Day 309: Arptacious

Just an excuse to work with the RPG-8 module and create some random arpeggiation.  The only problem with the random setting is that find a chord's tonic note is a little nebulous at times.  I plopped a big, fat synth bass down to make sure you could feel it.

Lyrics:
Your name is nearly a lie.

Day 220: Drugs are Bad

Song about drug addicts.  Excuse to play with Now and Truth.

Lyrics:
Why'd you have to be such a liar?  
Why did you call me your friend?
Why did you have to be such a liar? 
Why couldn't you walk away instead of forcing this end?

Got a call last week from your mother. 
She was just calling to check in.
It's been a long time since you called and she's a little worried about your drug habit.

Day 137: If it is...

I would call this piece a "production experiment".  Just trying to do some things, work quickly, and come out with a decent product on the other side.  It's hit or miss.

Writing lyrics that make sense isn't really my strong point today.

Lyrics:
You will go in if it is high.
Do you want to make a bet?

Day 104: Industrially Speaking

Everyone keeps secrets.  Some are big, some are small.  Sometimes you keep a secret because of an organization (an organizational secret I guess?), sometimes it's something only you know, or at least you think that (up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, select, start).  This is a little bit about keeping secrets, but also about relationships.

Here I've dipped into the "everything is distorted on some level" bag of tricks.  What can I say other than I'm a sucker for it every time.

This is probably the only song you'll hear today with Sturm & Drang in the lyrics... so it's got that going for it.


Lyrics:
Come a little bit closer,
I've got something you should hear.

Look to the sky,
Now walk the steps,
Unto perfection, 
Unto the beginning of the end.

You are the wind and the rain,
You are the one who keeps me sane,
You are the breeze that blows thru me.

You are the holy ghost,
You are better than most,
You are the secret I keep closely.

Look to the sky,
Now walk the steps, 
Unto perfection,
Unto the new beginning.

Sturm and Drang and not much compasssion,
You said "You forgive me" after a fashion,
You are the only one,
Yes, you are the only one.

Crucifixes and crosses and demons,
You aren't the only one who can see them,
but we are not leaving you,
no we are not leaving you.


Look to the sky,
Now walk the steps,
Unto perfection, 
Unto the new beginning,
The beginning of the end.

Day 95: The Shape of Things to Come

A lot of the music that people call "experimental" is really not.  I'm including myself in that statement.  There is music that is almost 100 years old that is more "experimental" than much of today's fare.  Autechre is one of the few "popular" artists that I'd say is pushing a few boundaries.  They understand that this world of digital audio is just in its infancy.  There is SO MUCH more that people will be able to do with audio as time goes by.  Even in the short time I've been making music on the computer (since 1998) it's progressed incredibly.  (My favorite example is when a drummer is listening to one of my tracks with programmed drums and they say "Who played drums on this?"  This first happened around 10 years ago.)

Not trying to get on any kind of soapbox here, just wanted to say my piece about experimentation.  Before you dismiss something as "too weird" or "just noise" give it another 30 seconds.  People said similar things about Stravinsky, punk rock, dubstep, rock'n'roll, Schoenberg, Bach, and many others.

Day 66: A Quick One, While He's Away

Just a short little experiment with the RPG8 module in Reason.  Something I almost never use.