San Caligo is a project of Joki Schaller of the band "Imaginary War" and "The Zombie Room Studio".

”It was the end of 2016 and I was tired and frustrated. I felt like I was caught in a continuous loop of unrealistic expectations, neglected promises, alternating priorities, wrong perceptions, business rubbish and lots of useless digital trash. I totally lost my sense for art and faith in music. After staggering around for a while, disoriented and lost, I slowly found out the reasons for my situation. So I made a list.
I wrote down everything that kept me off making music. At the same time I planned to write and record songs for a project, avoiding the mentioned reasons.
After some time jamming around, I collected about 20 ideas directing me vaguely towards the trip-hop genre which didn’t surprise me.
From the outset it was clear that I wanted and needed to involve other musicians too, but ones I haven’t played with yet (or rarely). I asked a few friends, explained the goal of my project and they agreed. It was simple: there was no ”band“, but more a conglomeration without any obligations. My plan to produce 10 songs together went well and the music grew - due to the influence of the people I worked together with for several months.
I wanted to reclaim my sense for music without any pressure and just went with the flow. And it happened.

So I came to the decision that this record must not cost anything. I had to avoid any costs, but since thankfully I own my own little studio place, the biggest hurdle was cleared. I also decided not to release physically as this would have caused costs too. Michael Mutschler from 3M Audio mastered this record for free, as he was convinced by the idea as well.
And since I haven’t created any costs in this production, this record is free for you. I don’t want to earn money with it, because I’m still unsure about the material value of music or art in general.
Everything I want for this project is that you listen to music and decide if you like it or not. It’s free and it’s for you. If you think you want to pay amount x for this record, I donate everything to foundations specialised in teaching music to kids.

Finally after the release I felt reassured, free and happy about the fact I had the possibility to create music without any standards or guidelines (except the ones I set for myself). I often had a good laugh when I was asking myself if e.g. this guitar solo should be 3 minutes long. Why not, I answered, why not?
There’s so many people I have to thank for their support, time and endless patience they had with me. There’s no specific order I mention them, but Iveta, Martin, Vanessa and Gregoire did a great job in their singing and surprised me more than once. Thanks to Jens and Chris for their unusual guitar tunes and Jonas for layering down unexpected keys. Thanks to Martin for creating San Caligo’s cover and Michael Mutschler of 3M Audio for the mastering of this record. And thanks to all the friends I discussed with and who supported me mentally.
It was a self-experience trip (& hop) for me and I’m glad I’ve found back home again, but richer in knowledge and experience.
If you like it, share & recommend and spend some money for the kid’s musically teaching.
So - after this story about how and why, do me a favour and listen to this album as a whole.
You probably will hear the deep valleys I went through, notice the doubts and questions I had or just experience the freedom I found in the making of San Caligo’s record."