My story is the story of an artist who was a little boy with a pocket calculator but now is on a quest to uncover the hidden laws behind music and tell the story of his country at war.
War, Music, and Mathematics
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Ambient
Easy Listening for Difficult People
It all began with a 30-year hiatus. In 1993, I was living in Los Angeles. My band had broken up, and I was an acclaimed songwriter. I was sharing a house with my regular studio engineer, a house protected by an adherence to some Wild West frontier law — a legal loophole, really, that kept us temporarily in bank-repossessed homes before the hammer fell, and we moved on to another bank-repossessed home in limbo.
Diametrically opposed to the musical situation we’d left, which was a type of pastiche Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – abrasive, dynamic, feedback and polyester-driven mayhem, we were recording and beginning to assemble what we considered could be the quietest band in the world. Maybe you recall this was right in the middle of the Seattle grunge era. Those were terrible times for music. We were in the opposition. You’d maybe hear what we were aiming for these days in the likes of Timbre Timbre, but back then, in that environment, it seemed dissolute and unwarranted. And most likely unwanted.
Continue readingUnused Songs And Their Potential To Make You Sick
Whether you’re professional or amateur, tour-famous or bedroom-idle, every musician has them. They hover around like a foul scent and rear their ugly heads each time you’ve forgotten they exist. If you’re a music type, I’ve no doubt you’ve got a batch lying around, too.
I’m talking about unused songs and recordings you have no idea what to do with. A jam you tracked one night but never finished. A memory you should probably try to let go. Move on with your life, buddy!
Yet, now and then, you pull one out and give it a listen. Each time, the reek of unfulfilled potential makes you sick to your stomach. You like the tune enough to vouch for it, but know it’s never getting uploaded to Spotify. It’s regrettable because, given the right resources, you believe it had the potential to be an absolute belter.
Continue readingCollecting And Enjoying Sonic Elements And Influences
by Camilo Palma a.k.a. Ap Ducal
Over the past year, I’ve been developing my new album, “U,” by my moniker Ap Ducal, which continues in the sonic sequence of previous records, but this time from a more personal perspective. The sound, the process, and the timing of this album are imbued with the idea of collecting and enjoying the sonic elements and influences that have had the most impact on me.
Perhaps it is a form of nostalgia or simply a tribute to music styles like post-punk, new wave, and even some compositional elements of jazz in a long-play format. I tried to incorporate these elements into the four tracks of the album. An example is the theme “UUUU,” based on The Cure’s song “A Forest.”
These four themes were recorded entirely in my home studio, using only four elements per song in a band-like format, essentially the format I’ve been most familiar with in my career. The challenge was doing this as a solo artist with unconventional instruments in my context.
Continue readingSolitude
by Lyndon
People ask me what instruments I play, and usually, I respond with, “Whatever gets it out of my head.”
Music has been an outlet for me for more than half my life at this point. I come from Chesapeake, Virginia, a place where music (let alone any form of art or entertainment) is totally underrated, never even remotely appreciated.
Continue readingWithout Any Constraints
Greetings! I want to let you know that I have an Avant-garde/Alternative Rock music project called NETHRACEDICON.
I’m sure you’re probably thinking, “Nethra-what!?” And, you’re correct. This is not a word. It’s a fictional title I have given myself, as an independent recording artist. “Nethra” is actually a male first name that can be found in India. Also, at the tail end, you can find “Icon,” which someone I used to work with pointed out to me.
When I was 20, and still in college at Texas A&M University, I hooked up with some musicians who were needing a drummer for their Reggae group, Raggamuffin. During the Fall of 2005, I became their active drummer and managed to capture multiple rehearsal sessions with a portable device. This was my introduction into “do-it-yourself,” home audio recording and I’ve been doing this ever since.
Continue readingMusic is my poetry
by Mila Cloud
Music is something very intimate and personal, so it’s not easy for me to write about it. On the other hand, it is essential to me; it is something I want to share and what I want to talk about.
To describe this experience, the language of poetry would be more appropriate. On the other hand, such a language would be too hermetic and, as a result, incomprehensible. Besides, I can’t write poetry. Music is my poetry.
Continue readingGan Focal
by Mark Wilkins
Life during the lockdown and one finds oneself turning to the online world for community, support, and solace. The pandemic is a global phenomenon after all, and it would seem by the swell of blogs and posts on social media that millions of people the world over are doing the same. Social media explodes with information, disinformation, misinformation, distraction, and instruction.
One of the most shared posts by the online artistic community tells me ‘use the pandemic and the new reality to write that song, that novel, that screenplay you’ve always wanted to’ but this merely serves to impose a feeling of guilt -after all learning to adapt to the restrictions is difficult enough without the added pressure of trying to summon the muse and create new music.
What if I have no new ideas at my immediate disposal to inspire new tunes or fresh ideas to share with other musicians, let alone an audience?
The Other Creatures – a psycho-punk experimental duo
by Gabriel Marinho da Silva Cavalcanti
We are The Other Creatures, a project of psycho-punk experimental music from Brazil, formed by Gabriel Marinho (a.k.a $eraph) and Juliana Vannucchi. Our music tries to explore unknown universes.
Lo-fi post-rock electric guitar & beats
by Marcelo Badari (Looming Flames)
My name is Marcelo Badari, and I am a musician from the southeast region of Brazil. Looming Flames is my instrumental solo project since 2011.
The idea behind Looming Flames is to create music with an electric guitar, a loop pedal, and some effects pedals in a minimalistic way. I also use a Boss SP 202 sampler in my guitar chain. With it, I can have sampled acoustic drum beats, played by me, in my compositions. I have some electronic beats and some noises sampled in the SP 202 as well.