The music of Aadolf Kärki

Original compositions playlist

Covers & arrangements playlist

• Forbidden Island
  • Right, so. Once upon a time I started making mods for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion game. One of these mods was Forbidden Island. I composed these tracks for the mod, though I never got around to finishing the mod. Maybe one day.
  • Ages of Wisdom
    • I think it has a somewhat mystical air to it. The 12-string guitar gives it its odd sound. Don't think I ever assigned it to any particular area.
  • Jungle Orchestra
    • The name is fairly self-explanatory. I think the instruments used are the conga drums, bass and an excruciating 'violin'. It was used as BG music when entering the village of the Natives of the Forbidden Island.
  • Lost Forever
    • A rather sad tune for the nylon-stringed guitar, and some idiophone – not sure which, but it could be a metallophone for all I know. The name can be interpreted in many ways. The ‘lost’ can refer to the lost lives of some old beings, who are eternally trapped in a sanctuary, or it can refer to a person's feelings of being lost when they tumble into the place with no way out.
  • Natives
    • This somewhat threatening drum & ambient piece is the first composition to be published by me, I think. It was used as the background track for the forest parts of the Forbidden Island.
    • Also includes ambient sounds I found from various (free) sources on the Internet.
  • Settlement Tune
    • I still consider this one of my greatest pieces, even today. The background track for the settlers' village. If you think about it really hard, you might see the cliff by the seaside. I somehow managed to combine some blowy instruments (woodwinds or brass, I can't remember) with the piano, even slipped a guitar in it. Oh god what done'd.
• USSAK the Game OST
  • A friend of mine was working on a pixelated game and wanted music. What did I do? Well – the music, of course!
  • Closing In
    • A threatening BG track for the violin and cello.
  • Home
    • The emotions of returning home after a long time on the road. Written for the piano and violin (do I also hear a nylon guitar?), this “amazing” piece is joyfully sad. Although short, I believe it delivers its meaning.
  • Journey
    • Embarking on a journey, marching forward in the summer. The snares and the flute make this quite the playfully cheerful one. This is one of my least-favourite compositions.
  • Morning Dance
    • Written for the nylon-stringed guitar, it embodies the waking to a new day, taking a stroll in the peaceful field covered by flowers. I somewhat even like this one. Mitochondria are the powerhouses of cells.
• MISC 2010
  • A collection of pieces from 2010.
  • Quietude
    • A mellow, peaceful, and soothing track for the nylon guitar. Worthy of the name ‘Quietude’.
• MISC 2011
  • A collection of pieces from 2011.
  • Aveo Amacuse
    • ‘Farewell, friend’ would be the translation of the title. A gloomy piece for choir and piano. One of my longest compositions, and also one of my favourites. This one is a success. Woop woop.
  • Goldilocks Zone
    • Inspired a wee by the show Stargate Universe. A somewhat sad piece for choir, piano and violin. You might be wondering the name - so do I. If you know what Goldilocks zone and a spaceship are, you can make your own deductions. I'd describe it so that a civilisation is looking for a habitable planet far in the future.
  • Muttonchops
    • A short, cheerful, jazzy piece. The name is somewhat random, but it reflects my appreciation of facial hair - something quite the few jazzists also happen to have.
    • Revamped in 2017.
  • Orchestral Piece Nr. 1
    • One of my least-successful compositions. Not really a fan of this one. As the name might suggest, it's an orchestral piece written for a whole load of instruments. This was my first attempt at making orchestral music, and even though this one is a failure, I still got kind of stuck in composing orchestral-ish music.
  • Seksiphone Tune
    • Sax, bass, guitar, drums. A repetitive song, which was originally composed to be slower, but I noticed it was brilliant for annoying people. Almost named it the Trollface Song, so you should see where this is going :P
  • Tales of Ancient Origin
    • My second attempt at composing orchestral music. Can't really describe this. The horns bring to mind the Middle Ages, maybe a hunt for some long-lost treasure? No... That's not it... Derp.
• MISC 2012
  • A collection of pieces from 2012.
  • Experimental Weird Song Nr. 1
    • An experimental technoish (?) piece. Was kind of left unfinished, but I can't find the project files. I don't even have Samplitude anymore. Even so, it's worth something :P
  • Natantes Ad Distantia Sidera
    • ‘Floating towards distant stars’ in English. That's what this orchestral piece brings to mind. Another piece inspired by the Stargate franchise.
  • Something of a Waltz
    • My first attempt at a waltz for the guitar. Not too good, but not totally worthless either. At least it's practice.
  • The Summer-Fish Inn
    • The Finnish Summer. This is what Finnish summers are usually like. Oh well, nothing a good beer can't fix.
    • Written for the strings, this indeed is like the rain - sometimes depressing, sometimes bringing happiness.
• MISC 2013
  • A collection of pieces from 2013. My most active year yet.
  • Amarantheall
    • The amaranth hall. Orchestral, heroic-ish piece. One of my favourites.
  • Clash
    • Depicts a battle between good and evil. I know – a cliché. My second composition with lyrics. Not a very good one, though.
  • Direidus
    • The song of mischief (‘direidus’ is Welsh for ‘mischievous’. I imagine a burglar reaching towards a treasure with his long, wriggly fingers.
  • Dreams of the Fallen One
    • Don't know what this is supposed to be, other than my first compositions with lyrics. Don't really know what genre this falls into. It has a distortion guitar and some fast picking. The lyrics speak of love (cliché!).
  • Fidgety Timber
    • A piece with ambient synths, a nylon-stringed guitar, a bass, and drums. Pretty noice, actually.
  • Immiscible
    • Immiscibility describes this ‘epic’ piece well. The sounds don't really blend together well, so you can tell what instruments were used. In the end this isn't as bad as I thought after listening to it a few (hundred) times, mostly during its making. The first versions were absolutely horrible. Glad I managed to fix it a bit.
  • LeBottleCork
    • A funny-sounding 8-bit imitation of sorts. Me very much gusta. Stylised as _LeBottle^Cork.
  • Meetings and Partings
    • Despite it having a somewhat emotional atmosphere – even a Dolfdamned quote at the end of the YouTube video – I must say for my own sake that I am not one to fall for those “sad partings” -tricks. I don't really even have friends, haha. Ha.
    • Before starting work on this piece, I watched the anime “Natsume Yūjinchō” and was affected by its emotionally saturated story. That's how this piece was born. Take note, though, that this piece is not sad. It's leaning more on the "happy" part, which in this case might mean those "meetings". Overall? I finally managed to compose a piece that I feel is a success. I can now die in pieces.
  • Sanctuary
    • A commission work for this one marching band member I know from the US. Took me almost a year to finish this one, huehuehue. Mostly because I lost all contact with him for half a year or so.
    • This piece is a soothing underwater track, depicting a forgotten sanctuary deep in the sea. Old, crumbling, full of memories. Except for the final part, where it all goes to Hell. The original version had some Japanese singing, but I removed it. Didn't really fit all that well.
  • Segment of Perturbation
    • Restlessness could describe this piece, written for the piano. One of my most successful pieces.
  • The Road to Dickenburg
    • An acquaintance of mine helped me with the name. Using Guitar Rig, I ran my whistling through an effect filter, and it turned out like this. Added some guitaring in it and it was done. Rather heavy on effects, but I like it.
    • This one - unlike most of my compositions - was recorded ‘live’, instead of using software to create MIDI and run it through libraries.
  • Vincent's Bitter Onions
    • Always makes me cry ;_; Poor onions. Yeah, all right, I admit – I don't know why I made this, and I no longer remember the story behind it. Sad? Not really. With a piano and a violin? Definitely!
• MISC 2014
  • A collection of pieces from 2014.
  • Accordionisation
    • Accordion music! Woo! Some techno-like track or something. Shame I don't have an audio clip here. Yet.
  • It's Not a Lie
    • It's not cake, but it's tasty. Written for the piano, female soprano, and... Cello? Can't really describe the piece as anything but mellow. Yyyyeah... Something like that.
  • Kulkuset
    • All right, now, this is not a composition, but an arrangement. Good ol' Jingle Bells.
  • Malarkey
    • Just pure nonsense.
• MISC 2015
  • A collection of pieces from 2015.
  • Mekanik Landskape
    • No words to describe it, really. It's mechanic, right? Imagine a factory or something. Now add forges banging and hammers clanking. That's what the piece reminds me of.
  • Juodaan Viinaa (cover)
    • I originally didn't plan on including covers, but 2015 was a slow year for music. Thus, covers it is. This is a Finnish song everybody loves, so I just had to ruin it.
  • Mad World (cover)
    • It's a mad world.
• MISC 2016
  • A collection of pieces from 2016.
  • Luckily, there are no clowns here
    • A creepy circus piece.
  • Look, Ma, My Grabbers Are Elongated
    • Jazz hands! Without the jazz. So, just hands. A rather dreamy, short track. Bass, guitar. Don't really need more than that.
  • Auld Lang Syne
    • An arrangement of the old classic. This one's sung.
  • Auld Lang Syne (instrumental)
    • An arrangement of the old classic. This one's instrumental, and a little shorter than the sung one.
• MISC 2017
  • A collection of pieces from 2017.
  • Muttonchops (2017)
    • The old 2011's Muttonchops, redone in quality!
  • Avid
    • A synthy piece with a violin.
  • Far
    • My father died in September 2017. Let the music box send him off.
• MISC 2019
  • A collection of pieces from 2019.
  • Segment of Derangement
    • Another Segment. Pretty chaotic, right? Deranged, one might call it. Might contain the tiniest hint of swing, what with the piano, bass, strings...
  • The Seven-Coloured Raindrop
    • An orchestral track inspired by the Stargate theme from the original film.
  • On the Futility of Worriment (guitar version)
    • A somewhat joy-inducing classical guitar composition, because why worry about anything? Nothing will change if you do.
  • On the Futility of Worriment (piano/cello version)
    • Unlike the guitar version, this slightly slower version arranged for the piano and the cello is a little more sombre.
  • Leppää ja kansantansseja
    • This is supposed to resemble Finnish folk music. Think barn dances and all that jazz fun. A small orchestra, a plucky contrabass, and a violin make this composition ideal for some innocent folk dance fun.
  • Palkkapäevä
    • A little payday jazz for the lucky few who actually get paid for doing... Things.
  • Seacall
    • A funny little seafaring accordion track.
  • Naturadynamia
    • An experimental epic-sounding track with a vintage rock organ, a synthesiser, and an orchestra.
  • Aisling
    • Another experiment with some female ohhs and ahhs, this one is about a winter dream. Because winter is coming.
    • Instruments used: Piano, lute, cello, pennywhistle, a music box, and a woman.
  • Black Water
    • You can consider this a part II to The Seven-Coloured Raindrop. The desert adventure continues!
    • Influenced greatly by the original Stargate film. Again.
  • Pikkutonttu / Little Elfie
    • ↑ Pikkutonttu, or the Finnish version. ↑
    • The first original composition in my Christmas series! What series, you might ask. The one I probably won't continue! But at least I made one song, right?
    • A cheery Christmas pop-esque song, lyricised by my relative Jaana Kärki. Get ready for bells of all sorts (yes, including the jingle-y kind), a music box, a slappy bass, drums, and a violin during the solo. Sung by virtual singer Emvoice Lucy.
    • ↓ Little Elfie, or the English version. ↓
    • Translation to English by yours truly.