Fedivision 2024 – Listen now!

Our fourth year, 2024, is our biggest year yet! A whopping 72 entries were received, submitting just shy of four hours of music. Several faces return from 2023, and we wish them all, and our new entrants, the best of luck!

Voting is now closed! Follow the vote account to be the first to hear the top ten being counted down at 13.00 UTC on 27 May 2024″!

Jump to: The New Rage / Living The Dream / File Already Exists: Overwrite? / 7Lifes Part2 / Peaceful on the Surface / aAa freestyle / Webpunks / criminal / Federation / The Roses Outside Grow Suspiciously Red / Selfish / Strange Tides / Keep the Mask (if it helps) / Gorilla Barrels / Tap My Toes / Last Days Of The Summer / Snork (We’re OK) / That’s Life / GeoGuessr Song / Irresistible Meltdown / The Y-Files / Synthetic Synchronicity / In the Wind / The Funniest Thing / zwikąt / C’est ça la rime / Son señales / Transmitting For Years / Monster’n’Mermaid / Face the Fire / Laden läuft.mod / When the Darkness Found Us (Fedivision 2024 Edit) / Friends Again / 1000 / Innocent / Fediverse Fans Forever / Crimson Tide / The Spell Song™ / S A U C I S S E / TV-Sick / She’s all of Me / Site-23 / Sum of my Parts / BBB (Big Boomer Bænd) / Oasis / Everglades / A number on a page / Maudit / This Fragile Atmosphere / Mare / goodBeginnings / Nobody Else Will / Shoot Away Pain / Threaded Invasion / Light Beam / Versio / Mauver than a Joopleberry / Invoking Fairies / Fake News / The Moon Illusion / Postmarked The Stars / tracks of federation / Pottane / The Optically Pumped Rubidium Maser / Diag / All Zombies Go To Heaven / Landwaves / Without You / Fire Me Straight Into A Falling Star / Open Your Eyes / Two Weeks of Spring (Six Months of Summer) / Misaligned Aardvarks

“The New Rage”

by Negative Players, representing New Rage City

Code NRCI

Some words about this song

Seed of this song was from listening to the podcast about the attempted kidnapping of Michigan's Governor. Morphed into more of a song about the outrage merchants both political and religious.

Find more music from the artist

Find me at https://negativeplayers.bandcamp.com or https://linktr.ee/negativeplayers for all the other places

Lyrics

“Living The Dream”

by sknob, representing Rugged scrublands

Code RUGG

Some words about this song

True story (with a happy ending?)

Find more music from the artist

https://sknob.fr/music/

Lyrics

“File Already Exists: Overwrite?”

by 19th Incarnation, representing The Independent Enclave of Croydon-Sur-Mer

Code COSM

Some words about this song

Some random noodlings with a Roland MC-707, gently filtered before recording directly into Reaper with my Zoom R20.

Find more music from the artist

https://19thincarnation.bandcamp.com/album/illustrations

Lyrics

“7Lifes Part2”

by kamiza, representing Universaldilettanten

Code UDIL

Some words about this song

On the one hand, the song reflects my feeling and struggle that I miss the small, cozy clubs. Since Covid, I have avoided large gatherings of people or narrow, poorly ventilated spaces because there are always people who don't take Covid seriously and don't test themselves before going to a party. The struggle is represented by the two voices in my head. A younger silly one and the older, deeper voice.

On the other hand, the song shows my current state of development and phase. I'm still learning (and it will probably never end) music theory, composition and structure of songs.

Find more music from the artist

In the wild.

Lyrics

“Peaceful on the Surface”

by Trebach, representing Land of Confusion

Code CONF

Some words about this song

How do you hide a message in a song? If it's too obvious, it will disrupt the song and defeat the point of hiding it. If it's too subtle, compression will destroy it. But what if you were to hide it as part of the composition of the song itself?

That's what I've done here. Have fun finding it!

“aAa freestyle”

by daYs ending in Y, representing canaDad

Code CANA

Some words about this song

A few months ago i thought it might be nice to try a freestyle after watching the L.A. Leakers…

Finally got a “round tuit”.

It was off-the-cuff but was a 5 minute song so i used audacity to up the tempo by 150%

Find more music from the artist

https://yesu.neocities.org/now

Lyrics

“Webpunks”

by MOULE, representing MOULE WORLD

Code MOUL

Some words about this song

Join the Webellion!

Webpunks was inspired by my own experience and others' discussions on the Fediverse about what Cory Doctorow calls the 'enshittification' of the modern web.

It celebrates the use of what I call 'webpunk' technologies, such as ad-blockers, scripts, and other tools created to bypass article paywalls, subscription pop-ups, and overall create a better experience on the web free from data scraping, trackers, and corporate surveillance.

I tried to reference as much of these "annoyances" as I could and jam them into a funky, rhyming electronic track with a rebellious "punk" edge to it. Though not mentioned in the track, it also celebrates free and open-source software (FOSS) and decentralised platforms such as the Fediverse!

I hope it resonates with your own experiences on this increasingly enshittified web. Here's to a better web with sovereignty over our own data and web experience!

Find more music from the artist

https://MOULE.WORLD

Lyrics

“criminal”

by duc, representing witch lieu

Code WILI

Some words about this song

i actually started writing this one by sitting out in a field somewhere, which is a pretty good way to get inspiration imo! i do believe the lyrics speak for themselves, to me, they're about actual laws holding the queer community down – it's kind of inspired by LGBTQ+ content being banned for minors where i live.

as for the music part, i don't usually do more than just acoustic recordings, so i'm just happy that i managed to put it together! it could definitely use more takes and all, buuuuuuuut mentall illness and other reasons!

Find more music from the artist

https://soundcloud.com/quackagenda or https://duc.gay/songs

Lyrics

“Federation”

by Marcus Bointon, representing The campaign for the reduction of entropy

Code TCRE

Some words about this song

My song is called "Federation", as that's what the fediverse is all about! I wanted to have a strong minor/major contrast to reflect pessimism in the current state of social networks, and the shiny, upbeat optimism of the fediverse, so the verses are sad laments, but the chorus reflects hope.

I took inspiration from what I happened to be listening to at the time, which happened to be Yello's 2009 album "Touch", in particular the track "You better hide". I've liked Yello for decades (I hope to be as cool as Dieter Maier when I'm that age!). especially their affection for atmospheric sub bass, synths, percussion, and trumpets. I often find I'm listening to a song and think "I could write something like this", start out copying it a bit, but then it gains a life of its own and heads off in unexpected directions. You can hear that in this song, where the intro section is quite Yello-ish, but then seems to have made other plans.

I wanted to make sure I only used instruments that I could set up on my new MacBook M3 Pro (music software licences are notoriously strict and DRM-ridden), so it's mostly using stock instruments, which to be fair are great. There are no audio recordings at all – everything is synthesised. The bass and big synth pad are Logic's RetroSyn; Drums are Logics' Drummer with the Speakeasy brush kit; The twinkly metallic chords are from Alchemy, trumpet from "Studio Horns", and there's a little Korg WaveStation for the high chimes.

The jewel in the crown is of course Dreamtonics Synthesizer V Pro (SV), which sings the lead and backing vocals in a way that I never could. Many of the tracks I hear using SV are quite mechanical, doing the equivalent of quantising everything with robotic efficiency, but you can spot that, so I've gone to some lengths to push things away from rigid timing, trying to make it sound more natural, especially at this slow 95bpm tempo. The timing is a little tricky as the drums swing a bit (how can you not, with a brush kit?), and it was difficult to avoid having the bass sounding slow and laggy if it wasn't swinging too. I just love using SV for backing vocals, as you might be able to tell.

The lyrics are somewhat earnest, worthy, and naïvely optimistic, squarely focused on the aspirations of the fediverse – we can all hope, right? The mentions of "islands in the streams", and "messages in bottles" are sort-of deliberate, and you can even see a reference to "bridge over troubled water" if you squint a bit. I felt compelled to include a bit of abuse for you-know-who. I'm particularly pleased with managing to squeeze in "break the monolith", which is something of a theme in fediverse development, though not related to Martin Fowler's treatise. The excessive alliteration in the chorus was almost entirely accidental, honestly.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed listening to my song. If you like it, I've written several others, which you can find on my blog, mostly themed around open source projects.

Happy Fedivision!

Find more music from the artist

https://marcus.bointon.com/?cat=7

Lyrics

“The Roses Outside Grow Suspiciously Red”

by Dace Merryweather, representing The Mirror Universe

Code MIRR

Some words about this song

I grabbed myself by the inspiration sac and squoze. This was the result! To my surprise I had a song about a sordid killer, driven by greed into a cascading sequence of lurid events that run out of control– unless a relevant institution can heroically step in to save the day, of course.

It's probably the result of dozens of old Itallian thrillers and the occasional Columbo having steadily percolated through my conciousness over recent months. In my mind's eye I see all the imagery through grainy film stock, in warm, heavily saturated colours.

Find more music from the artist

https://dace.bandcamp.com/music

Lyrics

“Selfish”

by pgcd, representing Asyndetia

Code ASYN

Some words about this song

I wrote this song (well, its first version) in 1991, right in the middle of my (post-)teenage angst stage. Recently, I realized my angst back in the day was probably me being not entirely neurotypical, and perhaps it might do me good to get this out of my system, after all this time.

Find more music from the artist

https://pgcd.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“Strange Tides”

by RX1F, representing Laputa

Code LAPU

Some words about this song

This song grew out of an awkward guitar hammer-on pattern that I was practicing many years ago. Not much remaining of that pattern anymore, at least in this version.

Find more music from the artist

https://rx1f.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“Keep the Mask (if it helps)”

by The Midnight Detective Club, representing The Island Paradise of Gender Wiggles

Code IPGW

Some words about this song

The first verse has a double meaning. It has a sad element to it – it's about seeing myself in the makeup and believing that's not the real me, and that has a lot of difficult thoughts that go with it. But it's also about the times when I am able to find a new confidence when I put on the makeup and then the person underneath the makeup with the self-doubt disappears.

And in the second verse what I wanted to say is that it doesn't matter who you are – if the mask you are wearing (whether it's makeup or another type of mask, real or symbolic) helps you get through, or if you need to remove the mask to get through, both options are okay. It's about doing what is right for you.

Find more music from the artist

https://soundcloud.com/ashgre

Lyrics

“Gorilla Barrels”

by dysphoricUnicorn🪿, representing New New York

Code NNYO

Some words about this song

I was trying to get back into making music and put this together.

When I had the instrumental done, I was at a bit of a loss about what to add to make it seem like a more complete song, which is when I decided I would sample the beginning monologue from Futurama, simply because it seemed to fit somewhat well.

You could call this a modern musical tribute to the Dadaism, however you would be wrong. It is just nonsense that tries to be fun.

I know the song is very short and not that good, but it is something I am releasing to the public, which is a big thing in itself as most of the music I have made so far has never been released anywhere.

The track was produced in logic pro, using audacity and WA Production Vocal cleaner to get the monologue to sound a bit better when mixed into a song.

I looked up the current state of that infamous Kraftwerk legal case to see what the current situation regarding the legality of sampling is and I am pretty confident that this is covered both by the most recent European union court of law's decision on that as well as the German copyright law (§ 51a UhG), which explicitly allows parody, caricature or "pastiche".

Under US law, I am almost certain that this is fair use, however US law is confusing and I am not from there.

Lyrics

“Tap My Toes”

by Leigh Harrison, representing The Cabaret Republic

Code CABA

Some words about this song

On the afternoon of Tuesday 23 April I set out to write my Fedivision entry, and the song took about half an hour to complete. Both the lyrics and the music took me by surprise, as in my head I was looking for a more introspective, guitar-based composition.

That afternoon I created a project in my DAW and put a demo down with electric guitar. When I wrote it, I knew the song would depend on the bass and vocals; apart from drums, the other instruments and voices are incidental. So the next day I removed the guitar and found the acoustic bass sound I was after, then I built the drum track and went from there. I've had other commitments, but I've worked on the song between times, and got it pretty much where I wanted it at about the point Fedivision 2024 submissions opened.

I was, of course, delighted to have been selected by The Cabaret Republic as their champion in this year's contest. Being sentenced to long nights in smoky cellars to achieve the requisite vocal tone is a small price to pay for the honour I have been accorded.

Find more music from the artist

https://elsemusic.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“Last Days Of The Summer”

by The Permanent Confusion, representing The Queerdom

Code QDOM

Some words about this song

It's an attempt to create a positive piece of music for queer people of the lgbtquia*-movement.

hopefully the words "now it's queer o'clock, this is not a time to stop" will resound with many people.

Find more music from the artist

https://soundcloud.com/isa_hansen

Lyrics

“Snork (We're OK)”

by Postwar Vulgar, representing The Duchy of Snork

Code SNOR

Some words about this song

I had the main melody bouncing around in my head for a few years now, but was never able to develop it into anything. I tried writing lyrics, adding more parts, but it stubbornly resisted.

When the Duchess approached me to write a song for the Duchy, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to use this idea. Since Snork is landlocked, I decided to perform it in a surf rock style.

The lyrics were provided by the Minister of Tourism. (I think he was the Minister? He didn't seem very smart.) The singers were nice, but they were all in witness protection so we had to disguise their voices.

Please don't tell people I was associated with this song.

Tart of Noise

Find more music from the artist

https://postwarvulgar.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“That's Life”

by Chubster (@mysturji@mastodonapp.uk, @onj@mastodonmusic.social), representing Morzania

Code MORZ

Some words about this song

The story of a life in a song, from birth to death. Plus a few jokes.

Find more music from the artist

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/vzfxff82dorkszr6tbpoi/That-s-Life.wav?rlkey=wid0e7rsxlo78f05gqhphn12s&dl=0

Lyrics

“GeoGuessr Song”

by The Rolling Poles (@Wolfseule@mastodon.social, @ScottHuehnerkrisp@chaos.social), representing East Pole

Code EAPO

Some words about this song

'@Wolfseule@mastodon.social came up with the lyrics in a mastodon post last friday, and I liked it. So this song was made.

Lyrics

“Irresistible Meltdown”

by Kris Madaus, representing The Overhanging Sky

Code OSKY

Some words about this song

People can go through life always wishing for things to be different, hoping they will reach some goal even though they don't put much effort into it, and being frustrated about what their life has become. Some people spend hours a day on social media while also wondering why they don't have any time to accomplish anything. Some people figure out that their life is what they make of it, that nobody else will change it for them, and they become a little bit better every day. There's the choice: fall into those irresistible habits that control their life or finally take responsibility for their own direction.

Find more music from the artist

https://audius.co/krismadaus

Lyrics

“The Y-Files”

by aflands, representing Aflands

Code AFLA

Some words about this song

The Y-Files resulted from exploring a sonic landscape discovered by one run of evolutionary search for sounds by [kromosynth](https://synth.is). This is an example of the influence of new timbres leading the creative process.

We all [generate our experience of the world we live in](https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190217013.001.0001), and considering this sonic work as one artefact in that world, the perception of it will differ from one generative system (person) to another.

Find more music from the artist

https://kromo.synth.is/aflands

“Synthetic Synchronicity”

by Revengeday, representing Cyberpunks

Code CYBE

Some words about this song

Synthetic Synchronicity is my submission for the Fedivision 2024. My song represents the unity and connectedness that occurred during the techno era of the 90s in Berlin.

Find more music from the artist

https://revenge.day

Lyrics

“In the Wind”

by UXdB, representing Other Desert Towns & Hamlets

Code ODTH

Some words about this song

This started as an exercise in beatmaking at 6/8, and I was pleased enough with the results to keep working on it until it became this. Beats created in iPad Garage Band; synths using a Korg Nanokey in Garage Band; guitars using my Minxcaster, Grunge pedal, and Orange amp; voice through Scarlett condenser mic.

I dubbed the genre electrogaze, but I'm open to suggestions if something else fits!

The rhythm feels like how we just keep putting one foot in front of the other. The title is a triple-entendre of someone being in the wind or disappeared; the possibility of hope being in the wind or sensing its imminent arrival; and how we in the Mojave's Other Desert Towns & Hamlets live our lives in the wind (currently gusting to more than 50 kph).

Find more music from the artist

https://bittersweetdb.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“The Funniest Thing”

by MyLoFy feat. Aaron (@MyLoFy@mastodon.social, @convolution@sonomu.club), representing Free Republic of Fossia

Code FOSS

Some words about this song

A Retro-Pop track about the detachment of conscience people might experience when being on social media.

As appropriate for the Fediverse this has been produced exclusively using free and open source software. Thanks to ardour, surge-xt, LSP, airwindows, x42, falktx, guitarix, zamaudio and many more of our FOSS heroes!

Find more music from the artist

https://soundcloud.com/mylofymusic

Lyrics

“zwikąt”

by Xym, representing Obiektczęsta Trylliorga Gromadów

Code OBTG

Some words about this song

I felt incomplete.

I felt the need to transcend words.

I wanted to express things that I can't normally express with everyday language. So I made some new words up. This "language" sounds like polish, but those words are not "real".

No translation available, because it is literally impossible – it is basically absurd nonsense.

The titular "zwikąt" sort of sounds like a name for a nonexistent geometric figure.

Find more music from the artist

https://xymmusic.bandcamp.com/music

Lyrics

“C'est ça la rime”

by Me In The Bath, representing L'Ordre International des Musiciens Crasseux

Code OIMC

Some words about this song

I wished to record something quickly and got a gimmick for the main sentence. I wanted sort of chaos and noise, and moreover to let the hip hop influence, which is not my main one, take over. I also wanted, uncommon for me, to use bits of French (a language rarely used in my music).

Find more music from the artist

https://meinthebath.com

Lyrics

“Son señales”

by Díez, representing Bi Negar Krudo

Code BINK

Some words about this song

"Son señales" is an one take song about the thin frontiers of mental health, about paranoid hope, about life after the closing credits, about emptied landscapes, about people who left.

Bells are public courtesy of the town hall of my family village (private location) and the Royal Collegiate of San Isidoro (León).

Lyrics

“Transmitting For Years”

by Kestral Gaian, representing Republic of Broken-Hearted Nerds

Code RBHN

Some words about this song

## Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977.

It's the farthest human-made object from Earth, travelling at over 17 kilometers per second away from us. After 16,900 days of continuous work it experienced its first major computer error late last year, prompting a team to work tirelessly to restore communication and work the problem from 25 billion kilometers away.

They succeeded – and captured our hearts in the process.

**This song is an ode to Voyager 1 and its continued mission. Long may it keep communicating with us here on this pale blue dot.**

Find more music from the artist

https://kesgai.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“Monster'n'Mermaid”

by Nigel Harpur, representing The Other Side Of The Fence

Code OSTF

Some words about this song

The core of this song came to me many years ago. I finished it then but also knew it wasn't really finished?

The idea of putting something into the 2024 Fedivision gave me the impetus to revamp and expand it. The monster always needed a mermaid!

Find more music from the artist

https://nigelharpur.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“Face the Fire”

by Nerds United, representing Die Tausend Lande

Code TAUS

Some words about this song

The world faces an increasingly aggressive political climate and multiple armed conflicts. We consider the rise of populists as one of multiple reasons for this development and an increasing thread to societies worldwide.

The song aims at rising awareness and calls to oppose this development.

While we discussed the original idea for several months, “Face the fire” was primarily written and produced during a retreat in the alps in the week prior to the contest’s submission opening.

Nerds United are Simon Vey and Andrew J Raven. We met as two German Computer Scientists at University and have collaboratively worked on several artistic projects in various domains over the last 25 years.

Music: Simon Vey

Lyrics: Andrew J Raven

Find more music from the artist

https://www.youtube.com/@simonvey3894

Lyrics

“Laden läuft.mod”

by PAULAnder von Liebhertz, representing CBM class moon of da meditating amiga beauties

Code CBMC

Some words about this song

This is an original Commodore Amiga home computer 4 channel piece of music ("mod"), which should work already on a A500 model from 1987 (or a memory enhanced Amiga1000 from 1985).

First of all: There is a smashing VIDEO (will be released on May 19th 2024) here:

(showing the Protracker v.2.3d output [and a lot more!] as proof).

The original Amiga .mod will be released in time here:

https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_profile&query=96057

I see myself as the inventor of the Chiptune Schlager genre, but this actually is the first time I did create one running directly on the CHIP of an old retro system, the PAULA chip of the fascinating Commodore Amiga, to be precise.

This version has less stereo separation compared to what an Amiga computer would provide and a very slight compression was added during recording – you won't notice much of it, even when compared with the original Hardware output.

Some data about the original .mod file:

– File size: 508K / Sample Size: 460k / Sample Size without singing and robot: 33K

Techniques used to make it sound like "more" and save space:

– ADSR faking

– Filter faking

– Echo on the same channel

– time stretching

– double speed

– no drum loops

Most of these techniques are common with l33t musicians on the Amiga, they are even much more efficient than me (in this track) – like i.e. @ne7@icosahedron.website .

Find more music from the artist

https://dienichtmaskierteirrtum.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“When the Darkness Found Us (Fedivision 2024 Edit)”

by Scott Smigiel, representing Western Sandlandia

Code WSAN

Some words about this song

This is an edit of an older song that I didn't really like, and never released.

I took some bits out.

I changed some bits.

I added some bits.

Then re-mixed the whole thing.

Now l'm sharing it with the Fediverse.

Woo.

Find more music from the artist

https://s-smigiel.bandcamp.com/

“Friends Again”

by INPC, representing Gnomeland

Code GNOM

Some words about this song

This was originally a MIDI sequence I'd committed to tape many moons ago. I'd thought the music lost but reclaimed when going through I pile of old tape.

The song was/is about friendship and is a blast of krunk and noise etc. it sort of sounds arranged then jumbled thren rearranged.

A jumble sale of the mind.

Find more music from the artist

inpc.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“1000”

by Lost Voices (@mux@swingset.social, @specter@eattherich.club, @Brielle@queer.party), representing A Borderless Liminal Space

Code ABLS

Some words about this song

For everyone touched by war.

Find more music from the artist

https://mux2000.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“Innocent”

by death ponee, representing Elandia Republic

Code ELAN

Some words about this song

Not like those other people

Find more music from the artist

https://deathponee.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“Fediverse Fans Forever”

by Randy Resnick, representing Fediversia

Code FVIA

Some words about this song

I recorded this with two broken wrists so it was hard to play the guitar and sax parts! Written and recorded today, May 5, 2024

Find more music from the artist

https://randulo.com

Lyrics

“Crimson Tide”

by Chris Brind, representing Thronaria

Code THRO

Some words about this song

My wife bought me a mandolin for Christmas. One of my favourite songs is Nearly Forgot my Broken Heart by Chris Cornell which prominently features a mandolin and I was trying to learn it. By accident I came up with the main motif in this song. From there really I was just trying to develop it into something. My usual process is to add nonsense lyrics and the "red wedding" just fit, and so it grew from that. I imagined that fateful scene and how it would be retold by a group of medieval players in some king or queen's hall years after the event.

Find more music from the artist

https://chrisbrind.rocks

Lyrics

“The Spell Song™”

by CrumplyHeadshot (@ddlyh@topspicy.social, @crump@mastodon.org.uk), representing Qaarg Taverns Plc.

Code QAAR

Some words about this song

We started with a completely different idea, and ended up with this. We picked the theme of a wizard, purely because Crumpet wanted to do something about wizards in space originally. This track is an alien folk song about a mythical event regarding the power of music, i.e The Spell Song™.

While we started in late March, most of the song was done in the last week.

Find more music from the artist

http://portal.mozz.us/gopher/vernunftzentrum.de/1/dheadshot/FV22.gph

Lyrics

“S A U C I S S E”

by Desmu, representing Ostwurstheim

Code OWHM

Some words about this song

Hello, it's my third participation to the contest, but my first track which is :

– composed while hitting a real keyboard.

– composed after understanding what a scale is.

– translated in seven languages.

Oh, and there's a video clip on PeerTube too : https://peertube.desmu.fr/w/mmGRGtMdz6jnP2DvuCovec

Thanks if you manage to listen to it, but thanks if you don't, too.

Find more music from the artist

https://desmu.bandcamp.com/ or https://www.desmu.fr/album/

Lyrics

“TV-Sick”

by Lioh & The Garage Band, representing Cepheus-Draco

Code CEPH

Some words about this song

TV-Sick is a song about the media and how it influences our lives. It is about a movie called 'The Terminator' and how it provokes violence and that, in the end, violence is never an answer and causes only more violence.

We should find ways to protect us against the bad habits of using the media to distract ourselves and instead focus more on doing things with our friends and beloved ones.

The song is played in a music category that has nearly been forgotten, which is called Crossover and was very popular in the 90s. Prominent bands of that category could be e.g. H-Blockx.

Find more music from the artist

On Floppy Disks

Lyrics

“She's all of Me”

by My Turning Point, representing The Introverted Kingdom

Code INTK

Some words about this song

A song for the broken, who have been fortunate enough to find the one who completes them.

Find more music from the artist

https://mtp-music.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“Site-23”

by Fabi, representing Blahaj Cuddle Coalition

Code BLAH

Some words about this song

This song is about SCP-113, a small, polished piece of red jasper. When SCP-113 comes in direct contact with the flesh of an organism possessing sex chromosomes, the organism's physical characteristics associated with gender and biological sex are transformed (including genetics and secondary sexual characteristics), either reversed or altered.

The song captures the emotions of an individual walking up to Site-23 where SCP-113 is being kept, with an appointment to touch the stone, which the individual then does, they transform, and leave the complex, free, relieved, happy. I hope it gives fellow trans people a bit of strength and determination because they deserve that (along with lots of love and cuddles of course).

I made several version of this song, one on computer (FL Studio) and one on Gameboy (LSDJ). The thing you are listening to is a combination of both. The original track is a bit over 5 minutes long so I had to shorten it for this contest (shortened the intro and removed a small section in the middle). This last-minute cutting, as well as mastering was done in Audacity.

Find more music from the artist

https://meltedmoon.bandcamp.com

“Sum of my Parts”

by Alison Selby, representing The Princessipality of Kristiania

Code KRIS

Some words about this song

Sum of my Parts started life as just the opening bass riff, and could easily have taken the direction of a longer spikier post-punk song, but after laying some synth chords on top, it became this slightly dour new wave pop song. For me, it represents some of the tightest pop songwriting I've done which I believe is in the spirit of a ~~Euro~~ Fedivision competition. Lyrics came much later, and came from the idea of "what are you unlikely to hear at Eurovision?" – a soft breakup song about reflection and coalescence rather than overt rebound empowerment.

Find more music from the artist

https://alisonselby.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“BBB (Big Boomer Bænd)”

by Lorenzo Miniero, representing Deeppurpland

Code DEEP

Some words about this song

I had the main theme in mind for quite a while, the seed of an idea for a big band/bluesy kind of uplifting song. The title is a bit of a pun around the words "Big Band" and "Boomer Bends" (a derogatory term younger generation musicians like Tim Henson use to describe older guitar players like me, with our string bending that's so old to them), so I just put them together, since this song definitely has plenty of both!

Find more music from the artist

https://music.lminiero.it/

“Oasis”

by Accidental Mayhem, representing Earth-That-Was

Code EATW

Some words about this song

At the time the idea started to form, it seemed like all the "influencers" and their apologies were resurfacing – and it was as though they never really learned from their mistakes and kept making those mistakes with seemingly no consequences, making it difficult for those who were remorseful or who had learned how to prevent their mistakes in the future to prove they'd changed.

Find more music from the artist

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd3w-2qxwtu0RgHi5utZNJQ

Lyrics

“Everglades”

by Squalor Possum, representing Harsh Noise Conservation Commission, Wetlands Division

Code HNCC

Some words about this song

I done this in a motel room.

“A number on a page”

by Aral Balkan, representing United Federation of Planets

Code UFOP

Some words about this song

I saw a photo of a child in Gaza. It broke my heart.

Lyrics

“Maudit”

by Faustine & Juliette, representing World Council of Federated Aspects

Code WCFA

Some words about this song

Well it's a song isn't it! I like music and I like to make music. I don't like mixing voices and I can't make it sound good so I get frustrated and do it wrong on purpose. I apologise for that but I think it sounds better this way. Anyway, hmmm, … The blink tag doesn't work anymore, does it?

Find more music from the artist

https://faustine.eu

Lyrics

“This Fragile Atmosphere”

by Lonnon Foster, representing The New Belt

Code NBLT

Some words about this song

It started with a microphone test: just snapping near a new mic I picked up. A little filtering and reverb, and it became an enormous clock ticking away the time we have remaining in the brilliantly short lives we lead. One thing led to another, and it picked up more and more synth tones until I had something of a conversation, a back and forth between the part of us that feels an urgent need to hurry, and the part that realizes that there's no need to rush. We're all living together here, running in this human race, breathing in this fragile atmosphere as we hurtle through space.

Find more music from the artist

https://lonnon.bandcamp.com

“Mare”

by Schall und Stille featuring MyLoFy and Tobias Stutz (@stephan@sonomu.club, @MyLoFy@mastodon.social), representing Lost Railroad Valley

Code RAIL

Some words about this song

The song was inspired by meeting and getting to know Wendy, one of the horses living at the animal sanctuary where I work. It's about two souls connecting to each other.

Very special thanks to

Tobias Stutz – cello

MyLoFy – guitars

Find more music from the artist

https://schallundstille.de/

Lyrics

“goodBeginnings”

by frigginGlorious, representing shedStudio

Code SHED

Some words about this song

Fedivision is awesome. I set aside one night to write, compose, and record a song, for y'all. And gosh darnit, this is what happened. I'm sorry and you're welcome.

Find more music from the artist

frigginglorio.us

Lyrics

“Nobody Else Will”

by skye gaenseblum, representing The Anti-Stairs Syndicate

Code TASS

Some words about this song

This song is a little experiment. I wanted to see if I can make something beautiful by putting two different rhythms over each other and making them swoosh from side to side. It’s made in milkytracker, so there are strong limits on what the software can actually do and how the result will sound, which to me makes it even more fun, because it can be quite challenging to get to something that will actually sound nice. I had the best time making this one and I would love if it found its way to the 3 people who actually enjoy this kind of music.

Find more music from the artist

https://skyegaenseblum.bandcamp.com/

“Shoot Away Pain”

by Jämezytee, representing The Peoples' Republic of Central New York

Code PRNY

Some words about this song

I wrote this song and made the instrumental shortly after the 2022 Buffalo market shootings. The idea I am trying to convey is that gun violence has many ties to mental health and poverty.

Find more music from the artist

https://sam-central.online/@samdorsey

Lyrics

“Threaded Invasion”

by The1goit, representing The Black Star Collective

Code TBSC

Some words about this song

The original idea behind Threaded Invasion was to write a track with inspiration from various ULTRAKILL tracks from the Prelude and Act 2 mainly. The piano was composed for a track for a video I was going to edit for my mother, who primarily posts on Facebook and Instagram, despite me trying to break her out of their ecosystem.

Because Fedivision was mostly centered around the Fediverse, I decided to theme this track after Threads "federating" and the instances trying to fight back against the data-grabbing, all seeing eyes of Facebook/Meta. This idea became the inspiration behind the cover, where the eye of Meta was sending threads deep into various circles of the Fediverse icon, sometimes even spawing deep roots into some who allow it to federate, while one had an orange glow around it, preventing the thread from penetrating (the fedipact). The words in the background of the cover, surrounding one of the chimneys from the Unsplash stock image were a depiction of what I assumed Meta's REAL mission was, when it came to both social networks and tech.

Find more music from the artist

https://linksta.cc/@The1goit

“Light Beam”

by Earl20, representing Neutrosphere

Code NEUT

Some words about this song

It started 3 years ago, I was playing with a virtual synth from my DAW. This time I had a strong wave that was cut off repeatedly with a synchronized filter and I began to think about a "beam" sound. The sound wave was so pure and without noise I decided to title the song project "Light Beam". After some work on the song I added more harmonization to give more light to it. That's what you can hear in the break part when the background synth pad comes up among the other synths. I wanted energy to the song so I layered more drums tracks that I usually do, that's why this music is more punchy that my usual releases. All of the composition of the melody got inspired from the progressive house genre. There you go, all those parts together brought this song to life!

Find more music from the artist

https://earl20.com

“Versio”

by Cobalt, representing Cobaltia

Code COBA

Some words about this song

I heard about Fedivision and I thought "I'll make some Eurodance" so that's what I did.

The chords for the verses are A#m and Fm, while for the chorus they're A#m 2nd inversion, F#, C#m 1st inversion, and G# 2nd inversion. It would sound completely different if I had used just basic chords instead of inversions. Inversions are fun, once I learned how to do them I started using them in basically everything lol. Complete game changer.

I absolutely love the "creamy" sound of the arp, top notch preset honestly. It's Poizone and the preset is called "ARP Yesteryear" from the Xenos Soundworks bank. Only thing I modified in it is the filter cutoff to make it a bit brighter.

The bass is a Poizone as well, preset named "BAS Creamy MC". Only thing I modified in it was that I disabled the delay. It's side chained to the kick so they don't overlap that much. Used an equalizer and removed everything under 160Hz and supplemented it with a sub bass made from 3x osc.

The piano – both the small motif and the "dance piano" both of which can be most clearly heard at the very beginning – are both Spitfire Audio's "LABS" VST using the "Autograph Grand" patch. A ton of reverb on the motif thing.

The chorus needed something, je ne sais quoi, so I added the little trance gated whistle thing. That's Poizone, too. "ARP Chip Choooon" from Xenos Soundworks' bank. Took off delay, smoothed the gate to 30%, made the gate 100% wet, and lowered the cutoff to 50%.

Had a lot of fun writing the lead synth section at the very end after the final chorus. It brings a sense of "finality" to the song. It's a Poizone (what can I say? I like it) and the patch is "KBD Vintage Keys" from the Xenos Soundworks bank. The only modification is to the cutoff frequency again, which I automated to go from 0% to 30% during the final chorus.

The breakdown is my favourite part. I have no idea why but calmness goes hard you know what I'm saying? I'm a sucker for small simple piano melodies like that.

Find more music from the artist

https://cobaltmusic.fi

Lyrics

“Mauver than a Joopleberry”

by Fennifith Media Transmitter (@defaultmediatransmitter@social.bitwig.community, @fennifith@is.a.horrific.dev), representing Broop Kidron Thirteen

Code BKTH

Some words about this song

This was a collab between Default Media Transmitter and fennifith! We started off making a few rough projects to brainstorm, and ended up picking one to pass back and forth every week or so – where one of us would make a few changes in each iteration.

Parts list:

– Bitwig Studio

– Default Media Transmitter's Yamaha DX7

– Surge XT

– Odin 2 by thewavewarden

– u-he Protoverb

Find more music from the artist

https://fennifith.bandcamp.com, https://defaultmediatransmitter.com/music/

“Invoking Fairies”

by Lunafacious , representing Lunar Cats

Code LUCA

Some words about this song

First their was this loop and then there was a bird-sample but the whole thing was still boring and repetitive and someone said it reminded them of "Substitute for Love". So naturally I wanted Madonna to do some vocals but I didn't have her direct contact and instead I had to do the singing myself. The text somehow came to me, thinking of Loreena McKennit and David Bowie and the general mood amongst most of my friends.

Find more music from the artist

https://lunafacious.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“Fake News”

by Homeostasis, representing De Rigueurstralia

Code RIGE

Some words about this song

Conceived as part of a suite of what could loosely be called protest songs, the basis of this track developed from analogue synth improvisations recorded during Synthtember 2023.

Find more music from the artist

https://tryptophonic.com

Lyrics

“The Moon Illusion”

by FSVO, representing Selenites

Code SELE

Some words about this song

I went for a walk in some bushland near where I live in Sydney: the full moon was rising and it reminded me of the [Moon illusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_illusion) and why this is always phrased as the Moon looking too large when it's near the horizon. The song's an argument for this being the wrong way around.

Find more music from the artist

https://music.mikelynch.org/library/artists/1/

Lyrics

“Postmarked The Stars”

by Skylark Duquesne, representing Atlantis, The Last Planet

Code ATLA

Some words about this song

This is the opening track of Skylark Duquesne's new album, "The Stars are Ours", which features works with titles taken from the catalog of works by sci-fi/fantasy author Andre Norton. I have spent the past year and a half on this project and have completed 16 songs–including a 12:45 minute prog epic! This will be the first Skylark Duquesne effort to appear on Bandcamp, allowing the exchange of money for the music.

"Postmarked The Stars" is a hopeful, acoustic pop song that started out as busker-material, but eventually included synthesizers, drum machines, bass, and a total of three guitars. It's a letter to my wife, Liz.

Find more music from the artist

https://skylarkduquesne.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“tracks of federation”

by reia, representing The Eternal Alliance of Linfan and Nepeta

Code EALN

Some words about this song

as a preface — of course, the fediverse is a large and diverse space, and encapsulating it is an impossible task without reduction and gross oversimplification. in the fedi circles of wing and wings friends however, one can observe some general leanings of scenes/cultures/hobbies/interests/… that many within and also outside of these fedi circles belong to – and as such, wing chose these topics as the inspiration for wings submission to fedivision.

namely, these topics are: trains, breakcore (and its many, many related genres), the demoscene, and retro hardware & games

trains inspired the title of the song, as well as the main drum riff and the general fast pace of the song; and wing also recreated some well-known breakbeats for the rhythm section of the song. and of course, asides from the sound being produced by retro hardware sound chips (a gameboy and a ym2149f), there are significant influences from demoscene music to be found in this track.

finally, whilst certain motifs do repeat for musical reasons, this song intentionally has a lot of variation and a lot of different motifs, to represent the diversity of the fediverse.

Find more music from the artist

https://reia.jagudev.net

“Pottane”

by Pilum::🌞, representing The Andorian Empire

Code ANDO

Some words about this song

Imagine standing on a ledge on a foggy autumn morning. The fog has made everything wet, and there's little ponds and streams everywhere. Everything seems quiet, but you soon notice there's frogs and insects scurrying about.

A shrew dives behind a log and vanishes as you approach. A squirrel in a pine is busy hiding seeds, and you get close enough to startle it. It quickly climbs to the top of the pine.

As you approach a small lake, you suddenly hear something snap. You turn to your left and see a big red deer buck with a majestic antler. It stares at you for a split second before concluding that you're the more dangerous one, and it runs off into the fog.

Find more music from the artist

https://lordpilum.bandcamp.com/

“The Optically Pumped Rubidium Maser”

by Rob of Walthamstow, representing The perpetually slightly bewildered

Code TPSB

Some words about this song

New to Mastodon, I missed last year's Fedivision as I had nothing short enough. I spent some time deliberately writing shorter pieces and selected one. The title is from an IEEE journal title I came across somewhere (possibly Mastodon). All my titles are things I've heard or read somewhere. There is no relation between title and music.

I've always been writing stuff that usually comes from doodling around on a guitar. I used to write songs but I really don't have anything to say verbally and I like the freedom to move away from traditional song musical structure.

Find more music from the artist

https://soundcloud.com/search?q=robofwalthamstow

“Diag”

by Frederick Yin, representing Sacred Municipality of Deez Nuts

Code DEEZ

Some words about this song

On 2024-05-04, I rode down to central campus at the university of michigan to check out some record stores. The encampment has taken over the diag, and they're not leaving until the university divests from defense companies. When I got home, I jotted down whatever I saw there, and wrote "Diag".

If you ever feel guilty for a minor evil, remember — you could go to an evilness contest with a billionaire, eat beef, drive an SUV, blast your AC 24/7 and still not be remotely there. It's not worth living in misery just to undo the mistake someone else did. You are a blessing to the world just by existing.

"Diag" was made with Ardour. Plugins used: Helm, Geonkick, Calf, Guitarix.

Sampled B_MIN01_EU_FN_BEN01_104.wav from L.A. Ludovico et al.'s CatMeows dataset (https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-67835-7_20).

Find more music from the artist

https://fkfd.me/music/

Lyrics

“All Zombies Go To Heaven”

by Dgar, representing Dizzy Corp.

Code DIZZ

Some words about this song

This is my zombie song.

I didn't have a zombie song, so I felt I should write a zombie song, and this is it.

Find more music from the artist

https://soundcloud.com/dgarmusic

Lyrics

“Landwaves”

by ToroidalCore, representing The Democratic Republic of the Confluence

Code TDRC

Some words about this song

This is an instrumental consisting of a few ideas I've had, which I decided to string together. I'm primarily a bassist, and was outside of my comfort zone a little bit, but found that as I worked on it it got a little easier.

This song may have been inspired by driving around the country in the northeastern US.

“Without You”

by Socool, representing Empire Waste

Code EMPW

Some words about this song

I wrote this song while in a cabin in the forest by the ocean. It was raining and I loved the sound of the rain hitting the roof of the cabin while I was cozy inside with a fire.

Find more music from the artist

https://socool.bandcamp.com

Lyrics

“Fire Me Straight Into A Falling Star”

by Sakti, representing The Belt

Code BELT

Some words about this song

The lyrics and melody were floating around in my head one morning, so I grabbed my phone and sketched out the track in Ableton Note. I wanted to try the text to speech option in Vital for the lyrics, which of course gave it a retrowave vibe and so I just ran with it.

Find more music from the artist

https://sakti.bandcamp.com/

Lyrics

“Open Your Eyes”

by Ferocious Designs, representing Constellation of Kasterborous

Code KAST

Some words about this song

The song started out with my playing around with the drum/sample pads on a keyboard controller I recently purchased and exploring some techno beats/patterns. Once I had a groove as a foundation, I knew I wanted to add some acoustic and electric guitars — even though I really can't play guitar…like, at all. In my head, I kept hearing "running out of time" at the end of the verses and "open your eyes" at the start of the choruses, and the rest of the lyrics came from that.

Find more music from the artist

https://ferociousdesigns.com

Lyrics

“Two Weeks of Spring (Six Months of Summer)”

by phog masheeen, representing The Hidden Empire of Joshua Tree

Code HEJT

Some words about this song

A fresh approach to climate change… with a beat!

Find more music from the artist

youtube.com/channel/UCdmt0UMSz4B-VJ9rbULn5Uw

Lyrics

“Misaligned Aardvarks”

by Key 13, representing The Island of Nothing

Code NOTH

Some words about this song

This based entirely off a random throwaway conversation many months ago between @mxtthxw@mxtthxw.art and @elsemusic@musician.social that they've probably both forgotten about. I threatened to make a song called Misaligned Aardvarks and, well, here it is!

Find more music from the artist

https://key13.uk

Lyrics