Saturday, May 16, 2015

i'm going to be compiling, mixing and finalizing things for the next few days, but when that's done i'll have to start work on what is my lost symphony. that will take me all the way to the end of 2003 - which was a year with what seems like a big dip in output compared to 1999-2002, but is really defined by larger pieces. instead of ten releases cycled around 8 minute songs, i've got three cycled around 30 minute ones. that might end up forcing double releases...

i'm remembering that this was supposed to follow the isomorphism symphony, but when i sat down to record it in late 2004 (i finished the isomorphism symphony in august, 2004), i ended up writing a new symphony instead, the xenophanes symphony. this period was defined by a lack of studio access (or a place to sleep....), so i didn't have the time or ability to record much, which created this backlog. the beginning of this exists as the end of xenophanes. xenophanes was actually just meant to be an intro, and in the end it sort of will be, but it's a 33 minute intro and consequently kind of needs it's own space. it also kind of lost itself in a wave of ambience.

i specifically remember trying to jam on this - as it is recorded, here, in this 2007 demo - in sarah's apartment, in the fall of 2003, meaning that is the proper place to sequence it. i also have a tape demo from 2003 of part of it, so i'm going to have to go through that and see what i can get out...

in the end, i'm going to have to find a way to splice it with xenophanes, which is not uploaded anywhere yet for public listening. it will eventually end up as the final part of the four full side composition trivial group 2xlp. but, as i did with symphony 4, i think the best way to approach this for now is how it was originally written, which means attacking this from scratch.

so, this is my next major project, and it could very well occupy me until the fall.

publishing refractions (inri065)

inri046.

the just uploaded ambient mix is track 11. you might want to sit down for this, it's something else.

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some time in late 2002, sean sent me a message over msn or icq requesting that we begin a song based on looped birds chirping. i thought his idea was kind of cliched, but i took to working around his suggestions by converting them into something more musically expressive. i didn't want to write a song that literally climaxes around birds chirping, but i was willing to write something tonal that evoked the feeling of birds chirping.

at the time, i had my sister's electronic piano downstairs. she had a miniature grand upstairs. it was initially written on the keyboard with a very strange timing, which the scorewriter had difficulties capturing - partly because i was inconsistent in performing it. the piece was greatly simplified as it was arranged.

however, i believe the piece sat for a long time before the second section was added to it.

sean and i didn't talk much over the next few months, and the truth is that i just never brought this piece up to him. by the time it was finished, i had firmly placed it in my successor project, the trivial group. it was initially dedicated to sean as a part of the going away disc, but that's really as close as this ever got to being a rabit tune.

i don't have clear memories around composing it, although circumstantial evidence makes it very likely that this happened in the late winter and early spring of 2003. i vaguely recall playing it on the grand upstairs, which could have only happened after sarah moved home to the outer suburbs to get ready for the trip. this was around march. i do remember recording the guitar parts and percussion parts, and am convinced this was in the spring due to memories of the spring sun hitting the bowls. the april 25th date may be a little late, but i have every reason to believe that this was not finished until after exams that year.

the percussion sections in the track are notable. the metallic sounds were created by smashing cutlery into a metal bowl, whereas the woody sounds were created by "playing" a pen on a desk. the track also includes hand claps.

these percussion parts were not notated until 2015. this was a careful, lengthy process that required a lot of careful listening, and a bit of napkin math. notating the percussion allowed for a more comprehensive exploration of the track over midi.

this is sequenced for indefinite looping.

i've included the midi files of the original composition, if you'd like to mess with it on your own.

written and recorded in early 2003. transcribed, slightly rearranged, remixed repeatedly and re-rendered repeatedly over may, 2015. all renders finalized on may 16, 2015. as always, please use headphones.

credits:
j - guitars, effects, bass, synth, voice, bowls, claps, tables, ebow, orchestral sequencing, drum & other programming, loops, digital wave editing, composition, production.

the various rendered electronic orchestras include synth pad, synth bass, synthesizer, mellotron, fingered bass guitar, picked electric guitar, bowed electric guitar, guitar noises (fret noises, knocks, pick scrapes), violin, viola, contrabass, cello, string section, piano, celesta, xylophone, marimba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, tubular bells, woodblock, mallet, electronic drum kit, jazz drum kit, orchestral drum kit and choir.

released april 25, 2003

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

reflections (ambient mix)

i wanted a longer version, but i went a little overboard on the ambient mix, and got a twenty-five minute head cave that sounds like the climax to a sentimental film.

there's a level of randomness to the mix, so i need to listen to a few different renders. as it's 25 minutes, that's a lengthy process. but it will be up before the sun is.

and that closes the period. i just need to go over the last 25 records i finished to try and separate out compilation material.

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this is the ambient mix, created by slowing the track down, running it through some cut/paste algorithms and putting it through an array of arpeggiators and delay effects.

render from may 16, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/reflections-ambient-mix