Spivkurl

Thank you for taking a listen to this one, even if it is out of your comfort zone. Choosing what gear to incorporate into my songs is becoming a real challenge any more, but I love having the tools to do what I wish. I appreciate you stopping by! Have a good day!

Hey there, thanks for the listen and the cool comment! What you are picturing is a pretty common sight in my studios, as you can see from this picture taken earlier in the year....

http://www.wearerecords.com/assets/DIYSetup_2-2-2016.jpg

The VC3T is in the modular synth cabinet, top row, second from the right... The one with the label, and the green and yellow buttons at the top. Definitely not made by EMS, ha ha. It began life as a Coleco Talking Teacher toy, made around 1986. I built some support circuitry, and made a panel for various input/output and some controls, and it was incorporated into the modular setup. Has some different modes, one where it talks, and one with just a synth tone. It can be voltage controlled for pitch and amplitude modulation. Gates or trigger signals can trigger words, or hold portions of words. Not entirely predictable at times, but loads of fun, especially when sampled or controlled with a MIDI-CV/Gate converter.

But, as you see, the wires and patch cables are there! This is only a small section of the studio really. I went through over 150 ft of shielded audio cable making the connections from the patch bay to most of my instruments in this room and the one next to it.

Thanks much for taking the time to listen! Have a good day!

Hey buddy, it's good to hear from you, even though I am late with my reply! The real adventure here is in accepting the underlying agenda of the piece, which may require repeated listening. Glitch hop was only the closest idea of genre I could associate with this, partly due to the lower tempo compared to my usual, and some other musical factors. I have lost all track of gaming for at least a decade at this point, so I have little reference, but I liked some classics in childhood, so games are definitely an influence back there somewhere. I'm really happy that you enjoyed what you heard! My influences when creating music are completely scattered and cracked wide upon these days, so even I have no idea what will come next. Thanks for taking a listen, and for leaving your words!

Not the sort of music which most people probably enjoy, but art is not often made with anyone aside from the artist in mind. There are elements in this which were specifically directed towards any mind which has a small opening in it. I will never know the effect that has, I'm sure. In general, it would be hard for someone else to fully duplicate a song such as this, since they would not have access to the one of a kind instruments I have made. That is as it should be... I don't need a bunch of Spivkurl cover bands hanging around after I die... ha ha. Thank you for listening and leaving your words!

Hey buddy! I enjoyed reading your comment, and I thank you for listening! Your last words "That snare though" had me wondering what you meant... is it positive or negative? It was hard to tell. It seems that I stamp myself into everything I am involved with, possibly too much so, much to the dismay of employers, government officials, police and doctors. Oh well. Thanks again!

Thank you Ed for listening at communicating here! Don't let the uplifting musical efforts fool you, this song has a very specific political agenda. Sometimes it is worth putting on a costume in order to slip in undetected. I do really appreciate your comments on the arrangement side of things! It was a pretty enjoyable one to work on. Thanks so much!

Thanks for being the first to comment on this one! There are actually four MIDINES samples in this, courtesy of Labelwhore. That may explain part of the video game vibe. Polyphonic use of samples from my circuit bent VC3T (Talking Teacher) module probably has something to do with it as well, since those were made in classic gaming times. It's pretty hard to explain how I chose what will go into a song... sometimes a certain instrument will shape the rest of the song, and sometimes I will chose an instrument for it's specific strong points. This actually combined both, in that it was two related projects brought together. The VC3T sets shaped one heavily, and the other one had Microkorg chosen to provide some pitched kick work. All in all, the song was finished due to ulterior motives, but I still enjoy listening to it. Choosing an instrument is definitely becoming more difficult from day to day, which is part of why some of my songs end up with instruments which some listeners find to be out of place, such as classical guitar or vintage organs. I have far to many instruments to know them inside out, in fact I have quite a few which have never been used or recorded. Thanks again for listening and downloading!

Hey buddy, thank you for listening and commenting on this! I'm happy that it did not conform to the norm for your ears. Regarding your question - I believe that the main contributors to what is considered normal are the large corporations who contribute to political endeavors such as legislation and elections. These corporations have effectively locked down government activities as well as the legal recourse that citizens have related to these activities. They reinforce the normalcy of this through advertisement and financial contributions. They also make gifts of their products to professionals and government agencies. It is up to the citizens to stand up against this injustice, by forcing government accountability, not spending our money in support of these corporations, and educating our peers about the damage being done to the fabric of society. No one else will do it for us. Artists, including musicians, have a specific responsibility to take this upon themselves. Thank you for listening!

Ha ha, I've been waiting for this to come up in the line of comments to reply to, mainly because of your question of the nuclear reactor. There is, in fact, a nuclear power plant in our nearby area... however, I think far more impact on my development as a human and a musician was influenced by the radiation I was exposed to as a child. When I was young, I spent many years in Alaska. Not only was the Chernobyl incident a fairly recent occurrence (Russia is 51 miles from Alaska at the Bering Straight, which used to be a land bridge), but my father used to bring me to an abandoned military facility for recreation (which was apparently used during the "cold war"). I would dig through the torn apart remains of their electronic equipment, and my childhood mind was in love with the place. Not too many years ago, my father, who still lives in Alaska, informed me that the area had been designated as a Federal superfund site. This was apparently done because of high radiation levels present on the site. Regardless of the fact, it still remains one of my fondest memories of childhood, and a place that I would like to return to some day. My mutations seem to be mostly psychocellular in form, and I doubt that this is the only cause. I have also had an array of dangerous head injuries throughout my entire life. More recently, both consensual and forced chemical exposure have deepened the impact. Strange things are afoot in the world called Earth. Thank you for listening and reacting!

Hey Wayne! So good to hear from you! It is extremely rare that I come across someone who also does not drive or have cable TV, and it makes me happy that I'm not a complete freak! Living around here, that is usually how it feels. Even without those things, without children, and without a couch, I am still paying the price for living beyond my means for many years. Life has so much more to offer! Thank you for listening to this and leaving your assessment! There was a decent amount of electronic percussion improv in the track, and I think that makes a good subtle difference. I really appreciate it man!

Thanks much my friend! It was fun to try some different methods on this song, and to be a little sober for a change! Appreciate your support and words very much!

Ha ha, more like crazy for yearzzz! I appreciate you listening and leaving your words!

Ha ha, I'm glad you understood the "ska" sort of reference in this song. I used to listen to some madness records a lot back in the day. I like that they have a sense of humor. Really appreciate you listening and leaving a comment! Have a good day!

Thanks for the supportive comment! ##### is something which I've always wanted to excel at, but never quite got it right... I think I'm slowly getting into it now, with my odd twist on the genre. "Vivid" is a nice word to be applied, and I thank you for that. I appreciate it!

Thank you Darknives for the cool comment! I was trying quite a few new techniques this time around, and I think it turned out well considering that. Was very much influenced by spontaneous thought and performance. The vocals were done without the direct alcohol influence, so I needed to do far less editing. I'm happy that you enjoyed listening! Thanks again!

Hello again my friend! I agree that this is far more in the psychedelic genre than my other recent track. I was thinking of Jefferson Airplane, The Doors, and The Cure mainly, but it seems that New Order was an incidental inclusion. I have been working on my focus when recording vocals lately, so that I can induce far less edits, no matter what the reason. It seems to be working, as my latest tracks have little edit work on the vocal parts. Regarding the guitar - people often do not notice my guitar parts, and mistake them for more synth or virtual work. Guitar is one of my earliest instruments... with the first picture of me with a guitar being around 3 years old. I love the instrument. I love any instrument really. Even though I am retired with disability, my work in the community is taking me away from my music, but success in this will ensure the future of everyone, including myself. Thank you for the listen and comment!

Hey friend... I suppose it is madness, like you say. See, I'm a big proponent of the psychedelic experience, but my compatriots suggest the outdoor experience, and of late, I think that mine would be a bad trip that way. Don't want to come down in prison after clubbing parks and forestry peeps. The accordion sounding thing you speak of is provided by the microkorg, which was manipulated live on recording to take the part of different sorts of instruments throughout the song. I actually love to listen to my music with a buzz, and it could only serve to insert my messages more smoothly. This is however the first vocal track I've done without a direct alcohol influence for quite some time. My songs, and everything else in life recently, has been myself summoning all of the powers I can to positively influence my community and the world. Everything must change, and then we can live free. Thank you for your supportive influence!

Interesting comment. Like I've mentioned in other replies - I feel that if I were to replace the synths with a brass ensemble, and play the guitar (and possibly bass) myself, then it would sound very much in the ska style. Ska is such a variable genre though, so I have switched it to #####. Life, where I am at, is a nervous breakdown. I've never been to prison or an asylum, and I've never killed any one, so I suppose I can be proud... but for how long? Thank you for listening!

Hey buddy! Ha ha, well, as far as I define it, ska is influenced by both reggae and punk rock. ##### is what I changed this to, even though if I replaced the synths with brass, and played the guitar myself, then it would probably be mistaken for real ska... heh. I believe that the actual tempo was 186 BPM on this one, definitely upper ##### range. I am allowing my voice to be heard, mostly out of necessity while protesting the poisoning of our city and it's population. This is the first vocal track I have done in quite some time with the aid of alcohol. Good for me, right? Thank you for listening and the favorite!!

Ha ha, yep the genre has changed to #####. As I mentioned to someone else, the way I figure it, if I were to replace the synths with brass and play the guitar myself, it would probably make believable ska... maybe I am wrong though. What is the difference between "digital #####" and simple "#####?" I have listened to ATR a good amount over the years, and I do enjoy their stuff quite a bit. Thank you for giving this a listen, and leaving you comment!

Thanks much my friend! I can't stop speaking my mind now, so I might as well bring it into my music! I appreciate you listening and leaving your comment! Have a great day!

Very kind words from you my friend! I have just been forcing myself to move into new experimentations, and it is so pleasing that people are still enjoying the results! I appreciate you always being there with support!

Hey friend, thank you for the words! There have been many odd planetary alignments recently, and celestial events in general... such as the full moon coinciding with the summer solstice this year... very potent. I'm happy that you referred to "faux" randomness, as the rhythms were very specified in most cases... but do sound a bit frantic. I really wanted people to hear the words this time, for them to draw people in. It's sad really, I always regret not stealing a lab coat from my optical tech job that fired me so many years ago... I could really use that now. I've started using an oscilloscope sometimes in the studio, since I have two... and I've finally grabbed a multimeter for both studios. Stethoscope could be quite useful! Thank you for the very cool review!

Hey BigPete, it's really good to hear from you! I have since changed this to the ##### genre, as there did not seem to much agreement with my idea of the genre... not that it matters much! I'm thinking that if I played the guitar myself (with some variation of course) and replaced the synths with brass sounds, then people would be thinking ska... oh well. I have to wonder if I am the alien from a friendly world, or if most of Earth's population are aliens trying to make this more like their inhospitable planet. I'll probably never find out. I'm happy that you enjoyed listening! Very cool to get your comment on this song! Thanks!