the despair of youth

Stun Nutz

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Description

Alternating between calm, irritating, funny, and sad... this is a keyboard jam session with my kids gone horribly wrong. Boy, even when things get ugly, you still love 'em...!

Disclaimer: Jake sounds like a total menace here, but it is a rarity. Most of the time he is a quiet, mild-mannered kid, honest! Also, for those of you who are worried about why it seems like I am not comforting my kids, read my response to screamalexz, below...

Oh, and one more thing... that's Emma in the photo (she is the one crying at the end of the song). Believe it or not, those are her real tears.

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Song Stats

Hits: 2659
Comments: 45
Fans: 10
Plays: 459
Downloads: 94
Votes: 25
Uploaded: Feb 23, 2006 - 07:00:43 PM
Last Updated: Feb 24, 2006 - 04:24:48 AM Last Played: Jun 26, 2009 - 01:18:39 PM

Song License

Creative Commons License:
Attribution-NoDerivs-NonCommercial

Song Actions

Keywords:

kids (36), children (54), family disturbance (1), tears (40), crying (15), screaming (16), Dr. Phil (2), Nanny 911 (1), social services (1)

Hardware:

Video camera (for recording sounds), Casiotone 7000, Mac G4 and G5

Software:

iMovie, Wiretap, GarageBand

Comments

Macaudion	Macaudion said 1354 days ago (February 23rd, 2006)
	There gonna come and get both of us I spend my sitting around waiting for a new bit by a cup a cheese... As twisted as he is, I lyke it. And I lyke it alowt. Really dew. REALLY! I dew... Did I sense a little bit of rearing goin on in this... A Team of therapist for you... - Delberte I think I'm gonna need to make some kids... lol Check out my latest song called 123 iGetU

	said 1354 days ago (February 23rd, 2006)
	nize fantastic song!

Stun Nutz	Stun Nutz said 1354 days ago (February 23rd, 2006)
	cool thanks for listening, Delberte and Brandon... I know this isn't an easy listen. Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

screamalexz	screamalexz said 1354 days ago (February 23rd, 2006)
	creative. the keyboard part is beautiful, seems surprising you recorded your kids in such an uproar, you'd think you'd be calming them.. though it does make for an interesting piece of music. this is rather creative, i like how there's percussion that builds and adds alot in the middle Check out my latest song called Die (Album Version)

Stun Nutz

Stun Nutz said 1354 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

creative.
Thanks screamalexz... I knew someone might bring that point up... the
instances of me speaking out were removed from this... somehow, I
didn't want to be a part of this tune. I think I wanted the music to act as
a sort of "calming effect". But, yeah... I repeatedly tried to calm Jake
down and even screamed out "Stop It!" at one point. During the whole
ending segment, I held a crying Emma on my lap as she quieted down.
Through all this, the video camera on the ground recording the whole
thing...

Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

screamalexz	screamalexz said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)
	creative. ahh i thought there was an explanation. it does work best with out your voice in there. very creative. nice job. --- Robert Smith lied, boys do cry Check out my latest song called Die (Album Version)

	said 1354 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	This is Unnerving This is exceptional, but I don't think I'll be downloading it.

Stun Nutz

Stun Nutz said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

This is Unnerving
What? You mean we made some noise the mighty Mungo can't handle!? Such a
wimp... ha ha! No, all kidding aside, I don't blame you. It's probably not
anything you want to hear over and over again. People with kids may relate
better, too... or at least they will be a little more de-sensitized to crying children
(see MissChaos, below!). Would I be right if I guessed that you don't have kids?

Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

	said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	This is Unnerving None that I know of. ;) --- Ars longa, vita brevis.

MissChaos	MissChaos said 1354 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	hey This sounds like my house! We really ought to get our twins together. They can have a little Princess Jam Session. Could be the song of the millenium. This is just really cool... makes the 3 yr old temper tantrums a little more tolerable if you know you can show your kids this in front of their prom dates. :-) Check out my latest song called Mama Cries - Album Version (MJRF)

Stun Nutz

Stun Nutz said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

Thanks for listening, MissChaos!
Someday we will get them all together...we have to!
I thought you might relate to this in some way. Even though the real kid
throwing the tantrum here is Jake (he is seven years old now), it is usually the
girls crying about something... Jake is normally the quiet one. Yeah, you know
how it goes... with three year old girls... sometimes every time you turn your
head they are upset about something! We sure love 'em though.

Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

datafunk	datafunk said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	hard tears that was awsome stun, one of my fav I think, your prod is tremendous and the idea... well quite nutzy. it kinds of remind me a song by Laurent Garnier in 'the cloud making machine' album in which he sampled kid voices. great great great, I'm downloading it. Check out my latest song called Dr Lioli vs the seven blender army (feat Dr Lioli as himself)

datafunk	datafunk said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	hard tears euh stun... do you mind if i sample your kids? --- think, it ain't illegal yet Check out my latest song called Dr Lioli vs the seven blender army (feat Dr Lioli as himself)

Stun Nutz	Stun Nutz said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	hard tears sure, data, go ahead... I just don't want everyone sampling them crying. I have a feeling you will do something good with it, though. Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

Magritte

Magritte said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

Surprisingly awesome
I'm really not good with hearing kids cry (I get upset myself) but the production you did on them and the "soundtrack" you played over them actually makes this work in a funny, if somewhat creepy, way. (Creepy only if I didn't know the context...funny since I do.) I thought I'd have to stop this after a few seconds but you got me to listen to the whole thing! Great job taking one of the less joyful aspects of parenting and making something special out of it. Have your kids heard this?

Check out my latest song called Tango Macabre

Stun Nutz	Stun Nutz said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	Surprisingly awesome My kids have not heard this yet, but I do not intend to keep it a secret from them. I just want to make sure I present it to them in the right way... Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

Stun Nutz	Stun Nutz said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	Surprisingly awesome There are so many complex emotions this piece evokes... I want to make sure my kids "get" what I think I have done and that my intention wasn't to upset them, or put them on display in a negative way. I may even have to wait until they are older, to tell you the truth... I hope that isn't the wrong thing to do. Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

Magritte

Magritte said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)

Surprisingly awesome
Of course not. You know your kids and what they can handle. You'll know when will be the best time for them to hear it. A certain detached sense of humor about yourself would be needed to hear this, I think, and that's pretty advanced for little kids. I'm just glad you didn't wait to share it until all of US were more grown up.

Check out my latest song called Tango Macabre

drakonis

drakonis said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

Wow!
Talk about getting under your skin... I think most of us parents find
this rather disturbing and strangely humorous at the same time. What
you've done (very well, I think) is encapsulate those emotions and
deliver them via eardrops. Like Magritte, I get very uncomfortable
hearing screaming children, but at the same time, there's sort of a
Schadenfreude delight in knowing that (1) its somebody else's
problem, and (2) other parents go through this as well, its not just me.
Strangely therapeutic. And I think you mixed this really well into a
parental-nightmare-concoction. When should you play this for your
kids? When they're teenagers about to go on a date, maybe? Or maybe
when they're parents themselves and want you to babysit their little
ones. They won't get the full effect yet. I'v emarked this as a Fave, not
because I could listen to it very often, but because this is very well
mixed to create a strong emotional punch! Well done.
ttfn,
Drakonis

Check out my latest song called Temporal Tantrum (Sister Savage Mix)

Stun Nutz

Stun Nutz said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

Wow!
I like that... a "parental nightmare concoction"... ha ha! Thanks for the
Comments, Drak... when people contribute thoughts like these, It helps
me come to terms with the music I just created. I start to realize why I
made certain choices that just felt necessary at the time. All to often,
when I finish a tune I say to myself "what the heck did I just make?"...
and that is usually followed by "Oh well, let's just put it out there and
see what everyone else says about it"... eeek, I hope this all makes
sense.

Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

aclarke

aclarke said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)

I don't miss these days
My kids are now 12 and 7, so the screaming bit is (mostly) gone... doesn't
mean that tantrums are. They've just evolved further and have discovered
different tools to attempt their manilpulation of Mom and Dad.

As a parent I know these sounds... never really enjoyed them in my own
house, but very interesting from yours ;)

Extremely interesting and well presented.

Check out my latest song called Ballad of The Little Tiki

perceptualvortex	perceptualvortex said 1353 days ago (February 24th, 2006)
	Ha I never thought those hideous wailing noises could ever make me laugh, but there you have it. Nice production and really, powerfully curious and interesting. Check out my latest song called Machine Man (w Beastie Boys)

Ms Miss	Ms Miss said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)
	Hi This sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a horror film. Oh wait! This is the soundtrack of our house! Did I like it? I did actually lol. Check out my latest song called Ding Dong Merrily on High/Good King Wenceslas

Ms Miss	Ms Miss said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)
	Hi My 2 year old looked up at me while this was playing and said "Baby...Cwy." Too funny. --- "At dawn, look to the East." Gandalf Check out my latest song called Ding Dong Merrily on High/Good King Wenceslas

Magritte	Magritte said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)
	Hi That...is adorable. I love how kids can be so blase about other kids's tantrums. Maybe it's a junior version of that Schadenfreude drak mentioned: "Whoever that child is, I certainly am relieved that I am not subject to whatever negative forces are causing her unseemly outburst." Of course, ten minutes later... Check out my latest song called Tango Macabre

Ms Miss	Ms Miss said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)
	Hi This sounds like it could be the soundtrack for a horror film. Oh wait! This is the soundtrack of our house! Did I like it? I did actually lol. Check out my latest song called Ding Dong Merrily on High/Good King Wenceslas

	said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)
	Cool Man... I can not find a word. This is great I love it. Thanks for sharing it. ---- Skean

Ms Miss

Ms Miss said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)

Am I a monster?
Stun, the first time I heard it I laughed throughout the entire song.
Maybe it is because I am also a parent of three, and not that I have
grown insensitive to children crying, but I have become good at
knowing what kind of cries I'm hearing. What really made me laugh is
your introduction of this being a "keyboard jam gone horribly wrong."
I can just see you setting up the keyboard and video camera with the
best intentions, then this happening.

But the amazing part is that you took what resulted and made
something beautiful out of it. This must have been hard for you,
hearing the cries of "agony" over and over again as you pieced this
song together. Especially that your son is crying that he wants the
song deleted, and here you are making a song out of it and posting it.
I doubt your son will ever find the humor in it.

As far as the composition aspect of it, I absolutely love how the
accompaniment goes from delightful and excited (here's dad setting up
the keyboard, I can't wait!) to frenetic to bleak and barely progressing
(what have I gotten myself into) to calming. The form is perfectly
married to the reality that was this experiment gone wrong. Genius.

Oh, and the beginning, where you took a whimper and used it as a
subtle melodic element, it was foreshadowing in its purest sense. I
didn't catch it until about the fourth listen.

And now after listening to it multiple times I am comparing this song
to those Time photos of the year that are beautiful images of
sometimes terrible situations. That's what I see here. Very cool.

Compositionally your best song yet.

Check out my latest song called Ding Dong Merrily on High/Good King Wenceslas

pooey

pooey said 1352 days ago (February 25th, 2006)

Am I a monster?
Whoops! Now that my wife is a MJ member, I am forgetting to check who is
logged in!

That previous comment is from me. Pooey. Okay.

And yea, I would wait a good number of years before I showed this song to your
kids. Not that anything wrong has been done here, just that they won't
(especially Jake) won't get it. I know from similar experiences with my kids. Like
trying to get them on video tape, and they fight and fuss. Then we play it back,
they just don't think its as funny as we parents do.

---
I Am Canadian

Check out my latest song called Wake Up (Pooey Remix)

	said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)
	Yikes! This was such a skin crawling experience, but beautiful at the same time. I couldn't help but laugh a few times throughout this though. I would wait a little before presenting this to your children, especially Jake. Excellent job Eric. N.O.W%u2122 (aka MHz)

HGB

HGB said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)

Just wonderin'
Have you ever thought to yourself, while either someone or a group of people are all talking and (your not , at the moment)just listening, and think to yourself, bablyon is when people are just talking and really if you were playing a nice soft melody, maybe they might all stop and just relax........Just a thought..... Liked your piece, creative insight..-HGB

Check out my latest song called Tobbaco Road(Updated Live Version)

Stun Nutz

Stun Nutz said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)

Just wonderin'
Yeah! That is exactly what I was thinking as I was playing the ascending
tones at the end of this song. I was playing them while I was holding
Emma on my lap... she was crying, but calming down... I kept playing...
(the ascending bass line was then added in later in GB).

It would be great, though, if music could be used to calm even the
hairiest of situations in everyday life. It does work, sometimes, when my
kids are crying in the car... I will put on some quiet music and slowly
fade it in... they slowly get quiet...

Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

jmt	jmt said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)
	to mind the Chilling and excellent! Brings to mind the feelings I experienced when I heard Lou Reed's "Berlin" the first time, with the kids crying and screaming and pleading... Thankfully your story has a happy ending. Check out my latest song called mARINERS lULLABY

Tom Atwood	Tom Atwood said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)
	What is the proper reaction to this? I found myself laughing, almost uncontrollably, about 2/3rds of the way through this. Excellent musical bed, Eric. Perfect. I guess I was laughing because my kids are older, but I do remember moments like this. The despair. The agony. The screams. Wonderful! 10-10-10-10 Check out my latest song called Keep Looking for Jesus (MJRF)

Stun Nutz	Stun Nutz said 1351 days ago (February 26th, 2006)
	What is the proper reaction to this? Yeah, the big scream probably got ya... right? Well, that's OK... You lived through raising kids... you deserve it... go ahead and have a good laugh at my family's expense!!! Ha ha! It seems like the people with kids enjoy this the most. I thought that might happen. Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

JOAN	JOAN said 1350 days ago (February 27th, 2006)
	cool soundtrack reminds me of a thusday night joan session!!!! Check out my latest song called MUD

K.I.S.KISMET

K.I.S.KISMET said 1349 days ago (February 28th, 2006)

Sweet and sour
Awesome idea! You have taken this take and made such a fine piece of art. I thought it was especially cool that your playing harmonized with the tantrum. I need to download this and put it on my alarm clock. It's so pleasant to start (saying get up sun shine), then if, hell when, I continue to be lazy the song would surely get me on my toes at the scream.

Check out my latest song called haud lux lucis

Eccentrikamerika

Eccentrikamerika said 1349 days ago (February 28th, 2006)

!!!!!
i come back to this only to be disappointed that my previous blah
didn't post.
i rambled on about this piece being a fulcrum between that which
you do so well with that which you have previously only flirted
with.
it's hard to come up with a proper description of what this piece
makes me feel. it's a balance between insanity, peace, fulfillment
and it's opposite.
unlike so many, the crying kidz don't effect me so much anymore.
after living with this track for a few days, i've come to accept them
as an instrument somehting like bagpipes- ya gotta heave until
you can't breath and they still sound soulfully horrid.
i'm in constant awe of your ability to manufacture a specific, cold
bliss out of what you can get your fingers and thumbs on.
north, miss tessbacher, north!

Check out my latest song called Car Go Fast

ledebutant	ledebutant said 1349 days ago (February 28th, 2006)
	Hey! My blah didn't post either! Basically I was babbling over your genius, but my own small child is crying in her bedroom, now, so I have to dash. I can't believe it has taken me this long to discover your work and how fantastic it is! Check out my latest song called Black Star (MJ Live Aid w/jgurner)

Stun Nutz	Stun Nutz said 1348 days ago (March 1st, 2006)
	Hey! Ha! Thanks, Ledebutant... your child is way more important than my silly song! I'm glad you liked it, though. In fact, I am (pleasantly) surprised at how many positive responses I have been getting...~! Check out my latest song called Gossamer dissected

	moondyoriginal said 1335 days ago (March 14th, 2006)
	the despair of life congratulations on your happy home!

renecalvo	renecalvo said 1320 days ago (March 29th, 2006)
	Hello stun Wow, look at the torrent of emotions you have unleashed. You are really on to something. Stay the course. Check out my latest song called Firefly

SpasmodicMan	SpasmodicMan said 1273 days ago (May 16th, 2006)
	No place to grip The lost patterns in all of us, when the powerlessness of youth finds itself outside the cage, exposed, beneath the big parentless sky, or beneath the parent that has transformed from protecter to the storm of quiet wrong, confused and deafening wrong, and through it a crying that has no place to grip... Check out my latest song called The Androgyne

composerclark

composerclark said 1269 days ago (May 20th, 2006)

I remember this!
I remember listening to this! I can't remember why I didn't comment,
except perhaps because it totally freaked me out! Yow! It still freaks
me out! At first I thought, "ah, the Casiotone 7000; reminds me of the
good ol' days!" Then your kids started expressing themselves in their
frank and unihibited manner, and I could feel the blood pressure start
to rise... sort of like two seconds ago when my 1.5 year old tried to
take the Game Boy from my 5-year-old.

Anyway (5 martinis later), I'm much calmer now. It's a powerful piece,
laced with quirkiness, which I admire, so I gave it bunch of 9's when I
voted (which was a long time ago).

Okay, my own kids are beginning another round of frank and
uninhibited sharing of feelings, so I better post this and find the water
gun.

Check out my latest song called Scarlet Nightfall

said 1003 days ago (February 9th, 2007)

How do you look at the world?
Hello Professor SN
I chose this song on the basis of the title, not the rating or date! Listened to like three times before i commented.

Your life must be filled with awesome moments and intense glares at this sometimes f#cked up world. I so dig your audiovisual look on life. Perhaps that is the case because I relate. I wish i had a father like you. Yes, u suck sometimes, like all dads. But this song is an honest and intense audiopainting. Although you live your life in the how are you doing country, this is an honest perception--> i think it is a brilliant song. Nice and short, intense, playfully 8-bit and honest. Keep em comming paps:-)

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jmt

Artist Info

Name: Eric Kauppila

The alter ego of mild-mannered suburban family guy... Projects and collaborations under other names: spiritMasheen with pooey and _nderscore Mixed Nuts by MacJammersUnited blister beatz released as the ElectroClubCrew blister beatz – dir... [see more]

Check out some of my other songs:

Genre Info

Experimental music is any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is. There is an overlap with avant-garde music. John Cage was a pioneer in experimental music and defined and gave credibility to the form. As with other edge

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