We Hold These Truths (lyric and vocal by essesq)

Download courtesy of loopproject.com

For SounDevotion Competition, round 51.

This airy piece uses synth and drum loops created with Native Instruments’ Kore Player (using Haiku, Linus, and Flengoland presets,) Green Oak’s Crystal, and LinPlug’s FreeAlpha VSTs.  The sound I was trying to create was that of the college radio electronic music shows I’d listen to in the late 90′s, with the voice of the DJ listing the track titles ducking the atmospheric music.

The vocal is a recording Creative Commons licensed “Attribution” by essesq and can be downloaded on its own by clicking here. It is a most excellent explanation of the Creative Commons purpose and cause.

We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all art is created equal.
That it is endowed by its creators
With certain unalienable rights
That among these are
The right to be protected,
The right to be shared, and
The unfettered right to inspire others.

We the people,
Creators all
Demand absolute determination
And dominion
Over works of our own creation.
We will not be restricted
By the tyranny of copyright lobbyists
Nor will we be denied
The protection of the laws of our land.

We seek not destruction of the artistic landscape
But its development
In the fertile ground
Of the digital age.

Orthodoxy is the enemy of freedoms,
Change their natural child.
In this land
Of refuge from oppression,
Freedom of expression can and should
Mean freedom to share.
One, without the other, is useless.

Freedom to contract,
To bargain and exchange
Whatever currency we choose
Money, hugs, laughter, tears, music, poetry, images
At soul’s length, not at arms length.

We the artists place our trust
In one another, not just in God.
We are not afraid
That the pie slice will be too small
To line our pockets.

(…we already know that it is….)

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(You Made Me Feel) So Damned Good

Download courtesy of battleofthebits.org

A rushed entry made for the remix contest Detroit VI.  I like to do these because the samples are usually so off-the-wall that they throw you off guard and require creativity. I wish I didn’t have the trip in the middle so I wouldn’t feel so rushed, but really appreciate the new rules, which made my entry possible: competitors had a greater deadline of a week, within which you may spend 48 consecutive hours creating your piece, starting from when you download the samples. I hope those rules remain in effect because I never feel like I use all the tools at my disposal when I create these things, even though I’m always surprised at the results.

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Congratulations!

Download courtesy of loopproject.org

For SounDevotion Competition Round 50

I want to thank everyone that makes sdcompo so great, by administering, entering, or even just listening!

This contest guarantees that no matter how I’m feeling or how busy I may be, I will release at least one tune every month. ;)   I hope you like it, since this one represents a milestone of sorts.

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Lydia Valley and Lydia Cave

Download courtesy of loopproject.com

For SounDevotion Competition Round 49, the round’s theme was orchestral instruments.

This was starting off to be a piece in four movements but I decided that it would be better to have two good and completed movements than four rushed and unmixed ones.

I. Lydia Valley
II. Lydia Cave

The first was supposed to be a Philip Glass or Terry Riley pastiche, but as it turned a little too RPG/Movie sounding I figured it would be better to abandon the proverbial rules and finish what I had than to ruin a style I only have a slight intellectual (not aesthetic) interest in.  In further retrospect, I should have made the mallets sound more accented although that isn’t in the minimalist style.

The second, I decided to take the dare from someone to make a big orchestral climax without the use of a drumset. In fact, I don’t think there is even a crash cymbal.

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Thank You For More Than 1,200 Hits

I would like to thank everyone that made the first week of the On a Rainy Day EP’s release successful, including but not limited to the netlabel underground blogs that repeated the news of its release, spreading it quickly around the world. It had nearly twice the site hits as Release Zero did in a year. Now, I doubt the accuracy of the archive.org hit counter and assume that for every download of the album, each track and piece of artwork is counted as 1, but even considering that, it’s a much larger response than I expected, and still much more than Release Zero. Again, thank you to everyone around the world.

There was not a corresponding CD created for On a Rainy Day, partly to speed its release, and partly because I don’t believe the demand for a physical copy exists. Feel free to contact me if you think a physical release should be considered.

The music on this site is created for my personal enjoyment of the process of creating it, so it is always wonderful when someone else enjoys the result.  Thank you once again.

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