Tassel of Blue has been dissolved...

[Harbinger]

For those who don't know, Tassel of Blue, both the person and the vband, has declared herself retired. Yjana says she just does not have any interest anymore in tracking, and is concentrating instead on being a housewife and trying to become a mother. She actually retired about 6 months ago and we were in the middle of producing her 5th album, "Ripple FX," but between my new job and hers, we were meeting less and less at the computer (where we put all our ideas together in ModPlug), and eventually the "i just don't feel inspired" became "i'm not interested in it anymore." I've wondered if it actually has been the lack of positive feedback or perhaps no profit motive to spur her on, but she has denied these have had anything to do with it.
I delayed telling you all because i hoped she was only semi-retired and was just waiting for the ghost to come back. Believe me, i tried to get her to just put it off till the ideas come back to her, but she's told me over and over how adamant she is, that she really has no desire to do tracking anymore. The only interest she still shows in music is her occasional drumming (for tension release more than anything, i guess) and her iPod.
I know most of you didn't even know who Yjana or ToB was, but for those who did, she has allowed me to share Tassel of Blue's music with any of my colleagues online, including this site. The license will be under the Creative Commons License, in which if you share your copy or chop it up for your own music, you simply need to give credit to the author (in this case Tassel of Blue). I will be releasing some her best music in the near future at TraxinSpace.com (you'll need to be registered to listen or download), and mentioning it here at ModPlug Central. Look in the Free Downloads section under Harbinger to find her music.

[Saga Musix]

Sorry to hear about that. I think many of us have gone through a phase like this, some for a longer time, some for a shorter time, so there is still hope that the spirit of tracking will catch her again in a near or distant future. But of course it doesn't help to force people making music, so I guess all we can do is waiting until something happens, no matter how many years it will take her... There are people returning to the demo and tracking scene every now and then who were active in the early 90s on the Amiga, so it's well possible that she will finally make her return at some point in time as well.

The license will be under the Creative Commons License

Good choice!

[Harbinger]

When she told me i could release the songs under any license i wanted, that's how i knew she was done -- she's no longer interested in holding onto her artwork...


I've thought about what could possibly have led her down this path, and in talking to her (playing some sort of psychoanalyst), i have gathered some thoughts about her turning away from this particular artform:

1. Probably the biggest contributing factor was the lack of positive feedback from colleagues. But, she closed herself off from a circle of tracker friends, so she brought this on herself a little. And the feedback she got from ME drew us closer as friends, but that alone usually doesn't inspire an artist very long.

2. My own feeling is that she got into tracking to try to impress me somehow. I was impressed, and that objective is no longer there to drive her.

3. She is now focusing on "higher" forms of creativity, such as motherhood and nest-building. She has made comments before of how those seem to her like the greatest of arts. Let's face it -- bringing forth an empty vessel like a human being does make tracking look sort of menial and even ignominious...

4. She seems to be studying more on American history and other academic studies, as i'm finding her reading alot of textbooks she gets from the library, as if she's trying to get an American education by herself. She used to occupy spare time with tracking, now it's reading quietly.


All these things combined has been the major factors to help her lose interest in the composition side of music. But she still helps me with my projects, when i'm working on them, and is still eager to sit down and do drums for recording. So she hasn't lost the music bug; she's just not interested in being a tracker, i guess...

[Rakib]

But Harbinger, will we see more tracks from you?
And will you continue your activity on the forums, I especially enjoy your reviews on song in the forums, well thought out and argumented reviews that are fun to read.

[Harbinger]

Well thanks Rakib! Your praise is heartwarming!

I'm doing other (non-musical) projects right now. And with RL -- esp. my new job -- i'm left without inspiration. The home is undergoing rapid changes, but my computer studio is still the same. The most recent projects i worked on were with Yjana, and we completed a few, which i will be mentioning here soon. (All of ToB's projects will be available at TiS, but threaded here at ModPlug Central.)

I still find time to review other people's tracks, which i'm doing heavily at TiS, but only for genres which i feel qualified to critique. I don't have an appreciation for hiphop or rap, so i leave that to others to critique. And i'm rarely in the mood to experiment with "Other" musics, altho with enough description, my interest may be piqued.
I still want to review my colleagues' music here -- IF i can get it. The computer at the office is restricted from downloading from just anywhere, so i have to wait until i get to the library to DL for example Oliwerko's tracks, and that only happens maybe once a month. TiS, however, has not been restricted on this server.

So i've slowed down again, but i haven't forgotten this site. I still use only MPT for all my tracking so i haven't abandoned ModPlug Central for other sites.

Thanks for the interest...