Contributors to this Creative Commons-licensed compilation were invited to submit a song “inspired by an artist or work of art,” and were free to interpret that as broadly as they’d like.
At left you can browse songs by contributor, and at right you can browse by inspiration. If you enjoy Artsongs, please tell someone about it. You are encouraged to share these songs with friends and to learn more about all of the musicians and the art that inspired them.

Thank you to all of the contributors who donated their time, their words, their music, and–in the case of cover artist Maureen Gubia and various contributing photographers–their images, to this free, Creative Commons-licensed compilation. It has been a labor of love from all angles, and your creativity and your patience are much appreciated.

Special thanks to Danny Cohen, whose song “Magritte” inspired the idea for Artsongs, to Sonny Smith for recruiting Jim Long, and likewise to Jim for writing the two joyful songs that serve as the golden bookends of this project, to Jess Roberts, Billy Shebar and Chris Stroffolino for their many helpful suggestions, to Jett Superior for the Bob Ross photo and background info, and to the labels without whose permission some of this music would not have been able to appear: Paul K @ Antenna Farm, Hector @ Anti-/Epitaph, and Andy Bernick @ Richmond County Archives.

Thank you also to the WFMU’s Free Music Archive for hosting the audio files.

Visiting Mr. Geffle [Presentation]:

When we were children, we went to the puppet theatre, and we loved watching cartoons and playing with our wind up toys – but we weren’t aware of the profundity of those simple pleasures at the time. Grown up, we have new pleasures, but are sometimes full of nostalgia for those joys of childhood. The films of the Quay Brothers revitalized these memories for us, and have sparked our imaginations more than any other contemporary artists. They make use of familiar elements in a totally unfamiliar way – a way that terrifies our inner child but fascinates our adult sensibilities. They have been so inspirational for us, we felt they deserved at least some small tribute. Long live the Brothers Quay!
The Brothers Quay are American stop-motion animators based in England. Their haunting films are heavily influenced by the work of Czech animator Jan Švankmajer.

Notes

Artsongs is offered for free download with Creative Commons Music Sharing license courtesy of the individual artists and labels involved. You may listen to it and share it provided that the individual artists are always credited. You may not sample or synchronize these songs with any multimedia project without the express permission of the individual artists.

Credits

Track 17 written, produced, mixed and mastered by Felix Petrescu and Valentin Toma (Makunouchi Bento)

Curated by Dave Merson Hess aka Dave M-H [], who runs the Reverse Engine netlabel

Artwork by Maureen Gubia