For being so "all over the place" this one's incredibly coherent. Love that bass in conjunction with that percussion. The vocals work really well, too. And the texturing (in those various layers) are really sweet!
I think your levels are spot on, and if I was going to experiment further I might try to jack the bass level up IN SPOTS a bit more to increase the dynamic. May work, may not - that's just my inclination.
It's like watching Gary Oldman portraying Sid Vicious and realizing the representation is even more authentic than the reality. Gary Oldman as Sid was more Sid than Sid.
This is seriously "channeled" stuff here, and so jacked into the Spirit that I'm sure James Brown is somewhere right now shrieking his approval.
I think I see why this is one of your personal favorites. The way this one takes its time to build, and the way you play with layering makes it very interesting to listen to closely. But it's "groovy" enough that you don't have to listen, instead you can feel it and let it make you move. Incredibly well produced as well as being an enjoyable piece of music. Cheers.
A really fun track - motivates movement, and I'm a sucker for anything that makes me want to dance. And those synth loops are damned HAPPY sounding that I have to grin as I bop along to it! I actually found myself remembering how much I liked the early Men Without Hats tunes on my first play of this (weren't they a Toronto band?)
This would be brilliant if you polished it a bit more. But you're absolutely right, if you're not having fun, what's the bloody point. Keep having fun and making such fun music!
4th play - added to may faved list. Dude, I so dig your bass work on this! This is great stuff!
Wow, thanks dude, great review. I'm very pleased that you enjoyed it.
Usually when I play bass, I kinda overdo it a bit, but for some reason when I plug in to record, I make a concerted effort to be tasty, and, bring a support concept to the track - sometimes it's difficult when having lived the life on stage and so used to being the center of attention...but I digress ( as usual {sigh} )...
Men without Hats...trying to remember...I may be confusing them with another Kanuckistan group from Quebec... Did they do Saftey Dance ?
Walking away from a project and letting it gestate is often the very best thing you can do. I've found that behind my own resistance (inc. getting pissed off at a project) usually means it's going to be one of my better works if I follow through.
BeyondEvolution's right - the beginning synth is great, and the rhythm really is engaging. This is happening, and hopefully you'll find what to do with it next. Seriously, this is worth going back to, without a doubt.
Because of your words ( and BeyondEvolution's), I will have another look at it....Wait...I just had a thought, I think when I was finishing it up ( after a couple of vodka's ) I was clean out of ideas to add to it - I think that may be what ticked me off and banished it to the ether (Looperman) ... hhmmm.. food for thought - I also wonder if the Vodka had anything to do with it... it never did that before...{gasp}
Thank you for taking the time to post your very helpful review.
Still sounds like Spivkurl even under the dub umbrella. Cool.
Good stuff happening here, and the bass is an instant hook. I love how the bent circuitry responds to it. Such a great groove develops that holds it all together.
I wonder if dubbifying it further might push it closer to the edge. It's a personal aesthetic, and this is lovely as is. I can't help but wonder though what would happen if perhaps her vocals delayed out at the end of each stanza, for instance. Or if there was more reverb and delay on the snare. One of the things I really love about old dub was how much bleedthrough there was with the amps and tracks. I think it gave it this complete or inseparable quality.
Still, this is fantastic, and I hope you play around with this style some more!
3 Nov addition: Yeah man! The further dubifications are fantastic. The echo on the vox is exactly as I imagined! Nice extension of verb, too. Sweet, very sweet.
Thanks for listening man! I'm sorry to say there's no circuit bent stuff going on in this track, But it does have good groove I'd agree.
I might have to do some experimenting with making this track a bit less raw, with some effects or something. There's so much that could be done, but I don't want to ruin a good thing.
Yeah man! Nothing like riding that cresting wave of creativity, aye?
I really dig how this one evolves, and you really give it the time it needs to do so.
My advice would be to pump that bass a bit more, but as it stands this is a great track! Hope you come back to it in terms of mastering, but I'm faving it nevertheless. There are truly amazing things happening here.
Amazing collaboration here! The mix is really delightful - great rhythms, separation between tracks/sounds, and a sonic spectrum that both makes you want to move and close your eyes and zone.
I'm glad this track hits you that way. when Jan first sent me this it blew me away so I gotta give him the credit. As I said before, this track ought to have gone on his page as he did the hard work at producing this master-class sound.
My first musical memory is "Peter and the Wolf" and I've never really recovered from initially hearing the oboe and French horn. Hearing how you've used soundfonts really gives me encouragement to keep experimenting with these, as you've been far more successful than I have. Seeing you've used DSK Akoustik, I'm wondering if you've tried DSK Stringz, and if so what you think. I hope you extend this one.
PS(16 Sept) - Man! I really dig what you've done here, and reading others' comments I can see the Phillip Glass connection. Since you're one that actually wants suggestions (refreshing that) might I suggest you give this one a Title? Faved without hesitation.
Having recently been experimenting with bring "field recording" ambient sounds into my own work, I'm really excited to hear someone else doing it as well. The piano in conjunction with the storm is really compelling. Nice work with this (though I concur about the mic situation). Hope it goes well for you with Erin (one of my daughter's has this for her middle name). Cheers.
I used five different rainstorm and thunderstorm field recordings and panned them around the head to give a nice stereo sort of feel to it. They add a nice background that can really flesh out an otherwise empty piece. I hope you make something interesting if you try messing around with them. I'll check out your track list every now and then.
Ok, feeling a little more articulate again. Strange to find that certain levels of music/sonic interface push me right into non-verbal realms these days. I can feel things, I just can't describe them.
This track is brilliant. It's very physical, and motivates (compels) movement. BigPete's right as it does induce a happy state, but it tickles something a bit deeper, too. There's something very Dadaesque or Surrealistic happening here. It's one of those tracks you're just not quite sure if you should laugh or cry behind. Like you've framed the nature of absurdity and hung it on the wall for examination.
I also love the title in relation to this. "Clarity" - I love that term. In my best writing to date, I have a character who's a pharmacology major who develops a habit to a drug whose street name is Clarity (the backbone is ketamine) which of course leads to several very inspired and absurd lines. In my imaginary development of this drug and its effects, this track is truly the internal soundtrack I've always had in mind. Drugged shuffle Dada absurdity lending itself to cut and paste Shakespeare poetry performance art.
Best and most danceable Art track I've heard this incarnation. Cheers.
EDIT: Version 3 is the one! It's one of those situations where a favorite has gotten even better. Bloody brilliant (or should I say the Clarity is impeccable). All I can really say is, "Stabbed with a white wench’s black eye/The wheel is come full circle/If you want to win anything - a race, your self, your/Life - you have to go a little berserk/Thus conscience does make cowards of us all" (Vivian on Clarity).
Thanks for the listen and the fave! I understand completely feeling non verbal after listening... my relationship with music has been largely non verbal lately as well, hence all the instrumentals.
I find it hard to respond to such an involved review. To compel movement with a song is very intriguing to me, I suppose that's the compulsion behind dance music... it's nice when it happens spontaneously.
Interesting comparison between clarity and a drug itself, especially if this song can speak to this comparison. I'm intrigued to hear of this writing of yours... are you writing a novel or something of the like?
Thank you for the inspiring comments, I really appreciate it!
Experiencing some sort of black hole with this one. How did I overlook it? Weird, but in keeping with the traffic of lurkers who seem to play this one often and steady.
Genre-free zone. What a marvelous mix of so many identifiable genres! Excellent groove, and the vox you've chosen really puts it into that ambient zone that I've been digging so much.
Faving it, if for no other reason that it doesn't blip past me again. Yeah man, this is HAPPENING!
After doing my cameo too many times as a lurker, I thought I should tell you just how much I like this piece. Sure you could map it out and orchestrate it fully, etc., but the Spirit is in this one. I love the bass in this!
That guitar bit works SO well in the beginning! Great buildup and so fulfilling when it hits the 1:30 mark. Yeah, you've got another great track here! You've got something really going with this exploration-expansion thing you're on to lately. Man, I'm so looking forward to tracking your development! Great track, victormusic01x!
thanks n0mad23 for the kind words and observations..this tangent i've been heading off into is getting more interesting by the moment guy..this track just felt right...thanks again and listen again to yours...!
v
Definitely dug hearing psychotropic loops in the beginning, and it was the first time I've actually heard someone using the same loops as me. I'm with JackRipper re: 1:57 - that needs to be turned down some as it was really distracting. Banging track to be sure.
Funny seeing how many people have listened to this at least twice but I'm writing the 4th review. I like this song specifically because it's constantly surprising. I didn't expect the guitars, then I didn't expect the vocals. Happy surprises, to be sure. You're amazing with arrangement and seem to know exactly where each instrument should be in relation to the others. If this were my track, and I was going to revise it again, I think I'd try to pull the guitars up somewhere (not all the time) to give them a bit more presence. Very nice work here, and an enjoyable song as well!
[EDIT] Having listened to Salook's remix, I had to come back to the original. Hurrah! It's as good as I remember, but sounds like you've refined it? Surprised I didn't fave it before, and certainly doing that now!
Thanks very much for this kind and interesting review.I also think the track lacks consistancy(does that word really exist in English?!?)somehow,maybe needs more guitar as you noticed.If you want,I can send you the tracks so you can add something.Let me know
Cheers
French Kid
This is a great debut track, to be sure. BeyondEvolution's right, this could easily be the opening credit/theme track for a serial cartoon. I did a similar approach with very different sounds imagining a jungle anime (jungulation) to create a song, too - and I'm glad other people use things like this for inspiration.
Very pop oriented, and makes me look forward to hearing what you produce next!
I'm wondering how much of my listening to this track is flavored by having looked at your profile and seen what you listen to. Kind of like if Joe Strummer and Adrien Bellew got together with Parliment for a session. Really glad this one popped up on the Featured Track frame!
I love how you push thing right to the edge of disaster, but somehow dance right away without falling. Excessive in the best of ways. And inherently happy, too. I hope I can actually watch you do your thing someday, as it'd be such a treat to watch a Master at his Art. Faved.
Days later: Man, this one just grows on you! It's rapidly moving to a position rivaling "Your Natty is your Beauty" as my favorite track of all time on this site! Heal up and make more!
From the mouths of babe, aye? My youngest is about to turn 11, and I love watching her imagination at play.
Vanessa has some lines here that are so poetic, I had to backtrack and hear them immediately again. Glad you're obviously fostering the creativity in the family youth.
Hey Sean..I've never experienced the joys of Fatherhood..but I love being an uncle...sort of lets me in on the ground floor with my various nieces and nephews and they dig it that I treat them as equals intellectually and creatively..hehe all the fun and none of the responsibility...but then that's me.lol cheers mate Dave :)
Yeah! Great mix, no doubt about it. I love the panning going on in this, and how none interferes with the vocals.
There are elements in you vocal qualities that remind me a lot of Echo and the Bunnymen. Maybe for me this is emphasized because of the ambient qualities of the piece, and the intro guitar.
Simon said it: this is outstanding! The arrangement, the melody, instrumentation - all fantastic. And the sincerity underlying your beautiful voice actually leaves me wanting more. Thanks for sharing this with us, and I look forward to hearing more of your work.
thank you so much for the appreciation NOmad23... i'll keep on trying to give you guys my best... i keep on trying.. thank you so much for taking time to listen to it...God Bless you all..
It's a drag loosing touch with musical friends. I still do the search for some of mine about every six months, and have found 3 this way (lost for 12 years), so don't give up.
I really like this track. It easily could be a cinematic piece, yet works perfectly for ambient as it really reaches in and plucks the emotional strings. I love soundscaping strings like this, and it reminds me of some 4 track stuff I did in grad school with a Balinese rebab running through a Boss DD-2 into my Laney Linebacker (https://www.looperman.com/users/detail/247253) - it's like whale songs, but not. A musical metaphor? How your pieces shifts into a more rhythmic intensity really brings Tangerine Dream to mind, too. Yeah this is fabulous, and I hope you do more ambient stuff sometime. Cheers.
on Love an Harmony electric lady remix ft gapjux by victormusic01x
I think your levels are spot on, and if I was going to experiment further I might try to jack the bass level up IN SPOTS a bit more to increase the dynamic. May work, may not - that's just my inclination.
Dude - this is happening!
on JBBP feat.#1 Soul Brother by BigPete
It's like watching Gary Oldman portraying Sid Vicious and realizing the representation is even more authentic than the reality. Gary Oldman as Sid was more Sid than Sid.
This is seriously "channeled" stuff here, and so jacked into the Spirit that I'm sure James Brown is somewhere right now shrieking his approval.
Mon ami, You Rock in the true sense of the word.
Faved after taking a moment to stop dancing.
on Follow me to Zion by AidansTrance
Cheers
on Fill your hand you S.O.B. by bcway
This would be brilliant if you polished it a bit more. But you're absolutely right, if you're not having fun, what's the bloody point. Keep having fun and making such fun music!
4th play - added to may faved list. Dude, I so dig your bass work on this! This is great stuff!
Usually when I play bass, I kinda overdo it a bit, but for some reason when I plug in to record, I make a concerted effort to be tasty, and, bring a support concept to the track - sometimes it's difficult when having lived the life on stage and so used to being the center of attention...but I digress ( as usual {sigh} )...
Men without Hats...trying to remember...I may be confusing them with another Kanuckistan group from Quebec... Did they do Saftey Dance ?
on RUN OLLY RUN !! THE MACHINE IZ GONNA BLO GAAHHHH by bcway
BeyondEvolution's right - the beginning synth is great, and the rhythm really is engaging. This is happening, and hopefully you'll find what to do with it next. Seriously, this is worth going back to, without a doubt.
Thank you for taking the time to post your very helpful review.
on Untitled Featuring Love Beth Drew Mix 2 by Spivkurl
Good stuff happening here, and the bass is an instant hook. I love how the bent circuitry responds to it. Such a great groove develops that holds it all together.
I wonder if dubbifying it further might push it closer to the edge. It's a personal aesthetic, and this is lovely as is. I can't help but wonder though what would happen if perhaps her vocals delayed out at the end of each stanza, for instance. Or if there was more reverb and delay on the snare. One of the things I really love about old dub was how much bleedthrough there was with the amps and tracks. I think it gave it this complete or inseparable quality.
Still, this is fantastic, and I hope you play around with this style some more!
3 Nov addition: Yeah man! The further dubifications are fantastic. The echo on the vox is exactly as I imagined! Nice extension of verb, too. Sweet, very sweet.
I might have to do some experimenting with making this track a bit less raw, with some effects or something. There's so much that could be done, but I don't want to ruin a good thing.
I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for the review!
on Motown Throwdown ft Buddahmann and posse edit 3 by victormusic01x
I really dig how this one evolves, and you really give it the time it needs to do so.
My advice would be to pump that bass a bit more, but as it stands this is a great track! Hope you come back to it in terms of mastering, but I'm faving it nevertheless. There are truly amazing things happening here.
v!
on Techno-Beckno by DanielGtrman
Truly epic.
on Anywhere (You Want Me) by inspire_nung
on I Love My Mom by JHolmes
PS(16 Sept) - Man! I really dig what you've done here, and reading others' comments I can see the Phillip Glass connection. Since you're one that actually wants suggestions (refreshing that) might I suggest you give this one a Title? Faved without hesitation.
I found/downloaded every DSK VSTi I could find. Stringz is nice; I added in a channel that comes in with the tenor sax and synth oboe.
on Song for Erin by JHolmes
on Clarity Mix 3 by Spivkurl
Ok, feeling a little more articulate again. Strange to find that certain levels of music/sonic interface push me right into non-verbal realms these days. I can feel things, I just can't describe them.
This track is brilliant. It's very physical, and motivates (compels) movement. BigPete's right as it does induce a happy state, but it tickles something a bit deeper, too. There's something very Dadaesque or Surrealistic happening here. It's one of those tracks you're just not quite sure if you should laugh or cry behind. Like you've framed the nature of absurdity and hung it on the wall for examination.
I also love the title in relation to this. "Clarity" - I love that term. In my best writing to date, I have a character who's a pharmacology major who develops a habit to a drug whose street name is Clarity (the backbone is ketamine) which of course leads to several very inspired and absurd lines. In my imaginary development of this drug and its effects, this track is truly the internal soundtrack I've always had in mind. Drugged shuffle Dada absurdity lending itself to cut and paste Shakespeare poetry performance art.
Best and most danceable Art track I've heard this incarnation. Cheers.
EDIT: Version 3 is the one! It's one of those situations where a favorite has gotten even better. Bloody brilliant (or should I say the Clarity is impeccable). All I can really say is, "Stabbed with a white wench’s black eye/The wheel is come full circle/If you want to win anything - a race, your self, your/Life - you have to go a little berserk/Thus conscience does make cowards of us all" (Vivian on Clarity).
I find it hard to respond to such an involved review. To compel movement with a song is very intriguing to me, I suppose that's the compulsion behind dance music... it's nice when it happens spontaneously.
Interesting comparison between clarity and a drug itself, especially if this song can speak to this comparison. I'm intrigued to hear of this writing of yours... are you writing a novel or something of the like?
Thank you for the inspiring comments, I really appreciate it!
on thiS is what it iS - virginia Beach ruff mix 1a by victormusic01x
Genre-free zone. What a marvelous mix of so many identifiable genres! Excellent groove, and the vox you've chosen really puts it into that ambient zone that I've been digging so much.
Faving it, if for no other reason that it doesn't blip past me again. Yeah man, this is HAPPENING!
on Situations in Ya Mind ruff draft unmastered by victormusic01x
on Felixville by Planetjazzbass
on The Dream ft Mhyst ruff mix New Years 2011 by victormusic01x
v
on Madness Jungle by DJAid
on Curly Wurly by FrenchKid18
[EDIT] Having listened to Salook's remix, I had to come back to the original. Hurrah! It's as good as I remember, but sounds like you've refined it? Surprised I didn't fave it before, and certainly doing that now!
Cheers
French Kid
on The Morning Song by Onidroid
Very pop oriented, and makes me look forward to hearing what you produce next!
on Funky Summer Time by spacestationwagon
on Golgotha by jahknow
Days later: Man, this one just grows on you! It's rapidly moving to a position rivaling "Your Natty is your Beauty" as my favorite track of all time on this site! Heal up and make more!
on The Sea of Gladness by Planetjazzbass
Vanessa has some lines here that are so poetic, I had to backtrack and hear them immediately again. Glad you're obviously fostering the creativity in the family youth.
How subversive.
on Jukebox music listening Sezrah Sylvan mix by FrenchKid18
There are elements in you vocal qualities that remind me a lot of Echo and the Bunnymen. Maybe for me this is emphasized because of the ambient qualities of the piece, and the intro guitar.
Yeah, this is a bloody great track. Cheers, mate!
on Tell Me (Minatory) by Marj
on Accross The Sands Collab with Ken Moran by Devodale
I really like this track. It easily could be a cinematic piece, yet works perfectly for ambient as it really reaches in and plucks the emotional strings. I love soundscaping strings like this, and it reminds me of some 4 track stuff I did in grad school with a Balinese rebab running through a Boss DD-2 into my Laney Linebacker (https://www.looperman.com/users/detail/247253) - it's like whale songs, but not. A musical metaphor? How your pieces shifts into a more rhythmic intensity really brings Tangerine Dream to mind, too. Yeah this is fabulous, and I hope you do more ambient stuff sometime. Cheers.