Time for an update on my DIY musical output, so hold onto your ears and limber up your eyeballs.
I thought I’d split the more recent sonic experiments into two separate posts; original compositions (featured in the next post) and remixes of existing tracks by other artists, including a genuine collaboration with a musician friend in Russia, which gets a post all of its own.
In this collection of extended remixes, complete with their own bespoke, psychedelic videos, any additional music you hear in the mix was created by me using my virtual sampler, sequencer and mixing decks and the videos were also produced and edited by yours truly.
The devil will find work for idle hands and he apparently has all the best tunes, so maybe I should be thanking that particular mythical personification of the evil that men do, for my latest burst of creativity.
Because, since I got furloughed from work again, I’ve had plenty of time to dabble with my audio visual home production studio (well, ok, my phone) and I have recently managed to achieve some pretty impressive results.
For a start, I made this epic reworking of Kate Bush‘s Hounds Of Love…
…along with a truly awesome mashup mix of Madonna‘s Ray Of Light and Kraftwerk‘s Numbers/Computer World, which unfriendly YouTube algorithms decided to block, so you can only see the full extravaganza via Instagram (apologies for the poorly-embedded player, you may have to click the link) which you can access below.
How about a spot of Vangelis, with a track from his Blade Runner soundtrack; this is Dimitri’s Bar, remixed with some additional electro rhythms from C Gonzalez…
…or if that doesn’t float your space craft, here’s an extended romp through a Levellers song called 15 Years
But the things I’m always most pleased with are the ones which are solely my own work, like the techno sci-fi epic in my previous post and this completely original, pumping house music jam, entitled Lockdown Funk.
I seem to be having a few little problems with pingbacks and notifications, which a couple of readers have mentioned and I have also noticed something similar on K’lee’s blog recently.
So this is a test post to help the WordPress Happiness Engineers to track and capture any gremlins who are lurking in the system.
But since I have you here, you might as well get something out of it, so here’s one of my strange remixes for you to listen to and/or download.
It’s a bona-fide ’80s pop classic which I’m sure a lot of you will recognise, spliced rather neatly together with a band who were one of their major influences and one of my all time favourites. So click the link below or the image above and enjoy, completely gratis and free of charge, my latest understated masterpiece…
It’s time to delve into the world of Linda G Hill and her SoCS feature, for today’s attempt to crowbar a random word or phrase into whatever post I had planned anyway find inspiration in the weekly prompt, which this week is;
“ When you’re ready to sit down and write your post, look to the publication (book, newspaper, permission slip from your kid’s teacher, whatever you find) closest to you, and base your post on the sixth, seventh, and eighth word from the beginning of the page. “
Well, I found, this on the living room table beside me…
…one of those free catalogues of useless gadgets, gizmos and questionable “fashion” items that comes stapled inside the TV guide.
A crapalogue, if you will.
Giving me this as my prompt;
ORDER WITH CONFIDENCE – We Guarantee You Will Be Happy!
Ok, then.
You will be delighted to hear that I’ve been experimenting with my audio visual toys again this weekend; namely, my edjing mixing app and a selection of video imaging and editing gadgets.
My first sonic hybrid creation is an atmospheric and vaguely cinematic piece; electro-goth by way of Twin Peaks, (just for a change) using Dark Water by Hide and Sequence, from this excellent album of Peaks-inspired, retro-synth tunes, combined with the bass line from Sanctified by Nine Inch Nails, who appeared in the recent third season of David Lynch’s oddball masterpiece.
I used Poweramp to generate some fancy visuals and set up my temporary studio in the airing cupboard to shoot the accompanying video, managing to re-synchronize the soundtrack perfectly, (even if I do say so myself) which you can experience in all its glory, right here.
You will be equally thrilled to learn that I’ve had a go at combining another trio of Kraftwerk classics; mixing the German and Japanese versions of Pocket Calculator together, (or Taschenrechner and Dentaku, if you prefer) to make a frenetic bleep-a-thon I like to call;
Then I took a few samples of Music Non-Stop, from the 1986 album Electric Café, adding them to a version of Radioactivityto produce this bastard lovechild of a track, the epic electro megamix called;
You will be able to listen to and/or download my remixes if you wish, using the links above. And you will be able to find many more of my mixes and strange compositions on The A/V Project page.
During my extended medical absence from work, (which comes to an end tomorrow) I downloaded an app called edjing, which is a full set of DJ decks with all the gadgets required to make high quality mixes from my extensive mp3 collection.
I began by playing around with small samples of tracks, just to get the hang of mixing (which I have never attempted until now, despite always wanting to have a go) then advanced to remixing entire songs.
It shouldn’t really be a surprise to discover that among the first victims recipients of my remixing skills were Kraftwerk, given my previously documented appreciation of their robotic rhythms; but it also turns out that their precision engineered style makes their material remarkably easy to combine in a mix.
Here is Antenna, from Radio Activity, spliced with a sample of Pocket Calculator percussion, from the career-defining Computer World album.
It’s called, rather predictably, Pocket Antenna.
For a more lively visual treat, here’s a remix of Numbers, with an added sample from Control by a band called Operators, accompanied by another of my psychedelic videos.
You’ll never guess what it’s called; Number Control.
I had even more fun, mixing a sample from It’s More Fun To Compute with the dynamic Dusseldorfers’ self-aware hit, The Robots, which you can listen to at the link below.
During my extended medical absence from work, (which comes to an end tomorrow) I downloaded an app called edjing, which is a full set of DJ decks with all the gadgets required to make high quality mixes from my extensive mp3 collection.
RETURN OF THE INTERNET NOBODY 