You’ll never know what’s wrong until your rights are gone

Alright, new track! Well not new, we know that, it’s just a new mix. But all things considered a damn fine one at that! Been working on a lot of new music this weekend. Last week actually but went to see Jon Cohen play the other night at the Ministry of Casual Living and was blown away by his set. It was a solo show but on his crazy pedal board he had an LC-50 loop station and a few electronic drum pads. The end result was somewhere between Cut Copy and the Flaming Lips so I was pretty stoked. Very much inspired by this show and this got me cracking on the new stuff.

Glitch started out as a pre-Obama protest song and almost seamed a bit muted after he came into office. I realize we have bombs dropping like crazy but when the Cons are out of the house I can rest a bit easier. Needless to say the revolutions and protests happening across the middle east has inspired me to work on the song and get it out.

Mubarak eventually stepped down (after a lot of initial doubt and worry) and Egypt so far is enjoying a peaceful transition of power. Gadhafi (going with the ceeb’s spelling on this one) is a fucking lunatic. The degree of the situation never really hit me until the reports came in of the fighter pilots crashing their jets in defiance of Gadhafi – that alone is a powerful image of the severity and the need for revolution.

Hopefully it will be over soon. In Benghazi a pirate radio station is offering the ‘first free broadcast in 42 years’. Gadhafi claims the streets and squares of Tripoli are free of protestors but I suppose that happens when you shoot dissidents.

Check the song out below.

Still have some mixing issues (mainly with the compression) but overall I’m pretty happy with the track. SoundCloud apparently adds dynamic compression to all uploaded tracks and this is fucking things up especially at the start. I went back to the original mix and what a difference it makes. SoundCloud used to have higher fidelity but that seams to be sliding, probably a perk for paid users.

In the final weeks of mixing I’ll be renting a 2.1 monitor system to tweak everything before mastering but for now my Shure 840′s are doing a pretty good job of things. Big challenge in the next few weeks is going to be finishing the last few tracks. As mentioned I’ve been busy writing and Walker and I are doing some mad recording this week.

OH YEAH

Kick ass that Trent Reznor won the Oscar for Best Original Score with the SOcial Network soundtrack. ANyone listening to this track (or any of m other tracks) should know the impact NIN has had on my music. Best show of my life was seeing them live at the arena here in VIc.

Tell me what I gotta do to be that guy

Last week I put together a rough cut of the album and I actually think it’s coming along pretty well. The first have is the newest half and therefore needs a lot more work (ie. finishing) but the second half has a really good flow to it. Walker wants me to change the order of one or two songs but other than we’re staying the course. Time to fly the mission accomplished banner.

Also last week I got mad at the first two tracks on the album. They have some good elements to them but as a whole they don’t fly. I was at my sisters place for the night and after watching prime time news via comedy central (I have no cable at home and it’s funner to watch them on TV than online) I started working on a new track. Going to the darkside I made an attempt at some good ol’ half temp warble bass. Dubstep.

So anyone who know me knows I like to bitch about music like nobody knows me. Dubstep is usually pretty big on my radar but as usual I just miss the hashtag of the week by a few years but it seams everyone caught onto Dubstep pretty late. Anyways, after making warble bass sounds all class and making fun of my friends (I’m a nice fellow once you get to know me) I sat down with a couple of boo’s (see cheap ass beer) and got crackin.

Started the song off I do every way which is with an octaving oompa oompa Blue Monday bassline. Record cutoff automation (any jackass can run it through a sequenced sine wave but this gives it a bit more life) and add some grime. Using the touch pad as a virtual rotary does wonders for fast sweeps.

I probably should have run it out to my bass amp and then recorded it with my Apex doorstop so I could get legit (read between the lines) but this will do, pig. Anyways check it out below, friends like it, best comment so far was that it’s swedish pop meets dubstep.

Cold (Sample) by Joey Chaos

I don’t know what I’m doing outside

God damn I’ve been busy. Aside from working on the new album I’ve been remastering my last album as the GOC wants a copy for its libraries and archives. That was a pretty decent way to start the new year but I’m pretty sure someone fucked up and will lose their job over this. Generally I think the government fucks up most things they do so it’s nice to be the latest of a laundery list of blunders.

Other than that I gotta get the ball rolling with David and get some art happening for the album. We’ve been snowballing some ideas back and forth but I gotta crack the whip and get going on it. I also have some film ideas in the works and am pretty stoked on what’s coming out before the album.

Downfall, one of the new tracks we’re working on has been a royal pain in the ass since its inception. Live it’s great, we have no problems there, but when it comes to recording it has been nothing but headaches. Every time we get close with it something comes along and fucks up the whole process.

I’ve flung myself into irony and been busy warbling bass and that seams to be helping a bit – I’m not jumping into flavour of the week (nor should I be concerned about that) but it seamed to help. My friend Brian came by the other night and helped me with the song. We cut a few vocal parts and chased away some brown sound and it’s now not hated. I do this a lot with a track – love it for a week and then get over it.

We have another track that is getting close to the done stage and it’s coming together really well. Monophonic bass and glitch dives with some good ol’ twang at the end. I’ll be posting something demo-ish next week. For now here’s a video showcasing the creative process. We’re making good progress on the new album.

If you want eternal love it’s time to look above

Here’s an old time spiritual just in time for the holiday season. Work in progress from the upcoming album.

Isn’t That Enough

End of semester. Working out the details for a deadline. I’m unimpressed that I broke my glasses as productivity feels like it could be halved right now. As an extension of myself I’m surprised at how little attention is paid to it until broken. It’s strange having a filter placed in front of me like this, my ability to express is hindered by my lack of perception in my immediate surrounding. Too much brain power wasted on what’s going on instead of how I want it to be, perhaps.

I’m unsure of how to write here. Debord had it right in the opening of the sociecety of the spectacle; everything that was directly lived has receded into a representation. I don’t if it’s the urge to create, the satisfaction of an expanded audience (though I imagine three close allies know of this) or the fear of stagnation. It has been a long time since I’ve put much out and that weighs on me. It’s easy to create a shell, change some fonts and take some new photos. What we put into these spaces is what matters – anyone can buy a shelf.

Titles have been tossed, deadlines dropped and promises to myself broken. It’s fear that keeps us back, fear to put ourselves out, fear of judgement, maybe fear of satisfaction. I’ve places an academic deadline on this album though. Production, promotion, persuasion, all part of my degree. If I don’t get this done that I don’t grad – pretty simple, really. I feel it’s a lot to tie these two halves of me together but really, they never were all that different.

But back to this. I don’t know if it will all be self empowered post-university-hangover writing, drunken rambles or caffeinated rants. I’ll be sharing some of what I’m doing here for you and me. I’ll be tossing up sights and sound from the album, my video work, ideas, common notions and tools I’ve found useful for producing my own music.

Let’s hope for a mix of all of the above – it will be more exciting that way.

Away we go

This is a placeholder for now but I’ll keep it. I’ve got some new noise coming and a deadline affixed. I’ve learnt to keep these things to myself but we’ll see.