Saturday, November 15, 2014

every once in a while i second guess myself on the way i'm doing this, with so many overlapping tracks, and i always come back to the same point. i'm just concerned that i'm giving out the impression that i'm ripping people off by burying an obscure track here or there, forcing people to buy things repeatedly.

first of all, i wouldn't expect *anybody* to buy every single release i have up on my page. it's not a collect them all kind of thing. it's a very diverse discography. if you like my ambient works, you might not like my noise pieces; if you like my orchestrated stuff, you might find the punk a little boring. etc. i get that. i'm that kind of artist. i mean, there will be the odd person that likes all of it but it's not going to be the norm...

second, i'm actually operating more on the idea of cataloguing my work than i am in offering a product for sale. so, yes, there's a lot of overlap in the eps, but each one of them is a conceptual fragment that represents an idea that i think ought to be catalogued.

the point i keep coming back to is that i'm providing options.

if i removed all the eps, and there was a specific song you really liked, you'd have to buy two or three records to get all the different versions. now, maybe you might want to do that anyways. but, maybe you don't. then, the ep would be a good idea because you'd get all the different versions of that one song in one place.

for example, with the ep i just released, you could break down the tracks as follows:

1) upcoming 6th record
2) rabit is wolf demo
3) imaginary tour ep
4) probably unique to this ep (a different version will be on the imaginary tour ep)
5) unique to this ep
6) not a song

you could look at it as though i'm burying two obscure tracks on the ep, but the way i'm looking at it is that i'm constructing a thematic listening experience, and there's no rule that says you have to buy the ep if you don't want to. that's what the records are for, if that's what you want. see, i grew up listening to remix records; i like to hear a handful of different versions of a song i like flow together, and in that sense i'm providing what i would want as a consumer.

but you could also look at it as though i'm stopping you from having to buy three albums to get all the versions of the track - and tossing in some bonus material on top of it.

another thing i'll do is split off ten or twenty conceptually linked minutes of a record and put it up as an ep. you could argue it's redundant, but what if somebody only wants that concept rather than the whole record? even that's not the point of why i'm doing this, though. i'm doing this to catalogue that idea as separate from the record, for thematic or chronological reasons. one example is the classical guitar ep. it's on the fifth disc. but, what if you just want the guitar pieces?

the current standard industry solution to this problem is to allow per track downloads but i really find this distasteful. i don't allow this for the specific reason that i don't like it. and, in the end buying multiple scattered mixes of a track is going to cost more than buying an ep, anyways, so i'm actually undercharging rather than overcharging if you directly contrast these options.

i know i'm doing this the way i want, and i know i'm doing it for the right reasons. but that perception bothers me. not that anybody has brought it up. but don't think it...it's not the right way to look at what i'm compiling, or interpret why i'm doing it this way...

i'm otherwise done for the night. the next thing up is the time remix, and this is going to be a little different because i don't have a clear plan to construct it. i have some rough ideas of things i wanted to play with, but it's not at all formed.

i think i'm going to reconstruct the track as it was, first, and then splice it up from there.

publishing 9:46 outside of the magenta box (inri055)

inri036 is now complete.

there's two new instrumental mixes here, and three vocal mixes from 2002. overall, it's sort of a psychedelic folk release, which is a bit of an anomaly for me. it was never done, never felt right. until now...

i'm quite happy with the two instrumental mixes here, so do check them out.

--

my memory is a little fuzzy with this track, other than that it was constructed all at once in the middle of the night on a cold february morning in a basement that wasn't well heated.

i believe that sean initially brought in the a capella vocal that is heard in the acoustic demo under the request that it be developed in a folky style, and the track was built from there. we seem to have done the live version the next week, meaning i must have written it over the week.

there was some hard drive corruption as the demo was being recorded. i was in a glitchy mindset at the time and decided the skips ought to be interpreted musically. i'm not sure i'd make the same choice now, but i'm not willing to second guess myself, either. so, i skittered up the bass and organ parts to make the entire track sound glitchy to compensate for the skips. i also ran the vocal file through a musical algorithm that involved slowing it down and pasting it over itself to create a collage of voices somewhat similar to a robotic choir. as the track is otherwise rather pastoral, all of this glitch provides for an unusual juxtaposition.

as mentioned, the track was built up quickly, but it was always meant as a demo. that is to say that the vocal-driven 2002 version of the track was not complete, and was never completed.

i came around to completing it as an instrumental work in mid october, 2014. the removal of sean's vocals required some mild rethinks in terms of melodic content, but the real additions are threefold. first, it is substantially remixed to make it sound thicker. second, some sound design or soundscaping was constructed, mostly for the beginning of the track, but some guitar parts were also added throughout. third, drums were added. this converts the track out of folk (a genre i spend almost no time in) and back into psychedelic pop (my usual home) with hints of fusion, prog and idm. as it is, this can be viewed as the definitive (if non-comprehensive) third incarnation of rabit is wolf, which was being torn between freak folk and folk punk tendencies in it's general tumbling towards "folk".

written in early 2002 and recorded in early 2002 and late 2014. the final fuck boxes mixes were finished on nov 15, 2014. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, electric air reed organ, electronic drum kit, voice (1, 5), sampling, sound design, vocal manipulations, digital wave editing, production

sean - vocals/lyrics (2,3,4)

released february 20, 2002

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/9-46-outside-the-magenta-box

fuck boxes (overdub mix) and fuck boxes (final mix)

1) this mix removes the acoustic guitar(s) and integrates an electric guitar line into the end of the piece. it gives the track a very different, almost dubby, kind of glitch-hop sort of feel. written in early 2002 and recorded in early 2002 and late 2014. this mix was finished on nov 15, 2014.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/fuck-boxes-overdub-mix


2) this is the final instrumental mix of the track, encapsulating all instrumental parts written and recorded for the piece except for a guitar line that is unique to the overdub mix. written in early 2002 and recorded in early 2002 and late 2014. final mix completed on nov 15, 2014.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/fuck-boxes


3) the final mix is also on the j^2 record.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/fuck-boxes-2
on third thought, the dub mix can and will be done - i really want this, so i'm forcing it a little. the only thing i'm taking out is the acoustic, which makes it a universal overdub (that is, it includes the original overdubs). acoustic guitars are beastly instruments when it comes to the mix, hogging the whole spectrum. and i made sure the acoustic guitars really did hog the spectrum, mixing it through three separate eq paths. what that means is taking it out opens up immense room in the mix, and i'm able to get the feel i want for this.

merely ripping those out created three parts very quickly. so, that's what i need to do, here - mix these extra parts into the dub mix, then see which ones i can take over to the final mix.

i should eat lunch first.
forget it....the dub mix sounds goofy...the track has a glitch quality, and i thought it would be fun to exploit that, but it's too long and disconnected to the point that it honestly just sounds like a reggae band that's so stoned they can't stay in time. i'm not getting anywhere by blaring leads over this, or even releasing it at all. so, scratch that idea.

i think it's done, but let me mull it over first.
ok, i've got what i think may be a final mix done, but i need to experiment with some lead parts.

the problem is that the end of the track is a little boxy, and it's restricting what's possible in terms of lead parts. if i loop something, it's going to feel cluttered. if i do some flashy lead parts, it's going to become a fusion track, and that's not really where i wanted to take the song. so, i'm probably going to leave the end section void of those lead parts.

however, i wanted to make a dub mix consisting of the overdubs i added to the track, and i'd be comfortable taking that in a more fusion direction.

so, i'm going to finish that up first, then mix the lead parts into the main track and see what it sounds like. i'm not expecting them to stick, but i'll have to hear it before i make a final decision.

so, it may be a little later than noon, but i still expect to be done by the end of the day....

uploading already completed tracks to inri056

1) this is the rabit is wolf version. written & recorded in late 2001 and early 2002 and mixed in early 2002. track released march 2, 2002.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/time-2


2) this is the rabit is wolf version. written & recorded in early 2002. track released march 8, 2002.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/psi-2


3) this is included for thematic purposes, and otherwise has nothing to do with rabit is wolf. written in early 2001. drastically rearranged in june, 2014. further constructed, warped and appended to over july, 2014. track released july 19, 2014.

http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/the-time-machine-4


three of what is currently four tracks slated for inri037. there's nothing new here, but this timeline will eventually be moved to my own site, so i'm documenting dates.

tentative writeup:

time remixes. inri037.

time & psi were partially a rejection of the folk idea in favour of glossy, somewhat experimental pop. i realized that it was reasonable to move in a more commercial direction, but folk wasn't something i understood well, so it was a weird direction for me to be moving in. experimental or psychedelic pop, on the other hand, was something i had a solid grasp on...

time had been initially recorded in the fall and was remixed in late february to integrate a drum part. no original files exist. psi was recorded quickly in early march.

the track, as it existed in rabit, was a conscious pop compromise. i had ideas that weren't explored to keep it poppy and that will be explored in the remix.

the time machine is added here as a bonus track. it's based on an earlier classical guitar composition that was always meant to be reinterpreted as an idm tune and finally was in early 2014. the thematic overlap makes it relevant, but there is otherwise no connection between the two songs.

i started working on what would become my fourth symphony very shortly after the material on this ep was completed, and it really represents the point where i lost interest in rabit as a concept, under pressure to continue moving in a direction i didn't have any interest in. there are folk and psych versions of the track; sean never caught on to the psych version, and i never had my heart in the folk version. there were final folk demos recorded as late as the fall, but the disconnect was not solvable. the vocal version of the fourth symphony is in some way a corollary of but is ultimately too separate from these files to include here. psi & time, together, consequently comprise what is the fourth and final ("psychedelic pop") phase of rabit.

written in late 2001 and 2002 and recorded in early 2002 and late 2014. the final mix was finished on nov , 2014. as always, please use headphones.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/time
ok, i'm awake now. that was a lot of sleeping. i'm leaning towards noon as an eta for this.