"Continuity" is now available on iTunes and Spotify!

Yeah, who would have thought this? This went quite fast. Big thanks to the Routenote team, because they managed it to set a new "speed record" for making an album available. For "Heroes of the Popp-Culture" and "Mesopotamia" it took a little more than two weeks back then. Now it took just 11 days! That's the way I like it (aha aha) :). I have just checked Amazon. There, the album is not yet to be found, but they always need much longer. I am absolutely ok with that, because from every download sold on iTunes I get a bigger share than from Amazon. Additionally, Amazon squanderes, at least the albums by independent musicians, in my opinion, at ridiculously low prices. Also on Emusic, the album is not yet to be found, but who really uses Emusic? If I remember it right, not a single download of my works has been sold there since June 2012. It seems, that this platform is not very popular. I can not say anything about the availability on the streaming platforms Rdio and Deezer, because they do not offer free access and the catalog can be viewed only by paying customers. I will not pay a single cent, just to see if my album is available there. If you, dear reader, are a customer of these platforms, it would be nice if you could have a look and see if the album is available there and let me know about it. Thanks in advance.

So, I have yet again written a lot. I did not actually expect that ;) So, here are the links, so you can shop comfortably. Make me rich! ;) :)

"Continuity" on iTunes
"Continuity" on Spotify

Album release! "Continuity" is here!

Yes, it has happened: Today, the album for which you have waited so long has been finally released. However, again I have to disappoint you a bit: Currently, it is only available in my Routenote Direct shop. Do not let the awful design of the shop and the fact, that, due to the lack of a playlist, you cannot can not pre-listen the songs, scare you away . Something is not working with the shop currently and the Routenote guys are most probably already on the job to fix it. I have already "complained" about it ;). And don't be puzzled about the fact, that the album is on position 3 of the album list. So if it is not visible on your superduper Smartphone -> please scroll down a little. It is definitely there. I also do not know why this is. You can also click here . This takes you directly to the album page. You can pay conveniently via Paypal or credit card. If you can wait, the album will soon be available on iTunes , Amazon, and many other well known shops. How long will that take? On average, 4 to 6 weeks, but for the album releases in fall of 2012 it took only 2 weeks for iTunes. Yes, so much time has passed already since "Heroes of the Popp-Culture" and "Mesopotamia".

Oh yes: And of course you can, as always, order the album directly from me for 10 Euros. Simply transfer the money via Paypal to alionsonny@alionsonny.com and to be sure, also send an email to the same address. Sending this mail is also a good idea, because otherwise I can not send you the download link. But if you want to transfer me money and get no album, you may also omit the part of sending the mail ;).

So, now that was a long wait full of ups and downs. I have good reasons to hope, that it will not again take three years until the next alionsonny album will be released. Of course, the work at the other projects will ensure that I cannot release another alionsonny album in just a few months, but I have learned some new strategies. Yeah, next is the "Willma Poppen" album "Willma im Wunderland". And next after this is Cimelium's "Madeira" album. But I also have some tracks for the alionsonny project almost done. How will I the next album be titled? Make some suggestions ;).

EDIT: To make up for the missing Routenote playlist, I embed the Soundcloud playlist here. But NOTE: This is NOT the final product. All tracks in this playlist are (some improved) pre-release versions of the tracks and most of them do not match the quality of the album. And please note another thing: On Soundcloud (at least for the free accounts) the audio is compressed to death. So this is just for a slight pre-listening. You have been warned ;)

It is done! alionsonny.de is up to date again and more ...

This went reasonably fast, but it was no mammoth project ;). You may still encounter sporadic side effects of the renovation, but generally alionsonny.de should be fully functional again and, much more important, up to date. On this occasion, I also improved some things, which unnecessarily increased the loading time of the page in the past. I have not touched the visual improvements, I mentioned in the past posting, yet, but these are not so important, that I would delay the work on the album any longer.

Continuity ?
Yes, some of you complain about it already. But I really needed that little break, because my ears urgently needed a break. Creating the release versions has really tired them plentiful and at the end I was not sure if I am still able to hear correctly. The musicians amongst you will know what I mean ;). So what's up with the album? It is almost done! I have finished the release versions of the oldest , and therefore most in need of a review, 10 tracks. The three remaining tracks require, in my opinion and the opinion of many listeners, no major overhaul or improvement. Currently I am working, with the involvement of voluntary test listeners, on the playlist, which determines the order of the tracks. This process is also completed, except for the judgment of a particular person, whose opinion is personally very important to me. This will happen this evening. In this respect, although I can not promise anything 100% as always, the album should be, at least in my Routenote shop, this week. ITunes, Amazon and Co. always take a while.

AlionLive is getting bigger!
First of all: Yes, "AlionLive Return 2 Madeira" will be continued soon . But the album has priority. Nevertheless, there is good news for the fans of this project. My friends on Facebook, as always, already know about it... at least I hope so ;). The most important news, especially for readers of this blog, is, that no news regarding AlionLive will be posted on this blog anymore from now on. This blog is now exclusively reserved for the music project alionsonny. News about new videos etc. will from now on be posted on the new AlionLive Blog (CLICK!). There are also some other things that may be particularly of interest for those, who wish to follow my hikes. AlionLive now also has its own page on Facebook and I would be extremely happy if everyone of you would "LIKE" it. So no one should ask me questions why nothing about AlionLive is posted here anymore ;).

Yes, and that's it for this time. I am back at work!

AlionLive Return 2 Madeira - From Camara de Lobos to the Lido

And here it is already: The second part of day 11! This went quite quick this time. Ok, but to achieve that, I had to pause working on the new album during the past days. Don't worry: I'm already back on it, but more on that later.

The story: As already announced, this video shows a little "hike" from Camara de Lobos to the Lido, filmed using my inimitable "shaky cam technique". This video is especially recommended for those who plan to visit Madeira, because it shows the way from Funchal, along the coast to Camara de Lobos... but just in the reverse direction. And almost all newcomers to Madeira make that one mistake, that they think, that down at the beach it does not go further. The secret is the tunnel shown in this video where my camera did it's best to compensate for the bad light conditions , but once again failed miserably ;).

Größere Kartenansicht

The video shows also wonderful impressions of a sunny day on the promenade, accompanied by a few songs from the, hopefully soon to be released, album "Continuity". The soundtrack contains this time, except for one song, almost finished album versions (release versions). The soundtrack in detail:

00:00 - Madeira (Release Version)
04:55 - Bulletproof (Release Version)
9:58 - Green Hills (Release Version)
14:38 - Drunken Joe in Love ( Release Version)
19:03 - Going Bonkers (Release Version)
23:57 - A Sunny Day (Release Version)
28:55 - Flight of the Butterfly (Pre-Release Version)

As you can see, the video is once again a little longer, but 33 minutes is not too long, right? While we are at it: What do you think actually about the video lengths? Every now and then, there are people who write to me, that certain videos are too long. What do you think: Should I split such long videos generally into smaller parts? If so, what would be a good length? The good old 15 minutes? But I also want to point at the fact, that there are people who like to see things as a whole and they would complain if I split the videos into parts. Well, again the good old quote from Wilhelm Busch nails it perfectly: "To all people fairly done , is an art that no one can" (I don't know if this translation is even remotely correct).

Finally, I want to tell you of course a bit about the status of the album "Continuity". Slowly but steadily, the whole thing comes to an end. The song "Talking Cat" was transformed into the most probably final version yesterday and currently I'm working on "Flight Of The Butterfly". Don't worry: I know that the song is almost perfect and will not change too much. I just think that some things get too much presence and others do not ;). When this song is done, there are 4 songs left to work on, but all of these were produced in the period between August 2013 and now and therefore are quite up to date. So I would say very carefully, that there is not much left to do.

Ok, but now have fun with the new video . I am already working on the next one.

Status alionsonny "Continuity" album

Since not all listeners of my music are on Facebook, and some are, but for some reason missed to subscribe to my news, I can not be sure that all interested folks are informed about the progress regarding the "Continuity" album. For this reason, and because it is also useful information for the monthly alionmind News Blog, I want to describe which 13 tracks will be on the album, and in which state of completion they are. Here we go:

Greenhills
From the pre-release version of this song is NOTHING left. It is the oldest title destined for the album. The first version was presented in 2010 . Accordingly, I had to improve a lot and it was a pretty intense task to make this old song a worthy part of the new album. But: DONE!
Current version : RELEASE

Nero d ' Avola
Despite the fact that, since the last time I worked on this song plenty of time has passed, quite a bit had to be improved here. A little work on mixing and EQing and a few small adjustments to the structure and everything was DONE!
Current version: RELEASE

Going Bonkers
On this item I am currently working and have just a few minor improvements to do. Again, MUCH has been changed here and the release version differs significantly from the pre-release.
Current Version: pre-release

Bulletproof
To do yet. However, I can not hear much that could be improved on this song. A little EQing and everything should be done. But let's see.
Current Version: pre-release

Drunken Joe In Love
THAT is still a real problem child! There is extremely much to improve here and I think in the end of this, there will be not much left of the pre-release version ;) .
Current Version: pre-release (awful condition!)

Madeira
Do not know what to make of it. Certainly a great song, but somehow something is missing ;) .
Current Version: pre-release

Talking Cat
Nice song, some improvements possible, but absolutely nothing I have to be worried about.
Current Version: pre-release

A Sunny Day
The absolutely exceptional track destined for this album in several aspects: There was ZERO suggestions for improvements or even complaints about this track for half a year the first version is now  on SoundCloud. On the contrary, I got an incredible amount of positive feedback about this song. And I can not find anything to improve at "A Sunny Day". So EXCEPTIONALLY the pre-release version was declared to be the release version. DONE!
Current version: RELEASE

Flight of the Butterfly
Okay. Minor improvements are conceivable, but definitely not a big job.
Current Version: pre-release

The Storm
A few obvious opportunities for improvement, but quite ok. Not much work.
Current Version: pre-release

Pirates of Madeira
I am tempted to declare the pre-release version to be the release version, but let's wait and see. I think it is perfect!
Current Version: pre-release

Ganja In The Jar
Absolutely fine, but I know a few things that can be improved. Not much work to do.
Current Version: pre-release

BrainForest Chapter II
Just finished ... and I think it 's perfect. Nevertheless ... let's see... ;)
Current Version: pre-release

Ok, that's it. I am again at work so that you pretty soon get your album :).

"Brainforest Chapter III" - The last song for the album "Continuity" is here!

It is done! After 3 years, we finally have the, traditionally, 13 alionsonny tracks for a new album. If you now think, the album would be available tomorrow on iTunes & Co., I have to disappoint you. Now comes still a lot of work for me, because by just finishing the songs, only the biggest part of the work is done. What happens next? First I have to get the songs in an order (playlist) of course, so that everything fits together. Then there is the fact that the song versions you can listen to on Soundcloud are just pre-release versions and not really finished. This means that the songs were ok for me at the time they were completed. But as time passes, I hear but more or less minor "imperfections" in them, or listeners tell me about the one or the other thing that sounds not alright. The oldest songs, destined for the "Continuity" album, were completed 3 years ago. You can certainly imagine that one discovers many of such opportunities for improvement during 3 years. In addition, you learn a lot during 3 years and the own standards rise according to that. So I will take each of the 13 items completely under the microscope again and optimize.

Brainforest Chapter III
... is the third part of a song series which was started in 2004 with the first part which can be found on the first alionsonny album "XperiMental Reggae WorX". The series was continued with part 2, which was released on the, now downloadable for free, album "Excursions in Time & Space". When I worked at the first part, it was already clear to me, that this would become a series of songs. For an album, which claims to be a part of a continuity in it's title, a continuation of Brainforest is just a logical step. Again everything sounds "latin american"-ish and also the somewhat mystical and gloomy jungle feeling is back again. The new part, however, is far more complex than its predecessors. There are also no sample loops used it and, the reggae purists will stone me for this statement: There's far more Reggae in "Brainforest Chapter III". But what do I tell all the time? Hear it for yourself:

AlionLive - Bike ride to the Lüneburg Heath - Here we go!

Now  barely 2 months have passed since this bike ride took place. But you know that there are still other things to do and I'm never really idle. But now finally the first part of the video series is ready for you.

What do you get to see? First of all: This first part is by far the most boring of the series. At least I think so. It's just only the ride to the destination. I had to get the, because of months of sitting behind a computer, rusted and dusted bodything going again and really wanted to get quickly to Lüneburg. In addition, unexpected problems, caused by the absolutely insane road design near  Geesthacht caused some real trouble. You can learn more about it in a, on the AlionLive channel up to now unpreceded and unusual, rant at the end of the video. Yes, I think the next parts of this video series will be by far more interesting. I hope that this introduction part is good entertainment for you still.

The video starts on the morning of August 25th, even though I already started the night before and rode the first kilometers to a quiet place near Glinde. There I built up my tent and that is where the video begins. After a more or less long opening speech ;) I get on the way, tell you a bit about the kind of food I eat during bike rides, am forced to a considerable detour because of the lack of braincells in the skulls of some road planners in Geesthacht. Nevertheless, I manage it in the end to get to the front gates of Lüneburg... just as planned. However, the video ends already before this in Bardowick where I am celebrating the above-mentioned little rant.

The soundtrack is completely from the upcoming album "Continuity" by alionsonny :

1. Talking Cat
2. A Sunny Day
3. Nero d ' Avola
4. Pirates of Madeira
5. Flight of the Butterfly

Have much fun!