My series of reviewing tracks from my 230 MP3s titled The Final Selection continues! Use the inline music players to sample before you download.
» Action Sequence
#016 - recorded on 2003-05-10
Lots of changes in this one. It's the whole widescreen, mirrorshades, cyberpunk, soundtrack affair. From shakuhachi flailing to the wind to heavy big beat stompin', yeah, this has got a lot. I sometimes wonder if I could've done this any differently, and in the space of a few hours that it came across, now frozen in time, it actually sounds a lot more inspired in context. Relief through nostalgia, and a throwback to earlier times when who's side are you on? wasn't so damn ambiguous.
I went all out on this: resonant acid squelches, jaggedly twisted arps, epic orchestral stabs (and string swells!), and even power guitar crunches. The action cools down @ 2:40, taking pause with Zenny meditation before the mid-range filtered beats slide back into the mix. I was totally thinking about vehicles in motion here: heavy masses of metal gliding across the asphalt — and in some cases, sailing into the skies — the protagonists deploying their melee weapons (Dragon's Tooth Sword!) while being hurled into the sky, beat changing to 4-on-the-floor @ 1:29 to reflect the heart-pounding nature of the scene. And thus, I couldn't have named this anything else… it had to be… "Action Sequence"!
» Activ8
#031 - recorded on 2003-07-23
Sort of a spiritual successor to "Passion8", more in terms of epic length (10+ min.!) than structure or cadence. I created a chunky prog trance monstah here with what starts out as a monotonous bassline, varied rhythmic elements doing their thang being faded in and otherwise introduced, growing together to build up the cohesion of the driving pulse before being teased off.
The cutting arp that makes its entrance @ 0:59 is a slightly-tweaked version of "Eraser" from the Proteus 2000, which was a great big box o' presets (1,000+!). What's more, it has generous room for 512 user patches, which warmly encouraged my experimentation with sound (the randomize function, while I wish it was more controllable, was a hoot too!).
Pay attention to the xylo riff that gets introduced @ 2:10, because it forms the meat of the melody much later. And true to my roots, I couldn't help but introduce flamboyant piano riffing @ 2:13. If you listen closely thereafter, you'll be able to make out a phantomic gasp of laughter, elements continuing to climb like clockwork — yet much more fluid in their synchronous harmonization.
@ 3:43… RAWK RHYTHM! And with that stylistic juxtaposition, a flanged patch from the Reason's Malström surrenders to a minimalist groove @ 4:05, before the bass grows sharper @ 4:13 with the crashing of cymbals, and classic drum machine noises dither and pan with the handclaps. Then, @ 4:35, a HARPSICHORD (WTX is that doing there?). During that time, I was listening a lot to the full version of Orbital's "The Box", which is one of the greatest (and fewest) electronic compositions to include dulcimer. All these percussive attacks get you chuffed for lone, housey sampled saxes, as delay-echoed electric pianos join the dance @ 5:25. It all loses the beat @ 5:41, before syruping itself into a moody peaktime pounder (think dating ads, but better) with that massive mono bassline. (Crank up the subs, but protect your hearing.)
Another build to climax follows, with synthy winding noises chirping and the insistent 16-note pounding of a snare rush flanges its way to the pause @ 6:45. A windy rush (this a nod to the numerous transitions inherent in BT's "P.A.R.I.S."), leading into the mix dropping back with the impact of a safe falling out of a 44th-floor window onto the street below.
By the time we're at 7:30, with so many builds and turns along the way, there's finally a hummable melody! All this sonic hinting and foreshadowing had to pay off in a big way, with the catchy xylophone melody getting doubled up @ 7:59 to emphasize what you're supposed to be singing along with.
Alas, after those 16 bars, the xylos are gone, and we're left with such such guest stars as the distorted percs @ 8:35, the stuttered cyms @ 8:43, and the floating piano @ 8:50, a tasteful homage to the "piano house" of the mid-90s and albums like BT's IMA, too rare in their magnificent execution, because to this day, it remains difficult to find techno producers who have both studio and live keyboard chops.
» AlexandrIa
#092 - recorded on 2004-03-30
The thick kick drum in this (also from the Proteus 2000, IIRC) was distinctly colored by some of the SAW Recordings catalogue I was listenining to, like Satoshi Tomiie' productions. So consider this in the "prog house", genre, altho like most (if not all of my music) the category it fits neatest in is "Torley music".
Little details matter: I like how I made one pitch-bent sound squeal @ 2:13. And big details, like the secondary bass stabs that come in @ 2:35. Like a glorious rainbow, the entire audible spectrum must be considered.
"AlexandrIa" was so-named due to some Greco-Egyptian reasoning which I don't remember. It's essentially designed to be an interlude mixed between two longer pieces, and fulfills this role nicely.
» Archduck
#068 - recorded on 2004-02-25
Ambient and kind of sinister. Title is a play on "Archduke"; I imagined a horror movie with a very ugly duckling-king waddling down the stairs, which in itself is an oddity, because if you think about it, that's not something easy to pull off.
Improvised, dark, and abstract, this isn't a very happy tune. Some mangled gamelan-things come in @ 2:11. Overall, experimental and not very listenable.