Umbriel is a track inspired by my friend Malcom’s Theatre Noir project, and specifically the album Seeds and their sowers. I believe this is the final track for Sub Luna, though probably not in its playing order. I’ll finalize the tracklisting and upload everything to Jamendo some time in the near future.
Hyperion is another entry in my album of mood (moon) music. This is a mostly improvised piece that was given an asymmetrical structure to reflect a particular satellite of Saturn and it’s idiosyncratic orbit.
Io is set to be the third track from my upcoming TheForgotton album Sub Luna. It comes from the same session that begot the Caustic Reverie album Mute and contains instruments that use optical synthesis. Also available from Soundclick and last.fm.
I’ve been having some shoulder problems the past couple of months. Last week, my doctor suggested I try switching to a trackball. I figured I would immediately be having a tendonitis flareup from the repetitive thumb movement, but so far it’s been great for my whole arm. I still keep the mouse on the desk for when I need the fine control but I’m finding myself preferring the trackball for everything but FPS gaming. Maybe I’ll get skillful enough that I won’t need the mouse ever again.
I don’t want to abandon it for good for the same reason that I wouldn’t want to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout: the possibility of being completely useless a couple of years down the road when I need to use someone else’s computer that has a different setup. I have a hard enough time telling time with an analog clock, I’d hate to find I’ve unlearned mouse motions.
In other news, I’m putting the finishing touches on Io, another track from my upcoming TheForgotton release Sub Luna. I’m almost at the point where it’s looking more like a short album and less like the EP I had originally envisioned.
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.
Here’s tonight’s soundscape experiment, the meat of which was made while messing around with a VST effect called Elottronix XL.
Here’s something that’s been kicking around for several months in one form or another. There’s a lot of parts I like but I’m having trouble getting them in the right order or putting in transitions that work. I’m also unsure whether this is cool as a short piece or if I should try and extend it.
