tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8614625875291681752024-02-18T20:56:50.373-08:00Music Made For You...And By You, I Mean Me.The Official Blogspot for Gel-Sol, psychedelic/ambient/experimental musician.Gel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-82419184105396707162014-01-26T16:17:00.000-08:002014-01-26T16:26:30.124-08:00I almost forgot I had a blog...<br />
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Hi everyone! Just thought I'd drop by to give you a few updates, so I can then link this post to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Gel-Sol/53901230828">Facebook</a>, where most people get their info regarding Gel-Sol. I always say I'm going to be more active on here, but who am I kidding? My next post will be in 2017...<br />
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So, what's going on?<br />
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I have been busy for the last 3 months or so working on new approaches to live performance, and using these techniques for future releases. It's really just sonic painting, much like a painter using a variety of brush strokes to make something out of nothing. I spend a lot of my time refining my palette, so there is some sort of congruity within a set/performance/album. I have been recording all my live performances, as well as home sessions, and I go over these sessions for usable ideas/recordings. Below are some recent improvs I have uploaded to Soundcloud:<br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/131275798&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/131274673&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/131103340&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/131096514&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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For my last two live shows, my good friend Leo Mayberry from Killing Frenzy Visuals has been contributing video and audio samples, so you can hear the audio from certain movie clips within the set. We haven't had time to rehearse yet, but the feedback at the shows has been nothing but positive, and I'm sure it's making my music look a whole lot better. FYI, Leo is also upper management at Synprov Corp., the mysterious global conglomerate that brings you <a href="http://itcamefrommonsterplanet.com/">Monster Planet</a> at the <a href="http://rebarseattle.com/">Re-Bar</a> every third Monday of the month. Leo and I both have very similar senses of humor, as well as a love for cinema (though his knowledge is way more vast than mine), so we hope to assemble a live show that combine our interests and dazzle audiences. Ok, maybe not dazzle. Trip out? Mildly amuse? Annoy? Either way, we're looking forward to doing some fun stuff.<br />
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Over the next month I'm going to be putting some music together for a cassette release on <a href="http://furtherrecords.org/merch">Further Records</a>. I feel this is a good format/idea to try out my new methods, and I'm kinda into the cassette idea. I want to make more physical releases, but I don't think I want to release another CD again. I haven't used a CD/DVD in years. I know cassettes are even more archaic, but there are collectors still out there, and I think some of these collectors probably appreciate the music more on their cassettes. Maybe because they wear out, degrade and don't last forever? Who knows? I never liked cassettes when they were popular, yet I still have a cassette player. Actually, I don't like cassettes because they degrade, but I love cassettes as far as finding crazy shit at the thrift stores for sampling. Though these days, they're getting harder and harder to find. Anyways, I hope to have something done in the next month or two (3-4 pieces) for this cassette release. Then maybe I can figure out a way to finish the other 3 albums that I've been working on.<br />
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Ok, I'm out. See you in the future. <br />
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Yer Pal,<br />
Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-78888179158408592422012-04-09T17:09:00.002-07:002012-04-09T17:13:26.032-07:00Monster Planet - Year One<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFD74G2nafxiemP8QjfcYrLrgFzfGQx9gKlW9dU6l-_LS8UKC8IHE3IDz4VO2Gzr5TvToyzd3mwCfY6BexbfSudWkwpySNJMTRct05IMjb7cyWW3Encd42Jyf3ZCQftcTmyvPjlrVm9hkx/s1600/MP_year1_cover.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFD74G2nafxiemP8QjfcYrLrgFzfGQx9gKlW9dU6l-_LS8UKC8IHE3IDz4VO2Gzr5TvToyzd3mwCfY6BexbfSudWkwpySNJMTRct05IMjb7cyWW3Encd42Jyf3ZCQftcTmyvPjlrVm9hkx/s320/MP_year1_cover.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5729557973093633698" border="0" /></a><br />MONSTER PLANET - YEAR ONE<br /><a rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://monsterplanet.bandcamp.com/">http://monsterplanet.bandcamp.com/</a><br /><br />I'm very proud to announce the release of Monster Planet - Year One, highlights of the first year of Monster Planet, an all-improv performance set to B-movies at the Can Can in Seattle, WA.<br /><br />For years I have dreamed about doing a project like this. Fortunately, the stars aligned. Being the audio archivist I am, I really wanted to multitrack improv sessions in hopes of one day using the recorded material to either make an album or use edits to create a new piece. The end result doesn't really matter to me, I just want all this incredible material to get some use!<br /><br />I'm really happy with how the album turned out; it's very sonically rich, and really pushing some envelopes in the world of psychedelic music. Of course, none of this would have been so amazing if it weren't for the incredible Seattle talent that has made up the last two years of Monster Planet. I have been improvising with music since my teens, and growing up on the east coast I played with a lot of people who mistook an improv session for a "jam session," playing to solo, not to listen to the music. I was pleasantly surprised (and still am) that EVERYONE GETS IT in Seattle. Improv is all about listening and communicating, where the music, not the ego, is the first priority. I truly believe artists not only playing together, but making up music on the spot together, is the real heart of any scene, and I'm sooper-impressed with the results so far.<br /><br />So yeah, check the album out. It's over 90 minutes, roughly the same length as a movie. Throw it on over your favorite B-movie and experience the adventure that is Monster Planet! Look at the album as a documentary of sorts. SYNPROV CORP has sent a crew to various locations on Monster Planet to observe new cities, terrain, and creatures, and to report back what they discovered. This is organic music in the truest sense.<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-Sol<br /><br />Copyright ©2012 Synprov Corp<br /><br />Compiled by Gel-Sol, Brian Oblivion and Leave Trace. Mixed and produced by Gel-Sol.<br /><br />All performances were recorded at The Can Can Cabaret, Seattle WA.<br />http://www.thecancan.com/<br /><br />B-movie montages curated and presented by Leo Mayberry of Killing Frenzy Visuals.<br />http://www.killingfrenzy.com/<br /><br />Movies provided by Scarecrow Video.<br />http://www.scarecrow.com/<br /><br />Album art by Sean Williams and Gel-Sol<br /><br />For more information on Monster Planet, please visit:<br />http://itcamefrommonsterplanet.com/<br />http://www.facebook.com/MonsterPlanetSeattle<br /><br />Deepest thanks to all contributing artists.<br /><br />SYNPROV CORP thanks you for your interest in Monster Planet. We hope that you find these audio logs to be informative and entertaining. All donations received will be used towards infrastructure and logistics to further the continued exploration of Monster Planet.<br /><br />TRACKLIST<br /><br />01. SYNPROV CORP<br />Monster Planet 1.3<br />Chris Davis, Derek Linaman, Eric Moon, Gel-Sol, Numeric Respsonse<br />Recorded on 6.14.10<br /><br />02. A Very Monstrous Planet<br />Monster Planet 1.2<br />Scott Sunn, Electrosect, Will Mempa, Numeric Response, Brian Oblivion<br />Recorded on 5.10.10<br /><br />03. Sanctuary of Flight<br />Monster Planet 1.8<br />Miniature Airlines, The Naturebot, Jon Carr, Numeric Response, Leave Trace<br />Recorded on 11.8.10<br /><br />04. Mud Flaps<br />Monster Planet 1.9<br />Diagram of Suburban Chaos, Chris Davis, Skoi Sirius, Gel-Sol, Brian Oblivion<br />Recorded on 12.13.10<br /><br />05. Halcyon Drift<br />Monster Planet 1.6<br />Full On, Skoi Sirius, Blake Peterson, Numeric Response, Leave Trace<br />Recorded on 9.13.10<br /><br />06. Under the White Star<br />Monster Planet 1.3<br />Chris Davis, Derek Linaman, Eric Moon, Gel-Sol, Numeric Respsonse<br />Recorded on 6.14.10<br /><br />07. Primordial Booze<br />Monster Planet 1.11<br />Cathartech, Dave Ford, Verse, Full On, Will Mempa<br />Recorded on 3.14.11<br /><br />08. At Peace Beneath the Waves<br />Monster Planet 1.5<br />Tor Nelson, Disconnecteddot, Skoi Sirius, Brian Oblivion<br />Recorded on 8.9.10<br /><br />09. Aeon Flux Capacitor<br />Monster Planet 1.4<br />Full On, Eric Moon, Blake Peterson, Electrosect, Leave Trace<br />Recorded on 7.12.10<br /><br />10. SpazORAC<br />Monster Planet 1.12<br />Blake Peterson, Gel-Sol, Brian Oblivion, Leave Trace, Will Mempa<br />Recorded on 4.11.11<br /><br />11. Indians in Space<br />Monster Planet 1.12<br />Blake Peterson, Gel-Sol, Brian Oblivion, Leave Trace, Will Mempa<br />Recorded on 4.11.11<br /><br />12. Sector 13: Alpha Quadrant 6<br />Monster Planet 1.7<br />Verse, Adlib, Gel-Sol, Brian Oblivion, Leave Trace<br />Recorded on 10.25.10<br /><br />13. OXION<br />Monster Planet 1.10<br />NDCV, David Golightly, Chris Hogan, Electrosect, Numeric Response<br />Recorded on 2.21.11<br /><br />14. King Nine Will Not Return<br />Monster Planet 1.12<br />Blake Peterson, Gel-Sol, Brian Oblivion, Leave Trace, Will Mempa<br />Recorded on 4.11.11<br /><br /><iframe style="position: relative; display: block; width: 400px; height: 100px;" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/v=2/album=2983533522/size=venti/bgcol=FFFFFF/linkcol=4285BB/" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="100" width="400"><a href="http://monsterplanet.bandcamp.com/album/monster-planet-year-one">Monster Planet - Year One by Monster Planet</a></iframe>Gel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-36139195767445107112011-10-24T08:48:00.000-07:002011-10-24T10:43:01.496-07:00Status Update: Fall 2011<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz5cFzNpmggF7ZPR3UPl1HG1JW1w3mQHiTJkSTwnKhzartSbBjeR-GxRpNew2Djao79I57FKHVl3Y4sSmXVx_5Nh9sMNTi67x-rouhKyhI4b-by4abB_Ii_n7TPeUwdzVGXTgwj6issUM-/s1600/MPHalloween2011.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 309px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz5cFzNpmggF7ZPR3UPl1HG1JW1w3mQHiTJkSTwnKhzartSbBjeR-GxRpNew2Djao79I57FKHVl3Y4sSmXVx_5Nh9sMNTi67x-rouhKyhI4b-by4abB_Ii_n7TPeUwdzVGXTgwj6issUM-/s400/MPHalloween2011.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5667113667247803570" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlfRoZgDqp2DugnEBiLbuJ4_Mi3AM9caiY_labSSxOd-by1xgy79NqlX92rpkm0C_BwbzqxQ8iApgd0MNxl4BkLpijaRlI-11dYP5mEcfruEuX6tqIbpCuUZzn0nBjrB24xDmGnp_F1Kdh/s1600/MPHalloween2011.jpg"><br /></a>Hi! I know it's been a long time since I rapped at ya (footnote: Jim Anchower), but I've been a combination of lazy and busy, and I never really think about posting to this place because nobody really reads this stuff...<br /><br />Some of you might be thinking, "What's the deal with Terramecha? You started posting a bunch of shit, then you stopped!" Well, progress had been made over the summer, and I played a few live shows, trying to improve upon some of the material. Overall, I wasn't very happy with my progress, but at least I know what not to do next time. However, progress was made and I have continued to chip away at this project over the last couple of months. I should probably get back to posting drafts of the music, so you have a more complete idea of the album, but like I said, I'm lazy and busy working on some other stuff.<br /><br />Remember the night I host called <a href="http://itcamefrommonsterplanet.com/">Monster Planet</a> that I talked about a few posts back? Well I finally got the ball rolling on the album project that features some best parts of Monster Planet from the first year. Basically, I have gone through the stereo recordings of the first year, and picked out the best, most cohesive parts. I then made a mix of these parts to give the album a nice flow. I have to say I am very pleased how this came out, and am ready to start mixing down the multi-tracks this week. So far the mix is about an hour and a half, about the same time as a movie. My cohorts and I at Monster Planet haven't decided yet how we're going to present this album, but we have talked about doing the <a href="http://bandcamp.com/">Bandcamp</a> thing. I personally would love to see a physical copy of this album made, but at 90 minutes, this would have to be a double-CD, and that's only half of the project!<br /><br />That's right, there's a second half of the album/project that will consist of remixes, produced by various Monster Planet co-conspirators. The idea behind this half/side will be to provide the various remixers with all the stems to one particular Monster Planet, preferably one that they did not perform. Keep in mind, one Monster Planet set is about 15 hours of music (5 performers x 3 hours), so the remixer has a massive amount of material to mess with. We have imposed no restrictions on the length and style of the remix, so this half of the project could also be fairly long. I feel the 90 minute length of the first half makes complete sense though, given that this music is usually performed during a shitty 90 minute horror/sci-fi movie, but the length of the remixes are pretty irrelevant. So, we will most likely provide a digital download/bandcamp sort of thing for this project, but if there are any cost-effective options for a physical release, I will definitely consider them. I would like to get this music into as many ears as possible. I feel we have something unique and interesting going on here (especially in the Pacific Northwest), and a growing community of artists and musicians that have an avenue to explore music beyond the more standard (and arguably stagnant) scenes that dominate the Seattle music culture.<br /><br />As always, Monster Planet is on the second Monday of every month, with a special Halloween edition on Halloween this year at the ReBar in downtown Seattle (see picture above)!<br /><br />So, that's what I'm up to. I'm still working on Terramecha, and I'm still recording samples for future plunderphonics, so don't get the idea that I'm slacking. I mean, I am slacking, but no more than I have in the past. Stay tuned for some new music soon!<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-42100159931712915302011-06-06T21:48:00.001-07:002011-06-06T22:21:27.237-07:00Oriface Rx<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg0OWuZgRcZHQEI1bqm0CvDVBKcrQ2VXzMjafRhgqXtbc5HfZolWlAqqQBbzSbqhOi41uyYtEjRZtgUm-rDdFmJCXrfB8_5Lk1FZx96cwGOS3K_VJaNJCeLtTv3dg-nplb__939FSagCQU/s1600/71a831fb03948071ae22fd07f740986f.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg0OWuZgRcZHQEI1bqm0CvDVBKcrQ2VXzMjafRhgqXtbc5HfZolWlAqqQBbzSbqhOi41uyYtEjRZtgUm-rDdFmJCXrfB8_5Lk1FZx96cwGOS3K_VJaNJCeLtTv3dg-nplb__939FSagCQU/s400/71a831fb03948071ae22fd07f740986f.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5615335294137747314" border="0" /></a>When I perform live, I generally have an <a href="http://www.ableton.com/">Ableton</a> file for every song I'm going to play. My sets are also usually seamless, so to keep the music rolling while I open a new Ableton file, I mix in segue music (using an iPod) to fill the gaps. My seques mainly consist of ambient material, so I don't have to manually sync Ableton to a rhythm, and sometimes I add vocal samples on top of these scapes to make them more interesting. I got in the habit of making these scapes fade in and out, because sometimes I would leave them on accidentally, and they would shut off abruptly during the song. This should be a huge clue that I have no idea what I'm doing.<br /><br />Back in 2005, I was creating several handfuls of ideas using a lot of Reaktor's "grain modules" such as <span style="font-style: italic;">Grainstates</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">It's Gonna Grain</span>, as well as other sample manglers that I downloaded from Reaktor's official user library. The user library is a pretty awesome place if you're a registered user of <span><a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-55/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Reaktor</span></a></span>. Some of these guys that submit ensembles (synths, sample manglers, sequencers, etc.) are making some really crazy shit, and sometimes these ensembles take some getting used to in order to make some cool sounds, but I find it totally worth it. My music isn't all that, but at least I can say it doesn't sound like a bunch of presets from a Roland keyboard! Due to Reaktor's intimidation factor, a lot of producers don't use it, but there's some interesting stuff being done with it, and I believe it's capabilities are pretty much limitless.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Oriface Rx</span> is one those tracks from 2005. I believe I was writing this material for a new <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=086THV_rmB0"><span style="font-style: italic;">302 Acid</span></a> album, but sadly that never materialized. It's pretty experimental sounding, and I guess at the time I didn't see it fit as a segue for my live shows. Now it makes a little more sense to me. I am really thinking about implementing this in <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> somehow, as well as some other segues from those sessions. The posted mix is kinda lo-fi and cruddy, most likely a result of the Reaktor ensembles they were running though, but I'm going to see if I can clean it up a bit and modernize the mix. One thing that is not very prevalent on <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> is sample manipulation, so this piece might add some more diversity.<br /><br />Enjoy! And don't give me feedback. I hate feedback.<br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F16668573"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F16668573" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/orifce-rx">Orifce Rx</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-2845016193956823202011-06-05T12:50:00.001-07:002011-06-05T13:55:28.625-07:00Terramecha Part XI - Expo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfM8TUWnjRFzFBSTrL-Nkh3Mz8Aox9t_cUL-iPDfHJTNWzvcVijCT3UZqcQXTnQ2lU0SW6AcNH9M4tcuPZ1cuFJly5bJSfzFJ11GS1kQwABFTnADp_oXgVVY8M2qmEuCqKa-HqyTCQtRy/s1600/crackbot.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGfM8TUWnjRFzFBSTrL-Nkh3Mz8Aox9t_cUL-iPDfHJTNWzvcVijCT3UZqcQXTnQ2lU0SW6AcNH9M4tcuPZ1cuFJly5bJSfzFJ11GS1kQwABFTnADp_oXgVVY8M2qmEuCqKa-HqyTCQtRy/s400/crackbot.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614825640777322018" border="0" /></a>Robots have appeared on the surface of the planet Terramecha to retrieve the wreckage of the fallen spaceship. On the outside, Terramecha is a rocky wasteland, with no evidence of life. Inside Terramecha is a totally different matter. In today's song analysis, I am going over <span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span>, which explores the vast world inside Terramecha, a sort of audible "fly-through" of the robot world.<br /><br />The live version below is a very early version, most likely the second or third time it was played. I'm not even sure where this was played, but I'm assuming it was at the <a href="http://www.thecollinspub.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Collins Pub</span></a>, where Kevin Hoole and myself kept a residency for about a year. I like digging up these old recordings because I don't remember half the things I played, since the songs usually evolve over the years. For the most part <span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span> is intact, but parts like the seemingly-random bassline and those techno stabs I have no memory of playing. I don't even think those parts exist in the more current <a href="http://www.ableton.com/">Ableton</a> files I work with, so I would have to dig for older versions to retrieve those parts. I have actually done some recent work to Expo, so the piece is now a bit more refined, and has considerably more percussion parts. I would also argue that it's more "tribal" too, which is the overall vibe of side C/<span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>.<br /><br />I initially saw <span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span> as opening up the <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span> half of the album, an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposition_%28literary_technique%29">exposition</a> of a planet inhabited by robots of of all shapes and sizes, but eventually felt that <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-iv-retrieval.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Retrieval</span></a> was a better option for opening <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>, with the salvage mission taking place on the surface. Following the robots back underground (with spaceship in tow), <span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span> is basically a fly-through observation of Terramecha, a sort of futuristic, underground cityscape, with robots hard at work building, computing and doing whatever it is that robots do (It's really not that important, since I couldn't possibly convey that musically). If there's one thing I'd like to convey, it's that Terramecha is huge and over-populated. As far as the "plot" goes, the robot inhabitants are working on a plan to colonize another planet, for Terramecha has become too crowded and resources are dwindling. Perhaps by examining the spaceship, they can find new ways to safely and efficiently colonize another world?<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span> is another song from the early batch of <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> creations. <a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-55/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Reaktor</span></a> was used extensively to create most of the parts, but which ensembles, I have no idea. Limelite was definitely used for some of the beats, and generally remains my drum machine of choice when beginning songs. As I mentioned before, I have been working on <span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span> recently, and have been implementing <a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/kontakt-4/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Native Instruments Kontakt</span></a> in conjunction with midi generators and Ableton midi effects to create new beats and percussion parts. There's also some use of a great old VST plug-in called <a href="http://bram.smartelectronix.com/plugins.php?id=6"><span style="font-style: italic;">Supatrigga</span></a>, which mangles loops by randomly chopping up sections, and messing with things such as pitch and direction. I mainly apply it to a sort of gnarly bass pad, but the results are quite cool.<br /><br />Ok, I'm out! Enjoy <span style="font-style: italic;">Expo</span>, and feel free to leave me some feedback!<br /><br /><object width="100%" height="81"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F16580374"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F16580374" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%" height="81"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-expo-live-042906">Terramecha: Expo - live 042906</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-24799976047516803592011-05-31T14:18:00.000-07:002011-05-31T19:48:30.282-07:00Terramecha Part X - Paths to Frenzy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOv6epTX-dP-2wvLKuRI2IGoGvSfirO_S1QQfGZmO4VGBciAQ5kORk22CCko17yy26gK9OZg5Qo5XhZACa3T4ag1D1ig5VnMD-5E9Bj5VD9fJXPiSZe92Qer4nAo2v9uILbvhcQ6pj7LIP/s1600/fantasy-machine.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOv6epTX-dP-2wvLKuRI2IGoGvSfirO_S1QQfGZmO4VGBciAQ5kORk22CCko17yy26gK9OZg5Qo5XhZACa3T4ag1D1ig5VnMD-5E9Bj5VD9fJXPiSZe92Qer4nAo2v9uILbvhcQ6pj7LIP/s400/fantasy-machine.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5612993729773322946" border="0" /></a>Hey, I'm back! Apologies for the delay in posts, but I was finishing up some "work" work, and needed to get that out of the way. As I mentioned a few times before, song titles and their positioning on the album are subject to change at any time. This is one of those times. In my last <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>-related post I presented the potential song ordering of the album, with some hints as to what the song would represent in relation to the story. In today's song analysis, I will be examining <span style="font-style: italic;">Paths To Frenzy</span>, another one of my older tunes that showed up on many a live recording over the last 5 years. At the time of writing the last Terramecha post, I thought this track might be best suited for depicting a war between the various robots of Terramecha, but now I feel it has a better use describing an event earlier in the album, where our spaceman logs into a futuristic internet, and information is transmitted into his brain instantaneously, allowing him to stay up-to-date with news and "entertainment" throughout the galaxy.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Paths To Frenzy</span> will now cap off side A of <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>, as the spaceman needs a little wind-down time after a potentially dangerous situation was avoided during <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-iii-aurora.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span></a>. Below is an early live recording of <span style="font-style: italic;">Paths To Frenzy</span>, recorded in the early morning of August 20th, 2006 at a house party in celebration of the annual <a href="http://www.hempfest.org/drupal/node">Hempfest</a> gathering in downtown Seattle. I believe I had played earlier that night a residency I held with my good friend Kevin Hoole, so I was dressed somewhat nice. I had also recently got a haircut in an attempt to gain employment. Not just a trim, but really short hair. So upon arriving at this hippy house party, I realized that I must look like I'm lost or a Narc. Also, since this was an after party for Hempfest, EVERYONE was already way fucked up, which probably made my appearance even more awkward. After finding my contact, I go up three flights of stairs to a tiny-ass room, with minimal playing area on the floor, and one passed out guy on a couch. He was my only audience member for the entire duration of my set. Classic Gel-Sol live set.<br /><br />Back to the story. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span>, our spaceman in his trusty spaceship nearly avoid mechanical failure by high-tailing it out of Aurora's cosmic grip. Needing a break, and some time to catch up on communications, the spaceman enters a room with what seems to be a futuristic dentist's chair, with all sorts of arms and attachments that are necessary to "log in." The inspiration for this contraption comes mainly from two sources. In <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Matrix</span></a>, the hero Neo is jacked into The Matrix by connecting some sort of cable into the back of his neck, where programs can be uploaded almost instantaneously, allowing him to acquire new skills with relative ease. Regarding my machine (I haven't come up with a name for it yet), I imagine the logging in process as non-invasive, perhaps something as easy as putting on some sort of fancy helmet. My second source of inspiration for this device is the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgasmatron"><span style="font-style: italic;">Orgasmatron</span></a>, from Woody Allen's 1973 movie <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeper_%28film%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Sleeper</span></a>. The idea behind the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orgasmatron</span> is that you step into the futuristic telephone booth, and using some form electromagnetics/magic, you are rewarded with a massive orgasm without the aid of physical stimulation. I could also see some value in this device if you wanted to make your hair stand on end for a fancy party. Think of my machine as a futuristic internet; you can check your email, news, and even view porn!<br /><br />So in regards to the storyline, the spaceman logs in to the machine, checks his email, and watches video communications of his family. I don't know how big his family is, but for right now let's say he has a wife and a young daughter. After the initial piece builds, which sort of signifies that the spaceman has logged in, a break occurs where samples are introduced to convey the information the spaceman is receiving. Perhaps his daughter saying hi, and his wife is telling him she loves him and wishes he would return home soon. I want to show that the spaceman has a life outside his profession, and is alone and very far away from that life. After family stuff is out of the way, the spaceman then checks out the news of the galaxy. Much like news on Earth, it's mostly bad news. War atrocities, natural disasters and general violence. Being the sample hoarder that I am, I have tons of fake newscasts that would work great in this piece. I might even sample some real-life news to enhance this experience. Now the spaceman is thoroughly depressed, so like any sex-starved vagabond, he begins watching (or more appropriately, absorbing) pornography. Again, I collect a shit-ton of samples, and I have some rather rude stuff that would fit nicely over the top of the music. This is also a great piece to integrate some of my <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2010/12/gel-sol-plunder-raging-moon.html">plunderphonic</a> work, and hopefully add to the experience of sitting in my "Orgasmatron."<br /><br />To add a little plot to this cosmic jerk-fest, the "female" computer that runs the ship hacks into the spaceman's transmissions and determines that this is what love is, and these feelings are similar to what she's experiencing with the mysterious beacon that is calling her from the depths of space. Immediately after this deduction, the beacon once again sends out it's signals, and the computer, now with a new sense of urgency, shuts down the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orgasmatron</span>, pulling the spaceman back into reality and cutting short his pleasure before he can "blow his load." Do I really want to depict a guy blowing his load anyways? I think it's better to leave that part up to the listener's imagination. Plus, that's just gross!<br /><br />In the example below, <span style="font-style: italic;">Paths of Frenzy</span> has a classic Gel-Sol structure; song builds up to main idea, takes a break, then builds back up to a stronger, more layered version of the first part. There will obviously be some sort of break in the final version to showcase vocal samples, but where it goes from there, I'm not sure yet. The beacon/alarm sound in the version below enters during the break, but I think I will reserve this for the end of the album version to signify that the beacon has been more precisely located, and that the <span style="font-style: italic;">Orgasmatron</span> is about to shut down. Since this was one of the earlier tracks created when I began the <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> project, I was using some of the same software as pieces like <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-iii-aurora.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span></a> and <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-v-mecha-ritual.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span></a>. I definitely used Reaktor ensembles like <a href="http://youtu.be/H7hqdet2ZuE"><span style="font-style: italic;">Metaphysical Function</span></a> for atmospherics and <a href="http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/02_Limelite2_01-6e6f4d1e0693a3b790baebc6b8bada60.gif"><span style="font-style: italic;">Limelite</span></a> for percussion elements. A bulk of the synth lines were also created with Reaktor, but I dont remember the ensemble names. Perhaps in future posts I can clarify this.<br /><br />Stay tuned for more Terramecha! And give me some feedback, damnit! Even if you don't like it, I'd like to know what you think!<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F16287646"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F16287646" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-path-to-frenzy-live">Terramecha: Path to Frenzy - live 082006</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-76511931955017187662011-05-21T13:31:00.000-07:002011-05-31T14:57:17.418-07:00Monster Planet!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5dWG8TlS-hyfI5erZZ-RuUoG1U47FxxVhzv_g57hKJr1rUS6TSldwPsu5aZjGWCxLLBmrgWDyb-to5nKzVJoZIwp4I1zrYOkaeY-PZAQwgyqCgTrcv_1s2aytKwiBLzZrR6JMuCf-P4ST/s1600/monsterplanet_large.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5dWG8TlS-hyfI5erZZ-RuUoG1U47FxxVhzv_g57hKJr1rUS6TSldwPsu5aZjGWCxLLBmrgWDyb-to5nKzVJoZIwp4I1zrYOkaeY-PZAQwgyqCgTrcv_1s2aytKwiBLzZrR6JMuCf-P4ST/s400/monsterplanet_large.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609270826839235986" border="0" /></a>I co-host two nights in Seattle, both of which are unique to the Seattle scene, and are a great alternative to the usual goings-on. First, I co-host a bi-weekly in the Capitol Hill neighborhood called PROG!, dedicated solely to Progressive Rock, which saw it's glory days in the early 1970s. I'm sure a majority of people think we just play <a href="http://www.yesworld.com/">Yes</a> and <a href="http://www.rush.com/rush/">Rush</a> albums, but we go WAY deeper than that. From <a href="http://www.amonduul.de/">Amon Düül II</a> to <a href="http://www.zappa.com/">Zappa</a>, we play <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krautrock">Krautrock</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_scene">Canterbury scene</a>, Hungarian funk-rock, Italian Symphonic, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeuhl">Zeuhl</a>, you name it! It's truly a fantastic night where DJs share their newest finds, while projections play cosmic edits from obscure movies and live performance footage from classic prog bands. Feel free to check out our Facebook page at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ProgSeattle">Prog! Seattle.</a><br /><br />The other night I co-host is a monthly called <a href="http://itcamefrommonsterplanet.com/">Monster Planet</a>, right in the <a href="http://www.pikeplacemarket.org/">Pike Place Market</a>. You know, where the guys throw fish? If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out this vid:<br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><object height="349" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TbtsfyrEF_c?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TbtsfyrEF_c?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="349" width="425"></embed></object></span><br />We host Monster Planet at a great little place called the <a href="http://www.thecancan.com/">Can Can</a>, which is known for it's outlandish cabaret shows. The great thing about the Can Can is that it looks like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_Eisley_Cantina">Cantina</a> from Star Wars, and some of it's clientele might be stranger than the monsters/aliens from the movie. The premise of Monster Planet is five musicians, generally electronic musicians, improvising with their gadgets to really shitty B-movies. The night usually starts around 9PM, and we go to close, so we generally play three movies a night. The nights are also themed, and in the past we have had nights that center around giant robots, werewolves, zombies, mutations and even the apocalypse. We've also done some great holiday themed nights for Thanksgiving and Christmas that involved a video artist who improvised with clips to the music! The only requirement for the movies played is that they are not too mainstream...the shittier the better. I'm a big fan of late 70s/early 80s Italian films, as they were into making low-budget versions of already existing blockbusters, like Star Wars and The Road Warrior, as well as making some fantastic zombie and cannibal movies.<br /><br />Monster Planet was started by myself and my good friend and musical cohort, William Mempa, and now there's a small group of us that handle certain duties to keep the night going. Aside from being a really fun and original night, our main goal with Monster Planet is to form a sense of community amongst musicians in the city, giving them a platform (most likely a tabletop) to work on their improvisation skills with other people in the same boat. I have maintained since my early 20s that improv is a crucial skill in becoming a well-rounded musician, and these skills can be applied to studio and live work, as well as non-musical applications. For one, it teaches you to listen. Improvising isn't showing off your chops or "jamming." It's listening and reacting for the better good of the music, not a competition to make yourself look better with your fancy moves. One thing that has pleasantly surprised me since moving to Seattle six years ago is that most of the musicians I have played with here "get it," and as a result, we've recorded some stellar music that wouldn't have existed otherwise.<br /><br />Since the first Monster Planet in April of 2010, we have recorded every show, and we have even multitrack recorded most of the shows. I'm mainly in charge of the recordings, so I have a hard drive that's gradually filling up with all this great audio material. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dj-manos/129494123776447">Seth Branum (Manos)</a> of <a href="http://www.innerflight.com/">Innerflight Records</a> has been editing some of the stereo recordings and putting them on Soundcloud if you'd like to check out some of the music made at past Monster Planets:<br /><br /><object height="225" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fusers%2F3183711"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Fusers%2F3183711" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="225" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/monster-planet">Latest tracks by Monster Planet</a></span><br /><br />Ultimately, I would love to see an album emerge from these multitracks. I don't care if the tracks are remixed and mashed up, or just cleaned up versions of the original live performance, I just hope they get put to use someday, more than the little parts I pick out for my various projects. I have informed all of the musicians involved that they are welcome to any of the recordings, so hopefully someone other than myself will find use for them.<br /><br />So yeah, that's about it. Monster Planet is every second Monday of the month at the Can Can in Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. It's also free, and there's Absinthe specials, so if you're ever in Seattle on a second Monday, come stop by for a drink and check out a truly unique evening with music nobody's ever heard before and movies that are at the very least, hilariously bad. And if you live in or near Seattle, there's no excuse for not showing up!<br /><br />The next Monster Planet is on Monday, June 13th, and the theme of the night is CULTS!<br /><br />Feel free to visit the official Monster Planet blog at <a href="http://itcamefrommonsterplanet.com/">itcamefrommonsterplanet.com</a><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-54089729099355184362011-05-14T10:08:00.000-07:002011-05-14T16:48:26.914-07:00Terramecha Part IX - Current Track List and Preview<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcQqzsAOZivlorITlZGbXAl7r3Znlsqb4dHvYyp1GeRIfvovw5xZXoeJke_APEvG2JdPpi2SmTRkKPI-BXUDnJ1JvfmizqkrRj9AIkZqYoASWbeuG-x_G-76P8q-mXs-3tdkTd8rEnNvL/s1600/black-stallion-rearing.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgcQqzsAOZivlorITlZGbXAl7r3Znlsqb4dHvYyp1GeRIfvovw5xZXoeJke_APEvG2JdPpi2SmTRkKPI-BXUDnJ1JvfmizqkrRj9AIkZqYoASWbeuG-x_G-76P8q-mXs-3tdkTd8rEnNvL/s400/black-stallion-rearing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606721803894400018" border="0" /></a><br /><br />I'm halfway through introducing tracks on <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>. Below is a track list of how I am currently seeing the flow of these songs, with the yet-to-be-introduced songs in red. Keep in mind that I wish to release this album as a vinyl double-album, so the songs are group in sides. Whether a vinyl release really happens, I don't know. This is at least how I'm going to approach it for now.<br /><br />Side A - Blood<br />01. Forward.<br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">02. Blast off! (to be renamed later)</span><br />03. Aurora<br /><span style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">04. Spectacular Optica<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">l</span></span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> (Heavenly Bodies)</span><br /><br />Side B - Blood<br />05. Daze of Yor<br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">06. Peace In Abandonment</span><br />07. Omega Ray (Flailing Ultrasonic Collisions Kindle Your Overall Understanding)<br /><br />Side C - Rust<br />08. Retrieval<br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">09. </span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Expo (to be renamed later/switched positions with Mecha Ritual)</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">10. Nerve Center (to be renamed later)</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">11. </span>Mecha Ritual (switched positions with Expo)<br /><br />Side D - Rust<br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">11. Paths to Frenzy</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">12. Revengine (to be renamed later)</span><br />13. Aftamath<br /><br />Again, this track list is not set in stone, and certain tracks might be added/omitted. I have a few interlude type pieces that might fit into the story, but I might just fit them into one of the bigger pieces. For the most part, the main order is there.<br /><br />So, what's next? Well, I'm going to introduce the rest of the songs in some form or another. Some of these songs have been played live and recorded, and some are nothing but a bunch of layers of music with no structure yet. I haven't decided how I will present these "less mature" tracks yet. I might just make some loops of material and post those. All of the songs on <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> are evolving, so I'll most likely post many versions of the songs as they develop. I never really think of a "song" as something that's finished anyways. A song can (and should) evolve beyond the "album version." I like the concept that a song can amorphously change shape from version to version, whether it be live recordings or in-studio improvs, and still be recognized as the same piece. I am of course going to have to commit something for the album, and these live recordings/improvs allow me to hear different approaches, and figure out what's best for the album.<br /><br />I'll give a few teasers as to what to look forward to in the next month or two. <span style="font-style: italic;">"<span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Blast off!</span>"</span> (song 2/<span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>) gets the story rolling (or blasting into space) with the spaceman and his trusty spaceship taking off from their base in search of the mysterious beacon. <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Spectacular Optical </span>(song 4/<span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>) deals with a futuristic internet that is fed directly into your mind, with sexy results! <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Peace in Abandonment</span><span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"> </span>(song 6/<span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>) deals with the spaceman's realization that he has lost control of his mission (and spaceship) to a stubborn, and quite possibly horny, female computer. <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Expo</span> (song 2/<span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>) is really just that; an exposition of inside Terramecha. This is where the rest of the story goes down. After "hearing" what Terramecha looks like, <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Nerve Center</span> (song 3/<span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>) goes to the center of the planet, to observe the main robot, the one who created all of the other robots. <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Paths to Frenzy</span> (song 5/<span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>) depicts a war between the robots of Terramecha, as two sides differ on how to handle the wreckage of the spaceship. Half the robots want to inspect the inside of the ship, half want to eject it into space without finding out what's in it. And finally, <span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);">Revengine</span> (song 6/<span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>) deals with what happens if you open something you're not supposed to open.<br /><br />Since I don't have any audio to post <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>-related today, here's an old track of mine as an homage to the band <a href="http://www.ween.com/">Ween</a>. <span style="font-style: italic;">The Stallion 3000</span> is an "original" piece of music I made in late 2005 that's comprised entirely of Ween samples...mostly little isolated bits from a large chunk of their studio albums. I guess you would call this a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28music%29">mashup</a>, but I used around 70 Ween songs to make this piece. Check out the Soundcloud link if you want to see what tracks I used.<br /><br />Thanks for reading/listening! Stay tuned for the second half of <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> tunes! Feedback welcome!<br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F15256593"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F15256593" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/the-stallion-3000-by-gel-sol">The Stallion 3000 by Gel-Sol (and Ween)</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-57719459099967833692011-05-08T19:18:00.001-07:002011-05-08T22:38:28.856-07:00Terramecha Part VIII - Omega Ray<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBSu2tA_7-TBQrjyVuy4uduPaAk7G4QjMgyC9f6GP8_BPspRB48TBGrQLlS0M6ICF6CRFanGftfwW2x_KA06XPgZoDT0Wnm0HNqvMcMv5fgB9j8kbB3CiF8sj6dbQ-x1zmw0KV5BZ2_7XP/s1600/Codex_Seraphinianus_crash.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 272px; height: 389px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBSu2tA_7-TBQrjyVuy4uduPaAk7G4QjMgyC9f6GP8_BPspRB48TBGrQLlS0M6ICF6CRFanGftfwW2x_KA06XPgZoDT0Wnm0HNqvMcMv5fgB9j8kbB3CiF8sj6dbQ-x1zmw0KV5BZ2_7XP/s400/Codex_Seraphinianus_crash.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5604535178862684562" border="0" /></a>Things are not going well on this spaceship. Our spaceman has lost control of the ship, literally and figuratively...<br /><br />Today's song analysis deals with <span style="font-style: italic;">Omega Ray</span>, the final piece of Part I, <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>. The spaceship has fallen deeply in love with some sort of beacon from the depths of space, and has made it "her" mission to find the source. The spaceship has overridden any manual control, leaving the spaceman powerless, and now just along for the ride. Too bad this ride is going to be bumpy and death-inducing! Below is a sketch I worked on this weekend for <span style="font-style: italic;">Omega Ray</span>. I say sketch, because all I really did was throw some things together that I had been collecting for this piece. The flow of the piece is there, but I really want to make this one intense.<br /><br />Quick note,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Omega Ray</span> was initially the piece <span style="font-style: italic;">Energy Pools</span>, from the <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Gel-Sol-K8ema/release/2400870"><span style="font-style: italic;">K8EMA</span></a> album. I wanted <span style="font-style: italic;">K8EMA</span> to have an intense penultimate piece, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Omega Ray</span> in it's form at the time made sense to me. I'm a big fan of penultimate pieces on albums. They're much like the penultimate scene in a movie, which is generally the climax of the film. Since Omega Ray is now not a penultimate track, I will discuss this at a later time. I got a really cool track for the penultimate scene in <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>...<br /><br />Ok, back to the story. The spaceship has reached Terramecha, a dark and rocky planet that appears to have no life, at least on the surface. I imagine that the spaceman would be very disappointed about this, thinking "I came out here all the way for this?" It gets worse, buddy! I haven't quite worked out the details of how the ship perishes, but I do have several ideas of how it could go down. In <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem">Stanislaw Lem's</a> <span style="font-style: italic;">The White Death</span>, The planet Aragena is protected by a "machine-made" asteroid field, making it perilous for anyone and anything in it's vicinity. The story also mentions that the rocky terrain is magnetic, which is also kind of a cool idea. Perhaps a magnetic Terramecha is pulling the ship towards it's surface, forcing it to take a beating in the asteroid field first. The track <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> called <span style="font-style: italic;">Omega Ray</span>, and this is because I initially thought Terramecha (the planet) might shoot the spaceship out of the sky, though this might draw too much attention to Terramecha, a planet that really wants to be left alone. Either way, the spaceship crashes violently into Terramecha's surface, killing the spaceman. If I decide to not use the title <span style="font-style: italic;">Omega Ray</span>, I might call it <span style="font-style: italic;">Flailing Ultrasonic Collisions Kindle Your Overall Understanding</span>, which is a title I have always wanted to use for a piece, but really only used for some under-developed music I made in my youth. If you're gonna have a title like that, the music better be pretty awesome!<br /><br />Musically, I want to make the piece sound like you (the listener) are in a spaceship that is simultaneously being torn to shreds and heading very fast into a large metal planet. There are some melodic bits that move through the mix, and to me they sort of convey the spaceman's attitude, which is more or less "Fuck it, I'm fucking dead!" The track is mainly a collage of noise. Asteroids are severely denting the spaceships hull, all internal machinery is failing, not to mention alarms sounding, pipes breaking, and your mom calling you on yer intergalactic space cell phone. Not a good time, mom!<br /><br />A lot of this material was created with <a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-5/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Reaktor</span></a>. I don't remember the particular ensemble I used for all that harsh noise at the end of the piece, but it was pretty cool because it would only make harsh noises. Using Reaktor's random function, I mainly recorded myself hitting the random button every couple of seconds and doing this for 5 to 10 minutes at a time. Take that, virtuosity! Anyways, I never really dealt much with sooper-noizy textures like that, so I thought it would be cool to try to introduce something more harsh in my music, and thematically, it works out pretty well for this piece!<br /><br />Some of the elements in Omega Ray aren't even my creations. I host a monthly in Seattle called <a href="http://itcamefrommonsterplanet.com/"><span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Planet</span></a>, where we get 5 musicians to improvise to shitty B-movies all night. It's an incredible thing to be a part of; it's really laid back, and the musicians want to play there. I play at <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Planet</span> too, but one of my goals is to build a culture/network of musicians who want to improvise, and hopefully make some music that's never been made before! I also multi-track the <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Planet</span> performances, so I have a shit-ton of audio sitting around on my hard drives waiting to be put out into the world. One of my other goals is to share all the multi-tracks with the other musicians, in hopes that someone might make an album out of the material, and encourage others to do the same thing. So far, none of the other musicians are terribly interested in the multi-track material. They most likely have other projects going on, or are plain not interested. To me, this stuff is gold, so I'm going to use it! I used some <span style="font-style: italic;">Monster Planet </span>material on <span style="font-style: italic;">K8EMA</span>, and gave a few shoutouts on the cd sleeve. So back to Omega Ray, I used some other people's playing. I'll be sure to give shoutouts when these pieces are more set in stone, much like an embedded spaceship on the surface of a cold, dark planet.<br /><br />Though this particular story is coming to an end, things are about to change on the planet Terramecha, which was really only introduced in <span style="font-style: italic;">Omega Ray</span>. I'm at about the half-way point with introducing these songs, so my next article most likely will be a summary of the progress so far, and some other general ideas as to what I'm thinking about in regards to this project.<br /><br />Thanks for listening as always! I appreciate all the feedback so far, on this blog and on my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gel-Sol/53901230828?sk=info">facebook</a>/<a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">soundcloud</a> pages. Keep it up!<br /><br />Oh, and if you'd like to be a fan of Gel-Sol on Facebook, please visit this link!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gel-Sol/53901230828">Gel-Sol on Facebook</a><br /><br />Until next time...<br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14928240"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14928240" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-omega-ray-sketch">Terramecha: Omega Ray - sketch 050711</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-68666474340876307792011-05-01T17:53:00.000-07:002011-05-02T20:47:51.290-07:00Terramecha Part VII - Daze of Yor<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv8et7F9K5Ya_9S9KA-YlqeYh8oqJ6fUMfKYoVC6PIUG5zvDYCigy2D0dXcx9VnYL3i8pwRrnnbmlcfnUpk_MekefN1P7lPgZ65IRv4pRgE6fHfstpGw7j2GxqlHj0mQj84xuUk47WhlrB/s1600/73374817_81ba67dec1.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv8et7F9K5Ya_9S9KA-YlqeYh8oqJ6fUMfKYoVC6PIUG5zvDYCigy2D0dXcx9VnYL3i8pwRrnnbmlcfnUpk_MekefN1P7lPgZ65IRv4pRgE6fHfstpGw7j2GxqlHj0mQj84xuUk47WhlrB/s400/73374817_81ba67dec1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5601915866921175042" border="0" /></a>The spaceship has determined the exact location of the mysterious beacon...and is in love. Today's song analysis deals with <span style="font-style: italic;">Daze of Yor</span>, a kind of <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bol%C3%A9ro">Ravel's Bolero</a> meets <a href="http://www.progarchives.com/">prog rock</a> (or at least that's how I see the finished product, stylistically). The version below is the very first live version of this incarnation, performed at the <a href="http://photosynthesisfestival.com/">Photosynthesis festival</a> in southwest Washington state on August 8th, 2009. I say "this incarnation" because there was another version of the song that I had previously played live, but I decided I liked this version better. The old version is decent, so maybe one day I'll post it.<br /><br />If my objective of getting this album released on vinyl works out, this track would kick off side-B of Part I - Blood. Our spaceman has been rudely awoken from a deep slumber by the spaceship's warning program concerning high-velocity travel. As it turns out, the spaceship has located the source of the beacon, which is why we're here in the first place, and is in "hot" pursuit of it's location. I'm not sure if I just want to approach <span style="font-style: italic;">Daze of Yor</span> as another observational piece about travelling fast through space, or give it some more story. As I mentioned in my <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-i-rebirth-and-process.html">first Terramecha blog</a>, I want to convey somehow that the spaceship itself is being seduced or falling in love with the beacon signals. Using this plot device, I could possibly show that this situation is out of the spaceman's hands, as the spaceship has decided to ignore the spaceman for "her" own selfish gain. Perhaps during <span style="font-style: italic;">Daze of Yor</span>, the spaceman is disoriented due to just waking up while his ship is about to go light speed (or whatever-fast speed). The spaceman's realization that he has lost control of his ship will come a song or two after this.<br /><br />So why was the spaceman sleeping? That's a terrific question, but I will go over that at another time. Trust me, he was tired, mentally and physically.<br /><br />The piece itself as it stands is another "builder." I seem to like to make tracks that start off sparse and ambient, gradually build a bunch of layers, make it get really noisy, then make it peter out. I'm not a big fan of the rock cliche verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chorus approach, and a lot of my work is collage based. I like the idea that none of the parts are particularly important on their own, but when mixed together with other unimportant parts, they combine to make the song itself interesting. I also like the idea that you can listen to a song however many times and still hear something new and different with each listen.<br /><br />Earlier, I compared the track to <span style="font-style: italic;">Ravel's Bolero</span>, mainly because it has sort of similar lead line, but really, the comparison stops there. One thing I would like to achieve with the final piece is to implement some transposition of the main key to make things a little more interesting/less static. I will most likely add some more harmonic elements too, to give that section a more orchestrated feel. I think the transition from a heavily orchestrated section into some heavily layered noise, or at least a heavy arrangement of more synthesized textures, would have an intense effect, and hopefully convey the intensity and speed of the spaceship blazing through space.<br /><br />A lot of the synth-ier samples I used for this piece, as well as some of the beats, were either found online or collected over the years from sample libraries. Basically what I'm getting at is that they are short loops without a lot of character, so they either need to be processed further or rewritten. For example, those fast moving arps that appear halfway through the song were short loops that I found. I like their movement within the piece, but feel they could be more organic, and not necessarily repeating every few bars. The main melody was created using my trusty <a href="http://www.gforcesoftware.com/ins_mtronpro.php">M-Tron Pro</a> Mellotron emulator. Alright, that's all I got for now.<br /><br />As always, feedback welcome. Enjoy!<br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14590267"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14590267" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-daze-of-yor-live">Terramecha: Daze of Yor - live 080809</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-10982254043735189942011-04-29T20:12:00.000-07:002011-04-29T21:15:51.205-07:00Terramecha Part VI - Aftamath<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cm8tBv3mkxWC5P8X-CZjnYRN90bUbEij5hvOcsMPCelaYn-8ILX6alJska1IcSllvNEQPXbi4enwjrgnIYO_14Ndz-aon-LZ13X8f1w58D23IBahfGYZyRJawGf3Re5aFUqAsyw_yVWd/s1600/robot_rust.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-cm8tBv3mkxWC5P8X-CZjnYRN90bUbEij5hvOcsMPCelaYn-8ILX6alJska1IcSllvNEQPXbi4enwjrgnIYO_14Ndz-aon-LZ13X8f1w58D23IBahfGYZyRJawGf3Re5aFUqAsyw_yVWd/s400/robot_rust.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5601209349939120578" border="0" /></a>I'm going to begin today's song analysis with the end. That's right, the last song on <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>, which is tentatively called <span style="font-style: italic;">Aftamath</span>. Who knows, I might keep the name, I don't know. It is actually the oldest song in the bunch, and I recently rediscovered it about a week ago, after looking through old files for potential use. <span style="font-style: italic;">Aftamath</span> was most likely conceived during or after the <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Gel-Sol-Unifactor/release/937846"><span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span></a> sessions in 2005. Around that time a former employer asked me to make some music for a video he and his company made promoting a Volkwagen auto show, full to the brim with souped-up VW's and large-breasted car models. I believe I submitted 3 tracks, all called <span style="font-style: italic;">V-Dub</span>. Anyway, <span style="font-style: italic;">Aftamath</span> spawned out of one of those tracks. Prior to this resurrection, in 2007 I had attempted to rewrite the <span style="font-style: italic;">V-Dub</span> track and recorded 4 different takes in hopes of finding a good arrangement. I wasn't pleased with the results, so I ceased work on the project. Another reason I suspect this was initially made around the same time as <span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span> is that it has one of the same bass drum loops as the track <span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span>, the final piece/title track. When I first realized this, I was all like "damb, I can't use this track!," but then I thought it might work under the grounds of "<a href="http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Category:Conceptual_Continuity">conceptual continuity</a>." More on this later...<br /><br />At this point in the story the robots inside Terramecha have rusted out and perished due to a deadly spore that grew out of a mysterious red liquid found on the spaceship. <span style="font-style: italic;">Aftamath</span> is an observation of the devastation, as all signs of "life" appear to be coming to an end...or are they? Cinematically, I see this piece, at least the beginning, as accompanying music to credits, with a slide slow of rusted out robot carcasses and smoldering mechanical wreckage. The opening chord changes are simple; almost too simple, but they have a nice sort of minor key feeling to them. I am definitely going to aim to make that progression more interesting. The timbre of the chords at the moment are a bit cheesy as well, as is a lot of the harmonic material, so that will definitely change in future versions, but I think the general feel is there. This is easily one of the lesser developed songs slated to be on the album. The beats are probably the strongest part of the song, but they need work too. This goes back to my <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-i-rebirth-and-process.html">first article</a> on <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>, where I need to work on more structured, "fancy" edits.<br /><br />At the end of the piece, all "life" on Terramecha is presumed dead, or is it? The deadly spores have taken over the giant rust ball, and if we zoom in closely, we observe that organic life is beginning to grow out of the spores. I would like to convey this using audio, but I'm not sure how I'm going to approach it yet. Dripping water might be effective, if done the right way. Which brings me back to conceptual continuity. <a href="http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Category:Conceptual_Continuity">Conceptual continuity</a> is a concept that was made popular by <a href="http://www.zappa.com/">Frank Zappa</a>, where he introduced subject matter or themes from previous works into later works. Poodles and zircon encrusted tweezers are two examples of things that showed up in several of Zappa's works. Here, read this quote:<br /><br /><blockquote> "Well, the <strong class="selflink">conceptual continuity</strong> is this: everything, even this interview, is part of what I do for, let's call it, my entertainment work. And there's a big difference between sitting here and talking about this kind of stuff, and writing a song like '<a href="http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Titties_%27n_Beer" title="Titties 'n Beer">Titties and Beer</a>'. But as far as I'm concerned, it's all part of the same continuity. It's all one piece. It all relates in some weird way back to the focal point of what's going on."</blockquote> <div align="right">— <a href="http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Frank_Zappa" title="Frank Zappa" class="mw-redirect">Frank Zappa</a>, <i><a href="http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Interview_by_Bob_Marshall" title="Interview by Bob Marshall">Interview by Bob Marshall</a></i>, October 22, 1988.</div><br /><br />Now, getting back to <span style="font-style: italic;">Aftamath</span> and the reused <span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span> bass drum loop. Unifactor (the album) sort of represents the organic home-world of Gel-Sol (I also stole the name/idea from artist <a href="http://hoodedutilitarian.com/2010/07/a-short-walk-through-the-unifactor-jim-woodring-frank-and-weathercraft/">Jim Woodring</a> as an homage). By referencing <span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span> in <span style="font-style: italic;">Aftamath</span>, I am suggesting that this home-world, or a new, but similar organic world is being born inside Terramecha. And the cycle of life, whether man or machine, continues. Who knows, maybe sometime in the distant future machines will once again rule Terramecha? I can't see that far into the future...<br /><br />Feedback greatly appreciated, especially with these lesser-developed pieces. Thanks for reading/listening!<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14431143"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14431143" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-aftamath-draft">Terramecha: Aftamath - draft 042911</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-77594773440455517172011-04-24T13:20:00.001-07:002011-04-24T14:23:33.532-07:00Terramecha Part V - Mecha Ritual<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF9X_PSRp2CvPsGnbL4b07fKjR8ckc9VFMw3oo1S-Pj2GErsirD9GU0y4CuE0X1WRpptVPaIcuVXiaEVicwjuLan15TH0B-bVQ_jK5X-b1cFw5KHDp3DDqgTOtTgpPMGWAula1M9pcIG3/s1600/robotcollage.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVF9X_PSRp2CvPsGnbL4b07fKjR8ckc9VFMw3oo1S-Pj2GErsirD9GU0y4CuE0X1WRpptVPaIcuVXiaEVicwjuLan15TH0B-bVQ_jK5X-b1cFw5KHDp3DDqgTOtTgpPMGWAula1M9pcIG3/s400/robotcollage.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5599247760062243442" border="0" /></a>Today's song analysis deals with another old track in the <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-i-rebirth-and-process.html">Terramecha</a> story, a track that used to be called <span style="font-style: italic;">Caldera</span>, but is now called <span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span>. To make matters even more confusing, there's another track of mine that was called <span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span>, but it doesn't have a new name yet and has been reappropriated into a different part of the story.<br /><br />Below is the first-ever performance of Cal...uh, <span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span>, played at the <a href="http://www.thecollinspub.com/">Collins Pub</a> in Seattle on April 22, 2006. For me at least, it's quite hilarious imagining music like this being played in what's really a glorified sports bar. There is nothing remotely psychedelic about that, and there I am, cluelessly twiddling away with my cosmic space music. From now on, I should only accept gigs if they are in outer space...<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span>'s exact placement on the album is unknown yet, but it will either be right after <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-iv-retrieval.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Retrieval</span></a>, or the third song on Part II, <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>. There's another song that's fighting for that position, but I'll get to that at another time. At this point in time in the story, the robots have brought the wreckage of the spaceship down into a huge open area, where robots of all shapes and sizes join in and surround the ship. Then, some sort of ritual begins (bet you didn't see that coming). The main objective of this ritual is to ward off any bad mojo the ship might bring. Robots of similar appearance emit strange calls that are unique to their build. The live version below is long and drawn out, and is nowhere near complete. It's my goal to create a middle section with a "call and response" section as if the different classes of robots are singing/communicating/bleeping at each other. I plan on doing some research on ritualistic music, and even some voodoo music, in hopes of creating a more futuristic version of a tribal ceremony. One thing that is unique to the posted live version is the end, where a collage of mechanical space cries and effects play over a humming bass drone. I listened to many live versions of <span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span> over the course of last week, and none of them had this part. I guess I thought it was too far out or inappropriate for live performance at the time. Now I like it! I'm gonna have to dig through my archives to find it though, and that might take awhile.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual</span> is also one of the earliest pieces created for Terramecha. I almost see it as a sister piece to <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2011/04/terramecha-part-iii-aurora.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span></a>, in that it's sort of a slow-moving, observational piece. Visually/cinematically, I see slow pans circling around the ritual, showing the variety of robots, and the movements they make as they emit their sounds. Think the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkxuPxdsZ58">Balinese monkey chant</a> in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103767/">Baraka</a> mixed with <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=646KtkEcPm8">Pink Floyd at Pompeii</a> mixed with some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Kubrick">Stanley Kubrick</a>-esque slow-pans and zooms. Also much like <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Mecha Ritual's</span> inital tracks were created with Reaktor, again the <a href="http://youtu.be/H7hqdet2ZuE">Metaphysical Function</a> ensemble. A bulk of the drums/percussion were made with Reaktor's <a href="http://cachepe.zzounds.com/media/quality,85/02_Limelite2_01-6e6f4d1e0693a3b790baebc6b8bada60.gif">Limelite</a> ensemble, an amazing drum machine/sequencer where you can load your own source sounds. With the preset sounds it gets a bit too techno for my liking, but you can get some really organic results when feeding it your own sounds.<br /><br />And that's another goal of mine. I want to create organic robots. Each robot inside <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> is unique; they might have come into this world with similar makes and models, but they still have characteristics that differentiate themselves from everyone else, and have the capacity to think. There are so many people on this planet that are essentially robots, so why can't it be the other way around? Plus, you could sell organic robots for more money at the grocery store!<br /><br />Ok, that's all I got for today. Give me feedback. And if you have any tips on some good ritualistic/voodoo music, please send them my way!<br /><br /><object width="100%" height="81"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14128908"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F14128908" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%" height="81"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-mecha-ritual-live">Terramecha: Mecha Ritual - live 042206</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-63522876722383500782011-04-18T10:38:00.000-07:002011-04-18T12:42:44.636-07:00Terramecha Part IV - Retrieval<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJ09ASY_ih1jaasZ-2bWWtju_eduG78Kf4AdrUOpy5ium1ZmJ2A_-XITdpFpn5ipDa7SD4RxG-hAf8q1noHwMkBrplFW5Y3VyYXkJUSBUzvmQHYE90KwP0jFXjJN_xgkuxdOpTmtWbI4M/s1600/211244-3.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSJ09ASY_ih1jaasZ-2bWWtju_eduG78Kf4AdrUOpy5ium1ZmJ2A_-XITdpFpn5ipDa7SD4RxG-hAf8q1noHwMkBrplFW5Y3VyYXkJUSBUzvmQHYE90KwP0jFXjJN_xgkuxdOpTmtWbI4M/s400/211244-3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596983085513119074" border="0" /></a>I'm jumping over to Part II for today's song analysis, so I apologize in advance if you get confused as to what's going on. I'll try to be as clear as possible. At the bottom of this article I have posted the link to a rough draft of <span style="font-style: italic;">Retrieval</span>.<br /><br />Part I (<span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>) of <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> deals with a spaceman/spaceship that are hired to track down the source of a mysterious beacon in the far reaches of space. They take off from home base, see a few things, have a few encounters, and are ultimately killed ala "planet collision" after they have discovered the source of the beacon (Terramecha). This is where part I, <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span>, ends.<br /><br />Part II, entitled <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>, is a look into the world of Terramecha. First, I should probably explain the <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood/Rust</span> relationship (as if it isn't pretty obvious). The first half of the album deals with an organic lifeform as the protagonist, most likely a human, and blood represents the aftermath of his death. The same goes with rust, being the results of a dead machine. This dichotomy also plays into the general Gel-Sol universe, Gel-Sol being a dichotomy too (liquid vs. solid). In case you didn't know, I generally try to implement this dichotomy strategy into a bulk of the Gel-Sol material. Organic vs. mechanical, beats vs. ambience, serious vs. funny, minor vs. major, etc. My goal in general with the Gel-Sol project is to create my own universe, full of different worlds and systems that allow me to make whatever I want, yet still being a part of the Gel-Sol world. I pursued this idea, because I think conforming to one genre of music is stupid and does not allow for any artistic longevity. Plus, doing one thing is fucking boring, and it's good to keep your listeners on their toes!<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Retrieval</span> begins with some sort of scout robot appearing on the surface of Terramecha to check out the spaceship wreckage. Then, a giant door opens in Terramecha where hundreds (if not more) of machines emerge from inside the planet, all being somewhat unique, but still classifiable into groups. I want to convey that these machines are similar to humans, not physically (bi-peds with 2 eyes and 10 fingers), but in the sense that there's different races, and perhaps cultures. After surrounding the fallen spaceship, the machines, in perfect rhythm and order, join together to form a giant transport around the spaceship so it can be taken below for examination. The scene ends with Terramecha slowly swallowing the spaceship/transport with the previously mentioned scout robot following behind, making it through the door just before it closes.<br /><br />The version of <span style="font-style: italic;">Retrieval</span> below is a very rough draft, with some structural elements laid out to give an idea of how the piece will progress. It starts off with some abstract ambience/sound effects, and mechanical rhythms fade in to convey some sort of order amongst the machines. The rhythms gradually get more intense with the addition of a pulsing sub-bass to convey the merging machines, and then music breaks, gets its bearings, and trudges along, depicting the spaceship being transported below the surface. As I mentioned before, there's a scout robot that initially checks out the situation, ok's the rest of the machines to retrieve the wreckage, and follows the transported spaceship back below the surface. Musically, I'd like to depict this little guy, but I'm not sure how I'm going to approach it yet. Does he make little <a href="http://www.starwars.com/games/playnow/soundboards/#/?theme=09">R2-D2</a> noises? Does he sound like <a href="http://www.soundboard.com/sb/WALL_E_movie_sounds.aspx">Wall-E</a>? Do these things even have voices? Maybe they speak in tones. I guess I got a lot to think about.<br /><br />A lot of the parts in <span style="font-style: italic;">Retrieval</span> were created using various Reaktor ensembles and random midi generation, mainly from the Reaktor ensemble <a href="http://youtu.be/NuR737_kcZs"><span style="font-style: italic;">Spiral</span></a>. Spiral uses variations on a spiral pattern to create random patterns that can be conformed to a specific key, allowing you to create anything from long flowing soundscapes to super-fast arpeggios. You can even trigger sample banks or drum kits, making for some interesting results. I used this technique extensively on my last ambient album, <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2010/08/gel-sols-k8ema-drops-september-6th.html"><span style="font-style: italic;">K8EMA</span></a>. Most of the time, I wasn't even concerned about the harmonic material being triggered by <span style="font-style: italic;">Spiral</span>. I just made a lot of noise, tuned it where necessary, and hit record. I then mixed those recordings together in a serendipitous fashion, where everything appeared to work out (I'm making it sound a lot easier than it really is). Retrieval has actually been played in two or three of my live sets, but under the name <span style="font-style: italic;">Spores</span>. When I first started writing the piece, I initially thought this piece would have to do with the eventual downfall of the machines inside Terramecha, rusting out and dying due to the organic spores that grew out of the spaceman's blood. I then decided this particular piece of music was much more suited for a retrieval mission.<br /><br />So, what does the spaceship look like? I don't know that yet either. In Lem's <span style="font-style: italic;">The White Death</span>, the spaceship is described as a "giant goblet, its stem embedded in a pile of boulders and its concave cup, which faced the sky, crushed and punctured in a dozen places." This description gives the sense that the ship has a classic "rocket" look, with the main engine taking up most of it's mass, and located in the back of the ship. Spaceship design has evolved quite a bit since the early 70s, so I'm not sure if this classic shape is what I have in mind for this story. I'm not sure it matters at this point, but I do think about it. What I do know is that the spaceship is relatively in one piece, to show the impressive merging of the machines into one unit so they can effectively transport the spaceship below the surface for evaluation. I like to think of this mechanical merging as a sort of "modular Transformer," where many machines can combine to make a custom mega-machine to suit their needs.<br /><br />Stay tuned for my next blog! Not sure what I will talk about next. Perhaps I will go over another less-developed tune...<br /><br />Feedback welcome as always! Drop me a line!<br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F13808344"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F13808344" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-retrieval-draft">Terramecha: Retrieval - draft 041811</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYmNYZCHYve3QjEKNFWbwkhuyuN-oke_GW5uSrx9h89poDtxeOkosukUaXjDuCuBHAu24WYu4wfNC9QCL3f5Al09nbUErhWvMZyb_eKIdv5EpgNkUcq5rucie8uC69GV7bZId3PKTgLOB_/s1600/211244-3.jpg"><br /></a>Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-59537451264997741452011-04-16T13:48:00.000-07:002011-04-16T17:10:04.453-07:00Terramecha Part III - Aurora<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhbcaqMiOku0rpUj0IhDk_gHUNPDGNsRz2w3pBp_R1MUip6w3MDP6Jkp9PwSMtX5r76giCBGzqj3wcNCDrFz0YsGKDAwd69WqkGVpb3WkpR0MQtK3c7A2AbDw5_prrh3JVdZ83fNJrqML/s1600/planet_aurora.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEhbcaqMiOku0rpUj0IhDk_gHUNPDGNsRz2w3pBp_R1MUip6w3MDP6Jkp9PwSMtX5r76giCBGzqj3wcNCDrFz0YsGKDAwd69WqkGVpb3WkpR0MQtK3c7A2AbDw5_prrh3JVdZ83fNJrqML/s320/planet_aurora.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5596287327526366482" border="0" /></a>Today I will be talking about the song <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span>, one of the very first songs I put together when I began conceptualizing <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>. At the bottom of this article is a live version of Aurora, from a gig I played at <a href="http://www.nectarlounge.com/">Nectar</a>, a Fremont neighborhood bar in Seattle. Early versions of Aurora didn't have the thick, liquidy bassline and the synth lead, so I chose to post a more mature version of the song.<br /><br />Aurora is what I consider one of the "observational" pieces on the album, not really having anything to do with the main story, but more of a description of what the spaceman/listener might see on the way to their destination. In the case of <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>, the spaceman and his trusty spaceship are cruising along at impossible rates of speed through the galaxy when they come across a beautiful and unique planet called Aurora. In a nutshell, Aurora is really just a giant sphere of eye candy, emitting flares of continually changing colors, much like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurora_%28astronomy%29">Aurora Borealis</a>. From a visual standpoint, I see these light flares moving in almost slow-motion, with the spaceman in awe as to what he's witnessing. The song itself has a slow, trudging feel and builds up slowly with an eventual bassline and synth lead joining in. From there, the idea is to increase the intensity with the addition of more frantic drums and a heavy vibrating bass. At this point in the observation, the spaceship is at it's closest to the mysterious planet, and something is affecting the ship's electronics, causing it to malfunction. This malfunction could also affect the spaceman, perhaps by putting him in a trance or making his "circuitry" go crazy. Musically, I want to convey the idea that the spaceman/ship's electronics are flipping out, and that our protagonists must leave before there's any serious damage. I also envision these light flares as having sounds associated with them, so the planet itself is giant, psychedelic, music-making disco ball/lava lamp. It just seems like it would be a badass scene in a movie!<br /><br />Where <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span> fits on <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> is the first side of the album, most likely the third song. The adventure has just begun, we're on the road to our destination, so why not do a little sight-seeing on the way? Aurora has showed up in my live sets more than a lot of songs, because it was one of my typical collage pieces, and is fun just to mess around with different mixes. However, over the years the general structure stayed the same; the piece builds up in intensity, themes are introduced, a bridge part breaks things down, and then I bring up the intensity again with faster percussion elements until the song sorta peters out. This is most likely how the album version will end up too, but I would like to integrate some more recently-acquired techniques to get my idea across more effectively.<br /><br />When I first started working on Terramecha, I was messing around a lot with the Metaphysical Function ensemble in <a href="http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/reaktor-5/">Native Instruments Reaktor</a>. You'll probably see me mention Reaktor a lot in future posts, because Reaktor is one of the main pieces of software I use to create sounds. Metaphysical function is a really unique sound generator for making amorphous scapes by mixing tones together, and often the results are complex and often discordant. It also had another feature where you could play an audio loop and run it through filters, reverbs and a cool little resonator. I ended up making a ton of new loops out of this little sample mangler and some of the percussion loops you hear, as well as some of the scape material, were generated using that unit. Some of the sounds at the beginning of <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span> have an almost Asian sound, which I think gives the piece an exotic feel, like you're seeing something for the first time.<br /><br />That's all I got for now. Stay tuned! I might jump over to the Rust side of the album for my next blog.<br /><br />As always, feedback welcome. Let me know what you think!<br /><br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F13711958"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F13711958" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" height="81" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-aurora-live-041608">Terramecha: Aurora - live 041608</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-59982753322233620782011-04-15T00:13:00.000-07:002011-04-15T01:16:59.122-07:00Terramecha Part II - Forward<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW3WNPhjw-OOpNPVQuDCn7i7xXy1pLAKZuNXSbeSDgwnQx30dahArvOdhVmN9ZQeP9rnrP104CMYl6pyyyiKRD9g9ykIM2BXHJg2hcjhIEUjy9LCiYrFcnTDsUzKqoWzU_YplIhzsMsmRx/s1600/094e5_54ty45y4erthsdd.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 408px; height: 328px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW3WNPhjw-OOpNPVQuDCn7i7xXy1pLAKZuNXSbeSDgwnQx30dahArvOdhVmN9ZQeP9rnrP104CMYl6pyyyiKRD9g9ykIM2BXHJg2hcjhIEUjy9LCiYrFcnTDsUzKqoWzU_YplIhzsMsmRx/s320/094e5_54ty45y4erthsdd.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5595706616252559122" border="0" /></a>Where better to start with <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> than the beginning? At the end of this article I have provided a link to a rough draft/sketch of the opening piece of <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha,</span> simply named <span style="font-style: italic;">Forward</span>.<br /><br />I chose the name Forward for several reasons. One, it sort of conveys that I (Gel-Sol) is moving on, hopefully into new, exciting musical territory. Two, it marks a new adventure for our spaceman. His spaceship has just notified him that she's detected a communications beacon somewhere in the depths of space. I'm not sure what this guy does exactly yet, but he works for some sort of corporation and is hired to scout out unexplored worlds in search of resources. I know that's extremely vague, and there's no physical way a human could cover such territory in a lifetime, but hey, it's science fiction! Suspend yer disbelief! The third reason I chose the name is that it is a synonym of "foreword," and this piece represents a sort of an explanation of what is about to happen. Obviously the music will not be blatantly telling the listener the information, but I do want the song to convey that an adventure of epic proportions is about to begin.<br /><br />The draft I posted below is comprised of samples I have found, online and from other sources, and original music. The lead melody was created using the <a href="http://www.gforcesoftware.com/ins_mtronpro.php">GForce M-tron Pro</a> Mellotron emulator. Being a huge progressive rock fanatic, I have always been a sucker for the Mellotron. It's kinda creepy, and has a very organic almost out of tune sound. Apparently real Mellotrons are a real bitch to keep in tune, but the M-tron Pro allows easy tuning, and has a ton of great sounds. You will probably see me mention the M-tron a lot in my posts, as I use it quite a bit for scape generation and other melodic purposes. The lead melody itself in <span style="font-style: italic;">Forward</span> is somewhat reminiscent of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Also_sprach_Zarathustra_%28Richard_Strauss%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Also Sprach Zarathustra</span></a> by Richard Strauss, the infamous intro music to Stanley Kubrick's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_%28film%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">2001: A Space Odyssey</span></a>. The beauty of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Also_sprach_Zarathustra_%28Richard_Strauss%29"><span style="font-style: italic;">Also Sprach Zarathustra</span></a> is that with each cycle of the melody, the mood of the piece gets more intense. My goal with <span style="font-style: italic;">Forward</span> is to achieve the same effect, with the song seemingly disintegrating into the next piece after an epic climax. At the moment, the piece is a little stiff. Things that might help counter this would be to make the lead melody a little more organic, and to not place the drum hits so dead on the one-beat. Clever placement of the various tracks in different parts of the spacial plane would help to create more depth too.<br /><br />The very beginning of <span style="font-style: italic;">Forward</span> starts with a distant drum, appearing to get closer before the rest of the music abruptly comes in. Part of that was inspiration from the beginning of <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_Runner">Blade Runner</a>,</span> and the accompanying score from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vangelis"><span style="font-style: italic;">Vangelis</span></a>, however I don't really want to rip off that idea so literally. The scene I envision in my head during this first section is our spaceman hero walking down a hallway, about to enter the interstellar launchpad where his ship is about take off. The repeating and crescendo-ing bass drum represents slow-motion footsteps, muffled as if the spaceman has already donned his space helmet or some sort of headgear. I would like to integrate some slow heavy breathing also, to infer some tension before takeoff, for the spaceman and the listener.<br /><br />By the end of the piece, the spaceman is now in his spaceship, ready to take off. The sounds of computer noises and machinery fade in to set up the next piece. I have had several ideas for what this piece of music might be, but I still haven't found the perfect fit. To me, the second song on an album is extremely important, as it sort of gives you a sampling as to what the rest of the album could be like. But that's for another time...<br /><br />Thanks for reading/listening! Would love to hear your feedback!<br /><object width="100%" height="81"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F13628246"> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F13628246" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%" height="81"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/terramecha-forward-draft">Terramecha: Forward - draft 041411</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-54091481546614528572011-04-14T12:47:00.000-07:002011-04-14T21:12:20.521-07:00Terramecha Part I - Rebirth and Process<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1976/233/78/595761721/n595761721_1816800_8871.jpg?dl=1"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 294px;" src="http://a5.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1976/233/78/595761721/n595761721_1816800_8871.jpg?dl=1" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Hello again.<br /><br />This post is kinda long, but I have to get some things out of the way first. Future posts will be more concise, including audio samples and art.<br /><br />I don't blog very much, yet I have always had the intentions of blogging regularly because I thought it would help me solidify musical ideas. I do write down notes daily, but they aren't really the sort of ideas you would commit to something like this; they look more like a grocery list of ideas. I also suck at writing, and have a hard time coming up with cohesive thoughts, so I'm hoping these posts will eventually help me out in those regards.<br /><br />In 2010, I released three full-length albums; two on independent labels, and one as a free download from this very site. The first two albums were ambient in nature, and the third was a massively-low brow vs. WTF? sample collage, taking mostly from shitty B-movies. I really should only say this once (but I know I'll say it again), but my plunderphonic sound collages are FAR MORE ENTERTAINING than any of my music albums. They just are. The problem is that nobody wants to listen to audio entertainment that isn't "music," so only a few people tuned in. I think it's music, but what do I know? Anyway, Gel-Sol releases have been more ambient in the last few years, with the exception of a few digitally released remixes, which again, only a few people heard. At the end of 2010, after I finished <span style="font-style: italic;"><a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2010/12/gel-sol-plunder-raging-moon.html">Plunder a Raging Moon</a>,</span> I began thinking of new music ideas for Gel-Sol. I knew I didn't want to do another ambient album. The ambient-soundscape aspect will always be in my music, so it's not like I want to ditch it entirely, I just want to do something different.<br /><br />Beats. That's the obvious component that would separate any new music from last several ambient releases. I work with beats all the time, from sampling loops from albums, to creating my own from scratch. Initially my first post-ambient idea was to do an "anti-ambient" album, one that was mostly beats and rhythms, void of any scape-like material. I was also given stems of dance music tracks from Seattle's <a href="http://www.innerflight.com/">Innerflight Records</a>, in hopes of recording an "original" Gel-Sol album using Innerflight's source material. I spent a good part of the summer/fall of 2010 composing ideas for this album, but I was ultimately unhappy with the results for the most part. That's not to say this project won't be completed, it very well could. Just not right now. I think my main obstacle with beat-related music is that a lot of it is very structured and programmed. The way I generally write music is to make a lot of noise, record it, extract the parts that I like, and try to make them fit with other similarly generated parts and put them together in a collage format. What I like about this method is that happy accidents occur, and some things just end up working together. Programming songs with set parts and heavy arrangements are tedious, and I have always been against the idea of presenting my music live the way it sounds on the album. This concept was brought to my attention by bands like <a href="http://www.elephant-talk.com/wiki/ETWiki_Home">King Crimson</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orb">The Orb</a>. Why would I want to play a song the same way twice? I like the idea that a piece of music can be amorphous in it's different recordings/performances, but still be the same song! So my music up to now lacks dramatic section changes (for the most part) and super-detailed programming. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a bad thing, but I am now considering including more of these elements because well, I haven't tried that yet!<br /><br />Which brings me to the main focus of this article. In the summer of 2006, I had begun work on an album called <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha,</span> which was supposed to be a follow-up to <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Gel-Sol-Unifactor/release/937846"><span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span></a>. In my delusional mind, I thought of <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span> as my <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Genesis-The-Lamb-Lies-Down-On-Broadway/master/29256"><span style="font-style: italic;">Lamb Lies Down on Broadway</span></a> (fantastic 1975 Genesis album), an ambitious concept double-album that would blow everyone's minds, and I wouldn't have to get a real job again. Like I said, DELUSIONAL. Material was written that summer, and quickly integrated in to my live, "improvised" shows. Creatively, this was a great time. I had been settled down in Seattle for about a year, met some great people who were supportive of my ideas, and was getting booked to play shows more often. My good friend Kevin Hoole had a few places where he dj'd around town, and always invited me to play, whether it be a Gel-Sol performance or just to dj. What was hilarious is that most of these "gigs" were at restaurants, and most of the patrons had that "what the hell is this shit?" look on their faces. In fact, I believe that's the general consensus with any project I am involved in. Well, I say it's cool shit! Stop being a robot asshole and get the fuck into it!<br /><br />By 2007, I had easily a double-album's worth of material, plus numerous live recordings of a bulk of the material. Some of these recordings had been posted online shortly after they came out, but the links are now defunct due to whatever reasons. I will most likely begin posting some again in future posts. In February of 2007, my first niece Izabella was born. As a gift to her, I wanted to write an all-ambient album for her, so she could sleep and dream to it at night. The album eventually became <a href="http://www.discogs.com/Gel-Sol-IZ/release/1316822"><span style="font-style: italic;">IZ</span></a><span style="font-style: italic;">,</span> and was released in 2008. Well, this completely sidetracked <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha, </span>and thus began my purely ambient phase. I still played a few shows using my "beatier" material, and a few more pieces grew out of those performances, but <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha </span>wasn't where I wanted it yet. A lot of the pieces were/are in place, but I couldn't settle on arrangements, and I was beginning to doubt my whole collage method for arranging these pieces. I felt every song on the album needed to sound different, while contributing to the whole of the story, much like a movie. I had tinkered around with the idea of reoccurring themes to help keep the story together, but at the time I didn't have any concrete musical themes developed, at least ones that would work in other songs.<br /><br />Then there's the story itself. In 2005, I read short story by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem">Stanislaw Lem</a>, author of the book Solaris, which was made into two awesome movies, the epic 1972 <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001789/">Andrey Tarkovskiy</a> version, and the more concise 2002 version directed by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001752/">Steven Soderbergh</a>. The name of the short story was called <span style="font-style: italic;">The White Death, </span>and dealt with a spaceship found on the surface of a planet inhabited by robots. I really shouldn't give away the "twist" of the story, as it's a good short read, and I highly recommend you check out Lem's work. But basically, the inside of a planet is completely inhabited by machines called Enterites, and they find the wreckage of a spaceship on the surface of the planet. The outside of the planet is barren and rocky, and employs a sort of force field around itself in the form of giant meteors/asteroids. This is to protect the planet from outside intruders, namely humans. The leader/creator of the Enterites had his whole race exterminated by humans, so it's caution is not unjustified. The Enterites then retrieve the spaceship and take it below for examination. Opening the spaceship door required a password of some sort, and the robots eventually discover that the code is "Vengeance." They find no evidence of a crew except a small puddle of blood, which spreads a virus amongst the Enterites, leaving them to rust and die. This is the real "twist" of the story; machine kills man, man kills machine, the cycle complete. But as a bonus sort of twist, it is revealed that the creator/leader (Metameric) is the planet itself, and dies along with it's creations. I also like that the White Death itself is an organic lifeform, so perhaps it might one day evolve into something more than fungus, continuing the cycle.<br /><br />With <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha,</span> I wanted to loosely tell this story in two parts; <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>. <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood,</span> which tells the first part of the story, would be about a lone spaceman who's spaceship has detected some sort of beacon in the far reaches of space. A lot of the music in my mind would be setting up the exposition, or just observations from the spaceman/spaceship's point of view. Perhaps a narration of what it would be like to be alone in space, while on a mission to find the source of the mysterious beacon. Another character in the first half of this story would be the spaceship itself, sort of a tribute to HAL from 2001, but with much different motives. For example, this spaceship would be "female," there to assist the lonely spaceman and help him with his mission. I feel she should be somewhat sexy too, in order not to take this project to seriously. I'm lousy at taking things too seriously anyways. Unlike her HAL counterpart, my female spaceship is attracted to the beacon, i.e. falling in love, whereas HAL was killing off his crew members in order to complete his mission. I'm not completely sure how I would convey this musically, and I don't necessarily want to do it blatantly, because I like the concept of the listener deciding for his/herself as to what the song might be about. I believe there's ways to use vocal samples from whatever sources (tv, radio, movies) to convey a loose idea as to what may be going on, but I haven't really thought about it much yet. Getting back to the story, the spaceman and his bodacious spaceship locate the source of the beacon, a dark Planet called Terramecha, and are subsequently "shot down" from space, where they crash and perish.<br /><br />Part II, entitled <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust,</span> begins much like in <span style="font-style: italic;">The White Death,</span> where robots that inhabit Terramecha come to the surface and retrieve the space wreckage. Like <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood, </span>a lot of the music on <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span> will be a sort of observation of this world. What are these things (robots)? What do they do? What does the core of Terramecha look like? Who is their leader? I know you can't really show what these beings look like through music, but I hope to reveal that through visual art to accompany the album (I won't get into that now). Also, like <span style="font-style: italic;">The White Death,</span> the robots will eventually search the fallen spaceship, find the blood puddle, spread it's disease, and rust out the whole planet, which is a giant robot itself. So yeah, in a nutshell, that's it!<br /><br />I am now ready to continue (and hopefully finish) this project. Right now I have no plans with record labels or anything. I don't even know if that's the right way to go about it in this day and age. I would really like to release this thing on vinyl with a gatefold sleeve and some kickass art. Colored records (red for <span style="font-style: italic;">Blood,</span> brown for <span style="font-style: italic;">Rust</span>) and all that shit. My first two albums are quite collectible and worth a few bucks online, so I'd like to continue to make things that people would be proud to have in their collection. Obviously I'd like to do a cd release too. There's no doubt about it that people like to have a physical product that they can hold in their hands, with accompanying art that makes the whole album a meaningful experience. It's not like people are making any more money with digital sales, in fact it might be more difficult to be heard in this digital age, because it's harder for people to get intimate with your product. I'm by no means against digital sales and piracy for that matter. I'm glad at least someone is giving me a chance! But when I'm listening to a record where the whole album is great, and looking at the large, clear artwork on the gatefold sleeve, I am much more in touch with the music, and feel like I'm now in [insert band's name here] universe. Listening to an album should be like watching a movie. You devote all your attention to it, and listen to it as a whole. That's a fantastic experience you don't get from a lot of music these days, due to the desire for quick singles and money. I wont get into money right now. There's none to be made with what I do anyway, and I refuse to compromise my art, which is the sole thing on this planet that I have control of. I will need to raise money in some sort of fashion in order to have physical releases made and distributed, but I will talk about that at a later time.<br /><br />So yeah, that's about it for now. Like I said, future posts will be more concise, and have samples and art. I will get into more technical details about <span style="font-style: italic;">Terramecha</span>, including gear and techniques I'm using. I figure this blog format will help document the making of an album, and perhaps some things will be learned!<br /><br />Thanks for reading! I welcome feedback and discussion on any of the topics above, as well as future posts. I'd really like to know what you think!<br /><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-3597262156131058192011-03-17T14:32:00.000-07:002011-03-17T14:36:49.510-07:00Gel-Sol - Propulsion<object width="560" height="349"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rsK6sIVLWCs?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rsK6sIVLWCs?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="349"></embed></object><br />Here's a little vid I whipped up last night using the extremely limited iMovie. This is the track Propulsion from the 2007 release <span style="font-style: italic;">Unifactor</span> on Upstairs Recordings.<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-66563702568835398312010-12-11T15:26:00.000-08:002010-12-12T16:30:51.050-08:00Gel-Sol: Plunder a Raging Moon<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcY0j0GRWkQpioWiYv3mAgTee_lq04Ib28ROI-D2qX_vL3EgANDZeZna1FUlBeFI2tNYCEYTROXalFOmTgR_2yrXBYI11pjH-U8bb9Jj559b_nCBPULclJJCryunUDldijx41bAqWrk7B/s1600/plundermoon_cover_small.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrcY0j0GRWkQpioWiYv3mAgTee_lq04Ib28ROI-D2qX_vL3EgANDZeZna1FUlBeFI2tNYCEYTROXalFOmTgR_2yrXBYI11pjH-U8bb9Jj559b_nCBPULclJJCryunUDldijx41bAqWrk7B/s400/plundermoon_cover_small.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5549571041124542194" border="0" /></a><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:85%;" >(album photo by Franklin Jenkins)</span><br /></div><br /><br />Happy Holidaze from yer pal, Gel-Sol!<br /><br />Well, it's been a productive 2010, and I'm pleased as punch to present my latest release, <span style="font-style: italic;">Plunder a Raging Moon</span>! Over an hour of Plunderphonic insanity, this album is a non-stop, stream of consciousness barrage of crappy movie samples and other audio snippets. It's fun to mess with people's heads, you know?<br /><br />I must mention something important regarding this piece, and Plunderphonics in general. If you do not pay attention to what's going on, <span style="font-weight: bold;">YOU WILL NOT LIKE IT</span>. I'm not saying you will like it if you do pay attention, but chances are the piece will make more sense if you do. I know "paying attention" is particularly difficult in this fast-paced, A.D.D. world we live in, but I personally see this as a problem. As a result of people not listening "to" music, they listen "at" music, and in turn we have all this shitty music out there that overshadows more deserving music (I stole that first part from Robert Fripp, but he said it better than me). Of course there's other factors that contribute to shitty music, but I won't get into it…for now.<br /><br />My point is that if you sit down with the sole purpose of listening to music, you will be rewarded more than if the music is there to compliment a more "important" purpose. Whichever path you decide to take, you will probably think I'm a jerk. I can assure you that I am not. With that said, share <span style="font-style: italic;">Plunder a Raging Moon</span> with your friends and enemies! Share links of it on your Facebook page! Tweet about it, I don't fucking care! But most importantly, listen to it. If you can't make it through the whole thing, that's ok…there's already tons of pussies on this planet, so you should fit right in.<br /><br />Oh yeah, this is <span style="font-weight: bold;">VERY NSFW</span>.<br /><br />If you'd like to donate some money to yer pal, Gel-Sol, please click the PayPal link below or PayPal me at gelsol@yahoo.com. An incredible amount of time went into putting this thing together, and I am an unemployed sack of shit. I also have several other Gel-Sol freebies at gel-sol.com, including <a href="http://gel-sol.blogspot.com/2009/08/gel-sols-adventures-beyond-plunderworld.html">Gel-Sol's Adventures Beyond the Plunderworld</a>, and various Gel-Sol live shows I've recorded over the years.<br /><br />Thanks and enjoy! Have a sooper holiday season and a fantastic new year!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.gel-sol.com/mp3s/gelsol_plundermoon.mp3">Plunder a Raging Moon (mp3)</a><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-Sol<br /><br /><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"><br /><input name="cmd" value="_s-xclick" type="hidden"><br /><input name="hosted_button_id" value="7659982" type="hidden"><br /><input src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!" border="0" type="image"><br /><img alt="" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" border="0" height="1" width="1" /><br /></form>Gel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-24613196815606343122010-10-05T18:44:00.000-07:002010-10-05T18:57:28.801-07:00K8EMA now available digitally!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs289.snc4/40770_10150234389200088_783505087_14476417_8366703_n.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 720px; height: 540px;" src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs289.snc4/40770_10150234389200088_783505087_14476417_8366703_n.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Gel-Sol's K8EMA now out digitally at these various online shops! Buy now before all the MP3s sell out!<br /><br /><a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/k8ema/id389434327?i=389434793&ign-mpt=uo%3D4">iTunes</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.emusic.com/album/Gel-Sol-k8ema-MP3-Download/12108990.html">Emusic</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.addictech.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=58960">Additech</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.7digital.com/artists/gel-sol/k8ema/02-K8EMA/">7digital</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/k8ema/dp/B0041J66H2/ref=dm_ap_alb2">Amazon</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.djtunes.com/gel-sol/k8ema">DjTUNES</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.junodownload.com/products/k8ema/1627629-02/">Juno Records</a><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-23363498038558119022010-10-05T14:17:00.000-07:002010-10-05T14:46:39.623-07:00KIDS FOR TOMORROW - NEQUA (new album from my other project)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2oaHaAJ4EbXZ0v8s3IpO2uY3X9mtsVWxVDcFcw8T_dnfWvoAzGPLFND9X9FclTpWQSKk-FEiU6bh5y4PhexN6LUKj63HbKR6JawBHEKiiUto-3wdNH3tO1K7bEWyyX75JIwwa1mQl9yPo/s1600/kft_nequa.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2oaHaAJ4EbXZ0v8s3IpO2uY3X9mtsVWxVDcFcw8T_dnfWvoAzGPLFND9X9FclTpWQSKk-FEiU6bh5y4PhexN6LUKj63HbKR6JawBHEKiiUto-3wdNH3tO1K7bEWyyX75JIwwa1mQl9yPo/s320/kft_nequa.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5524681265358655218" /></a><br /><br />I'm a little late on this one, but earlier in the year <a href="http://www.upstairsrecordings.com/index.html">Upstairs Recordings</a> released the second album from my Kids For Tomorrow side-project. The album is called <span style="font-style:italic;">Nequa</span>, and is a continuous ambient/experimental journey sculpted out of improv sessions from the previous year. My main co-conspirator for this release was Nils Whitmont, who can rock the sandals/sock combination like no other. He left the city to go be responsible or something...hopefully he'll come to his senses and come back to Seattle someday. Other collaborators include William Mempa, who was on the first KFT release <a href="http://www.part2records.com/the_deployer_ep/">Deployer</a>, <a href="http://splendidbeats.com/">Chris Haines aka Crispy aka Leave Trace</a>, and Scott Johnson, all-around jack-of-all-medias.<br /><br />I'm not really gonna try to describe the album. It's kinda weird. There's little sections that go into other little sections, but sometimes they go into bigger sections. It's definitely not yer typical pop song format, or long epic piece sort of thing. The album (like most of my releases) is meant to be listened to as a whole. So yeah, check it out!<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">Nequa</span> was released digitally by the fine people at <a href="http://www.upstairsrecordings.com/index.html">Upstairs Recordings</a> in Vancouver. You can get Nequa through <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/nequa/id360669204">iTunes</a>, <a href="http://www.emusic.com/album/Kids-For-Tomorrow-Nequa-MP3-Download/11901053.html">eMusic.com</a>, <a href="http://www.zunior.com/product_info.php?cPath=343_1895&products_id=3021&osCsid=ab7de146db0a978b81b5316211b27c4d">Zunior.com</a> and <a href="https://www.beatport.com/en-US/html/content/label/detail/521/upstairs_recordings?bp_requested_content_type=html&bp_requested_language=en-US&labelId=521&labelName=upstairs_recordings&pageNumber=1&resultsPerPage=10#app=a40&a486-index=0">Beatport.com</a><br /><br />And feel free to check out a sample from <span style="font-style:italic;">Nequa</span> here:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.upstairsrecordings.com/MP3_Tracks/KFT/Chun%20Quoit.mp3">Chun Quoit (mp3)</a><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-72209245376466931782010-10-05T14:04:00.000-07:002010-10-05T14:16:47.264-07:00K8EMA review from Texturahttp://textura.org/reviews/gelsol_k8ema.htm<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://textura.org/imagesreviews/gelsol.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 161px; height: 161px;" src="http://textura.org/imagesreviews/gelsol.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Gel-Sol: k8ema<br />Psychonavigation<br /><br />Seattle-based Andrew Reichel describes k8ema, his follow-up to 2008's IZ, as the “newest planet in the Gel-Sol universe.” Spacey k8ema certainly turns out to be when it carves an explorative path through seventy minutes of psychedelic ambient soundscaping beamed in from the Vangelis and Tangerine Dream universes. Written (as was IZ) for Reichel's niece, the album is an unabashedly synthetic affair that stretches immense washes across softly pulsating skies. Occasional voice samples punctuate the material's lush, symphonic surfaces, and beats and choirs (celestial and children's) are heard in isolated instances. Micro-organisms and glissandi chirp amidst the music's layered tones, and each piece flows into the next, making the album feel like an epic, never-ending dreamscape. The album lifts off with eight galaxial minutes of New Age-styled whooshes, washes, and swirls (“Abyssinia”), before settling into a serenading, slow-motion drift through the cosmos (“k8ema”). Track titles such as “Spirit Guide” and “Halo of Stars” are consistent with the music's oft-soothing tone, but it's not all lightness and sparkle, however. Some welcome grit and grime gets under the fingernails of “Peacetime Fortress,” and brooding moments arise during "Panta Rhei" to offset the heavenly radiance. k8ema often plays like a sonic transmutation of 2001: A Space Odyssey and, during its darker moments especially, the dystopic visions of Blade Runner.<br /><br />October 2010<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-29034710131822354642010-08-01T15:51:00.000-07:002010-08-01T16:15:06.194-07:00Gel-Sol's K8EMA drops September 6th!!!Sup Fuckers!<br /><br />You ready to Rock?!?!? Yeah, neither am I. I mean I am, but I got this new ambient album coming out. YOU READY TO CHILL?!?!?! Good. <br /><br />So yeah, new album. It's called K8EMA and was written for my second niece, Katelyn Mae. She's a cutie. And what better way is there to mold and shape a young child's mind than some extremely tripped-out psychedelic music from yer pal, Gel-Sol? Cuz I don't know. <br /><br />Check out the cover:<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJeNlLaB9ytshpdlOWerxNQqMwkFebffVtooGF-svy83ZX0b7H7dbddhd7KN6o-CmNpejvr2vhx8iqDRgPcju6-LI30Pn-b3kgK18rkkcg3TiL3vOMS6K59Qmk80DaKV5Ph0ELiVlDZBYt/s1600/k8ema_cover_800.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJeNlLaB9ytshpdlOWerxNQqMwkFebffVtooGF-svy83ZX0b7H7dbddhd7KN6o-CmNpejvr2vhx8iqDRgPcju6-LI30Pn-b3kgK18rkkcg3TiL3vOMS6K59Qmk80DaKV5Ph0ELiVlDZBYt/s320/k8ema_cover_800.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5500580051733758594" /></a><br />I made that shit! The music sounds like that too, which is of course BADASS. Ok, it might not be badass, but it's pretty cool. I'm trying to promote here!<br /><br />Here's the tracklisting:<br /><br />01. Abyssinia<br />02. K8EMA<br />03. Spirit Guide<br />04. Glade<br />05. Halo of Stars<br />06. Peacetime Fortress<br />07. The Mechanical Garden<br />08. Panta Rhei<br />09. Gel's Hole<br />10. Energy Pools<br />11. Last<br /><br />K8EMA drops on September 6th, 2010 through Keith Downey and the fine people of Psychonavigation Records in Dublin. They have a hell of roster, so you should check them out!<br /><br />http://www.psychonavigation.com<br /><br />K8EMA is also available for pre-order through Darla Records:<br />http://darla.com/index.php?fuseaction=item_cat.ecom_superitem_detail&item_cat_id=38248<br /><br />and Ear/Rational (currently the month's top seller!)<br />http://www.ear-rational.com/detail.php?id=64603<br /><br />You can also check out the K8EMA album sampler via Soundcloud!<br /><object height="81" width="100%"> <param name="movie" value="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fgel-sol%2Fk8ema-album-sampler&secret_url=false"></param> <param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param> <embed allowscriptaccess="always" height="81" src="http://player.soundcloud.com/player.swf?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fgel-sol%2Fk8ema-album-sampler&secret_url=false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="100%"></embed> </object> <span><a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol/k8ema-album-sampler">K8EMA album sampler</a> by <a href="http://soundcloud.com/gel-sol">Gel-Sol</a></span> <br /><br />So yeah, buy K8EMA today and be the first on yer block to brag to all yer friends, family and neighbors that you have some ambient cd that nobody really listens to! K8EMA will also be available digitally through iTunes, Beatport, Bleep.com (Warp Records) and a few other online shops...<br /><br />And I'll try to blog more in the future. I totally forgot to post the new Kids For Tomorrow album (Nequa) that we finished up in the spring. It's a crazy ambient album too!<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-28487512309934453812009-08-21T12:27:00.000-07:002009-08-22T01:37:39.280-07:00Gel-Sol's Adventures Beyond the Plunderworld<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKHiG0pT1DUYgem93kpI65TtuMT5on9hS_M8287bSBgNYoe80qejQ_8zpYMRvq2v_vxG4iXqQV1fnex_KWkWrM7V-zoYa4wfKcRvp1uhgO6nBe5nZe1LkMTQ8Zb-3XMwhzpWGIs6BP8ix/s1600-h/gelsol_abtp_cover_small.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIKHiG0pT1DUYgem93kpI65TtuMT5on9hS_M8287bSBgNYoe80qejQ_8zpYMRvq2v_vxG4iXqQV1fnex_KWkWrM7V-zoYa4wfKcRvp1uhgO6nBe5nZe1LkMTQ8Zb-3XMwhzpWGIs6BP8ix/s320/gelsol_abtp_cover_small.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372503044591447570" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gel-sol.com/mp3s/gelsol_abtp.mp3">Right-click to download.</a><br /><br />This is a sample-based collage made with over 7 years of collected samples.<br /><br />Please click on the donation button below if you would like contribute to the Gel-Sol cause. I have put a lot of time and effort into this, and offer other free audio such as Gel-Sol live shows and remixes, which can also be found on this blog.<br /><br />Thanks for listening and enjoy!<br /><form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post"><br /><input type="hidden" name="cmd" value="_s-xclick"><br /><input type="hidden" name="hosted_button_id" value="7659982"><br /><input type="image" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donateCC_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!"><br /><img alt="" border="0" src="https://www.paypal.com/en_US/i/scr/pixel.gif" width="1" height="1" /><br /></form><br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-40943101948209415992009-07-20T02:53:00.000-07:002009-07-20T02:56:24.533-07:00Wanna follow Gel-Sol on Twitter?<a href="http://twitter.com/gel_sol">http://twitter.com/gel_sol</a><br /><br />We'll see how in to this I get...Twitter really seems like an excuse for everyone to make an ass out of themselves!<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-861462587529168175.post-3114260443839739782009-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:002009-07-15T20:14:33.862-07:00Data Breaker: Gel-Sol Approaches Orblivion<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/d373/DataBreaker_Gel-Sol-570.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 405px; height: 304px;" src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/d373/DataBreaker_Gel-Sol-570.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Many thanks to Dave Segal from The Stranger for writing this article!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/data-breaker/Content?oid=1847110">http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/data-breaker/Content?oid=1847110</a><br /><br />Gel-Sol (Seattle producer Andrew Reichel) is this town's reigning Orb fanatic. Dr. Alex Paterson's long-running ambient-dub-house collective has spawned several disciples worldwide, but Gel-Sol can stake a claim to being one of the finest in the tradition, balancing serious musical chops (he's a staunch prog-rock fan) with witty spoken-word samples over four albums.<br /><br />My introduction to Gel-Sol came with Music Made for You... and by You I Mean Me (recorded in 2003, but reissued by the esteemed and now-defunct UK label em:t in 2004). The disc lays out a luxurious banquet of rich synth swirls, languorous bass lines, and slackly funky beats. This is music for long-attention-span owners and those fond of subtly unhinging the doors of perception. It's deep and plush, poised between the chill-out room and the opium den—except for "Numby Numbs," which is an uncharacteristically revved-up cut animated by jagged rhythms and sprightly yet stabbing keyboard riffs. But Music Made for You is mostly geared for lounging in style, stratospherically. Ladies and gentlemen, we are floating (and giggling) in space.<br /><br />As for Gel-Sol's dub credentials, they could receive a boost depending on the outcome of his entry into Choice Cuts' Horace Andy remix contest; Gel-Sol interestingly reworked "Watch We" from Andy and Ashley Beedle's Inspiration Information album. (The winner will be announced on the Choice Cuts website.)<br /><br />Recent live gigs at the Church of Bass and Re-bar have found Gel-Sol delving into ambience that's aswirl in glittery vapor and redolent of beneficent herbal vibes at the former, while the latter finds him creating a churning, dubadelic soundscape. Both sets represent some of the region's most supremely heady head music.<br /><br />On Gel-Sol's "Skub," a 2009 single on the local Innerflight label, however, his production shows a more up-tempo tendency, though it still doesn't move at techno/house's brisk clip. Rather, it's a chunkily percussive, dubwise funk track with a mutedly beautiful melody and chilly synth tones forming a halo around the rhythmic bustle. This looks like an interesting new direction for Reichel.<br /><br />As for his current endeavors, Reichel says, "Most of my recent live material is music for a future release, a double-length concept album called Terramecha, that's about a planet inhabited by robots. I'm also working on a follow-up to [2008's] IZ (written for my niece), because I got another niece on the way."<br /><br />On top of all of this, Reichel is nearing completion of Gel-Sol's Adventures Beyond the Plunderworld, which parodies the Orb's debut album in the form of a collage of movie/TV/radio dialog snippets that touch on scatological, sexual, pharmaceutical, and musical matters. You'll eventually be able to hear it online for free. Speaking of which, you can hear some of Gel-Sol's music at www.myspace.com/gelsol and www.soundcloud.com/gel-sol. It's all very absORBing.<br /><br />Yer Pal,<br />Gel-SolGel-Solhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09053138564346035185noreply@blogger.com0