Bouncy Peanuts jumps around A minor chords with a few playfully splashy instruments over a rumbling bass line. Marimbaa arpeggios and shimmering echoing stabs ricochet around while big meaty, subby kick punches the floor. Variations on the only chord in the tune lend variety, especially when instruments cycle through ninths and sevenths. An abundance of parts that bounce around nudge us forward through the builds toward the conclusion.

Unexpected Scenario let me play around with a few effects units I usually leave alone, like Beat Repeat and multiband dynamics. The glitchy stuttery way the Beat Repeat ricochets off the stabs, melody, and arpeggios adds a little urgency to the track. The multiband dynamics on the bass instruments beef up the sound a little more than I’d anticipated.

We’re in D minor this time. A few chords wander off the beaten path, especially on the high stabs, but not startlingly so. A fast arpeggiated chord wobbles up top after the first break down, counterbalancing a high melody with a bit of frantic twitch.

Now to see how this sounds in the mix.

Pellucid Concinnity concludes a stop-and-start month with a groove that ended up feeling a little darker and more spaced out. I started a few other tracks this month, none of which gelled like this one did.

We’re starting out with a DJ-friendly four-on-the-floor beat, stripped back to the bare essentials: a kick, a snare, and a closed hi-hat. The languid chord on Gm–Bbm gives the track a tonal foundation, although it’s a chord change in an unusual place. Another chorded synthesizer and arpeggiated bell give a bit of depth to the tune. A synth baritone line pulses a syncopation in two variations over a deep bass that throbs under the floor.

Purple Lunatic opens 2012 with a simple tech house track in which a few stabs, a couple of bass lines, and a trimmed down drum kit build a groove without too much clutter.

Two different stabs accompany a bouncing electric piano chord over a punchy staccato bass. After the first breakdown, a big deep subby bass rumbles underneath to lend a sense of depth.

This track is a little less busy than many of my recent tracks. Hopefully, it got your head bobbing.

Electric Reverie closes a challenging year by taking us into a daydream about the future. Multiple chorded rhythms pulse along over a heartbeat bass line. A bouncing lead comes out of the sky in the middle of the tune, shimmering in descent toward the foot of the track.

This piece completes a dozen tracks in 2011. When I initially restarted completing tracks in July with Do It Anyway, I envisioned myself writing a track a week like I did in 2008. But, given the volume of Digeum mixes, I didn’t want to overwhelm anybody (including myself) with a deluge of music.

I hope 2012 finds you all happy, successful, and healthy. Happy New Year!

Rings of Endeavor celebrates binary day with a nice mellow groove. We start with a dance around the minor seventh stabs, joined by the drum line and an off-beat bass line. This track was originally written at 128 bpm, but it felt so nice at 121. A quirky rhythmic synthesizer comes in and spices up the top end. A slow arpeggio sneaks in underneath.

In the middle, we meet a new pad, ringing through once per measure. At first, it hangs out by itself until a few friends from earlier say hello and join in. Near the end, everyone mingles, the original chords come back and we’re just nodding our heads to the groove as the overtones spin around up in the sky.

Specters at the Door, the first track I’ve finished in my studio since Analog Dragons five weeks ago, speaks of two types of specters — tykes in costumes, stalking my neighborhood for candy, and the specter of excuses, stalking my psyche to sap my productivity and time.

We’re at a nice mellow 125 beats per minute on this crisp Halloween night, scratching a track for October out while there’s still time to avoid leaving a hole in the calendar. We begin with some four-on-the-floor percussion, anchored by a bass instrument that started out as a dulcimer. A bouncing lead line sneaks in and soon plays hide-and-seek with a warm analog pad in C minor.

After the first build, we slide into another lead, which tumbles down the chord and splashes into a C minor 9 at the bottom. A big spooky gong rings out in the dark. Just after the second build, we let the leads swap chord partners and dance until they all join together at the end.

I only just noticed that this is the tenth new song of the year. On Thursday, I’m going to see how this mixes into a Digeum mix. I hope you liked it.

Analog Dragons breathes fire into the end of summer, celebrating the warmest days of the year after a cool season that almost seemed like spring had been extended to fall. This jaunty little tune started out at a much higher tempo, but felt very rushed.

A syncopated bouncing high snare line, filtered to smithereens, jumps right in after a slightly awry hi-hat and lower snare. A plucky chord drips from somewhere. The metallic melody rings through the opening, joined by a longer pulsing organ-like chord. A bouncing rhythm highlights the root and ninth, all over a double-headed bassline, breathing fire from below.

Most of the sounds I’m using here were sampled from analog synthesizers from the 1980s and early 1990s. We’re in G minor here. It feels really nice at 124 beats per minute. I hope you like it.

Amorphous Conversations is a reminiscence of times past, from the foundation to the shingles. I recently acquired a large collection of sounds sampled from old analog synthesizers and, other than the percussion, all of the sounds here come from that collection.

With a kick/snare/clap percussion line that harkens back two decades, a double bass line, including a punchy modified 303-esque instrument, rumbles in the basement. Splashy chords and stabs punctuate the music and two melody lines vie for a little slice of the mix. A strange ethereal build adds some chaos to the room before fluttering out into the sky.

Patterns in the Shed is a celebration of freedom, the excitement of drafting new plans and incorporating action steps into what’s next. A pulsing metallic beacon emerges from the drums and welcomes a like-minded organ.

After the first build, a playfully bouncing lead coaxes a shy glassy arpeggio into the party. In the third act, they’re both joined by an off-kilter chord that seems to want to bump into everybody, throwing harmonics all over the playground. Bring it on, bumpy.

This sucked me in very quickly and, before I knew it, hours had gone by. May this song find you nodding along in good spirits.