dessicant (need your help!)

[rachmiel]

i'm very fond of stripping things down to bare/splintered bone. problem is beyond a certain point the musical "logic" falls apart for most listeners. results: head-scratching, boredom, projectile vomiting, etc.

here's a piece that wanders through a sparse splintery groove. it's rather extremely stripped down, lots of silence and near-silence.

dessicant

for me it works fine as a piece. how about for you? does it stand as-is? or does it need more? bass? pad (connective tissue)? foreground quasi-melody?

thanks for your help!

enjoy. :-)

[D.H. Miltz]

It works for me as-is ("works" in this case including making me feel a bit nervous), but I'd be interested to hear it with something else. I have no idea what that something else should be. I briefly thought upright bass would be good, but the skitteriness (if I may) of the piece made it hard to hear in my head how that part might sound.

An especially odd one, to my ear, but I enjoyed it. Thanks.

[rachmiel]

thanks dhm. :-) i could hear it either way: as a(n extremely) minimal standalone or as a rhythmic framework over which other, perhaps more foreground-ish sonic events, could be layered.

think i'll give the latter a try. i'll go very easy with the additional material, so as not to dispel the fragile/quirky minimal splinteriness of what's there already.

[Az're-ul]

Works as is for me inducing a slightly unsettling vibe but think it would work better as an extra rhythmic layer to a regular hip hop beat to emphasize the unsettledness. Just my 2 cents...

[rachmiel]

Works as is for me inducing a slightly unsettling vibe but think it would work better as an extra rhythmic layer to a regular hip hop beat to emphasize the unsettledness. Just my 2 cents...

thanks for the listen/comment, Az're-ul. (it's always a pleasure to hear from the Angel of Death. (how's business, btw?)) funny you should mention hip hop beats because i like some of them a lot: crisp, odd, hook-y, short, concise. perhaps i should start adding vocals to these sparse fractured grooves i've been making as of late? it would be interesting to come up with vocal parts that were to conventional hip hop vocals as the fractured grooves are to conventional hip hop beats. lyrics too ... something like finnegans wake meets wu-tang clan.

[jopy]

i can see why it would be tempting to add more to this, but i think you'd need to be very careful that you don't lose some of those sonic details in the mix. incidentally, the most interesting part of this piece, for me, was the sense that it was building up to a sort of post-structural idea of a climax as it went, so there was that classic dramatic arc that kept my interest.

[rachmiel]

i can see why it would be tempting to add more to this, but i think you'd need to be very careful that you don't lose some of those sonic details in the mix.

i tried a bunch of "foreground"-ish additions, none of which worked very well, largely for the reason you cite: they removed detail from the groove.

incidentally, the most interesting part of this piece, for me, was the sense that it was building up to a sort of post-structural idea of a climax as it went, so there was that classic dramatic arc that kept my interest.

glad you heard this. i definitely composed an arc in there; i pretty much always do. but you're right, it's very understated.

"post-structural climax" ... hmmm, sounds like my sex life.

[kestrel]

I really dug the track. It strikes me as something that would fit with an abstract or out there animation sequence. It does great as a song though. You said you like splintered, ever thought of experimenting with gluing and ungluing ur tracks more extremely? For example a low attack pad that glues it together for a time and then drops away suddenly? I guess i might be infringing on your artistic direction there, just some ideas I really dug it, the sounds had a very cool quality to them. reminds me of a song off of the Appleseed soundtrack, first disc.. i think it's dragonfly or soemthing to that effect.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

I'd like to give this one a go, in attempting to jam with it, like on the earlier 'beat test.'

[Az're-ul]

thanks for the listen/comment, Az're-ul. (it's always a pleasure to hear from the Angel of Death. (how's business, btw?)) funny you should mention hip hop beats because i like some of them a lot: crisp, odd, hook-y, short, concise. perhaps i should start adding vocals to these sparse fractured grooves i've been making as of late? it would be interesting to come up with vocal parts that were to conventional hip hop vocals as the fractured grooves are to conventional hip hop beats. lyrics too ... something like finnegans wake meets wu-tang clan.

Business is always good...

The splintered vocals idea is a brilliant one, get it right and you could have something truly paranoia inducing.

[apan]

Interesting stuff, I could hear some kind of fractured melodic element (rather than a solid beat) entering at some point, but on the other hand it is easy to messy up the vibe of this kind of piece. Thanks for sharing!

[macmurphy]

You're messing with my already fragile head.
Even sitting here on a beautiful sunny afternoon this had me feeling uneasy and acutely aware that i'm alone in the house. This is a good thing.
I like the track as it is, it has a nice dry direct sound that i think would be compromised by attempting to add any foreground elements. However, a deep slowly throbbing drone and/or some occasionally rising white noise in the background could tie things together nicely.
Intriguing stuff as always, thanks.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

Here's a Dessicate Jam

The guitar sample is inside this .rar.

[kwembe]

Referring to "Dessicant": I don't know if you will appreciate this, but I listen to Radio 3's Saturday night modern (classical) music program and have heard stuff in a similar vein, but not as interesting or original I agree it might need more input towards the second half to sustain it but the beginning is brilliant.

I'm not so sure about "Dessicate Jam" though.

[rachmiel]

I really dug the track. It strikes me as something that would fit with an abstract or out there animation sequence. It does great as a song though. You said you like splintered, ever thought of experimenting with gluing and ungluing ur tracks more extremely? For example a low attack pad that glues it together for a time and then drops away suddenly? I guess i might be infringing on your artistic direction there, just some ideas :) I really dug it, the sounds had a very cool quality to them. reminds me of a song off of the Appleseed soundtrack, first disc.. i think it's dragonfly or soemthing to that effect.

thanks, kestrel. :-) interesting idea: gluing/ungluing. think i'll give it a try.