and The Flame Within by Yanni
The first muso-flavour song, a celebration of the songs starting in gordon's life and their impact on his psyche. arc02 / edited from tracks recorded in October/November 2021. [7]
Just could never feel 2.3 with In Your Eyes by Yanni
The second muso-flavour karosong, and an exploration of the relationship between gordon and the karo energies. arc06 / recorded early November 2021. [7+]
The price 2.0 with Midnight Hymn by Yanni
A tale from the 1980s "men's movement" about coming to see the straitjacket of the male gender role in western cultures. arc01 / recorded circa 2015. [8]
Proposal 2.0 with Nostalgia (live) by Yanni
A folkish, verging on country and western song of regret, hope and deep emotional realization around the channel's first marriage. arc01 / mixed March 2021 from tracks recorded circa 2016. [5]
3.x collaborations
The 3.0 period opened up the list of collaborators but Yanni remained front and center, with another five straight asynchronous collaborations before any new artist appeared in my playlist.
For the record 2.3 with One Man's Dream by Yanni
The “lazurus” song — a sorrowful yet hopeful contemplation on friendship and the struggle for personal growth across many years. arc07 / recorded in Vancouver end December 2022. [8]
Then i have to ask 3.1 with If I Could Tell You by Yanni
A philosophical discussion on the nature and meaning of — wait for it — meaning. arc01 / edited recording from October-November 2021. [7]
The rain must fall 3.1 with The Rain Must Fall by Yanni
A song on the lessons learned, absorbed and released in the end of a 24-year marriage. arc04 / recorded mid October 2021 during the last part of the whole/full karo vox emerging. [7]
For my new lover 3.1 with A Walk in the Rain by Yanni
A hopeful, joyful reaching out to the future, channeled in the middle of the past ending. arc04 / recorded mid October 2021. [7+]
Got to get back 3.1 with To the One Who Knows by Yanni
A moody blues-ish meditation on the roots of the planetary, political and societal crises in neoliberal capitalism. arc04 / recorded mid November 2021. [7]
In the morning light 3.1 — an eponymous collaboration with Yanni
A song on the joy of sharing life with a partner, and the first karosong to share its title with its async track. arc05 / recorded early January 2023. [8]
Yanni's dominance on my playlist fell back to just one song in the 3.2 set, none in the 3.3, and two in the 4.1. Just the same, my connection to his music remained as strong. Working with it again was like meeting up with an old friend.
Brick walls 3.2 with Nine by Yanni
One of the most-wacked out and most challenging to sing karosongs, an exploration in multiple-voices of the “karo as cosmic rakes make a bet” theory. arc03 / recorded early July 2021. [8]
To take to hold 4.1 — an eponymous collaboration with Yanni
Practical marriage vows for a post-faith world, a duet suitable for any gender configuration. arc02 / recorded mid July 2022, during the period gordon was re-establishing his singing voice after nearly losing it to his cardiac condition. [7+]
Safe in the hands of bruce 4.1 with Playing by Heart by Yanni
A silly but serious ditty on the nature of power and the stories we tell. arc02 / recorded late March 2023. [7+]
Jesse
Jesse Cook
Jesse Cook was an artist I had known for years before I started to channel asynchronous collaborations with his work. My then wife Ellen and I had seen him in concert numerous times, and his music had expanded my musical boundaries and introduced me to a range of guitar styles.
Given my affinity for his music, I had sometimes wondered if Jesse would become an unwitting collaborator. But I was well into the third phase before a song of Jesse's suddenly smacked me up the head with a stern 'channel me' message.
So I did. Turned out it was a song I may have channeled 'live' as I watched him perform (though I had mostly forgotten the experience). It was also the first funi-flavoured song since the first phase
It was the start of a beautiful (even if one-sided) relationship, particularly on the funny/wierd side of the karosongs spectrum. To the beginning of 2022, I have channeled ten asynchronous collaborations with Jesse's work, and there are at least another three currently channeling in the 3.4 set.
Nothing says 3.1 with Ocean Blue by Jesse Cook
Answering the eternal question, if naked ladies sang about a bear that shat in the woods, would it be much ado about nothing? (a: of course). arc03 / recorded mid November 2021. [7+]
I remember it all 3.1 with Fields of Blur by Jesse Cook
The first pure rom-flavour karosong, first channeled while watching Jesse perform at an outdoor concert. arc05 / recorded late August 2021. [8-]
Those first two songs were a good start, but nothing compared to the number (5) and variety of songs with Jesse in the 3.2 set. Two of those were on the funny/wierd spectrum.
Damn straight I'm a liar 3.2 with Hembra by Jesse Cook and Juan Medrano
A rollicking anthem for the professional lawyers liars who have come to dominate public and economic life. arc04 / single take recording from late October 2021. [7+]
Shake'n bake 3.2 with Shake by Jesse Cook
When just plain gossip ain’t enough, try a wee bit of shake’n bake. arc03 / recorded early October 2021. [7+]
As darkness falls 3.2 with Once by Jesse Cook
A haunting exploration of the loss of the 'person' in dementia and the moral quandary/duty that poses for their partners. Arc10 / recorded early November 2021. [8]
Never-ending sunset 3.2 with Into the Dark by Jesse Cook
On karma, karma partners and the deep nature of the universe and our role in it. Part of the karosongs "karma track". arc06 / single take recording from mid November 2021. [7]
Ah humanity 3.2 with Azul by Jesse Cook
A letter from mother earth to humanity. Not a good letter. You might say maw’s a tad ticked with us. arc06 / recorded early January 2023, Vancouver. [8-]
The 3.3 set was just six songs, the smallest set so far, and Jesse provided the async tracks for three of them.
Turtle McTurdle 3.3 with To the Horizon by Jesse Cook
Taking it to the streets in the Black Lives Matter era, an anthemic protest against hypocritical rightwing politicians undermining democracy, and a vow to change the future. arc02 / not-quite mastered version recorded mid November 2021. [7]
Since you went away 3.3 with Cancion Triste by Jesse Cook
The third song in the Lily genre, a defiant 'screw you and your wandering ways'. arc03 / recorded mid November 2021. [8]
We were brothers 3.3 with Virtue by Jesse Cook
A lament and celebration of the bonds between brothers. arc03 / from the Vancouver sessions, late March 2023, the period the whole/full/on vox was consolidating.[8-]
By the 4.1 set, the songs that came with Jesse's work had mostly shifted to the getting really wierd side of the spectrum.
& the chase was on 4.1 with Beneath your skin by Jesse Cook
An eclectic and darkly comic song about old Harley jokes and chasing motorcycle thieves across the south “where the mountains push at the sky”. arc0x / recorded xxx xxx 202x. [X]
Da loup de loup 4.1 with Double Dutch by Jesse Cook
Raw silliness distilled into a song about the world of competitive ballroom dance. arc01 / not quite mastered version, recorded late March 2023. [7]
Have you ever. . . 4.1 featuring Number 5 by Jesse Cook
A not for the faint of heart exploration of the things that happen in the space between the worlds, going into and out of sleep. arc03 / first mastered — late March 2023. [8-]
Forever-more 4.1 with To Your Shore by Jesse Cook
The grandfather song, a meditation on love, life and continuity. arc01 / recorded late March 2023, Vancouver. [7]
Kitaro
Kitaro
Towards the end of the second phase, I began to browse music sites on the web for instrumental artists whose work had the potential to provide asynchronous tracks. My browsing took me through a wide range of styles. Latin. World. Guitar. Orchestral. Some Jazz.
I was commuting by train and subway at the time, about an hour each way. So I put mixes of various downloaded music on my phone, put it on random, then listened to it in the background of my afternoon commute. If a song caught my attention, I would add it to list of 'maybes' on my phone to review again.
I did a lot of browsing and that's how I came across Kitaro. There were two or three songs of his tingled my spidey song sense. I was particularly attracted to his song Silk Road and felt a karosong there.
There was, but it was 4-5 years before it started to channel, and then it took two years to come. Well, more accurately, it took a year for me to figure out the async track, then another year for the lyrics and delivery to channel.
Along the old Silk Road 3.1 with Silk Road by kitaro
One of the most literary karosongs, a bitter condemnation of our current environmental folly from its future survivors. arc03 / recorded mid August 2019. [7]
The difficulty I had figuring out Kitaro's music led to my first understanding of how I channel — by locking into the lead instrument, rather than the beat or rhythm. I found the changing, sweeping instrumentation in Silk Road near indecipherable, and couldn't lock on it.
Until I did. And then it still took another year to channel.
There was another Kitaro track I'd come across in my commuting days that had also niggled at my karosong sense. But it was several years before a karosong based on that track named itself. Then it did nothing for a year and a half while my idiot musant brain had the same struggle to figure out and be able to follow the lead instrument(s).
Again, until I did. But once I understood and had locked into the song, it came quickly.
The phoenix must burn 3.3 with Oasis by Kitaro
A conversation between the deeper beings of two karma partners whose physical incarnations have just come together for a new experience as lovers. arc02 / lyrically complete but not yet mastered version recorded late March 2021, Vancouver. [7+]
There was a third Kitaro track that had been niggling at me since the late second phase. I'd had hints of lyrics for it back then, some kind of adventure song, but that was all. Then it suddenly pushed forward at the start of the 4.1 set.
While there was almost no lag for me to 'get' the async track this time, the song still took about 16 months to channel.
If I could be 4.1 with Auspicious Omen by Kitaro
A song for the days "the grind's got you ground, and you're not sure you can take even just another step forward." arc02 / recorded in Vancouver, late March 2023. [8]
Govi
Govi
Govi was another artist I had come across during my late second phase browsing for possible collaborators. There were songs of his I quite liked for what this idiot musant will call the gentleness of their musical approach. Akin to Jesse Cook in some ways but softer, more internally focused if that makes any sense. It was a style I felt had karosong potential but nothing gelled at the time.
Still, I put a couple of Govi tracks on my 'maybes' playlist during the third phase and would listen to them occassionally to see if anything had changed. But as much as I liked the Govi tracks I'd found, I found them musically impenetrable.
Nothing changed until the 3.2 set when one of those tracks decided to come forward and become a karosong.
The track was Jacaranda. I'd been listening to it for months but had got no further than a sense that the karosong based on it would be very elegaic and that the verses all seemed to start with "I remember...". Then I finally got the title, and the lyrics came in just a few weeks.
I remember that smile 3.2 with Jacaranda by Govi
A song of quiet but joyful reflection on a -decades long relationship, and warm anticipation of the future. arc06 / single take recording from mid November 2021. [7]
I thought it was a beautiful song (yeah yeah, I know, that's what I think of all these songs but I can't help it) and it became a favourite to sing. But that didn't mean I suddenly understood the other Govi tracks I was listening to. They remained incomprehensible.
One of those tracks was Tears of Joy, a very pretty song that kept rapping at the door but then would not be there when I opened it. That went on for months.
Then I 'got' the track and the karosong came. It was the third in the karma partners track, and also became a favourite to sing.
No plan 'B's 3.3 with Tears of Joy by Govi
The third song in the karma partners track, exploring the importance of timing — meeting the right person at the right time — in the great karma dance. Recording from early January 2023, Vancouver. [7+]
About the start of the 4th phase near the end of 2021, I found a new Govi track on YouTube, and the karosong was 'just there' right away. It was one of two eponymous songs in the 4.1 set.
Your lingering touch 4.1 — an eponymous collaboration with Govi
A lament for a long-lost lover and plea for the time needed to fully heal before moving on. arc04 / from the Vancouver sessions, late March 2023. [8]
others
Other collaborators
To the start of 2023 and karosong #55, the karosongs body of work has grown to include one-offs with another three unwitting collaborators. It is uncertain if these will lead to further works with these artists.
Candy Dulfur and David A. Stewart
The electrifying call and response tune Lily Was Here by these two artists was a track that called to me for at least a year. But I could not hear space for a vocal in the interplay between the guitars and saxophones. It felt way too complex.
Until one day at the start of the 3.3 set it wasn't.
You can say I said 3.3 with Lily was here by Dulfur and Stewart
The song that seems to give the lily genre its name (it doesn't), a bluesy 'bugger off, you're not welcome back in our lives'. arc06 / recording from mid November 2021. [8]
Candy Dulfur & David A. Stewart
Ottmar Liebert
A friend at work introduced me to Ottmar Liebert as somewhat similar to Jesse Cook. But much of his more classically oriented music had eluded me, and for a long time it seemed unlikely he would become a collaborator.
However, when I came across Liebert's reggae-ish track Could you be loved sometime in 2021, I quite liked the feeling of the track, and put it on the 'maybes' list. It was in fact one of the songs that I could feel 'karo' really wanted to play with when the 4.1 set started. But nothing started until almost a year later.
Pardon me ma'am 4.2 / Could You Be Loved by Ottmar Liebert
Ottmar Liebert
Kenny G
I came across Kenny G courtesy of the youtube algorithm sometime in late 2021. There were a couple of his tracks that felt like possible karosongs. and they were already on the 'maybes' playlist when the 4.1 set started that November with the 'pick any song' experience.
Neither Kenny G track was included in that set, but his song Going Home still called to me everytime I listened to it. It was almost a year before the karosong started active channeling as part of the 4.2 set.
Taking the long way 4.2 with Going Home by Kenny G
Kenny G
The various recordings on this website are not for download or release. They are just low resolution demos of the songs gordon has channeled into this existence. They long for a real singer to release them from their idiot musant prison. Interested parties can contact gordon @ this website.
