Am pleased to announce my 30th Bandcamp release, Terra Organization [embedded player removed]. Here is a sample tune, the second on the tracklist. The vocal sample is from a user who keeps getting kicked off YouTube and has acquired a small following.
Liner notes for the LP:
These are short, structured songs with some interplay of a tune, a rhythm, and a timbre, written or finalized between July 2018 and January 2019.
The prevalence of chords results partly from use of the new "pattern generator" app inside the Tracktion Waveform DAW, intended for "chord progressions." As a musician coming from the visual arts, this idea of "progressions" seems bizarre, just as it would be weird to speak of color progressions in a painting. There are chords, there are timbres that have overtones or partials resembling chords, and there is how you put them together -- maybe there's progress, maybe there's only one chord, maybe there are no chords. The pattern generator is mostly used here as a timesaver, to create a melody on one track that harmonizes with something playing chords on another track. You can hear this most clearly on the song "Mall Chords," which is fairly robotic and MIDI-ish but also kind of lush.
Vocal samples are used sparingly in these tunes -- only if a track seems to need them.
The songs are mastered LOUD to be played back at medium to low volume without loss of sound. The ideal listening scenario would be home speakers with decent dynamic range, playing at quiet volume. Playing the songs LOUD might be a mistake.
26 of these types of songs is probably too many! My preference would be to keep breaking down releases into groups of 10, but I have a pile of unused 40-60 minute blank cassettes, and I'm determined not to waste tape sides now that chrome tape is becoming scarce. Hence, a forty minute release.
Side Two of the cassette begins with "Lounge Laugh 2" and I'm thinking of the tracks on that side as a second, bonus set of tunes.
Images of the cassette packaging are here.
