Something lurks and looms…

That sounded weird. Anyway, I’m talking about RPM Challenge 2026! It’s a challenge I do every year; start and finish an album in February. Each year the challenge manages to be incredibly frustrating and incredibly exciting all at once. It’s also embarrassing because it NEVER feels done. I always finish wishing that I had one more week to work with. But that’s the point, right? Forcing yourself to be creative and just taking what comes with it. What I like most is that each year there’s at least 1 song in the project that I’m proud of and would re-record in the future [the project of RPM re-recordings is gonna be legendary].

It isn’t meant to be a contest, so there aren’t any steadfast “rules”. However, the basic idea is: create an original project that has at least 10 tracks or 35 minutes of music. A few years ago they relaxed the expectation a bit; you can sign-up to complete either: a single (1-4 songs), 1 EP (at least 5 songs/10 minutes) or an album (as above). It wasn’t like this back in 2018, I tell ya what. I actually made new Soundcloud accounts so I could post more music; 2018’s project was by ReleaseTheHeretic (remind me to use that name more often!).

As you can tell I’m already thinking ahead. I never expect to start the ENTIRE project from scratch each year, so this is the time to pull out any half-finished riffs or lyrics and get to work. This week the only goal is to pick a title. That’s it. I usually go to my trusty ol’ title generator for something random to start with. But I have another random word-thing that I’ll use, gonna save the results for next week.

OR I find some actual inspiration in the next week or two. Not likely, but still! I want to have these plans done by the 26th so I can hit the ground running.

In case you wanted to hear some of my past RPM projects:

FENTANYL CHIC (2025)

WASTED (2024)

Proud Idiot (2023)

Demode (2021)

Rough (2018)

You’ll probably notice that some years are missing and the ones that are here aren’t complete. Some of these aren’t online anymore, strictly because I need the space for other music (aka I’m too lazy to pay for more storage). Songs and recordings ranging from terrible to “this ain’t bad”. Here’s to making RPM 2026 the best one yet! \m/

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Last Liked Song: “Midas Touch” by Midnight Star.

If you’re my age, you’re probably heard your uncles and aunts listening to this one.