Sometimes, I do subtlety. Sometimes, I do a mashup of Husker Du and acid house.
Recordings
147 posts
Mixed signals and crossed meters.
This recent batch of material was something of a journal from my days as a trucker. This piece is the final entry of sorts.
Feedback and Shepard tones.
Rural minimal drone techno? I dunno. Call it what you like. It’s a bonus track for the new EP.
Just pickin’ and grinnin’. With a sequencer, that is.
Part of this piece involves the use of a whammy bar. Does that make it metal?
Steering a bit more in an analog direction lately.
…or, How I Quit My Job and Made a Record.
First, the plug. I have a record available for purchase on Bandcamp. You can hear it for free on YouTube.
I’ve spent the last four years of being disconnected from the world as a long-haul trucker. During that period, I had no time for anything resembling a hobby, and what time I had at home was too scarce to spend on recording. When I decided to call it quits, I gathered up some ideas from a sketchbook I’d been keeping and decided to hammer them in shape.
In just over a month, I’d recorded about 45 minutes of material. This is where things get interesting and novel for me. Anyone can access my music, and in a form that I’ve chosen. I’m not beholden to a major corporation to “advise” me on the process, manufacture the media, and (hopefully) market it correctly. Continued...
It would be cruel to subject musicians to these time signatures. It would also be cruel to subject listeners to that bit at 02:30, but here we are anyhow.
W.S. Merwin passed away this last March. I hand’t heard and part of me is saddened by not knowing.
All acts of violence were simulated. No cellos or guitars were actually harmed in the making of this, and they were released into the wild once recording was completed.
This one was ready a couple of days ago, but I suck at naming these things.
It’s still winter somewhere.
Processed electric bass and a Volca drum synthesizer. If it sounds like a mashup of Glenn Branca and Detroit house, I make no apologies.
Decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
I came of age in the 1980’s, and I’ll never stop believing in the power of electro bass lines. This one goes out to Morgio Zoroger, Lord of the Synth and slayer of comets.
More robot beats with an old viola and some chords I’m pretty sure I ripped off from Howard Jones.
Most of my recordings the last few years have been done on fairly limited equipment: a Fender Jazz bass, a few effects pedals, and some processing on the computer. Over the last decade, I’ve compiled a series of sketches, but life and work being what they are, I haven’t had time to do much more.
I recently picked up a Synthstrom Deluge. It’s a wonderful little blinky box, but I’m still learning all the capabilities. Workflow is shockingly easy to manage, and considering my last real experience with MIDI was when the Roland Juno and DX-7 were the big things, it’s quite powerful. I’ll be gaining back some significant free time in the near future, and this should be a great palette to work with.
So far, I’m just poking around the parameters, and everything sounds like 1997 trance. It’ll be a bit before I can build a sample library and work my voice around this, but for now, enjoy. Continued...
Some days, you just feed some material into the machinery. Some of those days, something interesting comes out. I’ve no idea what to call it, so here goes.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/336865088″ params=”color=45acc1&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/184475233″ params=”color=45acc1&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/131931572″ params=”color=45acc1&auto_play=false&hide_related=true&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
There’s a longstanding myth that the Inuit have 50 words for snow. While they do have quite a few, there are just as many in English. Consider “flurry,” “blizzard,” and “sleet” for example. In fact, there are quite a few similarities between languages, such as the ubiquitous phrase, “umiatsiaasara pullattagaq nimerussanik ulikkaarpoq.”
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/128440187″ params=”color=678792&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
…and given this week’s weather, it’s probably choked with ice.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/126473766″ params=”color=398e24&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
This was something I did on a lark with a guitarist named Robert Robbins back in 1992 or so. I always found it a bit festive.
Today is also Isaac Newton’s birthday.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/110154759″ params=”color=646880&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true” width=” 100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]
Everybody needs a 303.
Inspired by Felix Gilman. Or not. The real story depends on who you ask.
Turn east. Think north. Reverse.
Aubade for crouched telephones and sleeping construction sites.
Well, it sounded happier when I was putting it all together.
Two chords and the truth. That’s what rock and roll is, man.
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/188586146″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”160″ iframe=”true” /]
Repetition as a form of change.
First piece of the new year.
A guy came into work the other day and regaled me with his elaborate plans to build a flamethrower that shoots ball bearings. This is dedicated to him.
Space sometimes commands strange tools to its uses.
Low-rent phase music made affordable.
A glitch in cubic interpolation. Sometimes the most novel results are the least expected.