That guy from Collapsis and Athenaeum talks about stuff.
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This episode follows the creation of a new song built around the Stylophone, a small electronic instrument first introduced by Dubreq in 1968. The prompt led to an experiment with the instrument’s buzzy, unstable tone and its connection to retro electronic texture. The song was written during May 2026, while preparing full backing tracks for Porchfest. A halftime/doubletime drum feel helped shape…
www.mikegarrigan.com In this episode, I take on a prompt that felt personal from the start: create a song featuring your grandfather’s handmade folk harp. That harp has been sitting quietly in the corner of my garage studio—Two Egrets—for years. It’s not just another instrument. My grandfather, James John Garrigan Jr., built it by hand while my grandmother Nell was nearing the end of her life.…
In this episode, we start with a familiar rock-and-roll question: are you a Beatles person or a Rolling Stones person? Inspired by a line from Pulp Fiction—where Mia Wallace suggests people fall into either the Beatles or Elvis camp—we explore a slightly different divide: the polished brilliance of The Beatles versus the raw, attitude-driven energy of The Rolling Stones. From there, the…
www.mikegarrigan.com - In this episode, I trace a line from hearing Nevermind for the first time in 1991 to writing an original song inspired by its raw power and dynamic contrasts. Moving through memory, music history, and the nuts and bolts of recording, I explore how Nirvana’s quiet-loud architecture shaped not just a sound, but a way of seeing. The song “Diamonds in the Sky” becomes a vehicle…
www.mikegarrigan.com - Mike responds to the production prompt: "Create a song that is notated in its entirety before production begins." Hear a detailed behind-the-scenes account of "The Hollow Man," a new song. Topics include a commentary on John Dickson Carr's The Hollow Man and the pros and cons of notating music before recording it. Send me a Text Message.
www.mikegarrigan.com - Mike responds to the production prompt: "Create a song in the style of Pink Moon by Nick Drake." Hear a detailed behind-the-scenes account of "Revelations," a new song. Topics include how to select an alternate tuning, how to apply narrative structure to lyric writing, and how to apply specific production techniques to a given genre. Send me a Text Message.
The production lab continues. In this episode, singer/songwriter Mike Garrigan describes the process of writing, producing, and recording a song in the style of Duran Duran's Rio . Hear the result, a new song called "The Girl at Table 13." www.mikegarrigan.com Send me a Text Message.
www.mikegarrigan.com - Singer/songwriter Mike Garrigan shares his experience of being diagnosed with prostate cancer. "Mercury," a previously unreleased outtake from the "Satellites" sessions, is also featured. Send me a Text Message.
www.mikegarrigan.com - Singer/songwriter Mike Garrigan shares the eleventh experiment from his Production Lab. Given the prompt "Create a song using only the Waves SSL plugin on the channels" and a month in which to work, Mike produced "Change Your Mind." Hear the song and a detailed description of the entire creative process. Send me a Text Message.
www.mikegarrigan.com - Singer/songwriter Mike Garrigan shares the tenth experiment from his Production Lab. Given the prompt "Create a song imagined as an outtake from The Downward Spiral " and a month in which to work, Mike produced "Black Echo." Hear the song and a detailed description of the entire creative process. Notes: The featured song is inspired by the Michael Connelly novel of the same…