hi dudes i'm Duncan–i went to Bard with a buncha these guys–i like what you have going here
these are some songs i did a little while back–these are all finished–they go together as kinda an album–so not looking for criticism just wanted to share them with you
to give you some context i did these when i was living in my parents' basement right before going on a road trip around the US
also just to warn you the bass parts will get totally lost if you listen on a laptop speaker
ok here they are
1. Lookin Around (Positivity Mojo)
2. Nighttimes 3
3. 999
4. Secret Animals
5. Non-Renewable Source Of Fun
5 comments:
hey, these are pretty great, duncan! prog-like virtuosity/time signature wankery, with krautrock mantra-like repetition and textural qualities. very 70's. very cool. actually almost reminds me a bit of cluster's 'zuckerzeit', at times (which is high praise, as it's one of my all-time favorites).
i'd like to see them a little more smudgy, less pretty - but thats just a matter of personal preference.
care to tell us more about instrumentation/recording techniques/etc, or your conceptual approach?
sure dude–lemme get on my high horse for a second
i made a few rules for myself for recording:
always perform:
every part must be a complete performance on actual instruments– no software instrument can be used when a real instrument can do its job– no parts may be sequenced or edited
digital processes cannot replace real-world processes:
this means all eq and other plugins must be obvious or like a caricature in their effect on the material– it is not a digital plug-in's role to "sweeten" or improve the quality of the track, or to simulate room tone or equipment that does not exist where the recording takes place
real-world processes must balance digital ones:
when an effect or other method is used where digital seems to "take over", a real-world process has to compensate (example: if i use the cheezy ring-mod plug-in i have to rerecord the effected track through a real-life megaphone afterwards. another example: since all the songs were recorded direct-to-disk i dubbed everything off to cassette)
the way the songs were constructed was very process-driven also: some i made by creating accompaniment either by writing or using chance elements, and trying to respond as automatically as possible, some some i made by writing parts on one instrument and playing them on completely different ones, and one was entirely planned out from start to finish before recording even began
TCD: thanks for what you said about zuckerzeit–also curious what you mean about "smudgy"
ok i just said "process" 1000 times in this post here's a few more:
seen a lot of discussion about these types of processes (and concerns about how they communicate personal sensibility) in studio art here on EPN–does anyone want to share ideas about process-oriented music or recording?
haha, yeah 'smudgy' is pretty vague. i just mean a little more lo-fi - less precise and clear. of course, i like everything to sound like mud. just a personal preference.
there are some musical-process related discussions on the board, sort of - and most of the visual arts-based discussions are conceptual enough to be applicable to sound. im all in favor of there being more, tho.
i'll post more regarding your rules later...gotta run...
wtf? I posted a long thing about these songs yesterday, and i must have fucked it up! Damn it. I'll have to write it again.
Duncan! I like this music. It made me take a few deep breaths when I listened to it, because of the tones. It also conjures up alot of different images...caves, paisleys, moustaches, inner organs. The songs are put together really nicely. The constraints you use in your process do not distract from the organic thoughtful/less ness that comes through in their narrative. I like the lengths of them too. I am fond of hum, I think it adds roominess to recordings. I think the last track couldv'e sweet with brass and woodwinds instead of guitar! The whole set does seem like it ought to be played at a dark night time.
As for processes in my own music: I don't really place any conceptual demands on what happens when I play beyond wanting it to "feel right". Though I will admit to having an irrational preference for things not digital. I do not use a computer and only have a small number of acoustic instruments whose sound I change with a feedbacked four track recorder. So alot of the procedural guidance comes from the limits of my instruments. I usually just improvise something and then add someother stuff to it-not too brilliant, but honest, maybe. The result is often meandering compositions that go nowhere and start nowhere. But, I kind of like that, its like a baseball that you find deep in the grass behind the homerun fence, mmmcheah, gwabbly mamblessambles. I put some on this blog...somewhere.
Well anyway, your rules seem like they are compensating for your love of digital/simulated electronics. You also have some irrational apprehension about them? Why is this? Also, I like the automatic response rule. Its interesting to me because the appliance that was used to record becomes a real dynamic part of the music. The response depends on how the recorded track sounds, but also the ease with which playback and record are possible. The less time you have to think, the more automatic the response.
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