This sounds an awful lot like Scary, from Big Robot, Little Robot, but I couldn't help it: THIS was the sound that I wanted. Oddly enough, when I first thought of this tune, I intended it to be the "j" track, but I realised it didn't sit right. Then, I realised that this tune was absolutely perfect for "d", and there you have it.
In terms of feel and mood, though, it's very far from Scary, which was goofy, slapstick and almost self-deprecating. This one, however, is merely a jumpy and neat little song intended to make the listener smile, at least a little bit. The "dark" second piece was mostly a facetious way to add some tension to the song, and hopefully the resolution from that hanging diminished chord into the sparkly coda in C major should show that it's not a menacing moment at all. This is, legimately, a happy tune.
Friday, 5 August 2011
Eleven Gifts in depth, part 3: c
This piece is based on a very old composition. In fact, it's rooted on a project that I started a long time before, and which is one of the most obscure things I ever did. I don't think you can find the original project on the Internet anymore, and that's good, because it's not that worth listening.
That project was a song cycle set to a collaborative story made on a Simpsons fanworks forum. That obscure enough to you? Well...
Anyway, the left hand melody that starts the composition was the opening theme of the first track on the original cycle, and it popped up a few times later as well. It used to represent frustration and deception, but it actually has a pretty mellow and sweet feel. All the chord changes and the right hand melodies are new material, written specifically for Eleven Gifts. It was one of those cases in which I decided a theme was too good not to be explored further, and I have to say that I've done here, in a minute and a half, what I couldn't do in 10 minutes back in 2004 or so, when the original piece was written. It's not meant to be a sad song. It's not happy, either, but it has a merely contemplative and calming effect for me. I like it quite a bit.
That project was a song cycle set to a collaborative story made on a Simpsons fanworks forum. That obscure enough to you? Well...
Anyway, the left hand melody that starts the composition was the opening theme of the first track on the original cycle, and it popped up a few times later as well. It used to represent frustration and deception, but it actually has a pretty mellow and sweet feel. All the chord changes and the right hand melodies are new material, written specifically for Eleven Gifts. It was one of those cases in which I decided a theme was too good not to be explored further, and I have to say that I've done here, in a minute and a half, what I couldn't do in 10 minutes back in 2004 or so, when the original piece was written. It's not meant to be a sad song. It's not happy, either, but it has a merely contemplative and calming effect for me. I like it quite a bit.
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Eleven Gifts in depth, part 2: a
Back in 2007, when I wrote Big Robot, Little Robot, I felt I could tackle the challenge to write a full, three movement piano sonata. The first movement would be the the first track from that album, Scary, and the two remaining movements would be entirely new. This never came to fruition, but I did write the main theme for the third movement. It remained shelved for years, until I came up with the Eleven Gifts project.
The theme never left my head, so recovering it was quite easy, and it was also easy to find the person to attribute it to. The waltzing, partly-joyful-partly-whimsical feel was exactly what I wanted. The already written material actually ends at the full-tone descending scale -- everything from that point on was newly written. It was actually sort of improvised: I intended to keep the waltzing rhythm, but add those tonality shifts and crazy dissonances that I used in Scary. The result satisfied me: it sounds dense, fast, slapstick, and when an actual melody seems to settle in, it's quickly broken and discarded. That's the main idea.
This was one of the easiest song-person matches, in fact -- not only because I already had the theme, but because it was a perfect match. I like it quite a lot, and I guess the fact that the theme ended up here means that the "sonata" idea was never going to work anyway.
The theme never left my head, so recovering it was quite easy, and it was also easy to find the person to attribute it to. The waltzing, partly-joyful-partly-whimsical feel was exactly what I wanted. The already written material actually ends at the full-tone descending scale -- everything from that point on was newly written. It was actually sort of improvised: I intended to keep the waltzing rhythm, but add those tonality shifts and crazy dissonances that I used in Scary. The result satisfied me: it sounds dense, fast, slapstick, and when an actual melody seems to settle in, it's quickly broken and discarded. That's the main idea.
This was one of the easiest song-person matches, in fact -- not only because I already had the theme, but because it was a perfect match. I like it quite a lot, and I guess the fact that the theme ended up here means that the "sonata" idea was never going to work anyway.
Eleven Gifts in depth, part 1: J
I don't know if I have made myself clear enough in the places where I have published Eleven Gifts, but in case you didn't notice, each piece in this cycle is dedicated to a person. The lower case pieces are in alphabetical order, but this one sticks out for a particular reason.
This piece wasn't the first one to be conceived, though. Far from it: some of these pieces are actually reworkings of songs I've written from 5 to 10 years ago, while many are new compositions. This is an entirely new composition, and the idea struck me quite quickly.
I was afraid that the sound of it was too "menacing" or terrifying to associate to the person it represents. The idea isn't to be menacing at all: my intention was to represent a very strong presence and a forwards motion, a very moving and powerful force. The very fast one-note ostinato on the left hand was a pretty obvious choice, and I'm a bit sad that I couldn't find a piano sample that made it sound as good as I wanted, but it still delivers. The odd rhythm and staccato chords are intended to grab your attention and keep you focused on it, but the ending unveils a tender and heartwarming feel that leaves your spirit positive and lifted. That's pretty much exactly what this person is all about.
The rhythm was one of those things that hit me all at once, and I had to keep replaying it in my head so I wouldn't forget it. It was too good to let it pass. Once I got to write it down, it was all a matter to find the right chords, which wasn't too hard. The softer middle portion was written entirely on-the-spot, and the finale just grew out of it. It was surprisingly easy to write this track, which was extremely satisfying: it was expecting quite a challenge from it. But that's art: the challenges sometimes are exactly where you didn't expect any.
This piece wasn't the first one to be conceived, though. Far from it: some of these pieces are actually reworkings of songs I've written from 5 to 10 years ago, while many are new compositions. This is an entirely new composition, and the idea struck me quite quickly.
I was afraid that the sound of it was too "menacing" or terrifying to associate to the person it represents. The idea isn't to be menacing at all: my intention was to represent a very strong presence and a forwards motion, a very moving and powerful force. The very fast one-note ostinato on the left hand was a pretty obvious choice, and I'm a bit sad that I couldn't find a piano sample that made it sound as good as I wanted, but it still delivers. The odd rhythm and staccato chords are intended to grab your attention and keep you focused on it, but the ending unveils a tender and heartwarming feel that leaves your spirit positive and lifted. That's pretty much exactly what this person is all about.
The rhythm was one of those things that hit me all at once, and I had to keep replaying it in my head so I wouldn't forget it. It was too good to let it pass. Once I got to write it down, it was all a matter to find the right chords, which wasn't too hard. The softer middle portion was written entirely on-the-spot, and the finale just grew out of it. It was surprisingly easy to write this track, which was extremely satisfying: it was expecting quite a challenge from it. But that's art: the challenges sometimes are exactly where you didn't expect any.
Monday, 25 July 2011
So much to do, so much to do...
I've got plenty of parallel personal projects going on, and sometimes I even fail to keep track of them. But I like this: it's better to have lots of stuff to do, than to have NOTHING to do!
I've currently got an album on the works. I spent several months staggering around on a project, and things got especially tangled up when college got in the way. Fortunately I managed to write Eleven Gifts very quickly, and that made me very satisfied. Finally I decided to put that project on hold, and started working on another, completely different project, and it's coming along nicely and it sounds... well, interesting. It's very abstract, electronic and far removed from the likes of Highways. It's also very mixed and rhythmic, and I'm hoping to complete it in the next two months, maybe, now that college is finally over, and over for good.
I've currently got an album on the works. I spent several months staggering around on a project, and things got especially tangled up when college got in the way. Fortunately I managed to write Eleven Gifts very quickly, and that made me very satisfied. Finally I decided to put that project on hold, and started working on another, completely different project, and it's coming along nicely and it sounds... well, interesting. It's very abstract, electronic and far removed from the likes of Highways. It's also very mixed and rhythmic, and I'm hoping to complete it in the next two months, maybe, now that college is finally over, and over for good.
Monday, 14 February 2011
Stuff that happened since the last time I posted here
Yes, it's been a long time, I know.
Basically, three things are worth mentioning here:
1. Highways has been released, and like every other album I've made, is available for free download. I am pretty satisfied with the results, and I can safely say that, finally, I made justice to those old, old songs.
2. I've also released another album, called Eleven Gifts. It's not properly an "album", but a cycle of eleven very simple, very short pieces for solo piano. It was made in just three days in December, and the piece has a personal significance, but it's not that important. Some of those pieces are VERY old ideas that were finally worked into something complete and satisfactory.
3. I have reopened my album reviews's website! This is an old project of mine that I used to have, but it went offline due to a misfortune and I never had the opportunity to put it back online... until now! The reviews shall be added slowly and gradually, and there are very few so far. But it will grow -- I intend to put back all my old reviews, properly re-edited and rewritten as needed. It'll be fun! I'll stop putting review stuff here: all my new opinions will be published there. So check it out!
Basically, three things are worth mentioning here:
1. Highways has been released, and like every other album I've made, is available for free download. I am pretty satisfied with the results, and I can safely say that, finally, I made justice to those old, old songs.
2. I've also released another album, called Eleven Gifts. It's not properly an "album", but a cycle of eleven very simple, very short pieces for solo piano. It was made in just three days in December, and the piece has a personal significance, but it's not that important. Some of those pieces are VERY old ideas that were finally worked into something complete and satisfactory.
3. I have reopened my album reviews's website! This is an old project of mine that I used to have, but it went offline due to a misfortune and I never had the opportunity to put it back online... until now! The reviews shall be added slowly and gradually, and there are very few so far. But it will grow -- I intend to put back all my old reviews, properly re-edited and rewritten as needed. It'll be fun! I'll stop putting review stuff here: all my new opinions will be published there. So check it out!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
"Highways" -- progress!
I found I'm having a quite satisfactory progress with my current project. As I've stated in the past, I am working on a new album, which is actually the "definitive" issue of a little collection of blobs of sound I once used to call an "album" named Musics for Highways (sic), back from 2002 or something like that. I'm happy with how it's coming along; right now I'm in the stage of tinkering and recording the instruments, without much worry about mixing. For people who never heard the old songs, it'll be quite a shock to compare these songs with my previous albums.
Maybe by the middle of the year I'll have it done, or at least pretty much done. And I've already got a project on the queue. Things look great.
Last time I talked about this project, I was anxiously waiting for Autechre's Oversteps. Guess what? The album's excellent.
Maybe by the middle of the year I'll have it done, or at least pretty much done. And I've already got a project on the queue. Things look great.
Last time I talked about this project, I was anxiously waiting for Autechre's Oversteps. Guess what? The album's excellent.
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