Carnival from Concrete Sky by Bardic Mechanism
One of my fans challenged me to write something 'happy', and this was the result. While I consider this challenge to remain open, my first attempt at it led me down an interesting path.
This is my first successful attempt to make UK-style happy hardcore music using an AI toolchain. While I normally let my lyrics drive the creative process, this piece was created melody-first. The melody is a result of experimenting with popular chord progressions, then soft-constraining a local LLM to write a rave hook within one. The output was rendered using a basic synthesizer VST, arpeggiated a little and 8-bit quantized. A drum kit served as the only real MIDI instrument for the melody sample.
I wrote some lyrics to fit the feeling of the melody, then used the lyrics, melody and my awful singing to prime a generative model. The rest of the process involved my usual iteration and manual editing. The final piece is more nostalgic and foreboding than happy, but is an accurate reflection of what it feels like to try and have fun.
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Tracklist
| 8. | Carnival | 3:22 |
Lyrics
Take me to the carnival
Dancing lights and ringing bells
Take me to the carnival
Let's go on a ride
Take me to the carnival
Dancing lights and ringing bells
Take me to the carnival
Let's go there tonight
When we're at the carnival together
When we go together to the fair
We can go on rides, win fabulous prizes
Eat all of the candy they have there
Holding hands while rising on the Ferris wheel
Above a sea of sight and sound
Forgetting for a magical moment
Our cares on the ground
Take me to the carnival
Dancing lights and ringing bells
Take me to the carnival
Let's go on a ride
Take me to the carnival
To make memories we can tell
Take me to the carnival tonight
Take me to the carnival
Crowds of people, tasty smells
Take me to the carnival
Let's go on a ride
Take me to the carnival
We can get balloons as well
We will just have so much fun inside
Playing parlor games just for the fun of it
Knowing we don't even have to win
Getting startled in a haunted house
'Till we forget the places we have been
When we ride inside the shaded tunnel
We will hold each other very near
We're together, and while we embrace
There is nothing to fear
Looking at ourselves in funhouse mirrors
Our appearance changing easily
Maybe we'll imagine for a moment
There is nothing that we cannot be
And when you or I get very tired
We can sit together on the side
Grateful for all of the memories
That we made tonight
