I have sung the praises of the John Talabot album fin several times on this site. But two years on It’s still a staple of my collection. If you like electronica with a slightly alternative bent then you owe it to yourself to get the album and hopefully you will get as much from it as I do.
Oro Y Sangre demonstrates this blend of alternative and mainstream with its inovative use of sampling mixed with the clean edges and mathematical beats of dance music.
After several weeks of a more structured fare I decided to go back to something more repetitive and hypnotic. The basis of this track was made using several of the sequencers of Teenage Engineerings OP-1 but sending the midi information out over usb to some synths in Reaktor.
Tombola was a key sequencing element from the OP1 which gave me little control as to the rhythm of allot of the instrumentation giving the track a rather woozy feel. Once the randomized base of the track was there I then added guitar and bass instrumentation, trying to follow the timing of the piece before finally adding drums to a fixed tempo. The aim was to create something that is quite hard to pick up on as the instruments drift in and out of each other and give a mixed feeling of Loss, hopelessness and tiredness:
Rumours by Fleetwood Mac is one of the few albums I would categorise as perfect. From beginning to end every track is fantastically written and performed and the production is second to none.
Dreams is currently my alarm wakeup call so quite literally is the first thing I hear every morning. It never gets old no matter how many times I hear it:
Ennio Morricone is one of my Favourite film composers. He manages to blend both classical with areas of the avant garde to create wonderful music that has had a massive impact on cinema and our lives Culturally.
This is a Live rendition of Gabriel’s Oboe from the film The Mission:
Last week I made a jaunty little track which was based heavily on the chord structures surrounding the piece.
The original idea was to come up with the basics of the piece on piano at first and then expand those ideas to multiple instruments. My thought process behind this was to come up with a track that was orientated towards a more complex structure than my usual works outside of my solo piano pieces.
Future Islands create a working mans synthpop which seems developed from a strong gigging ethic.
What puts them above the crowd is Samual T. Herring whose voice has a range of tonality somewhere between soul and death metal. His enthusiasm and honesty are conveyed perfectly in live performance.
He may dance like a loon but it’s a loon who is totally wrapped up in the music and this live performance on Letterman is a perfect example of what they achieve when firing on all cylinders:
As part of my spring collection of tracks I have been using a string instrument on every piece.
The aim of this track was to mix things up and make the synths sound like guitars and guitar recordings sound like synths. Can you tell which is which?
Bellowhead are an amazing Live band. They manage to create a real party atmosphere with their folk based jigs that make you want to dance. Their clever arrangements of traditional folk tunes with a lyrical history that adds a weight and gravitas is complimented perfectly by the music. This video doesn’t do them justice but it does introduce their music to you.
Both these tracks are from their first album Burlesque which is great from beginning to end. Listen to them below:
This track is a little out there. The aim was to make someting using randomized textures from my Portable synth and started with the FM synth On the OP1.
I ran it through an LFO so its operators would randomly change frequencies and their signal path four times in a bar. From that basis I then added layers of different textures on the OP1 all of which were randomised by the LFO to create sounds I hadn’t heard before.
All Textures are from the OP1 although a few guitar samples were used and processed through the OP1:
I’ve been a bit lax posting up my weekly beats tracks on here, So I’ll amend that over the following few weeks.
On Week 17 I decided to go back to basics and just play a piano, After several sessions of improvisation I worked out the piece, recorded it several times and then picked the best take which is what you can hear by clicking the link below.
Occasionally it’s good to get away from the electronics and to the raw development of a track. There is nothing better than just putting your thoughts and ideas down in their elemental form and sitting in front of a piano does that for me: