What Once Was Lost, is Now Found
"Genre" is a word that is very frustrating to me and a lot of other musicians in the electronic world. The accessibility of software, lowering prices of hardware and controllers, and afford-ability of home computers and laptops means that we are able to obtain the tools necessary to unleash some of our wildest musical desires upon the public (and private) domain.
What frustrates me about the word, is that I am able to dabble in so many different styles and genres of music that I often find myself lost in the sea of house, trance, downtempo, hip-hop, indie, acoustic, ambient, chillout. Add the word "progressive" in front of any genre and you have a qualifier that adds another dimension of depth and connotation in the minds of electronic music fans everywhere.
Where do I fit in? What do I do best? Where should I be taking the Sliptide name? What should I aim to play to a live audience? Which music should I really focus on distribution and promotion? Should I target a niche and try to dominate it like so many articles, tips, and advice columns on the topic suggest?
Sometimes... I say.. 'Eff it.
A few key points that I have taken to heart and thought at great length about from 2009:
Jeff, my accomplice in Silver Standard, let a nugget of truth slip from his mouth that certainly applies to my habits in the studio: I produce in the styles I have been listening to most at the time. If I've been listening to a lot of house music, I end up producing house-influenced music (like the past 3 months since November). If I've been listening to a ton of downtempo and trip-hop, then I produce a number of those styled tracks (akin to the project work I'm trying to wrap up). If I've had a balanced diet of music, I tend to pull from everything and make some genre blending styles that retain some charm of the "Sliptide" sound (chilled, technological, and flowing).
I hate to admit it, but I am mostly a chameleon when it comes to music production. The only things that really force me to step outside of the flavors in my mouth are things like remix contests or collaborations with other musicians.
The other key piece of information spoken to me was that, "Music is its own reward." It is something that took me by surprise because it happened to vocalize something I've felt for a very long time. I often say, "I make music for the sake of making music." Which means that I make the music so that it exists and is available for everyone on the planet to hear if they discover it, seek it out, stumble upon it, etc. I don't make it for glory. I don't make it for money. I don't make it for fame. I make it because I enjoy making it and it is very much a part of my life. It is consistently rewarding to produce music that is pleasing to me, friends, family, and fans who have decided to continue listening to my productions in this lifetime. Such it is that, "music is its own reward".
Where does that lead us today? Why am I writing this long blog post about all of this? Frankly, I think I've come to a very beautiful realization about my production methods and my life as an artist (and future entertainer as I begin to play live shows).
The genre, or label, applied to my music is nothing more than a category that gives some loose feelings and concepts to my music before ears have truly listened to it. It's my job to let the world hear it and take my music for what it is. Whether they enjoy the genre I'm working in at the time or not, I have so much music inside of me that I appeal to so many different fans that will have to filter out the styles and sounds of mine they wish to incorporate into their listening diet.
Such it is that I will be releasing 1 album of a number of tracks that reach back into my catalog of productions from 2006 through 2009. The title is picked out, with 5 solid songs already completed and needing a round of mastering polish. The rest will be selections that round out the texture and emotion of the album. From house, to chillout, to downtempo, and veins of experimental (for me), I now feel obligated to show the world my cards. All of them.
It's also worthy to note I am back on track and actively thinking, writing, and working on music for the yester-year mentioned album containing a large number of trip-hop and downtempo works. More lyrics have been started, some completed, and a lot of the songs are coming together nicely. A teaser is in the works with 2 of the heavy-hitting tracks that will make their way in teaser form to SoundCloud.
Finally, the house music that has invaded my mind of the last part of 2009 and this first month of 2010 is going to trickle out in one way or another. I'm definitely shopping some of these songs around for any labels that are interested in releasing them as 1-offs on Beatport, Juno, or even vinyl release (which would be really flippin' cool!)
...and there you have it! That's what's up in my brain right now with music and what have you. I hope to have some time carved out this weekend to get started on some of the demos and teaser tracks I want to post online.
2010 is going to kick major ass.
December, Where Did You Go?
Good lord.. is it really the week of Christmas? Did I really just see my weekends and time off fly by without even a cold winter breath upon my neck? What the?!
Well the GOOD news is that I'm a few clicks away from nabbing the first set of short run CDs of the new Silver Standard self-titled LP. The disc contains the songs from "The Silver Standard EP" along with a few new tracks that our small group of fans should enjoy quite a bit.
There isn't really any BAD news, as might have been indicated by starting with the GOOD news. I'm somewhat indecisive about how to progress with releasing some of my materials from the past 2 years. /sigh
In the Sliptide world, I've had the continual battle in my head-space for those precious cycles that may be applied to music production: Do I make more house and techno styled stuff? Do I dive headlong into more experimental meets traditional production values? Where do I take my live sets?
One thing is for sure: I have 10 solid house (tech and progressive) songs that are sure to please most casual house fans. There is definitely a grain of "Sliptide" sound in there along with the 4 on the floor beats and 4 or 8 bar progressions. The sounds are all programmed, and from what I've been hearing in the past years, sound fairly unique in their application to dance music. I'm thinking of this collection of songs, which deviates from what I've been doing in the past 5 years, as "a study of house music".
I'm going to open up here and admit that sometimes I feel cheapened by having been so excited and satisfied by making these tunes. The progressions and arrangements are very distilled and simplified, but something has attracted me to them for some reason or another, so I must continue to remind myself that I'm not making this music in vain. It simply taps into a different area of techno/electronic music that I have always enjoyed since I was introduced to all things electronic as a kid.
It was pointed out to me that perhaps I'm making the house and trance music because it is in my comfort zone. This is very likely. The stuff makes me happy and is fun to 'throw together', so maybe I need to sit back down and really start hammering on some new-to-me sounds and styles, 'eh?
In other news, I've been casually posting photos to my Flickr account again. I caught up on some highlights throughout the past, erm, I want to say 2 or 3 years? Check them out and feel free to connect with me on Flickr if you want!
That's all for now. Have a wonderful week, everybody!
December is Here?
It's been a quick year, so it seems.
I'll post my oh-so-expected 'year end' post, when I get all misty eyed and introspective as I reflect on the events of 2009, later this month when I am even more shocked that 2010 is upon us.
Lately I've been spending my free time working on the Silver Standard disc artwork for the new self titled album we are dropping hopefully by Christmas!! This week we should be wrapping up the CDBaby registration, the artwork, and hopefully getting the discs on order. You will be able to pick up the album from iTunes and Amazon MP3 as well, though I don't know if that will be in time for the holiday =T We shall see!
I've been making a BUNCH of house music lately. Somewhere between progressive and traditional.. though the other night I made a track that is a bit of an electro-house blend. I'm happy with the tunes so far! I think these are leading me down a path to take the next step and move into performing live. Keep your eyes peeled for samples to pop up on sliptide.com, and some demo/sample full songs by way of SoundCloud.
Oh yea! Be sure to sign up for the newsletter at the right hand site. I don't spam you with updates. In fact, you will probably get no more than 1 every other month!
November, New Direction and Motivation
November is one of my favorite months. With November comes the deep fall season, chilly weather, grey weather days mixed with appearances from the Sun amongst beautiful cloud displays in the Seattle sky.
Also with November, comes birthdays! Amy and I both have our birthday in November and it is typically quite the celebration. Even though we are keeping it low budget this year, I am going to do some additional birthday celebration here on Sliptide.com and various media sites that host my music.
*grin*
So for those of you who read my blog on a somewhat regular basis, you will be the first to know:
Thus far I have tentative plans for a number of music releases, free, to the internet. Starting here at Sliptide.com and working towards posting on other sources (like Soundcloud and iLike) I will release at least 1 free EP, a few singles, more preview clips, and a preview song or two of the new direction I am taking my music. You will see a post on The Latest, and I will update that post as things happen through the month.
Also note that on November 12th, I will be making City Shadows and Well of Souls available for $5 each! This applies to the Digital Downloads available on CDBaby.com. Woo!
-
I've caught wind and am flying on some serious motivation to grind out the music.
On one hand, I owe it to myself and my fans to wrap up production on tracks that are going onto the next album. Primarily trip-hop in nature with blends of down-tempo styles, the next album will feature a few vocal tracks written and performed by me. I have every intention of making the next release a full album available via the usual digital channels, but this will probably be the last major non-techno based release for awhile.
I've done a lot of soul-searching in the past months when it comes to how I relate to my production tactics, my music writing, and what goals I have as a musician. When I boil down the mixture of everything floating about in my head, I am left with a clear desire to write, produce, and perform all things techno, trance, and tech-house. It's how I can pay homage to my roots in electronic music. It's how I can get myself back to the energy. It's how I can continue to connect with an audience that fuels my fire.
So here I go into a somewhat new direction as I immerse myself into a world of dirty, drippy, filtered synths, driving beats, and 'the big four': texture, atmosphere, emotion, and passion. The music I'm now aiming for meets these four expectations I have for my productions and in the past three days I have produced 2 full skeleton/preview tracks and an additional set of samples/loops that are far closer to the mark of music I wish to be making and performing than anything I have made in the past few years.
I suppose you could say I'm getting back to my 'roots' in techno, or maybe this revelation is a 'back to basics' mentality. Either way, I'm very pleased w/the results thus far. Focus and motivation are amazing tools to have under your belt as a musician!
I look forward to working on my next 'step' after having a few more tracks under my belt. I will be getting that old laptop spruced up and tested with Ableton Live! 8 for use in live shows. Cross your fingers! 2010 is already shaping up to be a big year as we head into the last remaining bits of 2009.
Drums and Dogs
I apologize, yet again, for the utter lack of visuals on my blog. I have never been a big fan of posting pictures along with my entries, though I know that on some occasions I should really consider doing it as I know I have pertient images relative to the content of my posts that would add that much more depth for the reader.
Ah well.. I don't really have time for it right now!
Our house is busier than usual the past 2 days because on Monday we picked up our puppy!! Amy and I are giving a great home to a wonderful black lab puppy (8 weeks old!) we have named Zephyr. We have been going through the initial stages of puppy-dom and so far so great! He has been a blast from the get go, and while he is a handful as he does his puppy things (exploration, eating, energy burning, FRAPPING), it has been rather smooth. We have only had one 'accident' so far, and he is fairly responsive already to our training and commands. I'm sure that will be more of a challenge as he moves into the puppy equivalent of the terrible twos. 
Last week was pretty sweet. Cameron and I went to Guitar Center to check out some digital drum sets. Cameron is friend of mine who is a great dummer and we're planning out some side projects for music. He is going to pick up a digital set that will be more portable, interface with all of the electronics and recording hardware/software I have, and be much quieter for future apartment living-- I can imagine it would be very frustrating to love drumming and not have a viable way to really let loose when you live in close proximity of your neighbors.
Jeff, Cameron and I were hanging out over the weekend and we threw down some amazing ideas for a project (which, due to the awesomeness of it I can't spill the beans!), as well as some ideas to involve Cameron into the Silver Standard line up. More great times ahead!
Speaking of Silver Standard, Jeff and I are moving closer to having the full LP version of our previous release (The Silver Standard EP) ready for digital release and limited hard copy prints. We are also planning some smaller marketing packages and materials to help get our name out there in the Seattle music community (of course, taking full advantage of the resources we have online so we can reach a wider audience as well).
Just a quick post for now. I really need to take some time and sit down to get pictures, sound clips, and blogs in order. Oi!
Friends, fun, puppies, and wants.
Time to let those enzymes do their job and digest this blob of a post:
It's been a lot of fun hanging out with good friends,
though I feel frazzled and frayed while fizzling ferociously,
trying to keep my thoughts in order so I can get the job done.
Overload seems to help short circuit to creative one-ups,
though I feel under-whelmed, under-done, and under-achieved,
trying to keep my head on straight so I can make things solid.
Maybe I focus too much on the negative of day-time living,
though I feel unaccomplished, unsatisfied and unwilling,
trying to keep the future on par so I can live up to expectations.
Yes, it's the usual work-life-hobby meets dream-job balance war that goes on in my head on an almost weekly basis. It's completely normal and I have come to accept that my brain is a battlefield of emotion and thought process that either ties my hands behind my back and keeps me from cutting out the "boring" parts of my life, or lets me loose on the battlefield with my tools of sonic destruction and audiological healing: wasting negative thoughts while healing the wounded positives as an iconic, legendary hero traveling in no man's land.
I'm having a blast, really. I've been greatly enjoying the company of friends. I've been taking advantage of rest and relaxation and having fun. I'm getting a puppy (pictures soon) at the end of the month. I'm picking up the music production again to work towards my larger life goals. I'm back to salivating over technological habits (cameras, music equipment, and cars, anyone?), enjoying video games like crazy (yes.. WarCraft, Xbox, and my new-found love interest: Guitar Hero/Rock Band.. I was living under a rock for a few years and played for the first time over the weekend).
I have a lot of stuff to be greatful for and stay positive about, so there's no reason in the world that my day job career should be getting me down. If I can mold my personal life into how I want it to be, then I should be doing the same with my career and taking myself along a journey in that respect, too.
..holy crap.. a puppy? We think his name will be Zephyr. He's a black lab. =)
Busy Summer!
It has been a busy summer! From the vacation back east (which I still need to expand upon and get pictures up), to a great 4th of July on Bainbridge Island with good friends, and visiting friends from L.A. finding solace at the homestead here in the North West... and the busy times at my job which included our entire department moving to a new building. This weekend has been very hermit-like as my fiancee and I have been turtling into our den being uber nerds as we relax and let the comforts of home envelop us.
The music front has been slow because of the business of life. I have, at the very least, been getting my things in order for disc prints of Well of Souls. I've been working further with Nick and had a breakout design session with him that nailed down a solid direction for the first prints.
Future projects have been coming together nicely. Expect some surprises in August. Silver Standard has had a few more recording sessions and we've done some great things.
Anywho.. I'm mostly dropping a blog post to say hi and "I'm still alive!". It's just been crazy-busy summer, but it has been a blast so far. As the August heat rings out the high point of summer here in the North West, I am sure to get back down to business with music and my art projects.
A Vacation to the East Coast (part 1)
Where in the world do I begin? At the beginning of course!
With my ridiculously large PTO bucket at work, I was able to schedule another big vacation of about 2 weeks. Amy and I decided at the beginning of the year that we were going to travel to the east coast and hit up her home turf (Virginia Beach), Washington D.C., Williamsburg, and other areas along the way which we fancied.
We flew the cheapest of cheap flights that we could w/out taking an inordinate amount of time to reach our destination. This meant we flew a red eye from SeaTac, WA into Dulles in D.C., then a smaller charter from Dulles into Norfolk. Let's just say that the Airbus from SeaTac to Dulles was HORRIBLE! It was one of the most uncomfortable flights I have ever been on. I could have dealt with the severe lack of leg room in my veal stall seat, but why in the world did it feel like 80 degrees in the cabin during the entire flight? It was so hot in there that I couldn't use my neck pillow (due to a profusely sweating neck). Needless to say I didn't get much sleep. At least I was excited enough to only be mildy annoyed: I was looking forward to the trip so much!
Norfolk airport was just as I had remembered it. I was shocked at how well I had paid attention to the place during my last trip (which was a red eye flight with no sleep after having been at work the previous day... I was exhausted!). The weather was warm, a bit cloudy, and it felt oh so good to sit back and relax our travel worn selves in Amy's mother's car.
We were driven to our free ride for our stay. Amy's parents let us borrow an early 1990's Chrysler Minivan. It is one of those text book metallic light blue paint jobs that you saw on those vans back then (and some still on the roads today). The darn thing was an old war horse that ran as great as ever. Even though the inside was old, used, and certainly falling apart, the ride was smooth and somewhat comfy. Mega score and nothing but appreciation for family lending us a ride to save uber bucks! It would have been SO expensive to rent a car for the whole trip!
Anywho, I should get to the good parts before I make this post utterly long.
The first major haps was our early drive up to DC the next morning. I piled a sleepy fiancee and all of our luggage into the van and set out on our couple-of-hours journey up north. We beat traffic like nobodies business and pulled into our hotel for an early check in. Needless to say when we got up to our room we passed out for a well deserved post red-eye-then-staying-up-late-then-early-driving nap.
After we woke up in the late afternoon we packed our walking bags and took off to catch the Metro from Crystal City to China Town. I was shocked from so many different aspects of the Metro, enough so that I could probably write another blog post about it! It's clean, it's fast, it's efficient, and it goes all over the place. I can only dream of having something like that in the greater King county area.
We did some walking around as I continued to be excited and in awe like a little kid. I was so excited to be in DC and see the monuments, the museums, the white house, etc. I decided that one of the first things I wanted to do was head to the Museum of Natural History. There we spent quite a while going through only 5 full exhibition halls before our bellies began to grumble. At that point we made our way to the lobby feeling satisifed by the fun we had and from all that we saw.
The lobby was filled with people. Wet people. Earlier in the morning we had heard the weather report warn us of flooding in the DC area. The clouds didn't look so menacing even while walking around before we entered the museum, but when we attempted to leave we discovered rain coming down in buckets and the streets were literally filling up with water. We used Amy's G1 to find a place we wanted to go eat, then geared up in our handy Marmot rain coats (hyper light, uber compact, we use them hiking, biking, or walking around rainy Seattle) and went on a wet adventure walking 12 blocks in the pouring rain.
It wasn't cold or anything, but we certainly were soaked from the thighs down. We both wore flip-flops that day which worked to our advantage in not having soggy socks or wet and heavy shoes. By the time we arrived at our destination, Capitol City Brewery, the rain had just about stopped. We waited about 15 minutes for our table and proceeded to enjoy ourselves with some decent beer (hops from Yakima, WA.. go figure!) and a TON of food. We took our time to enjoy eating while drying out. Once we finished, a short walk to one of the many Metro stops and we hopped our train back to Crystal City to chill at our hotel.
...and since I have been trying to get this post done in the midst of life, re-building a new music OS install, being ill, and business all over the place, I'm going to post this as a "part 1".
I promise to get "part 2" and some pictures out this upcomming week!
Beat the Bridge
Amy and I ran the 8k Beat the Bridge event last Saturday. It was the first running event I've ever participated in and it was a lot of fun!
Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking clearly in the early AM when we were on our way to the event and I decided to take 520 into UW. The Montlake Bridge exit was so messed up that we didn't make it into the parking lot from that direction in time. We ended up spending 1 hour and 45 minutes in traffic trying to get around the UW campus and into the parking lot from the north side. During our parking shenanigans an interesting thing happened.
At one point we were behind a Chevy Aveo. This particular blue Aveo had an "Army of One" or "Go Army" sticker on the back (I forget the phrase..) which was hap hazardly taped into the window. It made the sticker, and the car, look particularly sad. As I was pondering the phrase I often describe cheap cars with, "a five hundred dollar car", a very large amount of smoke began to rise from the engine bay on the drivers side. The car caught on fire in the middle of heavy stopped traffic before the Montlake bridge. Without skipping a beat, some of the passers by on foot (going to the race) stepped out to help the girls' Aveo off to the side of the road. Later that day when telling the story to our friend (also named Sean) at the event, he said, "...and GM is failing?" Terrible of me, but yes.. the whole situation made me laugh as soon as it happened. I'm glad it wasn't more serious and nobody was hurt and I feel bad for whoever owned the car, but it is a statement in its own right that really resonated with my own thoughts and feelings about the US auto market.
Back to the event: It was wall to wall people all lined up and ready to go in waves of racers. You had the sub 7-minute mile "wave 1", the sub 8 minute mile "wave 2" and the "8 minute mile or greater" wave 3. Amy, Sean and I were in wave 3. I was sticking this out with Amy as we do things like this together.
The event was awesome. There was an energy about the crowd. The organized, uncouncious collective of the competitors was incredibly cool. Add to that the sheer joy of being able to run in major roads, two bridges, through a neighborhood in the streets... how often do you get to do that?
When it was all said and done, Amy and I ran an average of 12 minute miles. The sun and heat kicked our butts as well, so after we had a killer lunch at Rock Bottom in Bellevue, the day was essentially over.
Next up: A weekend recording music for Silver Standard, a vacation to the east coast (Virginia and D.C.), plans with friends for a fun June filled with BBQs and nights out, Sliptide music, and planning a wedding and honey moon. ^_^
A Wonderful Time in Seaside, Oregon
Most of you already know that I left for vacation to Seaside, Oregon with my girlfriend and came back home from vacation with my fiancee!
On Sunday, April 26th, I proposed to Amy on a secluded cliffside bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean from Ecola State Park: she said yes!
The trip itself was awesomely relaxing as well. Our room was a studio condo literally on the oceanfront with an incredible view of the ocean waves as they came into the shore. The decor was pleasant and home-like, while the bonus of a kitchenette let us bring a lot of our own food stuffs to save on having to eat out for every meal. It was wonderful to make a breakfast or two, or have some wine and dessert at our room with a beautiful (if not THE BEST) view of the ocean compared to just about any restuarant in town.
Seaside is pretty small with a lovely coastal/beachy community that is relatively unbothered by the hyper-contrast-commerce annoyances of places like California. Cannon Beach is more of the same but wicked nice and will definitely be a place we will stay in the next time we go down there for hiking/biking/beach'ing.
Ecola state park is amazing. The particular day we were there, the weather was incredible. Partial sun with a light breeze here and there and only a tiny bit of rain here and there (not enough to warrant rain coats or covering our bags). After the engagement took place we still had a healthy dose of hiking ahead of us. The scenery couldn't have been more perfect with lush greenery, cliffside views of the ocean and beaches, giant rock spires immediately off shore, and a lighthouse in the distance (that doubled as a nice distraction as I was getting prepared to propose!).
Yes, I was definitely missing the ocean and chill vibe of Seaside and Cannon Beach. I can't wait to visit again, perhaps next year!
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