Matt Bowen's minutes of music, photography, et cetera
I actually wrote this one more than a week ago, but then got busy and didn’t have time to convert it to an mp3. It’s mostly done with the Kaossilator, and then I added a lead part in record. It’s not magnificent, but it’s helpful to maintain output.
After that last minute, it was clear that it was time for a little distance between me and reason. So, as a form of detox, I wrote a simple dance song on the Kaossilator. I still love that I can just turn it on, start pressing on it single control, and 30 minutes later have a beat that has me bopping my head. Maybe by next minute of music I’ll have a record beta invite and can integrate Kaossilator, bass, and reason into some glorious cacophony.
It’s been a little while since I wrote a minute of music, but that was on purpose. I ended up taking a break while my computer was gone. I started working on some other projects, and then when it came back, I felt less like writing music and more like working on those projects I started. But, stopping writing music entirely lacks balance. So, now I’m going to aim to write a song on weekends. If one happens on a week night, all the better. Here’s hoping I can keep that balance.
Today’s minute was heavily inspired by listing to Autechre, and I wrote it on the Kaossilator. I’d expect the next one to be done in reason, since I finally got my novation remote working correctly with reason, which is absurdly cool.
While I was waiting for my computer to boot, I picked up the Kaossilator and started fooling around, and came across a pretty unusual and dark sounding loop. I stuck with it, and hence tonight’s minute of music. It’s much more brooding and fuzzy than other recent ones, but it was fun to make, and gets me back to my heavier-sound-music roots.
Today I went to the Baltimore aquarium and listened to tortoise on the way up and back. I must have had “The Equator” stuck in my head, because I feel like I made music for turtles today. For reference, the equator (via YouTube):
Not much to say about this one other than warm weather plus marine life inspired it.
I wanted to use one of the drum loops tonight, and after fooling with the patterns looking for something fresh, and I came across a loop that reminded me a lot of the drums in NIN’s reptile:
I also very much wanted a bit less density after the past few days of thick ambient soup, so I tried some rests here and there (hard, since it’s kinda hard to stop playing with the touch pad on the Kaossilator). Overall, I’m pretty pleased with tonight.
I’m hoping that the strange but dancy vibe of this one means that I’m on the mend from this heinous head cold. It was certainly fun to put together; the drum pattern really drives it, but adding in the aux percussion changed the vibe significantly from a straight dance tune. I’m also starting to find a place for the sound fx patches in the Kaossilator, which is positive; it’d be sad to have 20% of the patches go unused.
I’m feeling very much under the weather today, which is why this minute comes much earlier than usual. However, I’m honestly pretty happy with how it came out; I decided to make something as heavy as my head feels, and I think I’ve gotten there. It was hard to find an instrument you could even hear over all these layers, but the solo is in there, I promise.
As I was saving the file today, I realized that I started this project about a month ago. I’ve definitely learned a lot about how to use the Kaossilator, and it’s done one thing that I had hoped: I am thinking about making music as I walk around and have downtime. Amusingly, as I think today’s minute reflects, the more I learn about the Kaossilator, the sloppier my loops sound, but that should clear up with more time. I’m looking forward to many minutes ahead.
This is another one that feels like it has better ideas than execution. I have been playing a bit with bloom on the iPhone, and I found sounds that gave a similar feel. Unfortunately, my execution could use some work. But, there are many more days to come, and maybe this one will come back in reason.
