Wednesday, November 20, 2013

inrijected (first version) (inri022) now fully uploaded

this is a collection of rejected tracks from the inri/inriched period. it's just chronologically sequenced.

recorded over 1998. compiled and remastered in late 2013. please use headphones.

credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, synth, drum programming, lyrics, samples, loops, cool edit synthesis, digital wave editing

released feb 27, 1999

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inrijected

inriched (original album mix) (inri021) now fully uploaded

this is very much a follow-up to the previous demo (there's a pun, here) and in fact is largely constructed of "leftover tracks" from that period. this demo may be a bit glitchier/noisier than the last one, http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inri-lp.

some of these songs are reworked versions of tracks i had recorded previously. in almost all cases, i consider the versions here (and on the previous demo, inri) to be the authoritative versions of these tracks.

the demo is consciously constructed to alternate between "conventional songs" and "experimental pieces", although both definitions are stretched. it generally takes the form of connecting passages. it's meant to give the record the feel of a cohesive work rather than a collection of songs.

lyrically, i'm still a teenager, but i'm starting to grow into myself a little more. there are some points of significant embarrassment on this recording, but it's really only the sixth track that makes me cringe to the point of regret. i was also experimenting with an "ironic distance" type of spoken word style that, in hindsight, doesn't come off so well.

the guitar work is one of the things that separates the sound from a typical industrial aesthetic. i've never been a fan of heavy metal and largely shied away from creating that kind of thing. yet, i found myself connecting more with psychedelic guitar at this point than punk rock. industrial psych generally implies something like trance, but it need not to. industrial hendrix? well, maybe it ends up sounding more like synth pop, which has historical roots in psychedelic music and progressive rock. the point is that the music does manage to carve out a unique space between industrial music and synth pop that i don't know of any clear comparisons to. people have suggested mid-period swans, the legendary pink dots and nine inch nails - only the last of which was a significant influence, and none of which are really that close. a better comparison, although still not a significant influence at this time, would be joy division - who would become a significant influence after this phase. my actual influences at the time would have been more like brian eno (through his 70s and 90s work with david bowie, as well as his work with u2), early prog (genesis/floyd/crimson), peter gabriel, the beatles, radiohead, the smashing pumpkins, REM, sonic youth, the tea party and a bit of contemporary electronic music (prodigy, nin, coil, foetus, autechre, nitzer ebb, ministry, econoline crush, gravity kills, stabbing westward, skinny puppy and side projects). the sense of humour is coming from frank zappa and matt groening, if they are not actually the same person. i wasn't listening to much tears for fears, i don't think, but you can hear them lurking underneath everything.

this material was recorded throughout 1998 and the very beginning of 1999, but some of it was written as far back as 1994. unfortunately, i decided that the songs sounded better in mp3 and consequently compressed everything before burning. i understand now that i was hobbling together a crude mastering process, but it means (unfortunately) that the closest thing i have to the finished tracks are low quality mp3s and a cd-r. these tracks were taken off of a cd-r and edited mildly (mostly the removal of badly placed simpsons samples) over the middle of november, 2013. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, synthesizers, drum programming, sequencing, sampling, digital wave editing, vocals, cool edit synthesis, production, found sounds, strategies

released feb 10, 1999

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/inriched-lp
file: piano.mid
composition: the symphony of psilocybin induced madness (piano) (original 2001 file)
status: raw midi composition

epilag (original album mix)

during these years, i spent an unhealthy amount of time on an off-topic internet mailing list that was populated by fans of skinny puppy, named epilag. this track is based on pictures of the people on that list; i ran them through a program called coagula, that converts light into sound. some shaping followed.

recorded in january, 1999.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/teenage-jesus-original-1999-cd-mix

boogeyman (original album mix)

this is the final version of boogeyman; it only differs from the discarded version in the vocals. i was feeling the need to keep a beat poetry ironic distance at the time, and i don't think it serves the track well, in hindsight. the version on my '96 demo is far superior, but i can't sequence it here because it doesn't include the drum machine part. the discarded version also has a terrible vocal mix, which is why i redid the vocals in the first place. i'm not sure what the problem was with this track specifically, but i do have a vague recollection of being sort of adverse to it's poppiness and feeling an obligation to ruin it.

recorded in december, 1997. edited in january, 1998 and again in january, 1999.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/boogeyman-original-1999-cd-mix-2

too cold (original album mix)

FINAL PROPER 'inri' TRACK.

kind of a long story. see, i went through a string of extremely cold basements in the late 90s. it was half heating costs; on that level, i could even agree for environmental reasons. but it was half because my step-mother legitimately prefers absolutely frigid, air-conditioner-level temperatures and didn't want hot air rising from the basement to ruin the chilly temperature upstairs. you can understand how that might get frustrating sometimes.

i was offered a room upstairs, but then i'd have to go to bed at 10:00 pm rather than stay up until 4:00 am recording music and chatting on the internet. clearly an unacceptable proposal....

the song is more than a silly story, it was legitimately a sort of morbid fantasy i was having. not that there was any real chance i was going to light the basement on fire, or anything. if i were to do that, i might ruin my guitar, and then i'd be worse off. the story runs a little off the rails, but that is it's charm.

musically, this is a pivot into the electro-prog phase that followed and that really defines who i am, musically. so, i sort of see this both as my first real recording and the last recording of my childhood.

recorded in february, 1999.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/too-cold-inriched

resurrection (original album mix)

the only logical way to end 2 years of sacrilegious christian mockery is with a resurrection. musically, this is a simple but haunting ambient piece.

i hadn't completely torn myself away from being inri just quite yet. that would take a bit longer. but, i was nearing my 18th birthday, and i wanted to reinvent myself. i toyed with the idea of naming my third proper recording 'trinri', but instead went with a total inversion - i called it 'deny everything'.

this is also meant to act as a mirror to the first track on the first demo. i wasn't entirely sure what i wanted to do next, but i knew i wanted inri/inriched to be self-contained.

recorded in january, 1999.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/teenage-jesus-original-1999-cd-mix
file: voices.mid
composition: existence (choiral) (original 2001 file)
status: raw midi composition

drive (original instrumental mix promoted to album mix)

this actually wasn't for an rem cover project but for something on the radiohead list. i can't remember exactly what spurred it on.

...but, it's consciously in an ok computer ambient-pop style for that reason. i rather like this instrumental version...

recorded in january, 1999. 

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/drive-2

graphic porno (original album mix)

of all the purposefully dumb things i recorded during this period, this is probably the dumbest. it's meant to be a parody of pornography. maybe pornography is the dumbest thing i decided to go after, though. and there's actually a backstory.

there was a highly hyperactive kid in my programming class named andy that, upon finding out i was a "dj" (and i've always cringed at that designation), decided to send me ridiculous samples of himself and other things over icq, mostly to troll me. remember icq? anyways....

pretty much all these samples came from andy. it was more or less constructed to make him laugh; and, in truth, he actually thought it was pretty funny.

it's really more his sense of humour than mine.

recorded in december, 1998. 

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/graphic-porno

piggy (remix/cover for inrimake)

this is a fairly bizarre reworking of piggy, which gave me the opportunity to really play out my obsession with 90s nin remixes as they were constructed by the likes of coil, thirlwell, etc. i had a lot of fun with this. it was blaring on my stereo for quite a while in late 98 and early 99.

recorded in december, 1998. 

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/piggy

untitled (remix)

this is a combination of a few sound collages. i ended up using parts of it in other tracks.

recorded in december, 1998.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/untitled-remix

earthquake (original discarded outtake)

i was attempting to create the sound of an earthquake. i'm not sure i succeeded as well as i did with the hurricane one; sounds more like an attack by aliens. that being said, use headphones.

recorded in december, 1998. 

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/earthquake

suicide (original album mix)

yeah, i didn't do this once but twice. lol. the programming and production are better, but the track is not substantially different.

first recording:
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/suicide

recorded in december, 1998. edited on nov 20, 2013.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/teenage-jesus-original-1999-cd-mix
the endless variations never end...

putting together a chiptune disc. i have a LOT of material to pull out for this, going back to 1997. need to remix a few things.