Robot Cousin Soundworks

So, work begins on a bunch of new music. A part of me feels like I’ve been lazy, and then the rest of me slaps that first part upside the head, and I realize that I write music for a living now. True, it might not be exactly the type of stuff I’d listen to, simply because it’s not supposed to be, but hey, I love it nonetheless.

I was thinking of different ways to make it, swearing up and down that I’m done with 8-bit sounds. No more of them, none whatsoever, nuh-uh, it’s passed on by. And one day a couple of weeks ago, I was downtown, mentally humming to myself a really catchy tune, and planned the rest of the track out in my head. And to my surprise, it sounded very 8-bit. So I can’t escape, or rather, I guess I’m just ‘not done yet’.

There will be a difference, however, between the new stuff and anything/everything that appeared on Nothing Fancy. Part of what I said before was true; I definitely am done making 8-bit-sounding music, when everything on the track sounds like a retro-video game.

What I want to try is to mix some 8-bit leads, basses, rhythms, or a combination thereof with some actual drums. Piano. Guitar. Really rock the hell out, with a little help from my friends, Squarewave, Trianglewave, and Phasewave. Hey, even the noise channel, why not?

For three months now, all of the music I’ve been making has been under constant (though not negative) review. I can’t just sit down and make whatever I want. But being in that situation is only good, for it keeps me on my toes, and it really makes me feel like I’ve got to ‘get it all out’ when I’m making stuff outside of work. And that’s what this next album will be; me, and the melodies, rhythms, drums, chords that *I* want. It’s about that time that I finally unload some musics that are itching to get out.

Bombs away.

The Ladybug Challenge

My fianceé was doing a fake trailer for a fake game, and needed some upbeat 8-bit tunes. This is what happened. Short and happy, because that’s all it needed to be.

Finally.

Intro (A Thousand Times Yes)

Locked my Keys in my Car

Ceiling Fan

In Defense of Kittens

Lost in my Own Backyard

Troubadours in Heat

Conjugated Within an Inch of my Life

Prom Dress for Sale

Sally Johansen’s Cerebral Jamboree

Click to download (after it takes you to the song’s own ‘page’), no descriptions, although I might add some later. I figure  I’ll hash it out right here, right now.

This whole album was a gift to a friend. Ben, to be more specific. We’ve been friends since high school, and I started making music with him using MTV’s Music Generator, back in 2000 (I had the PC version that allowed the creation of .wav files, Ben had the PS1 version, that obviously didn’t. So much transcribing…). Before that, any music I thought up was quickly forgotten, but not before it was crudely plunked out on my old Yamaha keyboard. Man, that sampled piano sounded so tinny.

Anyway, Ben’s an incredible artist and has his own webcomic, ZomBen (alternate link here). He also illustrates Gibson Twist’s graphic novel, “Our Time in Eden“. Speaking of Gibson, he has a fantastically, amazing comic titled “Pictures of You” that I cannot recommend highly enough. Anyone reading this right now should just stop and go there. Come back and tell me what you think. Be warned, it’s been going for quite a few years now, so there’s a LOT to catch up on, but it’s very much worth it.

As a side note, I’d be remiss to not mention Pulp Stiktion, the short-lived, unfinished, but very enjoyable toy-comic Ben and I used to work on. Man, those indeed were the days.

Back to the album, a long time ago, when I figured out what was what in making my own 8-bit sounds, I showed some of them to Ben. He enjoyed it enough to request an entire album of new 8-bit tracks. Couple years later, I finally did it. Now, it’s not a very long album, but who really needs more than 28 minutes of Nintendo/Atari/Commodore 64-inspired music? I certainly don’t, but the good people over at 8-bit collective might.

As I mentioned before, I totally and completely ran out of ideas halfway through. That sucked. A lot. There are quite a few aborted pieces of songs still shoved away somewhere, and I cringe when I hear even a few seconds of them. Hey, those scenes are deleted for a reason! There was one that was going to sound like some sort of beach-esque song, another that was drums for the first 90 seconds (no one needs that). All of the others are pretty much all in the “that melodic hook sucks” category. And that’s all this album turned out to be, to me at least… a collection of melodic hooks, structured in the pop song format, but without any words.

Glad I finally  finished it.

I’m about to start work on something big. Something (in my world) that is the biggest yet. I can’t reveal what it is just yet, but in the coming months, if we (a filmmaker-friend/colleague and I) get funding, the creative floodgates will finally break open, and my god, I’m going to keep the pencil moving.

What we’ll be doing isn’t very large on the Hollywood scale of things, but with the scale we’re using, I don’t actually think it’s been done before. If there has ever been a cause for me to get my thoughts and ideas in order, this is it.

I wish I could say more, but I’m sworn to secrecy and all that.

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My fiancée, who’s recently studied colour theory, has let me know that the colours for this site don’t really “work” as well as they could. My whole purpose for the look of this place was to make it seem young and fun, but not in a Gap-sort-of-way. Truth be told, I was 110%-directly-inspired by this album. Their music was like candy, like sweet chaos to my ears, and I will always think of them as one of my primary inspirations, whether it shows or not. Tim Delaughter, you have a wonderful mind. In fact, the whole reason I changed my site over to this blog format was because I stumbled across his blog, and thought “I should post the stuff I’m doing.”

I digress. The colours on the page might be changing in the next little while, but the layout itself is staying right where it is. I enjoy it too much (And it just plain works!) to change it again so soon.

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Well, all of that aside, I think sometime today (later today) or tomorrow, I’ll finally be re-uploading “Nothing Fancy” for all to enjoy (again). I had a ton of fun and a ton of headaches working on that album, but it was worth it in the end. Headaches? For a 9-track, 28-minute album? Yes. Many. You see, I ran out of ideas after the first 3 tracks, and strained and strained for months. All the while, this was meant to be a Christmas present for my friend Ben (who still owes me a 100×100 pic for linkage to his excellent artwork and comics), so I wanted it to be “good enough”.

More stories to come when I actually post it.