» A Cid
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. #047 – recorded on 2004-01-15
Mental imaging for the drive behind this piece was essentially one of those sinister pieces of machinery that Wile E. Coyote operates on Looney Tunes. The title is a play on "acid house", so while this has somewhat of a minimal, nihilist feel, and you really start to hear the tweaked-out resonance emerge @ 0:50, I wanted this to be a well-fitting transition "tool" between two bigger tracks — I composed it with the intention of not being much in itself, but complementing its bookends like a supporting actor.
Yes, that is cowbell.
» A Life Well Lived Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. #098 – recorded on 2004-04-03
Sad and happy at the same time. I'm really proud of how the opening riff sets the tone for what's to come. It's a bouncy staccato bit played on a Novation Nova. One of the truely awesometastic things about the Nova was how each part (of 6) could have its own independent effects. They weren't the most realistic, and the reverb was very metallic, but this means they could be used to come up with a unique sound all their own. Which is precisely what I did.
"ALWL" is also part of the Songritt Symphony mentioned earlier. The main melody (starts @ 0:56) is a trademark sound I used on a number of my tracks ("Emma's Theme", based on a story I did at the time being another, as well as "03" in the "Re: Born" video). It evokes so many emotions when played plaintively, and parallels Vangelis' style of leads for beautiful chansons d'electronique like "Hymn" or "Theme from 'Antarctica'", both of which are on the Themes compilation. And that's what I wanted to do here, bring forth a very nurturing and strong theme.
Baby noises are present because I was feeling very nostalgic. This track is all about living life to the fullest, and having no (or realistically, few) regrets when it's time to die. A lot of breakbeat music is very ballsy, which carries loads of machismo, but little room for crying and hugging. Those who're afraid of such emotions cast them off as "sappy" and "mushy", but I know better.
@ 2:35, the drums suddenly get generous reverb. This part was influenced by the rhythm from Led Zep's "When the Levee Breaks" without actually using that loop (as it's been sampled for numerous tracks, like Enigma's "Return to Innocence"). Pay close attention for the reverse-reverbed xylo @ 3:32, which harmonizes so beautifully with everything dancing through the frequency range.
And curiously enough, there are a lot of snapshot sounds. I was never much of a photog before Second Life, so chalk it up on me wanting to remember my experiences.
» Accelerative Thrust Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. #042 – recorded on 2003-12-27
HAR HAR, my first foray into goa/psy-trance. I intentionally and anachronistically bastardized the style, in some ways, took it back to its original ethnic East Indian roots. I placed a few clips of trains running (common theme in my work) throughout, see if you can catch 'em.
I LOVE how the arpeggio slithers up and goes nuts @ 1:08. That's courtesy of the Access Virus Rack Classic. The "DOO!" zap SFX on second beats after that are a nod to Kraftwerk. Again, lotsa little details: the softened piano glissando @ 1:51 cues my performance into a breath controller hooked up to the MU100R. I was blowing so hard that my cheeks were red, I wanted it to sound simultaneously authentic yet unreal.
Later on nearing the 3-min. mark, the arco strings embellishments are an overt takeaway from Bollywood culture. It was at this time I began to see the hero and the villain fighting atop a train car. With machetes. And the arps and "DOO!" SFX kick in again to finish off the track on a really high note.
Despite how lightweight I felt about arranging multiple lines of 16th notes playing off each other, I'm pleased how this turned out in hindsight. Sometimes after I finish something, I hate it, but it grows on me half a year or more down the line. Time's funny that way.
» Acid Hop
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. #109 – recorded on 2004-05-01
What if hip-hop and techno had joined at the waist sooner? Well, they did in some people's eyes, but to this day, Detroit is more popularly recognized as the birthplace of much rap music than electronic vibes. "Acid Hop" presents an alternate musical history of collaborations between artists (often an impetus for why I do what I do) and has some serious bass d00d. I once burned this mix to a CD and rode in a friend's car with massive subs. We were totally pimpin' the town rolling down Main St., I tells ya!
2:14 starts some skillful scratchin' which was played live and edited afterwards. I did it by chopping up like, 100 scratches (I didn't use all of them in this track), then mapping them to different keyboard keys so I could trigger them upon playback. I got some great panning with that. We head down to Compton @ 2:24 with that siney worm lead diggin' its way up, bred from P-Funk and delivered into the hands of Dr. Dre.
All throughout this, I thought of myself not so much as a hip-hop producer as a hungry composer who has a lot of passion for the resourcefulness of new art forms coming from "the street", often hyperbolic in their savage tales, but at the same time carrying a sleek (if druggy and demented) vision of a better future. In that, my own ideology is more in line with the likes of Kool Keith than generic bling 'n' hos shiznit.
And there's actually a dual bass line in this, consisting of the titular "acid" tweaking and a more grounded weighter. A lot of hip-hop instrumentals are really repetitive and don't change a lot, so I wanted to have some loops as familiar anchors for new elements getting introduced.
Another fave of mine is the chime @ 2:52 (recurs @ 3:31 and gets gate-chopped), which I got the idea from after listening to some of Rza of Wu-Tang's production. I remember slammin' down a whole note on that and letting it ring, sing so clearly. I then had an epiphany about finding my own voice, no matter what style of music I choose to express myself in.
P.S. You may also know this as the "SHAKE DAT PRIM!" music from my flexi-flag video tutorial.