I’ve been messing around with some dark ambient and drone stuff and have started a new project called Caustic Reverie. I’ve released an album-length piece called Absent that is available to listen via streaming on last.fm. It takes a while to build, so I recommend putting it on in the background when you go read some Thomas Ligotti.
8-17-08
Frost* – “The Other Me”
Gentle Giant – “The Boys in the Band”
Andromeda – “The Hidden Riddle”
Marillion – “Marbles III”
Ruby Bullet – “Leave it Behind”
Tiles – “Sacred & Mundane”
Popol Vuh – “Agnes Dei”
Arena – “The Butterfly Man”
Pineapple Thief – “And So Say All Of You”
God Is an Astronaut– “Tempus Horizon”
Therion – “Close Up the Streams”
8-24-08
Porcupine Tree – “Slave Called Shiver”
Scale The Summit – “Crossing the Ocean”
Kansas – “Belexes”
Carptree – “In the Centre of an Empty Space”
Sigh – “Silver Universe”
Don Caballero – “Challenge Jets”
Gentle Giant – “A Cry for Everyone”
Vulture Industries – “Grim Apparitions”
Rush – “Cinderella Man”
Edenbridge – “Fallen From Grace”
The Mars Volta – “Agadez”
spavined: old and decrepit : over-the-hill
Garret taught Driver’s Ed with the aid of Lucille, a spavined Keys Cruiser so rusted out that he could use the hole in the passenger-side floorboards as a Fred Flinstone-style emergency break should one of his students fail to yield at an intersection.
epigone: follower, disciple
Many laughed at the bathing suit-clad group flailing about on the grass at the park but before the day was over, the fringe sport of synchronized air-swimming had a few new epigones.
This song is based on the following 12-tone matrix.
| B | D# | D | F | A | G | G# | C | F# | C# | E | A# |
The first incarnation of this piece was about a minute’s worth of multitracked improvisation using the matrix as seen below. I’ve colored the four parts used and bolded the notes that intersect.
| B | D# | D | F | A | G | G# | C | F# | C# | E | A# |
| G | B | A# | C# | F | D# | E | G# | D | A | C | F# |
| G# | C | B | D | F# | E | F | A | D# | A# | C# | G |
| F | A | G# | B | D# | C# | D | F# | C | G | A# | E |
| C# | F | E | G | B | A | A# | D | G# | D# | F# | C |
| D# | G | F# | A | C# | B | C | E | A# | F | G# | D |
| D | F# | F | G# | C | A# | B | D# | A | E | G | C# |
| A# | D | C# | E | G# | F# | G | B | F | C | D# | A |
| E | G# | G | A# | D | C | C# | F | B | F# | A | D# |
| A | C# | C | D# | G | F | F# | A# | E | B | D | G# |
| F# | A# | A | C | E | D | D# | G | C# | G# | B | F |
| C | E | D# | F# | A# | G# | A | C# | G | D | F | B |
After that, it gets a bit weird. I’ll leave the rest of the process to your imagination.
Thanks to Dan Cavanagh for the HTML matrix app on his site.
I’m nearly finished with another TheForgotton song called Ganymede that’s based on a 12-tone matrix. There’s just a touch of spit and polish left as well as some sort of artwork I’d like to have before I release it. The possibility of a cohesive album has crossed my mind but there is still a lot more songwriting needed to be done.
I ended up staying up late last night working on a drone that ended up coming close to an album’s worth in one track! This song has lead me in a whole other direction than I’m used to, mainly that of dark ambient. I’m considering releasing some of this new stuff under the name Caustic Reverie. I also need to keep an eye out for a site that will host a 70 + minute song.
Toxie from The Cynic’s Cache has reviewed one of my songs here. Here’s an excerpt carefully selected to make it sound almost positive:
This song is actually painful to listen to for a variety of reasons.
The most obvious is the fact that it’s so dreary. This song sounds like a seven year old sitting inside, staring out the window at a rain storm on the first day of summer. It sounds like a guy standing in the rain with a bouquet of flowers for his girlfriend that he just found murdered. This song sounds like…OK, you get the picture. It’s depressing.
Baroness – “O’Appalachia”
Anekdoten – “Monolith”
Anthony Phillips – “Um & Aargh”
Serenity – “Rust of Coming Ages”
Sylvan – “The Colors Changed (Live)”
Dream Theater – “Home”
Genesis – “Down and Out”
Pyramaze – “Ghost Light”
Camel – “Another Night”
Made Out of Babies – “Invisible Ink”
Storms Approach – “Misnomer”
apolaustic: self-indulgent; devoted to seeking enjoyment
Scattered applause wakened me and I realized that I had nodded off sometime during the apolaustic bandleader’s seven minute long banjo solo in the middle of their rendition of “Hooked on a Feeling”.
Here’s tonight’s soundscape experiment, the meat of which was made while messing around with a VST effect called Elottronix XL.
