mmd

After some delays, it is finally up and ready to go…

Of all my older albums, 2 Smargaid Maerd remains as one I don’t feel disappointed about, and if I’m in a good enough mood I’m actually very proud of it! Now many years after the fact it is easy to look back at earlier work like this and frown upon certain technical shortcomings and artistic immaturity employed in the making of this music. In 2003, when most of this work was done, I only had very limited and lofi means of music production, and I was far from being in a stable emotional state to be producing pieces of high sophistication. Mind you, I’ll probably look back upon myself now in 10 years time and think the same thing, hence the problem of looking backwards. Nevertheless, these songs seem to strike an emotional chord with people, and with the limited audience it has reached it has spawned a life of its own beyond my own consideration. Well, despite the blemishes, I still love it – so I am keen to get it out there to a wider audience if possible. So if you’re in the mood for some highly individualistic composition; that is ‘pop’ yet ‘experimental’; lush but edgy; and highly emotional homebrew electronica – this album is for you.

Hence, here we are on Bandcamp! The original CD-quality FLAC files have been uploaded: so if you’re feeling so inclined to spend $10AUD, then a copy of the whole thing is yours. But that’s not all (as he puts on his Tim Shaw Voice), you get a re-organised PDF package of all the original artwork and lyrics; plus, there are three hidden bonus remix tracks as well! These are not available anywhere else. Because Bandcamp is so neat, all the files come in whatever format of your choice, all tagged and ready to go for your portable playing pleasure.

The three remix tracks are Absolutely Doomed, My Heart Only Beats For You, and There Are No Answers – Only Dub. They have been remixed and mastered only in the last few weeks. The originals were very lofi and harsh sounding, so it was a good opportunity to put my new skills and equipment to the test. I figured if I could make these old sonic disasters sound good, then I’m doing ok. They were upgraded to 96khz mixing, and in the final stages of the mastering were run through my new 12AU7 ECC82 Telefunken NOS ribbed plate tubes (read on in earlier posts about the technical details). There’s a lot of lofi-intensity still inside these mixes, but at the same time they should be smooth and sparkle with clarity. The remixes will give a new angle on the old songs, perhaps focusing their emotional impact. Beyond that, I’ll leave it to you to explore them.

Thank you so much for your support and interest.

Woohoo! Another album added to the super slick system that is Bandcamp. This time it’s the mmd_as album that Alex Strain and I finished early 2009.

You can stream the tracks for free, or if you’d like a higher quality download there is a payment system set up. Enjoy, and please share it with the world!

Download Mp3: Take The Red Pill

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A little seasonal gift for you all: a new song! I’ve been recently inspired by the new beta version of Renoise, with stacks of new features that are showcased in this song. In particular a new featured called the ‘Pattern Matrix’ spurned inspiration about the Matrix Movie and Neo’s choice of the red or blue pill – red to face reality and exit from The Matrix, or blue to continue the illusion and remain inside. This is a fairly crazy high energy song and I suppose could be the soundtrack to anyone taking the red pill. The song was written entirely on headphones on my laptop, just after moving to Brisbane. Lucky for some of you that are beta testing the new 2.5 version of Renoise, I’m offering the XRNS file so you can load it in Renoise and see how I did it all:

Take The Red Pill XRNS File (for editing in Renoise)

We’ve been in Mitchelton, Brisbane, for over two weeks. I’m enjoying a little break from the hectic madness of moving house, sorting belongings at a storage facility and finding a new system of living in about a quarter of the space we were previously in. R has already secured a wonderfully promising new job starting next month, whereas I’ve not spotted anything obvious yet to chase in terms of work. Scoring a part time job of a certain quality might be a project for the new year once the silly season is over.

In the meantime I had the itch to do audio production again so I decided to open up my audio production business again. I’ve already locked in one client for mastering and talking to a few other potentials. Even though I have some reservations about the type of work that it is, it is attractive as a form of supplementary income. And, if I keep at it I may build enough reputation with it do align myself with more major name productions, possible in more creative and influential ways as well. To get the ball rolling I’ve had set up a small room here that’s doubling as a storage space! I bought new monitor stands and spent some time orienting the room and acoustically treating the walls with hanging sheets. I’ve got a workable sound and Take The Red Pill is the first finished ‘test’ production I’ve done in this space. I’ll take a picture of it soon and show you what I’ve done.

More to tell soon, but I might stop here and enjoy the evening. Cheers! …And stay safe.

A brand new song for you all, off the yet-to-be-finished album The Paradox. Introducing, “The Stormformer”:

Download mp3: The Stormformer

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Wires, electrical equipment, soldering iron,
Cables, metal, antennae, wall connections.

Stormformer
I’m the stormformer.

Windows open, computer, AM radio static, batteries,
Heat shrink, solder smoke, cutters, meter.

Stomformer
I’m the stormformer.

Swallowed sun, humid tension, insects quieten,
Wind builds, heavy clouds, head up, arms out.

Stormformer
I’m the stormformer.

A fantasy of a child
An illusion fed by technological obsession
And a media dazed in scientific futurism
The boy scans the outdoor horizons
Late November brings the humidity
Those anvil super-cells building in the afternoon
He’s looking for a front; a force all powerful
A storm to surpass all others
His dreaming he keeps to himself
Clouds are not mere meteorological phenomenon
But are inconceivable starships
Mustering all their collective might for assault
Upon a far off and obscured foe
They attack with lightening and thunder
And recharge from the heat and electricity
Of the land they they pass over.
The boy knows no one will understand this
No one will understand his role in all this
He is the commander, the grand conductor
Of the entire fleet
He pretends that his will is that of the storm
The honour and importance he has in his role
Is unmatched by anything in his life
His knowing smirk is ignorant of the horrors of real war
His intent is for simple atmospheric glory
But the storms are not enough
Reality threatens his magical fancy
He needs something more, a deeper connection
He longs for transcendence via inductive force
His connection is the lightening
His resonance is with the thunder
He is the small coil that transforms the energy of the storm
Scanning north to where the bolts strike the high escapement
He astrally projects his readiness to that position
They say lightening never strikes twice in the same place
But with arms outstretched he awaits enduring connectivity
A complete circuit of absolution.
But reality beckons and he has to wait
All he can do is prepare for his moment
By the study of electronics
A union with future technology
Like a transformer in a power supply
He must become the stormformer.

A quick remix/remodel of a Hunz song “Soon Soon” I whipped up in a few days of chipping about on the laptop with Renoise.

>>> Pleading With Ghosts

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Who knows, maybe the spooks like 4 part chip harmonies with a detuned Hunz as a wobbly bassline?