Tag: inspiration

Super synth

If I had the space for it, I would find a way to get the UDO Audio→ Super Gemini 20 Voice Dual Layer Polyphonic Binaural Analog-Hybrid Synthesizer. This large white and orange 61-key instrument produces amazingly spatial music, and the sounds people have been creating with it are truly special.

A large white and orange and grey 61-key synthesizer with many faders and knobs and a horizontal ribbon

Watching demo videos of this (J3PO meets the UDO Super Gemini→ on YouTube is a great example, especially his performance and patch of the last 2.5 minutes – that arpeggiator is stunning!) makes me want to sit in front of my own synthesizers again – while I can’t use the Super Gemini, just hearing it inspires any kind of playing.

I’ve been plucking and strumming 6 and 4-stringed acoustic instruments since the beginning of the year, which is why I haven’t worked on electronic music the past couple of months, but I plan on taking more time for digital musicmaking in the near future (I have a couple Endlesss riffs in Loopy Pro waiting to be arranged and recorded, for example).

Fred again.. – Actual Life

Last week I was introduced to Fred again.. with his NPR Music “Tiny Desk Concert”→ (on YouTube) from April 2023. I’ve watched that and listened to his 3 Actual Life albums and Boiler Room London DJ set repeatedly over the past days to collect my thoughts on this remarkable musician.

Working with a looper behind the desk, he staged an acoustic-electric rendition of some of his Actual Life songs. Playing marimba, upright piano, drumming on a table, tapping the pads of the Maschine sampler to cue voices singing, talking, spoken word poetry autotuned into melodies (all shown on a vertical screen in the background), and singing parts himself, he produced an intimate performance of his diary of lockdown and pandemic times.

Ending the show, “Faisal (envelops me)” culminated in a euphoric minimalistic crescendo of marimba strikes, a stark difference to the original song.

His ability to change up versions of his songs for so many mixes is awe-inspiring.

Couldn’t stop singing 2023

I sang these songs long after hearing them this year, and I listened to them the most often.

Amber’s Embrace – Paul Davids

I already liked the early beginnings of this tune on his YouTube video “OPEN D: The most beautiful tuning for guitar!” back in 2021.

Taler Tempoet – The Rumour Said Fire

This beauty came up late one night listening to Danish radio (DR P6 Beat).

Instant Crush – Daft Punk & Julian Casablancas

I really only noticed this as an earworm after watching the 10 year anniversary making-of videos “Memory Tapes/Random Access Memories”.

MORE LOVE – Moderat

The live version that played as the final song on the Moderat FM radio show episode 5 (about their live shows) inspires me.

Loading – James Blake

I first heard this on a YouTube video conversation between James Blake and Brian Eno, where he played choice sounds from this album, and I was singing it right away.

Thom Yorke – ANIMA

Thom Yorke’s rhythmical melodic soundscape ANIMA of 2019 is one of the albums that I keep coming back to. The electronic aesthetics match my taste exactly.

The song Dawn Chorus has such a warm keyboard sound/ synthesizer patch (reminds me of my synth story “20210425 chase”). The simple synth playing and monotonous singsong vocals confer so much expression. I first heard it in the short film ANIMA by Paul Thomas Anderson, where that song plays a prominent role in the story – the romantic choreography in the scene adds movement to the meaning.

20210425 chase from Synth stories by what lasts FAQ

A thousand tiny birds singing
If you must, you must

— Thom Yorke, Dawn Chorus

Terry Riley and minimalism

I’ve just come across the music of Terry Riley, specifically A Rainbow in Curved Air, for electric piano, dumbak, & tambourines from 1969. This bubbly minimalist piece inspired the famous sound of The Who song Baba O’Riley from 1971.

What I’ve heard by Terry Riley so far reminds me much of my experience of making loops in Endlesss. There are minimalist touches to many of my tracks, especially the earlier tunes in my Endlesss becoming playlist. But my song “20210122 throw” sounds surprisingly similar to the techniques used in those two songs.

20210122 throw from Endlesss becoming by what lasts FAQ

Ben Böhmer – Cercle liveset

Ben Böhmer playing his Cercle liveset in a hot air balloon among many other balloons over Cappadocia, Türkiye is some of the most beautiful tv ever made…

His music is uplifting, he’s bouncing to the beat as he cues the controllers, the sun is rising, and the hot air balloons float in the air over the hills and valleys, rock formations and “fairy chimneys”.

Smashing Pumpkins – Siamese Dream

While listening to the Smashing Pumpkins album Siamese Dream, I remember the staticky tape recording I made of its release on Chicago college radio (the Bear) – “Mayonaise” was especially distorted in parts, in perfect tonal blend with the music. I still hear the extra fuzz in my mind every time that song plays.

M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

I listened to the M83 album Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming completely (on headphones) for the first time that I can remember, although I’ve heard many of the songs before.

The album is rich and full of emotion. Note the song “Wait” with its acoustic guitar strumming and warm singing, synths and string crescendos. 

Some of the songs are short vignettes, many without lyrics. I looked up the lyrics to “Wait”; they’re very sparse but move you directly with the singer calling: “No time” – is there a chorus effect on the voice? Nearing the end the drums kick in, and it all comes together, the singer crying out in echoes, everything louder and fuller, until there’s peace.