Somebody is singing, and something is in the making...

Getting ready...

..to sing... what could this be?

The Bushweeds complete album, 'Absence of Hope', is now up on Youtube..

Link to playlist - Absence of Hope.

 

Yep, after spending some more time collecting strange images to put together to make some visuals to the songs, they're all now available to listen to on Youtube.. 

Emphasis and effort put into the visuals is varying, as that wasn't really the point.. just an addendum so that I wouldn't be uploading just a song with a black screen throughout...

I'll be starting this rundown on the fourth track, which is also the title track, 'Absence of Hope', as the three first tracks were covered in the previous post.

Since this is the title track, I.. err, I mean, the band, wanted it to be something that felt a little more grand than your average punk rock song. This track isn't really a punk song at all, but more some kind of slow I-don't-know-what-to-call-it kind of rock song.. I guess. It breaks the mold even more with the first track, so it seems that 'The Bushweeds' is not a band afraid to try different things.. for better or for worse.

It's not a bad song, but does it fit in? Thinking in terms of a complete album where songs are played successively.. an uncommon thing in this day and age where everybody just skips to the next song on their streaming platform, having a song like this is probably good to make an album seem varied and dynamic. Instead of having every song chug along at the same tempo and intensity.

Then comes the fifth track, 'Don't Eat Pencils off the Sidewalk', whose title is totally not a rip off from off this song by The Cramps... This one is probably the strangest track on the album, on first listen.. a song about eating pencils and the graphite industry!? What!? Yeah, not gonna say more.. this one also brings the tempo back up again, in preparation for their next track perhaps..

 

 

Number six, 'When the family arrives...'. This one starts of right away with a high tempo and shouted verse in punk rock style about.. well, what happens when members of the family show up to gather. Judging from the psychedelic images in the video (What were they on when they made this!? ;) ) it probably doesn't end well....

Track number seven, 'Dave Lost His Flute', is just the intro to the next track. Two minutes or so of flute playing.. nothing to say here, moving along... It's point though is to serve as a breather after the previous high energy song.

Before it gives way to the eighth track, purposefully or accidentally, numbered as the seventh track on the album. Another song in the punk rock style, but where the other one was a little more hardcore, this one has a poppier and more accessible sound which makes it sound a upbeat and enjoyable, in spite of the sad subject matter of being a homeless man...

 Then it's back to the more hardcore punk sound again. This song, 'Promises from out of town', has the most abrasive intro of all songs on this album... Sounds like they were angry with something or someone here... Spokeswoman and drummer Kajsa Tangstad says they wrote this song after their visit to the record company in Cyme Ixotic, where they hoped to get a record deal...

Then after they've let out some steam on the previous track, they continue with this one, 'Thanks for Nothing', where they take it back to some kind of pop-punk song which turns out to be a break-up song! Ugggh.... give me a break! ;) Now, I don't hate the song, but this is probably my least favourite on this album... it's just not what I would listen to... what are you? Taylor Swift!? Blah!
 

..and then for their final song, they take it down, down, down to a dark and gloomy place in this stripped down track, 'Cash for a rainy day', about a mother in the city struggling to make ends meat... oh boy. This one is far, far removed from 'Party Punk', which they started off saying they were, but it is probably my favourite track here right now... there are no loud screaming guitars or bravado to this track, but that only makes the message stand out more..

The last track, 'Dave found his flute', is just another two-three minute flute track in a similar fashion to the previous one with almost the same name, but this one sounds a little more uplifting and.. heavenly (?) for lack of a better word.. it also gives me the feeling of watching some ending credits. Not sure if that is a property of the track itself, or just because I know this is the last song. ;)

..and that was it, clocking out on a playing time of 44 minutes and 14 seconds.. a varied punk-pop album with celtic influences.. that's what I would call it. ;) And actually.. the title does seem appropriate, as, apart from the first track 'We are party punk', where they introduce themselves, an absence of hope does indeed seem to be an underlying theme one way or another in every song that follows... the album is perhaps a little bit uneven in the way that it seems they don't know if they should be pop or punk, but on overall I'll say it's a job well done. ;)

The Bushweeds, my new favourite artificial intelligence band...

 So... lately I have been playing a bit with AI.. first with the image enhancer/generator krea.ai just for testing purposes.. so, of course I had to try and generate an image from the group photo of the band, "The Bushweeds", to see what the AI would do with them..

First again, the original for comparison..

Then the AI version, just hitting the enhance button and not doing anything more..

This is cool, but it's not quite there.. this isn't really what their faces especially look like, I think, so... let's try again by increasing the resemblance slider.. putting slightly over the halfway mark (it was originally at 36) gave more or less the same result, so.. trying again with the slider to above 80..

Ok, kinda better, but not quite. Their facial expressions are not maintained as well, but I'll stop here for now.. then, after a while, I discovered something even cooler than this..

This thing called Suno where it's possible to generate music through a prompt to an AI, by either having the AI suggest some random lyrics, or writing your own... So of course I had to try this too, by creatin g music that could be in the style of the band.. Since the band has already released an album, I was curious to figure out what it would sound like.. ;)

The backside of their album, and what I have as a starting point to work with. The first track 'Riot Rhythms' is only an instrumental intro track, so I simply gave the AI the prompt 'Celtic Punk', as well as the title, and it produced this..

This was the very first results from my first attempt. I found it very fascinating and was immediately impressed and I thought it was cool enough to be used. Though the instrumentation is perhaps a little high pitched in some places, I liked the melody enough to not want to ditch it...

Then it was time for the first actual track, or the second track of the album, "We Are Party Punk". I used a little more advanced input here, specifying the instruments and that there should be a female vocalists, as well as giving the title, but everything else, lyrics and music, is 100 % AI generated..

It took a few attempts to get something I could accept. Though it never sounded musically awful (to my ears anyway...), the lyrics of the first attempts especially were really corny... it almost gave me associations to Rebecca Blacks song 'Friday' for those of you who remember that one..

And admittedly, the lyrics are still corny also in this version, but I kept them that way, because.. well, this isn't a very serious song anyway, and I think it sort of works to kickstart the album and as a mission statement for the band.. they're really just in it to party, have fun and muck around.. so let's go! ;)

..before they take it down a few notches again on the third track, 'Wet Torch River', which is my favourite song of theirs so far. The title, which I didn't put to much thought into when I made the album cover, is nonsensical, but with some thought and help from AI generated lyrics, this one turned into a song that actually tells a story.. of course, I had quite a bit more input on the lyrics here for this one, but not to much actually.. ;) And I suppose I'm a bit of a sucker to for downtempo somber tracks like this one.. as fun and energetic as the previous track is, this is the one I have found myself repeatedly listening to the most...

..and that's it for now, but rest assured, the rest of the album is probably gonna be uploaded to youtube as well soon enough. ;)

Sunscreen and nostalgia..

So I just somehow noticed there was a Steam sale for some old titles, and just in the nick of time I managed to take advantage of that to (re)buy a couple of games I used to play, the games where my interest in anything Sims related began... ;)

..and that would be, of course, Sim City 3000 and Sim City 4. I used to spend hours playing this, especially the former back in the day, so this is good trip down memory lane for me.. I have always enjoyed more chill games of this type. I was never to much into the action or shooting games, really..

I haven't revisited Sim City 4 yet, but that is on the agenda once I'm satisfied with playing Sim City 3000.. the goal is atleast to reach 1 million inhabitants before moving on. ;)

..and yeah, earlier this year I noticed that in 2013 I was actually 'clever' enough to have bought Sim City 2013 too.. at full price.. then somehow forgotten I had done so.. completely! Though upon noticing that I do remember playing it some.. perhaps with a slight feeling of disappointment with it, atleast at first, having an online/multiplayer mode if I'm not mistaken.. and to small city maps.. 

Though I think Sim City 4 originally also had some form of online play in the beginning, which is just stupid for a game like this, the Sim City series probably peaked with Sim City 4...

Cities Skylines does look tempting, but as I haven't actually played Sim City 4 that much, I want to complete that game first, before considering moving on to the next generation of city simulation...


Ah, I do wish I had gotten a Steam account earlier, since judging from other peoples comments about it, it seams to be superior to the EA App.. but I've never considered myself a hardcore gamer, and so I didn't know about Steam until I saw people discussing on the Sims forums, and by then it was already to late, I had already walked straight into EAs trap by buying Sims 3 and most of the expansion packs on Origin already..

..and then came the EA app to begin messing things up. Just recently though I did get the World Adventures expansion pack for Sims 3, because it was on sale, but rest assured.. from now on, I have used the EA app for the very last time. I'm not gonna use it ever again.... and I hope that Steam will be as good of a platform as I am expecting it to be.. well, it can't be worse than the EA app, can it?

The Bushweeds album tour is now completed.

Chapter 12.11 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part XI – The final concert at The Red Rendezvous..

 

Yup after some days of spending time with their loved ones, or just chilling, after spending days on the road the band is now finally ready to play their last gig to complete the tour!

People are already flocking together outside the venue.. ;)

 Time to start the concert before the bartender starts complaining that you're not on time.. ;) Of course, this is The Sims, so the occasional strange surprise may just be in store, but overall their last concert was a success and the band can now take some well deserved time off for a while.. before they have to record their next album to keep the momentum going.. ;)

However, I don't think I'll build a story around this band that is this extensive again, because though it has been both fun and interesting it has on occasion also been a bit tiresome.. anyway, I hope you have gotten some enjoyment out of all this, because this is the end for them for now!

..or not quite, because I also made a bonus video to summarize everything, so if you have 9 more minutes of your life to waste, you can watch it here:

Until next time. ;)

Returning to the island..

 What should be the second to last chapter now of the bands tour has been posted. A short update where they leave Sunset Valley behind to return to their hometown of Bewickton where a couple of the band members will reunite with some of their loved ones..

Chapter 12.10 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part 10 – Returning to the island..

Their journey is now complete, having returned where they started. Now only one concert is left to celebrate and mark the end of their tour... (to come in next update).

The Beginning Of All Things That Will End..

Chapter 12.9 – The Bushweeds Autumn Tour 2023: part IX – The Beginning Of All Things That Will End.

Well hello again world. Here is the next chapter about the band, now as they head further south for the second to last concert of their tour...

Of course, their morning begins with the usual party spirit, before they have to get into the car again to drive for their next destination - good old Sunset Valley. ;)

The following day the band decides to split up to hang out at different locations on their own, seeing as how they have virtually (ha, virtually, get it..?) lived on top of each other for the past week or so..

Kajsa, beign the most avant-garde and interested in art pays a visit to the Sunset Valley Art Association (founded in 1904) to do the smustle dance and paint what she thinks could be their next album cover...

Sam goes to Amundsen and Co. Cartoon Store (the local nerd hangout...) to play arcade games, where he is noticed by the young aspiring politician Ingrid Kråkesen-Karlsen who just happen to skip work for the occasion...

Gerda being more of a collector goes to the local junkyard to look for treasure or trash...

Merete decides to go fishing at the Åtindbugen Fisherman huts, but since she didn't bring any bait, she has very limited luck getting anything special...

Then its time to head for tonights concert which will happen at the Garage pub. Will they get an audience this time...?

Yes they will, for a change! The powers that be found a way to hold a hand over them and finally give them the audience they deserved! However, they do act a little strange, preferring to watch the band from the side of the stage instead of directly in front, but atleast they're present and paying attention!

..and I'm not exaggarating when I'm saying the bar was chock full of people that night, with more things happening during the night than I could pay attention to or even cover without making the update atleast twice as long - probably! Not everyone chose to watch the concert though, as the stage is located in the basement and some visitors never went down there, but stayed in the bar on the ground floor.

So how did I do it? Well, the trick that I tried first, by setting every other venue and location to 'No Visitors Allowed' had no effect - the bar was just as empty as ever, but...

..then I discovered that if I click on the venue, select NRAAS -> Master Controller -> Invite Over - I got the option to invite sims to the lot by the usual categories (Gender, Career, First name, Last name, etc.), so I invited as many as I thought necessary, which was probably quite a few to many, because the place was literally packed, and not just in sims 3 terms, no it was actually pretty packed! So now I know that this works, and that I can successfully invite over a little less sims next time. ;) Cheerio!