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The Pussycat Waltz (For My Daughters)

The Pussycat Waltz by Simon Wilkinson

When my daughters were babies, they were both bad at sleeping.

Really bad.

We’d be extremely lucky to get more than a couple of uninterrupted hours at a time for the first few years. It was exhausting (and still is) but everyone goes through it and you eventually come out the other side and gradually forget how nerve-shreddingly debilitating it all was. I almost have.

Molly was our first born and one thing I started doing to try and calm her down at night was humming a simple lullaby. It was just a simple waltz melody that I made up which fitted the rocking motion as I tried to lull her to sleep. She’d rarely actually go to sleep but it was often enough to keep her calm, and you take what small mercies you can get when you haven’t slept for 3 days…

Over the years she began to know it as the ‘Da-da-da dee da-dum’ song and she started to sing it to herself. She still occasionally sings it now she’s almost 5 and I also used to hum it to our second daughter Ada when she came along.

The Pussycat Waltz by Simon WilkinsonSo I thought it would be nice to try and take that simple hummed tune and orchestrate a recorded version for them to hear in case they forget when they’re older.

I fleshed it out a bit more than the simple hum it started off as, but it’s still essentially the same tune (Molly also makes cat noises when she hums it now, so it’s been named The Pussycat Waltz).

I also kept picturing the Grand Central station dance scene from The Fisher King when I was writing it. It probably wouldn’t send anyone off to sleep in its finished form (try tracks like Frozen White Light for sleep) as it builds up to a couple of rousing crescendos, but it was fun to do and I hope they’ll listen to it when they’re older and maybe remember how mum and dad went through those long, long (did I mention long?) sleepless nights.

If you’re interested you can get the track here on my site and it’s also on iTunes, Spotify etc.

http://www.thebluemask.com/music-tracks/the-pussycat-waltz/

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Goodnight Moon Podcast Features My Music

Goodnight Moon is a new weekly podcast from Dr Sci-fi (Darren Moser) which features some of my ambient space music from my album Cryosleep Dreams in the background.

In the podcast Darren shares his awe of the cosmos and pride in the space program with his young daughter and discusses all things space-related. It’s a very charming listen and free to download so if you’ve got kids and want to spark some conversations of your own, take a listen!

A weekly podcast of a father sharing the wonders of space with his daughter. Touching on NASA, astronauts, cosmonauts, spacecraft, the space race and planets. We hope a spark may ignite to share your own love of science with those you love.

Dr Sci-fi

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or listen directly on his site at the following links:

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/goodnight-moon/id1173164221?mt=2

Website: http://drscifi.com/goodnightmoon

You can also subscribe to Darren’s Patreon site here:

https://www.patreon.com/goodnightmoon

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My Music Featured In Latest Mix From Ambient Music Guide


My ambient track Vortex Of Coloured Light from Perpetual Dimensions is featured in the latest Mixcloud mix from ambient guru Mike G at Ambient Music Guide. The mix is titled Up There and is the latest in Mike’s series of ambient and electronic music mixes and also features artists such as Banco De Gaia and Ishq.

Listen to the mix directly above or at the following link:

www.mixcloud.com/ambientmusicguide/new-ambient-2016-vol-14-up-there-mixed-by-mike-g/

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New iPhone Game Lonely Sun Featuring My Ambient Music

LONELY SUN - Be Gravity's Guiding Hand - Game Trailer (Out Now on iOS)

Check out this trailer for the new iPhone game Lonely Sun from Rinikulous Games which features some of my atmospheric ambient space music. Lonely Sun is a side scrolling game that puts you at the center of a fledgling solar system.

“All that stands between you and the fulfillment of a distant sun’s destiny are five unique, both visually and auditory, hand-crafted levels – one for each of the five levels. Every level divided into three stages has its own strange landscapes, distinct dangers, and gravitational forces to surmount on your way to building a complete star system.”

Lonely Sun (Rinikulous Games)

Get the game from the iTunes store here:

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/lonely-sun-be-gravitys-guiding/id1084945377

Follow Rinikulous Games and Lonely Sun here:

https://twitter.com/RinikulousGames

https://www.facebook.com/Rinikulous-Games-1780720392186550

http://www.lonelysun.com/

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Parallax Frequency Shift Featured On Free Ambient Compilation Album

Free Floating Music - ReflectionI’m very honoured to have one of my ambient space music tracks featured on the final compilation album release from the wonderful Free Floating Music netlabel.

The collection is titled Reflection and includes 18 tracks of calm and atmospheric instrumental music from artists including Altus, Bing Satellites and many more.

My contribution is the track Parallax Frequency Shift which is taken from my Perpetual Dimensions ambient space music album.

What’s even better is the album is a free download, in keeping with Free Floating Music‘s mission to distribute free and legal ambient music.

The album is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial NoDerivs license, meaning you’re welcome to download and share the album for free personal listening (so if you want to use the music in your own videos you’ll still need to seek permission from the artist but I’m always happy to discuss licensing if you want to contact me).

So why not go grab a free download of the album. Free Floating Music also have a nice collection of other ambient albums and compilations, all available for free download from their official site for more info:

http://freefloatingmusic.com/

“Music for drifting and dreaming.”

Free Floating Music

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New Space Music Album Perpetual Dimensions Now Out

Perpetual Dimensions by Simon Wilkinson (ambient space music album sampler)

Today sees the release of my latest ambient album called Perpetual Dimensions. A collection of 7 tracks spanning 87 minutes, Perpetual Dimensions is an album of atmospheric and ethereal space music. It’s the follow up to my last ambient album Cryosleep Dreams and includes a musical collection of deep bass drones, sparkling highs and shifting landscapes of panoramic musical vistas.

Equally suited to focused immersive listening on headphones or as atmospheric background music for meditation, relaxation and subconscious drifting. You can watch a promo video containing short previews of all the tracks set to atmospheric deep space visuals above.

The album can be purchased directly here on my site or also on Bandcamp, iTunes, Spotify and most other music streaming services:

On this site:
http://www.thebluemask.com/music-tracks/perpetual-dimensions/

Bandcamp:
https://thebluemask.bandcamp.com/album/perpetual-dimensions

iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/album/perpetual-dimensions/id1143008762

Google Play:
https://play.google.com/store/music/album/Simon_Wilkinson_Perpetual_Dimensions?id=Bwpfdpydtc5rzseo6yfu3gljmz4

Amazon:
http://amzn.to/2aYHQvR

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Bigfoot Documentary Series Featuring My Music

The Birthplace of Bigfoot (EP 1)

This is episode 1 of a new documentary series featuring my music, about the legend of Bigfoot. Sasquatch: Out Of The Shadows is a YouTube documentary series which will be updated monthly with new episodes.

“This episode explores the history behind the ‘Bigfoot’ moniker as we know it today, sites such as Bluff Creek & Willow Creek that gained notoriety as a result, as well as sightings in the area and the ongoing investigation of the Patterson-Gimlin film site.”

Sasquatch: Out Of The Shadows (Episode 1)

The series is produced by Aleksandar Petakov of Petakov Media and you can follow the YouTube channel of the documentary here.

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More Time Lapse Videos From Martien Janssen


Here’s another beautiful time lapse video from photographer Martien Janssen who has used my music in several of his previous projects (see here). The video is shot in Siargao in the Philippines and features my track Exodus.

“This is the second time lapse movie of a trilogy, created from 100 time lapse scenes all around Siargao and the neighbouring islands.”

Martien Janssen

You can find more of Martien’s work on Vimeo:

https://vimeo.com/travelimagez/videos

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‘Sex Dolls: Stoned Mode’ Video Uses My Eerie Music ‘The Raven’!

Sex Dolls | Stoned Mode

Here’s a slightly creepy and unusual video that I wouldn’t really have expected to hear my music in! Sex Dolls: Stoned Mode by the people over at the Super Deluxe YouTube channel is a short behind-the-scenes look at how sex dolls are made…

There’s no narration but my music track The Raven plays throughout giving a very unsettling and eerie atmosphere to what would probably otherwise be quite a lighthearted quirky video. If nothing else it goes to show how you can completely alter the feel of a video just by the use of music.

The Raven is available to download or license here on my site:

www.thebluemask.com/music-tracks/the-raven/

Sweet dreams!