To celebrate Netlabel Day and mark my 2 years on Vulpiano, the first label to feature my music, I went as far back as I could tolerate. This entire EP comes from August 2015 just like “Garden” (which I lifted from Mint and Turquoise Trilogy). I made the songs on the FL Studio ‘replica’ LMMS since I couldn’t get Garageband on my old PC. I was a younger teen who ~played around~ with music more than made songs. It was “Sea Shell”, “Cold”, and “Garden” that told me, after three years of aimless experiments, maybe my music had potential.
Many things set these songs apart from what came before. For one, it was a transitional time where I was just escaping a long-hold paranoia, so this fragile sense of hope left a mark; as did my fascination with the ‘awakening’ feel of the early morning. Sonically though, it was my focus soft, trickling synth tones (a trademark for LMMS?). For that same trio of songs 2-4, I used the pentatonic scale and loved it’s soul-searching effect.
The result was this shy, secluded ‘virtual nature’ vibe that may remind you of Turquoise Trilogy. I figure my obsession with invoking forests and oceans began here. I felt I finally found a niche to focus on, so I stuck with this style for a few months.
“Sea Shell” came first. It was my attempt to stop fiddling with awkward loops and make a pure ambient piece. 70% improvised, yet it has more focus than most songs I would make for the next year somehow. It has this twinkly sea-side sound that would pop up in so many later songs; and this happened before I got into new age at all..?
Tag: My music
New album! ‘Short Circuits’
‘A gardening robot awakens among hills, rivers and mountains, not remembering an inkling of its functions and original purpose. Something draws it to follow some unusually fussy glowflies and amphibians to the rocky mass of the Chrome Citadel, where it will rediscover just what it forgot..’
An ALBUM? From ME? That’s right! After months and months of absurd delay, whether it was figuring out what to do about the cover (initially I dreamt of paying the amazing Mossworm to do it) or trying to get the quality right, I finally have my second album and first with all-new material.
ONTO THE MUSIC: I got my first 8-bit plugin in Spring 2018; Short Circuits is the result. I was curious about 8-bit music for many years before, being a video game person long before a musician, so this was a great way to merge my interests.
It was fun to explore chiptune hence a more melodic sound. In spirit, I’d compare it to a late 80s or early 90s platform game; stuff with mascots and goofy creatures like Mario or Kirby. Like most of my more uptempo projects, most songs follow a pseudo-synthpop style. I mix the 8-bit voices with effects and external sounds too, often with bitcrushing. Even a piano here and there, including one (“Mountain View”) that I think Celeste fans will enjoy.
To spice things up I created a few new songs (1, 20, 25, 26, 27) and remixed 14 and 16 from previous releases; so it isn’t a 100% archive release in the end. When it came to bonus song “Toppling Floors” I liked it but didn’t fix some iffy clicking on it before it got stuck on a freezy drive (like the other original files for the album, hence tons of other WIP material; part of why my flow with new music went out-of-whack this past year).
Despite taking most of June to get the song volumes to work as a group, I don’t despise these songs upon releasing them! So that’s a relief and it gives me hope that some of you will enjoy it.
I want to tackle more VGM vibes in the future. To hear more of this in my music check out my first album Turquoise Trilogy, where “West Forest Field” and “Entering The Citadel” originate.
Extended mix for Lunar Wand now on Vulpiano!
New single Lunar Wand is here!
This is much more of a spacey/fantasy synth-pop vibe than the last few releases, mostly inspired by a Professor Genius binge I had the night of composing. I can’t say this was my stylistic focus lately but I thought the result was worth sharing.
New song “Voltage” available for listen and download on the new Vulpiano compilation!
The Vulpiano Records 10-Year Anniversary album came out yesterday, which means you can stream and/or download my new song “Voltage”! Check it out if you liked Spires. I was aiming for a similar futuristic/metallic sound with this one but with a bit of trance music thrown in. Polishing it for this release was a daunting task that ended in overly-soft volume, but I’m happy with the composition. I’ll add it to my own Bandcamp and Soundcloud in the next few days.
New single ‘Gemstone Study Vol. 1’ is here!
Vulpiano Records / My Bandcamp
Further links at Vulpiano
This is my second Netlabel Day release for Vulpiano after Sea Cave / Indigo (available here). Listen and/or download Gemstone Study at the links above.
New single Gemstone Study Vol. 1 coming July 14th!
This will be my second Netlabel Day release for Vulpiano Records. Here’s the cover art by Marilyn Roxie.
Track list
1. Fluorite
2. Aventurine
3. Amazonite
4. Chrysocolla
5. Tourmaline
New music video: “Spires” created by Marilyn Roxie
And in case you missed Marilyn’s video for “Moonbow”, watch that one below:
New EP ‘SPIRES’ is here!
Vulpiano Bandcamp / My Bandcamp / Soundcloud
Original post + further links from Vulpiano
Stream and/or download the full EP at the above links. As usual any listens and/or feedback are hugely appreciated.
Along with showing a more rhythmic side to my music, my main idea with this EP was forming a ’techno’ sound with more frequent shifts and build-up as I didn’t have much patience for the minimal approach in a lot of popular techno like Autechre and The Orb.
I wanted it cold and mechanical most of all (going along with the techno aesthetic), but as with most of my music, an aquatic/murky accent snuck into it (mostly on “Zemūdens”, whose title is the Latvian word for ‘submarine’). Crashing waves and giant towering structures came to mind, hence what you see in the cover.
If there’s any two things that inspired this EP most, it’s Laurel Halo’s Hour Logic and The Knife’s Silent Shout, to the point you can hear a few similar synth tones. I tried to build a dense atmosphere/backdrop behind the more prominent beats as you hear in those albums.
New EP ‘Spires’ coming May 10th!
As usual this will be available for stream/download on Vulpiano Records along with my own Bandcamp. It’s a little different from the last few, more mechanical and ‘techno’, but still lots of washy synths as before. More info soon.
Track list
- Cosmic
- Time
- Zemūdens
- Spires
Moons And Melodies 