“Ganglia” is my attempt at goofy, Raymond Scott-esque, “cartoon jazz,” and was composed as background music for a model build video.
I’ve been producing model-build videos for a while, now. It all started when my brother sent me a stack of models for my birthday back in 2019. What better way to say “thank you” than sharing the builds with him?
Little did I realize what a habit making both models and model-build videos would become. Initially, I used others’ music in my videos but copyright issues and the fact that I was also producing my own music at the time, made that seem a bit silly. Why not use my own music for these model videos?
“Ganglia” was composed as background to my “Big Daddy” Roth, Scuz-Fink model build but I liked it well enough to develop as its own track.
Ganglia
I grew up watching and loving lots of Warner Bros. cartoons and, whether I realized it or not, soaking in the musical artistry of Carl Stalling. Carl Stalling (1891 – 1972) was an American composer and voice actor who scored music for animation, primarily Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. His output and genius are legendary.
Carl used both popular and classical music to great effect in his scores. One composer he turned to over and over again was Raymond Scott (1908 – 1994). Stalling used Scott’s music in over 120 cartoons. You may not recognize Scott’s title “Powerhouse” but I guarantee you’ll recognize the music. Scott’s wacky compositions can be heard in Looney Tunes, Ren and Stimpy, The Simpsons, Duckman, Animaniacs, and many others.
While “Ganglia” is but a limited and pale imitation of the work Scott and Stalling did (to say the least) I remain rather pleased with it. To my ears, it does contain that “cartoon” spark I was after and it was a lot of fun to compose and play. I hope to return to the style more.
The Video
Back when I first started making videos for my own music, I’d just use a single image. It’s more about the music, right? Well, after receiving some negative comments for this approach, I decided I needed to up my video game.
Unfortunately, I have so many hobbies and projects already that adding “videographer/editor” into the mix was less welcome thatn you might expect. I enjoy the process most of the time but, I swear, all too often the videos take more time and effort than the projects they highlight.
That’s why most of my music videos seem to be made mostly of random shots. Because they are. I just went through my image archive, swept up the video clips, and started editing them for my music videos.
I don’t take a lot of video footage, however and ran through my surplus clips after just a few songs. For “Ganglia” I decided to focus on my sofubi collection (mostly Japanese, vinyl character toys). It seemed fitting.
All samples, bass, guitar, and drum programming by CAE
