New music, and an album for sale!

I've really got a jump an a few new music projects (finally!).  The first is my "12-tone"-based project: I have about 30 or so minutes of music so far.  I plan on adding a few more tracks, then it's time to mix it all together and release. Tentatively titled, "Improvisario."

I also got a start on another project that started out inspired by the heavy doses of Godflesh that I've been listening to.  I managed to find some samples of the classis Alesis HR-16 drum machine (which is what Justin Broadrick used on the early Godflesh albums), so I programmed some very "mechanical" and heavy industrial-sounding beats and came up with some harsh, repetitive guitar riffs (and some other odd synth sections, solos, etc.), and voila, new music.  I also used some sound samples from "number station" broadcasts (look it up on the Internets), which add a really creepy and robotic atmosphere to the whole project. I've got about 50 minutes completed, so I think that's an albums's worth.  I just need to start some art for the two new albums, and I'll post them at the Internet Archive.

I also got some news that a "secret" project that has been in development since 2007 is finally going to see light!   In collaboration with comic illustrator and innovator Matt Howarth, there is a Dimaension X album for sale! I did the music and Matt wrote and illustrated a comic to go with it. Here is the writeup at his website:

FIRE & ICE & THE PANTOMIME HORSE
A fierce music/comics collaboration by DIMAENSION X and MATT HOWARTH.
Howarth offers a twisted tale of a time traveler who visits the future to find the Earth has become a desolate wasteland, but the survivors confuse him with conflicting tales of what kind of holocaust destroyed human civilization. Dimaension X offers an hour-long intense soundtrack of industrial heavy metal music full of searing guitars and haunting electronics.

Click HERE to get there!

(PSSSSST!   The link is:   http://www.bugtownmall.com/New_Matt_Howarth_Stuff.htm )

NEW PROJECT FINALLY STARTED

I finally got the "12-tone" project started this past weekend. It's not "strictly" a typical 12-tone row style project, though there are elements of 12-tone music involved, including a 12-tone row matrix.

Rather than the typical 12-tone row rules, I've made up my own, starting with the general length of the project, which I'd like to be just about 1 hour.

Instead of using the 12-tone row matrix like you usually do, I am starting out in the middle, and going out towards the edges in a spiral pattern. And instead of "notes", the notes in the matrix are used as a "tonal center" or key. Major or minor is totally up to me.

There are 144 notes in the 12-tone Matrix, divided into 60 minutes, gives us about 24 seconds per note. Huh? Yeah. Dimaension X logic.

So I am taking on the task of composing 144 pieces of music (each at bout 24 secs). Each one will be in the given key, major or minor to be decided spontaneously, along with what I am going to play. Clean, dirty, loud, soft, fast slow, all up to me at the time.

Then once they are all recorded, I'll splice them together into more "normal" length "songs".

Hah! Huh? Yeah.

Explanation? Sure.

The given note at the very center of the matrix is A#. So my first "song" will be composed in A#, and will last for about 24 seconds. What I play is to be totally made up on the spot. Maybe I feel bluesy, jazzy, metallic, etc. Fiddle around in A# (major, minor??) and see what happens. Once my fingers are flying around the fretboard a bit, figure out what tempo I'm playing in, set it, and hit record.

Now, add drums? Bass? More guitars? Flavor to taste.

Dat's dat. next Note? G. Rinse and repeat in a new song file.

And the "splicing"? Once all the songs are done, I'll grab each mixed MP3 file, and begin dropping them together in a separate Song File in my DAW, and put the clips together so that there is a smooth transition from one "song" to the next, so it sounds like one longer song. Each song will be about 3 to 6 minutes or so, depending on how many MP3 clips are used.

After all 144 clips are used in however many songs, I'm done.

It's most definitely an experimental approach, but I tend to work well with short "bursts" like this. IN fact, several of my older projects were done as smaller "clips" like this. The two Burn Without Me albums a just a bunch of clips that were pre-recorded by me, and then arranged and spliced together as longer songs. Same with "Bryson's Universe". A bunch of short "songs" spliced together.

So far, it's all guitar, bass and drums. No synths or keyboards used so far. I'm also only using my new Agile AL-3010SE fro the guitar tracks. I want to show how versatile it is. Bass is all live bass played with my Squire P-Bass. And the drums are all EZ Drummer samples. If I want "keyboardy" or "synthy" parts, I may try to just use my guitar thru effects. I want to try to keep it all "played" by me if possible.

But then again, I've been fiddling with some piano-based things here and there, so maybe just some piano. No obvious "synths", though.

I have quite a project ahead with this one, and I think I've got a good start. More to come.