Music, discord, podcasts, and absurdism
A winding tale.
Dear fellow vagabonds,
As I enter the final stages working on my biggest video essay/talky to date (parts i to iii are already up on my Patreon) I’d like to take the time to share some less, and some more, involved creations that I’ve worked on over the last year or so.
As it turns out, I’ve had three original jingles/theme songs aired on three separate podcasts, all based in England funnily enough, over the last few months.
But before we get to that, I should point out that in November of 2025, I did release my first full album of sorts on Bandcamp, called The Birthday Song Project, wherein I shared 11 songs I wrote with a strict time limit of 30 minutes from inception to recording on my mobile phone.
All songs were written for folk on discords I frequent, including the Bad Hasbara podcast, as well as a song for my partner, and our niece. All of that to say, I had gotten into the habit of writing little ditties over the last couple of years (you can download or listen to the songs for free on Bandcamp).
While still working on that project, I wrote the first tune that would feature in a podcast. It was a ridiculous, overly long theme for the feature segment Vet The Guest on the GAPM podcast hosted by Bilal Zafar and Joey Page. I initially recorded a short acoustic version on my mobile, which, if you’re a regular reader here, you will know is my modus operandi.
Myself and my frequent collaborator David recorded the tune proper in March 2025, without anyone asking us to, wherein David did something more interesting than my original acoustic work. The day we recorded it we also adlibbed an argument we tacked onto the end, and David had me in stitches laughing with the choice sample he used to censor any swearing during said argument. At some point, again, without anyone asking me to, I chucked together the following wee video to accompany the tune.
I subsequently shared it on the discord for GAPM, and that ultimately resulted in none other than Scroobius Pip being subjected to our nonsense in the episode of GAPM where he was the guest.
Admittedly, I found the uncomfortable length of the tune hilarious when I first watched the episode - a jingle it is not. It didn’t help that it was played straight from the video edit I made above, which included sounds from the Patreon supporters screen, as well as the adlibbed argument. David, from what I recall, was bemused to say the least, that Scroobius Pip heard anything we’ve recorded, even if it was a piss about. Although, I’m confident Mr Pip purged the music from his brain immediately after the episode.
The song featured a few more times in the podcast, including during a live recording, and as far as I know has since been retired from the segment. I should say here, thanks to Joey and Bilal for being good sports and playing it while they did. Cheers, lads!
Late in 2025, I discovered the podcast Skingwigs, and it had been a long time since I had such belly laughs. I have a memory of laughing so hard I had to take a break from making dinner. Shortly thereafter, I joined their Patreon and jumped into their discord (a recurring theme).
At some point in January, again with not a soul asking me to, I wrote a jingle for Skinwigs. I composed it while I sat on a bench at the train station at around 06:50 awaiting my carriage to work. Prepare to be blown away by this peek behind the process curtain.
After a long day in the city, I found a second wind when I got home and jumped onto my DAW and recorded the following.
I bunged it up on the Skinwigs discord, and Sam subsequently gave it a spin on the podcast - bear with it.
In the same discord, when the birthday came around for one of the members, Michael Moran, I fell into old habits and wrote him a birthday song, again sticking to the 30 minutes maximum rule. However, I did record it in my DAW as opposed to on my mobile because it was tricky to play and sing at the same time (I’m a basic boy). This meant I could make it sound a little nicer than usual.
Shortly thereafter, Michael asked me if he could use it for his podcast You’ve Never Seen What? and I gave him the greenlight. Here it is as the intro to his most recent episode as of June 2026, wherein the one and only Sam O’Leary guests.
And to close the circle on creating tunes and whatnot for podcasts, just this past week or so, the Skinwigs podcast put out a request for fans and friends to submit footage of them lip syncing along to a song which featured on the podcast.
A little bit of context here is important. On the Skinwigs podcast, Ash Tyson discovered recordings made by her deceased father, Lee. She asked Sam to listen to the CD and every now and then Sam will play one of Lee’s strange songs on an episode of the podcast, and he did so throughout season 1. What follows is the final song from Lee’s album.
Hear me out. This tune is a wonderful study in how a melody can elevate a song to something greater than the contents of the lyrics. Sam O’Leary has reported on a subsequent episode that people around the world have connected with this song on an emotional level, even some being brought to tears. Just look at how many times people have listened to the song on Spotify (I won’t be linking to Spotify for… reasons).
The track is evidently lyrically funny, but the melody/composition is also quite beautiful. It’s absurdist dadaism at its best. That, or its reception demonstrates that the entire world is on an emotional hair-trigger. Either way, that Lee bloke had skills.
With all that context, a remixed version of Untitled in B Flat Major (Listen After I Die) was the song for which Skinwigs requested people submit their recordings of lip syncing. I took the opportunity to create something over the course of a couple of hours. Given I don’t really put my face online if I can at all help it (see my short video essay on face scans to access substack), I had to come up with another way of contributing. Here are the three options I submitted to the project.
As you can see, I stuck with my static CRT TV face and instead played with the intro to each verse visually. And just for the record, given the dystopia we live in, I made all of this the old fashioned way, using a green screen and DaVinci Resolve.
And here is the final video that came from all the submissions (and one of my comps is included - thanks Sam!).
It’s lovely to be a part of the video. Listen After I Die is now on all the streaming platforms and whatnot, so why not check it out?
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It’s been a funny few months. I’ve had a lot of fun with my music, discord, and the podcasts. But, there was one other podcast related event from last year I’d be remiss not to mention.
Back in November of 2025, myself, David, and our mate Josh from the band Josh Shipton and the Blue Eyed Ravens (who have just this week released their latest album) put together an ambitious concert and bundle of songs from artists around the world, all in aid of Palestine and Sudan. With help from the community we raised a substantial amount for three charities. I will at some point write about that experience here, but I don’t have the time or energy for that just at the moment.
The collection of songs consists of 22 tracks from artists around the globe, if I recall correctly, from at least six different countries. Here’s the album - you can listen/download for free, or pay as much as you like. This is an ongoing fundraiser for obvious reasons.
We launched the song bundle the same night as we held the concert where something like twelve acts performed. Here is the opening track that myself, David, Josh and my partner recorded - Freakshow
Once the dust had settled after a truly hectic few months, I dropped a request into the Bad Hasbara podcast discord. I asked Matt Lieb if they could give the bundle a shoutout during their What’s The Spin? feature in an upcoming episode. And a shout-out Matt did give. The episode in question is paywalled, only accessible to paying supporters, but here’s the relevant snippet, with a satirical infomercial I added after the shout-out.
This was such a lovely gesture from Matt, and I’ll forever be appreciative of the effort.
As I said, the fundraiser is still ongoing, so if you can afford a few quid, it would be great if you considered buying the song bundle and helping the people of Palestine and Sudan. If you’re not currently in a position to buy the bundle, please consider sharing it with friends. Thanks.
Funny how things just sort of domino, isn’t it? There was no great plan here to invade discords to hawk my wares, but rather I found myself in supportive creative communities where I and others shared various projects in myriad mediums. This is side of the internet that makes it all worth while.
And with that somewhat positive thought, I’ll call this post quits.
I’ll be travelling for a few weeks soon, but once I’m home again I’ll get my mega video out which will be about true crime, misinformation, and found footage.
Until then, cheers,
Fargo.