Love that ambient female choiry sound - like the way it modulates.I recognise that picture too - isn't that something thats in the progress of currently being built,in Japan or somwhere? The choir very subtley just faded out - quite manic bassy sounds like something being constructed out of concrete.Good hammond sound,doubling up of rhythm in a banjo type sound.Very unusual sound overall,original and interesting.Sort of sums up a sci-fi world of progress/non progress,beautiful but scarey.Very creative ad original,thanks

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i guess i should add some more info to the description about the picture.

i'm glad you picked up "beautiful but scarey" - i definitely had that in mind.

thanks for listening and commenting


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This is so up my street it aint funny.
Great work my friend.
Gonna check out your other tracks on the strength of this one.

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i have already dropped by to visit one of your tunes. most excellent! please do try some of my other tunes, but beware my tastes are all over the map.

maybe you subconciously heard the Scottish Ides Drum loop towards the end of this song? i used that to tie the rhythm back to the opening voices.

the opening is basically in 70 BPM.

the middle part is is 140 BPM.

the ending is 70 BPM.

mostly the middle part has a beat like this: one-TWO-three-FOUR.
after the break, the Scottish drums come in doing: one-two-THREE-four.

but you can hear the Scottish drums as playing one-TWO-three-FOUR being played at half speed - a hint at the original 70 BPM origin. (at least here in the USA, that beat brings to mind funerals for many folks, a hint at a darker meaning in this song)


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I came here, not in the mood, or having time to listen to music, but to just go and do what I needed to do...

Well, I'm not ready for this experience to be over with yet.

And it does host the traits of what progress can be at times - sweet working motion

Lots of cool and interesting sounds, and their all thick w/ character. Dign' the way you used percussion on this, and in a few ways. too.

Is "Progress" what this started out to be? Curious.

I haven't commented on anybody's music at MJ's for quite some time, work and traveling and many other things have had me captured. I haven't even been here for quite awhile, so mums the word.

Somehow it seems, that this tune was made for me! I'm happy!

Thanks, Smoky! Macca

Ps - what kinda gear are you using to put this together? Like, what software, hardware, instruments and stuff.

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no. the title "Progress" was added at the end. i'll explain.

this came from experimenting with the World Music JamPack instruments.

first, i fooled around with the "South African Singers" software synth. a previous song also featured that synth. i love the sound - it's inspiring. and i fooled around with several Balinese loops eventually creating the opening sound you hear here. i especially like the gong that sounds like waves gently crashing on the shore. to me, this became a South Pacific paradise sound at 77 BPM.

second, i fooled around with Andean Stroll Guitaron, Russian Balalaika, Irish Reel Bouzouki, and various other JamPack synths and loops. i built up a strong catchy beat pattern at 128 BPM.

one day they collided. i slowed the first 77 BPM part to 70 BPM, and sped up the second 128 BPM to 140 BPM. that way they could retain their moods, but be crossfaded.

much later, when i was mostly done, i realized i had created an expression of a modern nightmare that has disturbed me very much over the years. you take a nice calm paradise with waving palm trees, add some tourists, which leads to more tourists, which leads to tourist accomodations, which leads to the final destruction of the very paradise itself. that's called progress.

googling about for images, i finally found a symbolic image of a palm tree. a very unusual palm tree (one of three actually), that is an absolutely perfect icon for my nightmare. *sigh*

but, despite all this nonsense, i'm glad this tune made you happy. i could be entirely wrong about the true meaning of this composition. really. i discussed this idea somewhere else recently. what really counts is what you feel when you hear this, not my random musings!

thank you very much for listening - i hope to see your comments all over the site again soon!

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...and then, I realized that I hadn't fav'd or downloaded a copy. That's what happens when ya don't do what yer supposed to do!

Thanks for taking the time to give such a detailed response. Truly appreciated!

Macca

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I just love music!

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Tropical WestWorld.
I enjoyed this - your transitions/sound evolutions were deceptively smooth (until the final voice deflation, purposely meant to be disruptive), your textures intriguing.


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i am glad you enjoyed this

you picked up on the smooth "sneaking up on you" effect i was going for!

thanks

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You use those loops very creatively - to express some very complex ideas. Good music, including your replies here, which add a lot of depth to the listening for me.

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this is one of those times that the creativity happened first intuitively, then the complex ideas got noticed and tacked on afterwards.

thanks for listening and commenting

your comment, and the others, prompted me to add some detail about the loops i used in case someone has World Music and feels like experimenting. it's loads of fun! give it a try!

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Kraftwerk!!

Which is a good thing.

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i am an operator... with my pocket calculator... B^)

thanks stoooey

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That is my favourite Kraftwerk song! Coming in Second is Autobahn. (What a shocker!)

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That's not my real hair....and the guitar is a fake too!

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there's a nice Martin Denny vibe to this - I've noticed your interest in the genre before. As I've come to expect from you there's more than meets the ear going on here. Very cool mixing of the tempos and voicings. Quite enjoyable.

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hmmm, you have again referred to a specific vibe i don't know by name. that's a good thing! i'm learning more about genres from your posts than anywhere else. your depth of knowledge is impressive you know.

(unrelated - i just tried listening to recording of the name Mississippi played 10 times slower than normal. lots of room for something new in that. stay tuned!)

thanks


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album called Exotica released in 1957. It started the whole Hawaain/Latin lounge genre that was too groovy before the sixties. I'm sure you've heard it - just not by name.
Can't wait to hear the Mississippi project..
BTW - I just threw up a little experimental interlude to break away from beat driven music for a minute.

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This is a great bit of tuneage Smokey. Very creative. So many sonic textures. Beautifully layered mix. Conceptually, this one could go on an EP with Vic Holman's "Hail The Machine" and my newbie "Assembly Line." Seems we're feeling and thinking much the same way about these things.

Be well!


http://www.macjams.com/song/30366

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thanks for the tuneage pointers. i agree, there is a link there. coincidence?

& thanks for listening!


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I could help but enjoying it! What I like most about your music, is that you never know what to expect. And all your musical experiments turn out to be interesting and fun, to say the least. Your track does get a little busy towards the end - but I really don't mind - there's so much creative stuff going on. The music sounded almost childlike (in a really good sense!), inventive - much like what I first thought of the idea of building an artifical island in the shape of a lollipop - oh palmtree - excuse ME:)

Another great smokey track thunk up way outside the box:)

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funny about boxes. i often feel i'm trapped in my own box, while i see other people around me breaking out of theirs. i guess it's all relative...

yeah, i does get busy towards the end, but i kinda wanted it to.

thank you for listening & commenting


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This feels like ... something roten in Denark, a chilled little tune with a whiff of decay about it. Something about the female vocal tune gives this a menacing edge. the change sounds like technology swamping the human voice, and i love how this accelerates this.
Sounds like teh soundtrack to my panic attacks.

Really graet piece of work, sort of thing I hear that inspires me to get out of my comfort zone.

Steve

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i had fun playing the 70BPM against 140BPM. i guess you were picking up on that. i wonder if people living on tropical islands, before progress washed upon their shores, suffered from panic attacks?

thanks for listening!!!

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...enery.. the very definition I'd say.. good piece!

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thanks for dropping by!

try listening to this new different version: http://www.macjams.com/song/32880

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