More 2025 singles: Digital Twin, Papermoney and A Place of Love

After The Sycamore Falls, I've had three more singles out this year, all of which have been played live as well.

Digital Twin came out in June; I'd always had it in mind as a song and Neet Neilson then wrote the lyrics and sang them.  Can a computer program duplicate a person?  Despite the ethics, the attempts to do so date right back to the early days of computing and the Simulmatics Corporation.

Here's me talking about it at Red Eye studios in Clydebank on the 9th of May 2025:

https://youtu.be/B26Ly4_EqyU?si=qP2tjIR9J8fy3bJj

It's a departure from my usual rhythm but, at the same time, more of a return to the heavy synth sound of Rain of Diamonds or Checkmate In Shadows - strangely enough, another early programming quest was getting computers to play chess at grandmaster level.

The video was also from Neet and it can be found here:

https://youtu.be/Ma4tKLwa0OM?si=btG6GHuoq9TrFE7r

Papermoney in September was that rare thing, one of my own lyrics, sung by me.  Music-wise I wanted a synth sound that kept changing, so I set up something which would alter its tone with each new bar.  This used to be the stuff of modular synths but the modulation on a lot of software synths can be set up for it.

I read The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists a while ago; I didn't like it because the characters never felt real and were only there to express the author's own ideals.  One thing did stick with me and it is how the socialists described the society they wanted; that it would be near moneyless.  Coins would still exist for small transactions but wealth that could be accumulated was to be done away with.

John Lennon had that line about "Imagine No Possessions" and, given his wealth at the time, he barely got away with it.  If he really wanted to mess with people's heads it should have been "Imagine No Money" but that would have gone down even worse.  It's a good question though; all modern civilisations had this idea that our work and resources are translated into money, which then is translated into other items but has all the accompanying complications.

What if we decided to do away with it?  It's a human invention after all, just as much as the wheel or the microchip.

So, going back to the book, I used the already old-fashioned term of "paper money".  Our notes are now all plastic and cash isn't used as much as it used to be anyway - not a good move in my opinion, but that's a rant for another time.  Should it be a paper tiger, something unreal that people are made to fear?  The cost of living crisis has, unfortunately, made it clear that we need the stuff.

There are swipes at consumerism (the same reason as one of the instrumentals is called Last Year's Colour) but I'm never going to be as good at this stuff as "Funk Pop A Roll" by XTC (another group I love) so maybe I shouldn't try to compete.  Again, people are now struggling to pay for the things they do need, never mind the stuff they don't, and I don't want to sound like a notorious MP telling us we can feed ourselves on 30p a day.

After hearing it, Neet's friend Donna talked to me about the work of Alan Watts, including his tale of many countries' gold reserves being lost in a natural disaster but carrying on regardless anyway.  So, it's all as much an illusion as Bitcoin is.

No video, as I don't make them myself, but here it is on Bandcamp:
Papermoney | Nation Stole My Robots

And so the Christmas.  I had the combination of a church organ and a motorik beat (how very me!) for a long while but when the tune eventually took shape I passed it to Neet in December 2024 and suggested it as a Christmas song!  Clearly there would not have been time to put it out then but the opportunity was there to write the lyrics and then wait until a sunny day in August before recording them.

It’s not as though there’s loads of modern Christmas songs I like, although I do think “Stop the Cavalry” is genius, hence the original choice of title - All Over By Christmas.  Then Ladytron claimed that one and if there ever was an act that made me do what I'm doing now, they're it.  So, after talking about other titles and themes, Neet came up with A Place Of Love.  All that, plus her video and our barely-rehearsed live performance at Charlie's Loft, was ready for the end of November.

https://youtu.be/bun3qoYGkKY?si=s2qBjSFnjdPuaqV1

The Sycamore Falls

After Neet had released one of her solo singles, Bus Pass, I felt inspired to look closer at those pre-Beatles era slowies myself:

https://youtu.be/1RW1qe8TfZM?si=QAIR55VVv3pteOyU

I've also wanted to do something along the lines of what Angelo Badalamenti and Julee Cruise did for the Twin Peaks soundtrack.  It was tried in both a swung rhythm and straight one and the straight one won.

I had one tiny idea for the lyric but Neet had a better one; The Sycamore Gap in Northumberland.  In Neet's words:

"This heartfelt song mourns the loss of the iconic Sycamore Gap tree — once a silent witness to countless memories. Its absence now echoes through the landscape it once graced. Yet its spirit lives on: in film, in the hearts of those who stood beneath it, and in song."

Neet premiered the song with her guitar at an open mike at Charlie's Loft in December 2024 and I joined her there on keyboards and bass to play it again in January and February 2025.  This was a keeper.

It has also taken us in a new direction, both musically and visually.  It's the first time that hardware instruments appear on a Nation Stole My Robots release: bass guitar and a Roland Juno 6 synth.  It's also our first video with dedicated location shooting, as Neet took her cameras to Northumberland.

https://youtu.be/IUXmr4MnE5o?si=7PPoyPnn4n5Of_LK

The song can be bought on BandCamp -

The Sycamore Falls | Nation Stole My Robots featuring Neet Neilson | Nation Stole My Robots

The song can also be played on your preferred streaming service - 

The Sycamore Falls (feat. Neet Neilson) by Nation Stole My Robots - DistroKid

New single and starting out on live appearances

The new single from Neet Neilson and I came out at the end of February - here's the video for Rain of Diamonds:
Rain of Diamonds - YouTube

It can be bought at BandCamp:

Rain of Diamonds | Nation Stole My Robots featuring Neet Neilson | Nation Stole My Robots

I've also finally come around to doing stuff live.  Neet had already performed Sycamore - which we have yet to release - at Charlie's Loft in Milngavie in December 2024 but we've used the open mike events at Charlie's Loft in January and February 2025 to perform:

• Rain of Diamonds
• Sycamore

Plus two of my solo songs which are also yet to be released:

• Papermoney
• Happy Customers

I'm on the lookout for other open mike events in and around Glasgow which would be a good fit.

Nation Stole My Robots singles

I'd made my mind up that 2024 was just going to be singles so that's how I've carried on.  I had a number of collaborations coming up but there were solo ones as well

I brought out Sub-Space as a solo instrumental out in August 2024.  All software synths come with a Blade Runner button and I found this one very quickly:

Sub Space | Nation Stole My Robots

An earlier instrumental, Make It Look Like an Accident, had gone viral on Spotify over spring and summer and people got in touch afterwards.  An artist in Guatemala, BLOOOOO, wanted to collaborate so I dusted off my schoolkid Spanish and said "sí".

Just around then, I lost patience with TuneCore, who were publishing my work for the streaming services.  Much is made of bot services that artificially inflate the number of plays you get on Spotify - 21st century payola, basically - and publishers take measures against it.  Unfortunately, the crooks running the bots will often add artists without their consent as a blackmail move and rival artists sometimes do this to each other also.  One of my tunes was added against my will to a botted playlist and I reported this to Spotify within 48 hours.  Unfortunately TuneCore put the suspicion on me and prevented me from further collaborations, while at the same time not actually revealing the details of their suspicions - which makes it very difficult for customers to defend themselves.  My year's subscription was coming up so I decided I didn't need these comedians any more.  I switched to using DistroKid in November 2024.

Now with Distrokid, I have done two singles collaborating online with BLOOOOO.  Taking turns at English and Spanish language titles, Advanced Passenger was first:
https://open.spotify.com/track/4qU8r8yI39rZitU7eHridw?si=a6ba7a1389184ed9

This was going to be called "The APT" but the Bruno Mars/ROSÉ single was announced just as we were mixing.  So much for evoking the technological future you were promised that never arrived!

Policristalino followed in January 2025:
https://open.spotify.com/track/7aLvTzwRPTJdb1w0z37AVK?si=16d5e19176614fca

All the while back here in Glasgow, there was another song written with Neet Neilson, Stealing Voices, which does recall the sounds both Neet and I grew up with:
https://open.spotify.com/track/0a4SYncbVez811pJNu28MH?si=ee0bddc1734042e5

The Colour Strike - brand new single

https://youtu.be/58Bqko0Hqng

The brand new single has its first airplay tonight on Spectrum On Air's "Let's Get It On" with Suzanne Letting.  The show starts at 8pm/20:00 BST at

https://www.mixcloud.com/live/spectrumonair/

and is then available afterwards at 

www.mixcloud.com/suzanne-letting

I've been sitting on this one for a while but it's time for it to make its Motorik-y way out into the world.

Music Life

Since I last wrote here, I have gone back into playing and writing music after many years away.  I record and perform as Nation Stole My Robots and I now have collaborations out as well as solo stuff.  Here are a few links:

The video for Checkmate In Shadows, my recent single with Neet Neilson:

https://youtu.be/RUNYLK0iSqM?si=qeeDQfKANWj66AIL

My BandCamp site:

Music | Nation Stole My Robots (bandcamp.com)

My Spotify artist profile:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/6FKjT86UkyLGUhEnMNDLc2?si=LdHKdz1iS2WgbB7ulDZPWA

Do the Wham Limbo

The rule is simple; starting on the first of December, you have to avoid hearing “Last Christmas” by Wham.  A colleague’s daughter thought she had lost but, to her relief, had only heard a cover version.  My own daughter lasted until the 21^st of December but her simple ploy was to come straight home from school and play Fallout 4.  Walking into a shop, or switching on a mainstream radio station, could easily lose you the game.

It’s not a song I have any real problem with – it’s from the days when George Michael still wrote tunes rather than dirges or resorted to samples – but it does show up one thing: a lack of Christmas songs.

Christmas music has been boiled down to no more than twenty songs that probably fit onto one CD.  Imagine you work in a shop: you will have this hour of music repeated and repeated all through your working day over the distended season in the run up to Christmas.  If you actually do work in a shop, you may have already chewed your left hand off.  I know the companies have a deal with the PRS, but some bright spark did invent the MP3 player a while back; it doesn’t always have to be the same hour of music, in the same order.

I wouldn’t mind if it weren’t the musical equivalent to turkey or sprouts; some people might like it if it’s done right, some people never will, but few ever dare complain.  Spotify, or an indie radio station, may try to come up with alternatives but your local supermarket is not going to put on St Etienne just for you, so dream on.

So what is this limited canon of Christmas songs?

First of all, forget anything religious, despite the fact that you know the tunes and probably the words too.

Merry Xmas Everybody just repeats the same few bars again and again to drag itself out to full length, but is always played until the end because of the “it’s Christmas” shout at the finish.  Slade wrote better songs than that.  I prefer a lot of Roy Wood songs over I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day, but at least it knows how to keep my interest for four minutes.

When did Santa Baby become a thing?  It just horridly panders to every stereotype about gold-digging women.

Fairytale of New York is the band for people who pretend to be Irish singing a song for people who pretend to hate Christmas.  That’s one hell of a Venn diagram.

Shakin’ Stevens may have made his name as a rockabilly revival act but, oddly, his pension seems to be riding on Merry Christmas Everyone.  He’d be coining it even more if he had written it.

So much of what you hear is a cluster of songs from about 1973/74 with another peak around 1984/85, on a never-ending loop.  The Pogues and Mariah Carey are as recent as it gets.  Some things appear to be falling out of fashion.  Anything from Phil Spector’s Christmas Gift… album has been pushed aside, which is a shame.  Last time I looked, The Ronettes weren’t gun nuts serving a prison sentence for killing someone.  I hear the John Lennon/Yoko Ono song less each year (this might be the Phil Spector effect again.)  Relative oddities like Merry Christmas by The Waitresses seem to have had their day, too.

Is there a Christmas song you’d want added?  Please remember to think of anyone less fortunate than yourself at Christmas, such as anyone paid minimum wage who has to endure this stuff for two months.