sleepy music kaizoku party
It seems i recovered from my depressive episode, got sick, recovered from being sick, and then got burnt out.
I am wiped.
A couple weekends ago while i was still trying to get over being sick i spent an afternoon buying music. Music that i love, not whatever music ends up getting played at whatever club or party is going on in the Taiwan scene, but my music. Most everything under 120bpm. Lots of synthesizer riffs. No vocals.
Here is some wonky polyrhythmic acid that is so far up my alley i practically trip over it every time i take out the trash: https://virtualurbanrecords.bandcamp.com/track/tomtomtom
Special Olympic Acid - TomTomTom
Direct link to Bandcamp because this shit so underground it didn't even appear on social media. I'm literally the only person who bought it, and now so can you.
Another Bandcamp discovery from last year i think was this random English dude called Jim Thompson who i have no idea who he is. I think he's just a bedroom musician. But listen to this.
JT - Fluffi
This is some of the most beautiful 303 programming since Mike Dred in the early 90s or Ceephax's best moments. The raw, unmastered mixing makes the tunes feel more authentic. I love when you can hear the naked expression of each instrument just how it is, without trying to soak all the different elements in effects to expand them into every sonic nook. There is so much beauty in the gaps.
Transition into...
PostEx - Pacific Dub
I love that there are still artists out there who are able to capture the 90s bedroom musician sound without having to saturate everything in "tape stretch" or "vinyl crackle" software effects, which annoyingly make a lot of modern retro tracks sound not very retro at all, because back then those kinds of artifacts were something we were trying to avoid, not add.
But after spending a day buying music, and tagging/organizing it, i never got around to listening through every track in high quality, because i fell asleep. I have 38 minutes left to go through, not helped by the fact i keep going back to listen to new faves again. Well, that and pirates.
Even though we had Wednesday off last week for Labor Day, i was zonked. On my day off, i binged through something like two seasons of the show Black Sails, which is a highly-acclaimed pirate drama that i never got around to watching when it was aired. It's yet another show featuring a legion of irredeemable scumbags. Literally every character is the fucking worst, and by the third episode you already want them all of them to die. But the writers cleverly leave each episode on a cliffhanger, so you keep watching the slow-motion car crash. The pacing is glacial, with characters spending far longer pontificating about their feelings and staring moodily into the distance than adventuring on the high seas, which perhaps is why it worked for me as a sort of background show for my exhaustion.
By the end of the weekend i had finished watching this gang of miserable colonizers be utter shitheads to one another, so i watched the first episode of One Piece again to remind me why pirates are actually awesome when they're traveling to far-flung lands in search of treasure and freedom.
And that's when i thought, hey, maybe i should try the One Piece cartoon? The live action One Piece was so fun that i kept the entire first season downloaded because i knew i would want to watch it again. (You have to understand, i never hold on to shows. I buy music. I buy books. I buy computer games. But i pirate TV shows. I download them, watch them, then delete them. I watch TV every day, but it's transient entertainment for me - in one eye and out the other. So it's exceedingly rare that rewatch anything.)
Anyway, One Piece - the Netflix original - does not exist in a vacuum. It's based on the best-selling manga in the world and the most popular anime in the world. If you don't know One Piece, it might be because you don't know anyone who was a kid in the 2000s. Which... well, i don't. Or i didn't, until those kids grew up and i started working with them. So i learned about One Piece from my younger colleagues, some of whom swore it was the greatest piece of literature ever created. I read just enough about it on wiki to not seem entirely out of touch (they're a crew of friendly pirates who sail around a world that is mostly ocean, the leader wears a straw hat, and he is stretchy), and then i saw there were a thousand plus episodes, and resolved this was just another piece of pop culture i'd never bother with.
Well the live action show hooked me, and after the sad pirates of Black Sails, i figured i needed some happy pirate action. I watched the first few episodes of the anime, which turned out to be almost as decompressed as fucking Black Sails. I mean, how many goddamn close-ups you need to do of some guy's face? Get on with the story already. There's a thousand more episodes to get through! And that's when i discovered One Pace, which is a fan cut of the entire series that slices out all of the reaction shots and filler episodes and edits the show down to a more modern pacing. (You want ultra-modern TikTok pacing, check out X-Men '97, by the way. That shit burns through 6-month story arcs from the comics in like 20 minutes.)
And... it's kinda good, you guys. I have just gotten to the end of the Orange Town arc, which fills in a bunch of backstory from the live action. It's fun! It's happy! What could be better than sitting on a boat under the stars eating fruit and dreaming about the wonders ahead? I love the bright colors and cheerful costumes. I love the optimism. Everyone is larger than life.
You know what else is nifty? Silly Latin-flavored electronic music. This is practically a genre by itself now thanks to the various alter egos of Uwe Schmidt, perhaps the most mainstream of which is Señor Coconut. But i'm sure i've posted that stuff before, so here is a fun song from a Dutch guy along similar lines.
Solo Moderna - Feliz Sintetizador
New album coming soon! I'm excited!
I'm also so tired.
Did i tell you about the other things? There was a dinner with the CEO last week where i nattered to head of CS from Macedonia about middle age and being an immigrant and this and that. I had to go through a whole bunch of fussing with couriers and customs and shit to get some deliveries... One of which was an external GPU that will hopefully open up new possibilities for gaming that previously would have been a real struggle on my Surface. I am especially looking forward to buying Horizon Forbidden West, which is the sequel to an open world action/exploration game that hid a fantastic sci-fi story and one of the most likable main characters ever behind its tedious combat mechanics. I also got a bright, psychedelic pink tank top that i will never wear to work, but will surely make me grin like a nutter the first time i put it on for a weekend adventure.
And that might just be this weekend, because - sneaking up on me - it's the next outdoor rave! This one there is no organized transport so i will just have to try get there on my own with public transport and perhaps a taxi or hitching out the last few clicks. The rainy season is rolling in so it will be a crapshoot, but what can you do? If i get wet, i get wet. With a bit of luck there will be some good techno music to dry off to. And perhaps getting out into the bush and dancing around will replenish my mental energy, help me to slog through work again till Dragon Boat Festival and the next party.
Perhaps imagining myself a Straw Hat Pirate will help. I do live on a tropical island, after all. Easy to forget when i'm stuck at work all day.
I am wiped.
A couple weekends ago while i was still trying to get over being sick i spent an afternoon buying music. Music that i love, not whatever music ends up getting played at whatever club or party is going on in the Taiwan scene, but my music. Most everything under 120bpm. Lots of synthesizer riffs. No vocals.
Here is some wonky polyrhythmic acid that is so far up my alley i practically trip over it every time i take out the trash: https://virtualurbanrecords.bandcamp.com/track/tomtomtom
Special Olympic Acid - TomTomTom
Direct link to Bandcamp because this shit so underground it didn't even appear on social media. I'm literally the only person who bought it, and now so can you.
Another Bandcamp discovery from last year i think was this random English dude called Jim Thompson who i have no idea who he is. I think he's just a bedroom musician. But listen to this.
Click to viewJT - Fluffi
This is some of the most beautiful 303 programming since Mike Dred in the early 90s or Ceephax's best moments. The raw, unmastered mixing makes the tunes feel more authentic. I love when you can hear the naked expression of each instrument just how it is, without trying to soak all the different elements in effects to expand them into every sonic nook. There is so much beauty in the gaps.
Transition into...
PostEx - Pacific Dub
I love that there are still artists out there who are able to capture the 90s bedroom musician sound without having to saturate everything in "tape stretch" or "vinyl crackle" software effects, which annoyingly make a lot of modern retro tracks sound not very retro at all, because back then those kinds of artifacts were something we were trying to avoid, not add.
But after spending a day buying music, and tagging/organizing it, i never got around to listening through every track in high quality, because i fell asleep. I have 38 minutes left to go through, not helped by the fact i keep going back to listen to new faves again. Well, that and pirates.
Even though we had Wednesday off last week for Labor Day, i was zonked. On my day off, i binged through something like two seasons of the show Black Sails, which is a highly-acclaimed pirate drama that i never got around to watching when it was aired. It's yet another show featuring a legion of irredeemable scumbags. Literally every character is the fucking worst, and by the third episode you already want them all of them to die. But the writers cleverly leave each episode on a cliffhanger, so you keep watching the slow-motion car crash. The pacing is glacial, with characters spending far longer pontificating about their feelings and staring moodily into the distance than adventuring on the high seas, which perhaps is why it worked for me as a sort of background show for my exhaustion.
By the end of the weekend i had finished watching this gang of miserable colonizers be utter shitheads to one another, so i watched the first episode of One Piece again to remind me why pirates are actually awesome when they're traveling to far-flung lands in search of treasure and freedom.
And that's when i thought, hey, maybe i should try the One Piece cartoon? The live action One Piece was so fun that i kept the entire first season downloaded because i knew i would want to watch it again. (You have to understand, i never hold on to shows. I buy music. I buy books. I buy computer games. But i pirate TV shows. I download them, watch them, then delete them. I watch TV every day, but it's transient entertainment for me - in one eye and out the other. So it's exceedingly rare that rewatch anything.)
Anyway, One Piece - the Netflix original - does not exist in a vacuum. It's based on the best-selling manga in the world and the most popular anime in the world. If you don't know One Piece, it might be because you don't know anyone who was a kid in the 2000s. Which... well, i don't. Or i didn't, until those kids grew up and i started working with them. So i learned about One Piece from my younger colleagues, some of whom swore it was the greatest piece of literature ever created. I read just enough about it on wiki to not seem entirely out of touch (they're a crew of friendly pirates who sail around a world that is mostly ocean, the leader wears a straw hat, and he is stretchy), and then i saw there were a thousand plus episodes, and resolved this was just another piece of pop culture i'd never bother with.
Well the live action show hooked me, and after the sad pirates of Black Sails, i figured i needed some happy pirate action. I watched the first few episodes of the anime, which turned out to be almost as decompressed as fucking Black Sails. I mean, how many goddamn close-ups you need to do of some guy's face? Get on with the story already. There's a thousand more episodes to get through! And that's when i discovered One Pace, which is a fan cut of the entire series that slices out all of the reaction shots and filler episodes and edits the show down to a more modern pacing. (You want ultra-modern TikTok pacing, check out X-Men '97, by the way. That shit burns through 6-month story arcs from the comics in like 20 minutes.)
And... it's kinda good, you guys. I have just gotten to the end of the Orange Town arc, which fills in a bunch of backstory from the live action. It's fun! It's happy! What could be better than sitting on a boat under the stars eating fruit and dreaming about the wonders ahead? I love the bright colors and cheerful costumes. I love the optimism. Everyone is larger than life.
You know what else is nifty? Silly Latin-flavored electronic music. This is practically a genre by itself now thanks to the various alter egos of Uwe Schmidt, perhaps the most mainstream of which is Señor Coconut. But i'm sure i've posted that stuff before, so here is a fun song from a Dutch guy along similar lines.
Solo Moderna - Feliz Sintetizador
New album coming soon! I'm excited!
I'm also so tired.
Did i tell you about the other things? There was a dinner with the CEO last week where i nattered to head of CS from Macedonia about middle age and being an immigrant and this and that. I had to go through a whole bunch of fussing with couriers and customs and shit to get some deliveries... One of which was an external GPU that will hopefully open up new possibilities for gaming that previously would have been a real struggle on my Surface. I am especially looking forward to buying Horizon Forbidden West, which is the sequel to an open world action/exploration game that hid a fantastic sci-fi story and one of the most likable main characters ever behind its tedious combat mechanics. I also got a bright, psychedelic pink tank top that i will never wear to work, but will surely make me grin like a nutter the first time i put it on for a weekend adventure.
And that might just be this weekend, because - sneaking up on me - it's the next outdoor rave! This one there is no organized transport so i will just have to try get there on my own with public transport and perhaps a taxi or hitching out the last few clicks. The rainy season is rolling in so it will be a crapshoot, but what can you do? If i get wet, i get wet. With a bit of luck there will be some good techno music to dry off to. And perhaps getting out into the bush and dancing around will replenish my mental energy, help me to slog through work again till Dragon Boat Festival and the next party.
Perhaps imagining myself a Straw Hat Pirate will help. I do live on a tropical island, after all. Easy to forget when i'm stuck at work all day.