Unrelated to the post, but Bumblebee was parked in front of my house yesterday.
I got back from my uncle’s funeral service a few hours ago. It was belated for various reasons — he died over a year ago — but the service was well-attended, in a beautiful location, and I feel as if we did right by him.
Both my father-in-law and my uncle passed away around the same time last year. For a few months my stress levels redlined and I had difficulty sleeping, but after I’d had a chance to grieve and the bulk of the end-of-life logistics were handled for both family members, I settled into a more reflective state. It’s been good to consider my own mortality, and the mortality of my friends and family. It’s easier to prioritize what’s important when I consider the relative imminence and unavoidability of death. I frequently let my family and friends know that I love them, I work on my big ideas, and I do the things I would regret not doing were my life to be cut short.
But I hope that my life continues for a very long time, because I’m enjoying it immensely. In terms of external life metrics such as finances and career, I’m doing fine, but what’s really making me happy are the following:
Mark Musselman and I have a new Momu album coming out March 20th (March 6th Beatport Exclusive) on Loöq Records.
Loöq Records is giving away a copy of the incredible Analog Lab softsynth from Arturia to help promote the album. You can enter the contest by following Momu on Spotify, joining the Loöq Records mailing list, following Loöq Records on Twitter, etc.
The contest is running on Gleam, an Australian marketing and promotion company co-founded by Stuart McKeown, who I just learned is a Momu and progressive breaks fan from back in the day. I emailed tech support about a small issue and got an email back from Stuart himself, noting that he heard our tracks Donner Pass and Sunsicle on Jon Lisle’s Bedrock Brighton mix in 2002, and that he owns our remix of Jamie Stevens – The Night Before on vinyl. Small world!
This contest is now closed. Congrats to the winner Matt Bolger from La Mesa, California!
Momu — MOVE is now available on Beatport (currently charting #23 in Breaks) and will soon be in general release.
I’ve always hesitated to call myself a musician, composer, or even music producer. I can find the keys on a keyboard the match the melody in my head, but mostly I make beats, basslines, and sculpt sound with digital waveform transformations and effects. Sometimes I work alone, sometimes with a friend next to me. I like working both ways, the former to dig in and get work done, the latter to get out of my own head and expand the canvas–two minds are usually better than one.
While I don’t announce every Loöq Records release on this blog, Marshall Watson’s new ambient/analog electronica album is exceptional. Listen to “Attack of the Little Straw” from I’d Rather Be In Space to get a taste. You can download a different track from the album here if you join the Loöq mailing list (about one email per month).
From the press release:
“I’d Rather Be In Space” is a stunning collection of instrumental music from accomplished composer Marshall Watson. Falling into the broad categories of electronic and ambient, the album transcends both. The sound palate is rooted in the classic instruments of analogue sound synthesis – Korg, Juno, Moog, Prophet. Piano, guitar and field recordings were also utilized. The result is a transformative album with a timeless feel. Enjoy this future classic.
In the artist’s words: I’d Rather Be In Space is a collection of improvisational and generative music, performed and recorded in San Francisco in 2016. It is my soundtrack for ordinary days as viewed through the windows of buses, and experienced on the city’s sidewalks and alleys. For this work, I relied less on the computer, and attempted to capture the music of the moment without a lengthy editorial process (if any.) I found myself getting lost in the sound as the machines interacted with each other, and often times, I just hit record and let the sequences run, playing along and hoping for the best. The result of this vérité style approach, is an ambient, cyclical, synthesizer- heavy soundscape inspired by works of Eno, Reich, Smith, and the city of San Francisco itself.
I’ve been posting less often on this blog lately, mostly because I’ve been writing short stories, including an eleven-thousand-word novelet “The Verdant” which I just finished. Selling my second story gave me a jolt of motivation–I’m trying to level up.
I’ve also been putting in more studio time, both with Mark Musselman (the other half of Momu) and Spesh (my business partner in Loöq Records and the other half of Jondi & Spesh).
But another reason I’ve been blogging less is a feeling of dissatisfaction with my blogging voice. Sometimes when I read older posts, they hold up. Other times they seem impersonal, or too know-it-all, or so abstract as to be useless and/or boring for the reader. It’s frustrating to feel irritated with your past work, especially when it’s up there for all the world to see. But I’m not going to edit anything or take it down. Ultimately that’s part of what a personal blog is–a record of a changing person with evolving ideas (including the awkward bits).
I’ll get my blogging groove back, and I’ll keep writing about pretty much the same things (I’ve got posts planned about the health benefits of berries, a long-term experiment with l-tyrosine, my brief experiment with Google AdSense ads, lessons I’ve learned in my mid-forties, and a bunch of other topics). My plan to get through this “awkward voice” thing that’s happening is just to blast through it.
Day to day, in addition to writing and making beats, I’m rehabbing my foot (it’s great to be bipedal again), looking for a new D&D game, watching The Great British Baking Show with my family, reading short stories in Fantasy & Science Fiction and Asimov’s, training up Leia the puppy, and dealing with the logistics of my kid changing schools (more on that later).
Feeling grateful to be alive, walking around on two feet, having most of my family in good health, and many other fortunate events. Hope the same is true for you.
I have a new tech house release out this week with Spesh: Love Over Laps EP. Four tracks, all 115bpm, with many parts and beats shared amongst them (could play quite nicely with each other in the context of a longer mix).
Just found out today the release is a Beatport Staff Pick in the Tech House genre, which is nice. Thanks Beatport, we like you too!
Only available on Beatport for now — will go into general release (iTunes, amazon.com, Spotify, etc.) in a couple weeks.
It was great to get back in the studio with Spesh. We had a good time, and took our time with it. A few of the tracks had over a dozen iterations. Quite a few parts cut, but many ended up recycled in one of the other tracks on the EP. Very organic, very groove-centric. We used the 303 for round, warm bass tones (acid house not so much, though we couldn’t resist a little knob-tweaking in Bare Knuckle Champ).
