iximusic · DO_zMfLpjqI

I don't really know what to expect, but
I do know that it's probably going to be
odd. The first track
is called
Jin Wei Thek.
Oh.
[Music]
[Applause]
Gosh, that was beautiful.
So pretty and totally unexpected. I just
yeah.
I mean, I guess since April 14th is on
the album, I should have known there
could be some other very pretty tonal
things, but
A flat A flat Dorian.
[Music]
It's like minor, but one of the notes is
more of mystical.
So, I was really enjoying the sound of
that scale, which already sounds very
enchanting to me,
with this
[Music]
instrument.
And I cannot place what that is.
I'm hearing some piano, I think, in the
left hand. At least, that's how I think
about it. And in the right, maybe it's a
prepared piano sample or something like
that. Or maybe this is another one of
those
um disklavier disklavier
compositions where there's a prepared
piano and it's being triggered by MIDI
or something like that.
But it's absolutely gorgeous. I am
definitely adding this to a playlist. If
Jin Wei Thek hasn't been in a film,
I would be surprised. The elves were in
the room with me. The second one's
called Vord Vordhosbn.
Oh my god.
[Music]
So different than
Jin Wei Thek. This track is
as they say, sick.
It's very ill. First of all, the beats
were just awesome. Just so beautiful
organized chaos. You know, it reminded
me of you know, some elements of like
very complex drum and bass.
But it also had like a tonal element to
it. This kind of
um
ambient kind of gentle spacey
sound, which I feel like some of the
other stuff of his I've heard has had
that same juxtaposition. Not only
nerding out, but also getting like the
brain like the brain itch or brain
scratching of just those highly complex
rhythms and how well they were mixed and
how they were you know, were panned and
it was just like really uh satisfying
sonically. And so I was like, yeah. And
then there's like these pretty like
spacey melodies.
In fact, if I listen to this a little
bit more, that
[Music]
Sorry about that.
It's going on the left hand. Hang on.
[Music]
There's like a little uh
you know, it's almost harp-like the
synth, right? It's like kind of plucking
its way up. This doesn't sound dated to
me. Again, I didn't grow up with this
album, so for other people it'll be very
nostalgic, but to me this is totally
new. Like part of it is like relaxing me
and the other part of it's like
amping me up to the max. This next track
is called
Maybe if I say it like I'm an elf, it'll
it'll make more sense. Kladvbung
Mischk. Don't go to Kladvbung Mischk
without
the sword of Jin Wei Thek.
[Music]
Okay.
[Music]
Ooh.
[Music]
Super cool.
[Music]
Okay, we're three tracks in, but so far
I am enamored and impressed. That was
really cool. It reminds me a lot of this
one album that my friend Nick showed me
uh played for me called Dawn of MIDI.
Highly recommend. But there's a very
minimalist kind of quality to that.
Really interesting, again, sort of
combination of of timbers.
I can tell it's all being triggered
somehow. And again, I don't know
if these are samples or if it's machines
that are playing
these instruments. I could totally see
a bunch of robots playing acoustic
instruments.
But there was what sounded like a double
bass, so that's like the stand-up
basses.
And then there was a piano.
And then there were all these metallic
percussive noises that were
somewhat pitched. So, that also kind of
tonal. Maybe sounds almost like thumb
harps, you know, or the mbira. The way
that they're organized is not around a
tonal center or anything like that.
There's no scale.
There's still there's some organization
though, it's just not that.
But I'd be interested to see what a jazz
musician's take on that piece of music
is, because I think that they would hear
it a bit differently. I think their ears
are trained to recognize patterns and
dissonance that a lot of us just don't
hear. So far, we are three for three. I
am really into this. Okay, fourth track
is called
Um Um Gaya Switch 7.
[Music]
OKAY.
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
WOO.
[Music]
THIS IS THE SECOND TIME HE'S ENDED
SOMETHING like that, where there's a
sort of discordant
chord that kind of rings out really
quietly. Dude, I love this.
I'm like, I'm just going to add all
these tracks to my playlist and then I'm
going to be like, oh, it's the whole
album. I know that that may have seemed
like chaos, but it wasn't.
There was actually a beat most of the
time.
It just took me a couple There was a
couple moments like the beginning and
the end, which I think were kind of like
bookends to the song, where I lost any
sort of sense of pulse or couldn't find
one. And then I then I found it again,
which was a cool feeling. I love that
where you're like, I am not Ah, there I
am. It's really a kind of a cool feeling
of like a suspended in like a timeless
place and then you like hit the ground.
Not only was that did it have a groove
that is very consistent, just like a
pulse like most music, but it also had a
very sensible
tonality. The bassline was interacting
with the melody like in a regular piece
of music. It was supporting the melody
like it was the bottom of chords and
things like that. I could tell you that
this isn't a key and it's got a scale
and it's like
you know, but it's really cool the way
he sort of
maybe sort of like Trent Reznor, but
maybe to the extreme.
Kind of hiding all this like beauty.
Whether or not it's intentional.
But it it's sort of obscured from us.
There's so many other things flying in
our faces,
you know, that are pulling our attention
cuz it's almost like we have to. It's
like a it's a it's a matter of like
survival, you know, our our nervous
system is getting like
pummeled
that
you have to like
[Music]
calm down and like access what's
underneath all of that. I think for
Trent Reznor it's a little bit more of
like noise, noiziness, distortion, and
that kind of thing.
Uh and for Aphex Twin,
I just I don't have a I can't make a
claim yet about how he's doing it. But
in this one it was the drums and it also
in
Klad Ver
Amisch, uh was was
similar uh way of like, you know,
very very intense drums and then this
like beauty underneath. But I also
noticed in this track and maybe another
one which I forgot to mention that the
synth sound detuned.
So, they just kind of they have a
organic sort of wavering to them. They
kind of go in and out of tune either
oscillators with each other or
they or or different notes are just kind
of going out of tune with each other.
And
it's cool. I mean, I've been thinking a
lot about this how, you know, Westerners
ears are very trained to
think that anything that goes outside of
our
just intonation, the 12 pitches here,
is
out of tune and sounds weird and is very
very unsettling. It's just cool to hear,
you know, music made by Westerners
that is sort of exploring, right, these
uh
the lines between the notes basically
and making us really have to confront
the rigidity through which we hear
things.
So, it was just a touch with this one.
But this is really interesting.
The whip The whip was so crazy and
there's a sample that I heard at the end
as well as at the beginning that sounded
like maybe a sample of a voice that had
been distorted and filtered and
uh but I started really enjoying that
kind of loop when it would come around
and wanting to sort of
uh almost like sing along to it or mimic
the rhythm similarly to how I would hear
samples in Nine Inch Nails music,
especially The Downward Spiral, you
know, that like screams, right, that
aren't musical, but they become musical
with repetition. So, there's a This is a
gold mine.
[Music]
The The vibe I was getting was Phrygian
dominant or Hijaz, that sound.
Oh, yeah, and I
disclaimer that I should have made at
the beginning, um I'm in no way saying
that Aphex Twin Richard, sorry.
Aphex is his first name. I'm kidding. Uh
that Richard is thinking about things
like scales and chords. I I doubt it,
you know,
I think a lot of us aren't actually.
Uh this is just one way to name what
what I'm hearing, but yeah, he's just
doing what sounds good
or sounds weird or whatever he likes,
whatever he's trying to do with the
track.
And that part sounds like C minor, but
just things are just
wavering in and out of tune.
It's so it's so beautiful. Next one's
called Strotha Strotha Tanth
Tine.
[Music]
Hm.
I like that chord.
Ooh.
[Music]
There's a flanger on that piano.
[Music]
Hm.
[Music]
Hm. I wonder if that was an improv.
That's the That's the
impression it gave me. It's very
meandering.
Nothing's repeated twice.
You know, just sort of
this chord, this note a couple times,
then this chord, this chord,
you know,
like
just
[Music]
Again, it'd be so interesting to to see
what a a jazz a jazz musician's take on
that would be or jazz pianist
specifically. Like, what would they hear
in that? To me, I can hear lots of
dissonances and consonances. So, like
moments where the chords sound very
stable and what we're accustomed to
hearing like a major chord or something,
you know, just like a
There was There was like two of those.
And then the rest had lots of other
notes in them, lots of tension,
you know,
um
you know, intervals that some people
would feel very uncomfortable with.
But again, a jazz musician would be
like,
"Oh, yeah."
There were so many moments where I felt
like
I like barely got my footing and then he
would like change it to something where
again, it just felt like the ground
beneath me was constantly shifting.
Which is kind of how it felt when I was
just improvising just now. Like, you
know, I'm not trying to create any kind
of foundation for the listener to rely
on. In fact, I don't want them to rely
on anything. I don't want them to get
attached to any chord I'm playing.
Right? This is You could think of this
as like
either a run-on sentence or even a
bunch of unfinished thoughts. So, if
somebody just started to
the plant that was
And if I don't
you know, like
And just that for 2 minutes, but
musically. All right, the next track is
called Gwety Mernans.
Good old Gwety Mernans.
[Music]
Oh, wow.
[Music]
Wow.
I highly recommend that one with
headphones and eyes closed. It reminded
me of how I felt going to the Dream
House. I know I've mentioned this
before, but it's such a
such a memorable experience.
Dream House in Manhattan by La Monte
Young and Catherine Zazeela where
they're playing all the prime number
frequencies as a sine wave all at once.
It makes you feel like
there's no sense of time at all.
And this obviously had a lot of things
changing, so it did have a sense of
time, but for some reason it was like
very hypnotic.
This panning
felt very primal. Like like it felt like
it was like like my nervous system was
trying to sync up to it in some way like
uh heartbeat. Did somebody mention a
sonogram? Cuz I feel like that is such a
good
descriptor. It also has like a sucking
quality to it too, like a pound and a
suck.
So, I don't know, both of those felt
very
heart-like. I don't know if someone
doesn't know any different, it's doesn't
know that it's music,
it's going to regulate to it or
it's probably affected by it. So,
just that alone is really cool. And then
on top of it,
it was it was changing at times, you
know, panning but also sometimes the
the sort of rhythm it was creating would
kind of get a little out of phase with
itself. So, instead of
it's like going
like that and then it would kind of like
even out. And then there was another
moment where I sort of felt like it kind
of like reversed direction or something
and I felt myself go like whoa, you
know, like I felt like I was like at the
mercy of it. And then these really
haunting
synths. Again, the fidelity of the
synths he's using, the depth and the
organic
nature of them, the way they feel like
there's just so much going on
dynamically,
sonically. It was like a living
breathing synth sound. And I love I love
those and it that's part of why I also
this sounds more timeless to me.
The um
Yeah, and and
doesn't didn't really feel like there
was a
you know, a key or anything like that,
but it sort of did imply
a feeling of tonality that made a little
bit more sense
and I was kind of I was kind of hearing
it that way. I was kind of like
expecting the melody, you know, when it
would come and it would repeat.
And another cool thing about that song I
didn't realize until like halfway
through is that there's like a low
bass note.
I don't think it's a sine. It could be,
but it sounded like it had more texture
to it. So, probably not a sine, but some
kind of simple maybe wave way down low
on one note
just being held out the entire time.
And so, it's not behaving like a
bassline, but it is behaving like the
persistent low end of a piece of
music or or organized sound. So, it was
just like very persistent and
actually felt a bit tense to me because
it didn't ever let up or change. It was
just like this
The next track is called
by D'ni on chord.
[Music]
Every song different than the next. That
was not my favorite that we've heard so
far. That groove had
it has the the the drum sound. I'm not
sure. I think it might be like a hand
drum that's used in reggae. So, it
definitely gave like a
different vibe
and it was very danceable, right? And it
it almost felt like
if Aphex Twin did muzak or elevator
music. Uh there was no bassline
whatsoever. So, it was very like empty
feeling
and very floaty.
And maybe that's part of why the
the chords felt really disconnected from
the drum beat. Like they felt like
almost two different songs that had just
happened to be in the same tempo sort of
overlaid. Okay, next is called
version 10.
[Music]
Here's 303.
[Music]
Come on, you LET'S HAVE SOME APHEX
ACID.
[Music]
HEY, THERE IT IS AGAIN. THAT KIND of
same ending.
Just that a soft. You know, there is
something to say for making a soundscape
like this that keeps you
constantly like huh? What? You know,
like you can't just
not with something like this. You can't
just zone out. You can't just
not pay attention.
It's totally overwhelming, right? And
so, to each their own. Like for some
people this might be
very stressful to listen to.
I'm finding it at least right now very
exciting and kind of uh that same
it's like this brain-scratching
feeling I get. Just the the complexity
of all these beats and it's mixed
really well.
Like to me and
again, I you know, I'm not a mixing
engineer, so take this with a grain of
salt, but to me it sounds like
it could have been mixed today. Very
interesting to hear on headphones and
it's very crisp and pleasing and just
tasty tasty.
And then he's got these again these like
kind of beautiful sort of ethereal
uh synth, you know, kind of chords and
melodies that make so much more sense.
It's such a strange marriage. I really
like it.
This one had like a 303 bass that wasn't
acting like a bass though. It was just
you know, being another rhythmic
textural element in the low end and then
the synth lead reminds me of some of the
other synth leads on some of the other
tracks we just heard. So, make maybe
this is one of his favorite kind of
sounds and I can't describe it.
I just know what it sounds like. The
next one is April 14th, which you know,
you know I did a video about. It's a
really really pretty piano piece. It
feels very um I don't know, gentle. I
could see someone dancing like a ballet
to this. You know, it's very sweet. Uh
some folks were comparing it to Erik
Satie, the French impressionist
composer. But let's look at kind of what
the chords are doing and the melodies
and why it's so lovely.
Next track is 8 minutes long. It's
called Mount Saint-Michel
plus Saint Michael's Mount.
[Music]
Wow.
Pretty.
[Music]
Oh my gosh.
Dude, that last part
I can't even talk. That was like when
you're when you're in the car and
someone rolls their window down just
enough so that the pressure in the
car is like beating, you know, and it's
like you can feel it going in your ears
and you're like whoa. It's like that,
but
way more
and sharp and oh my gosh. I'm not saying
I didn't like it. I just that was just a
lot. Anybody else?
Ah, yes, it's a gate. Yeah, it's just
cutting the signal so fast. That was
crazy.
Oh, I have so many thoughts if they had
if my mind's not erased. After the first
part which was very abrasive, then we
got we got our relief. Our Aphex Twin
synths came in.
Right? Again, playing very beautiful
melodic lines with harmony and chords
and everything in its right place. Not
the song, the concept.
And no bassline to back them up. I feel
like that's that's starting to become I
think a trend at least in this album.
Kind of these
almost like disjointed parts.
And you have to work to make them
connect.
It's not all just laid out for you. This
song is written in the key of
A
quarter flat or whatever. I don't know.
It's in between um
two notes. It's not A flat. That's the
closest tone but
this.
[Music]
That's like a really great melody in a
minor key.
Sorry, A flat flat flat.
[Music]
It's a it's a statement that resolves
itself at the end. Really pretty. I love
that part.
That's my favorite part. That sounds so
cool.
And then there were chords too at the
beginning. We're not going to go into it
but they were like actual really
beautiful chords.
That one I really liked. I felt honestly
I felt like that 8-minute length was
perfect for the amount of changes that
he goes through in his songs. Oh, I one
more comment then we'll move on. The the
synth lead I'm noticing again I don't
have the vocabulary just yet to describe
it. So, it'd be interesting to hear from
anybody that's watching that
is really familiar with synths.
But it sounds like a lot of the sounds
he's using and gravitating towards
either they're pads with very little
very slow attack. And then he has
another sound he seems to really like
where it has a strong attack
a quick
decay and a long release. So, it it kind
of goes bing.
And you end up with these like layers of
his like bing bing bing bing. And you
can hear sort of like a chord being
created by the line
that is left of all of those attacks.
And they kind of get drawn out. I wish I
could draw this right now. But it's like
Almost like an EKG or something. And it
reminded me of a song that's in my head.
[Music]
Listening to this is reminding me of so
much music in my library.
Like more than usual.
I do listen to a lot of electronic
music. So, probably there's a lot of the
artists I'm listening to have been
influenced by this album and by Aphex
Twin. So, that makes sense. The vocals
were beautiful. We have this sort of
haunting very innocent sounding like
young woman
singing it was very it sounded very
present and close by and kind of
intimate.
A kind of raw vulnerable. And she was
she was singing along with that melody.
So, that was really nice. That had a
very cool vibe to it. The next track is
called Gwerek 2.
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
Well,
that affected me. That is a
crazy experience with headphones. I
guess all I can say is that had every
fiber of my being on edge
and in suspense. There was a moment
where it made me uh like I wasn't sad or
moved or anything but I started to to
tear up.
And then at the same time my salivary
glands started doing that thing where
you know
when a lot of saliva comes out it like
kind of hurts. It's like this little
click.
You know, like mm.
And I was like, "What the hell?"
"What is going on?" Reminded me a little
bit of
like creatures a lot of the time. You
know, it's like sometimes I'm like,
"Okay, yeah, it's a sound. I can hear
him manipulating and experimenting with
the sound." Other times though I kind of
forgot
what I was really listening to and just
was sort of imagining being in a very
dangerous dark place with like creatures
from another dimension that I can't see
and only hear and
that was cool. Next one's called Orban
Equitrix
trix trix trix.
Ooh.
[Music]
That's just begging to be sampled. What
a cool loop.
That's I mean that's how it feels. Just
like a drum loop, you know. Um
Great groove. Love how distorted the
kick is. Love how metallic and tonal the
snare is.
I can kind of
get like, you know, Nine Inch Nails
Ghosts vibes from that.
It's there's something almost a little
industrial about it but also it was kind
of very groovy kind of hip-hoppy
trip-hoppy.
It was drums and it was bass basically.
And I love the uh the delay they put on
it. Felt very dub. That dong dong
It was really nice. I just have to say
again, not really knowing anything about
Mr. Richard D. James. If he mixed this,
he is an incredible engineer on top of
all the other skills he has that he
probably gets a lot of attention for but
I am having such an experience with the
way that this stuff is mixed. It is
phenomenal.
I wish my music could sound like that uh
sonically. You know, like that that
level of fidelity. That
just the the the magic or the science
behind
engineering music is
is uh
Well, I value it I guess is what I'm
trying to say. I don't know if it gets
overlooked but I kind of feel like it
does and it makes a huge difference.
So, yeah. All right. The next track is
called Ass Ass Ass Ass
Ass Ass Ass
and it has fewer than a thousand listens
cuz it's only 13 seconds long. So, let's
hear it.
Okay.
So, that sounded like an audio sample of
two women speaking in Mandarin in a
bathroom. That's what that sounds like
to me. One more time.
I'm really curious about all the silence
at the end of these tracks because like
that sample ended at 8 seconds and then
it goes on for 5 more seconds uh total
silence. And a lot of these have at
least like three to to 8 seconds of
actual silence at the end of
the tracks. And I'm sure that was on
purpose for some reason. Next track is
called High uh Skoolias Lif Ad D'agro
Ad'agro.
[Music]
So that one was very similar to
Jinwevec
the first track.
Same sound, same maybe or same maybe
prepared piano disclavier or whatever.
We had a very kind of pure sounding
piano as well as
very strained, you know, almost
harpsichord-like.
It makes everything sound very mystical,
but also the song's in a minor key, it's
in A minor. I really like I love stuff
in minor keys, so I already was like
this sound plus these things.
It doesn't doesn't sound like a real
human's playing it. It has a very, you
know, very consistent everything just
done done done done done done, very
exact. The melody though had some nice
syncopation in it, which kind of gave it
a little bit more humanity, a little bit
more interest. Some of those There's
some little moments in there I was like,
"Oh, I want to hear that developed more.
Like I want to hear that repeated more
whatever." But he did actually come back
to several of his themes and repeat
them, which I thought was really good.
Similarly to how he did that in uh April
14th, and that made it a little bit more
like a more like a song, you know? It's
kind of got sections
and there's things that kind of come
back um that you get familiar with that
you start to expect that you can sing
along to or or or, you know, that stick
with you. I kind of want to
like search the internet now for covers
of this song. I want to hear I want to
hear what this material
can be kind of turned into cuz I feel
like it's almost like it's like an idea
that could be further fleshed out.
And I want to hear that happen. But if
it hasn't been done, then maybe I will.
Kesson Dalek.
[Music]
Oh, I've heard this.
That is a nice composition. Again, I
wish it were
fleshed out.
I am sure there are people that have
done covers of this that I've heard I've
heard this before somehow, but I don't
I can't place it. I I feel like I'm
having like a weird
like like I'm just associating or
something.
This album has done a lot of things to
me tonight. It's a good thing I'm
splitting this live stream up cuz I need
some time to like recover from this.
I've heard that before. How have I heard
that before? And I thought it got
bigger. I thought it like developed into
something.
I don't know, but um
B minor.
Hey, B minor, kids. The melody was
absolutely beautiful. There was
I don't have a a name for this
technique,
but it's something
I do also and
really enjoy listening to. It's like you
take a melody and like the highest note
in the melody
when you repeat the statement, you
change the highest note to something
even
higher usually.
And then you change it again. So listen,
listen, okay. So
[Music]
When that happened, I was like,
"Yes!" So emotional to do that. You set
up this thing where you're like,
You do it again. You think it's going to
happen again, but this time it's
[Music]
And that particular interval is
so pretty.
[Music]
It's got kind of Leaving Hope uh
interval jumps. Big big big jumps like
that.
Even just the rhythm.
Doesn't it sound like uh maybe Eastern
European or something?
I'm not sure what country I'm thinking
of, but some kind of folk music.
It's got a little bit of flair and sass
and
da da da da da da da and those like kind
of triplets da da da da da da.
Which is cool and refreshing to hear, I
think, because the left hand is so
consistent da da da da da All right. And
then and then the and then the right
hand so playful.
And there's that one note that makes it
all
[Music]
That one.
There's our tritone. This has some like
more traditional, but again like maybe
Eastern European traditional
like chord changes and stuff. You got
this It's called the five chord.
Anyway, it is a little bit more um
recognizable, I guess. There was like
more familiarity with this this
piece of music than the other ones in a
lot of ways.
But that could totally be in a film and
it probably has been. Flamenco, yeah,
maybe. Maybe maybe yeah, maybe something
kind of
um
yeah, Spanish.
And the the breadth of his work here is
I mean
sure, he's got some stylistic
consistencies,
but just the fact that you've got these
like
little piano vignettes and then
you know, and then like chaotic drum and
bass glitch
with like dreamy minimalist synths and,
you know, and then that sound design
piece, the Orban I
I think No, it was Gwark too.
Uh you know, just
And there's a whole other disc.
And then there's a whole discography.
Cool. Well, I think I've been converted
is what I'm trying to say. Hot I
I'm start I'm starting Halloween
tonight. And if you're wondering what I
am, I don't know.
But I'm watching you. Okay.
Kimru beats.
[Music]
That
makes me want to listen to Venetian
Snares. Have y'all listened to Venetian
Snares?
It's like a odd odd time signature drum
and bass. At least the album that I was
listening to
most recently.
Yeah, it reminds me of drum and bass and
breakbeats, but without the bass.
Just the beats.
There is some bass stuff, but it's like
it's almost like the bass
in this music isn't providing like the
low end,
you know, like it often is in drum and
bass.
It's just like another kind of textural
percussive element.
This song is the closest song of his
that that at least we've heard on this
album that I would say is atonal.
There's there's no harmony, there's no
melody, right? It's it's very much all
about textures, rhythms,
dynamics.
I I went through a period where I
listened to a lot of glitch hop and I
have a huge appreciation for the
complexity of like glitch
in general. And it's really cool to hear
kind of like glitch and drum and bass
and breaks kind of all uh
this this confluence of all those
elements is interesting. And then you
add on top some of the stuff that he's
been doing in the other tracks where
he's you know, adding like these kind of
dreamy melodies and you definitely have
I think a a fairly unique sound.
There was another moment where he was
using the gate in a very highly rhythmic
way and it was just super fast. And the
way it's mixed, it was just so sharp. It
was just like
I don't know. I guess
regardless of whether or not I like a
piece of music, if it makes my whole
body react in some way, I feel like it
has value and I might want to listen to
it again. I actually really liked this.
But there are like moments where I just
like I don't know if it's like my
nervous system or something gets like
really overwhelmed and then I get this
like I got like a rush during one of
those moments. And there are times from
the other night where I was just like
kind of losing my mind. Oh, well, I so I
found out I mispronounced that song.
You're saying it's pronounced Kamri?
So I'm probably going to botch the rest
of them, too.
Next track is
Batom Batom
Romada
with a hyphen.
[Music]
[Applause]
The church bells, wedding bells.
And on the opposite end of the spectrum,
you have something that is
very tonal.
It's just major and minor chords.
Sounds like church bells. There is no
drums. It's a metric, right? It's just
kind of got this cadence to it, but it
doesn't have like a clear pulse of any
kind.
Didn't really feel like anything
repeated there. That's definitely a
thing. Like I've I've heard some of the
tracks on here where there's some
repetition, but a lot of time it's kind
of just it's like
he's not sticking to a particular theme.
He's kind of evolving from wherever he
is. Yeah, but it but it didn't sound
exactly like church bells. Obviously,
this is some kind of
I mean, I guess it would be a synth.
That's my first thought, but
again, I haven't read about how the how
this whole album was made and what he's
using and I'm I'm guessing it's going to
be pretty fascinating to find out.
But it's something that doesn't sound
like a real instrument. So, if it was
once a real instrument, it's been
you know, modified.
Very evocative. It was like having
pictures in my head of like
you know, a foggy foggy morning.
Really quiet, peaceful place and like
church bells or something and like no
one around.
It's kind of a lonely, sweet moment.
So, since these are all real words,
which I didn't realize. I thought it was
like I thought it was a made-up
language. I don't I just assumed. I
didn't look it up.
Wondering if it would be most honorable
for me to learn how to pronounce these
words before I say them.
I have someone on the stream who might
be able to help.
Oh, listen to this. Okay, I just put
Lorna Derek into the
the Google.
Found a Reddit post. It says Lorna Derek
on drugs stands for Lorna and Derek,
which is parents, which can be heard on
his voicemail.
Also, this person spelled drugs with the
Q capitalized.
Does that mean I'm supposed to say drug
Qs?
So, this is Lorna Derek.
30 seconds long.
Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to
you. Happy birthday, dear Eric.
Happy birthday to you.
Oh, did you hear that harmony?
Happy birthday, my little son.
My little 28-year-old son.
Well, you were born by now because you
were born about 5:00 in the morning.
Uh well, I hope you have a you have a
lovely day.
I hope your card came.
Aw, that's so sweet.
Aw, that's so so sweet. But yeah, I'm
wondering now So, here's a So, here's
mom and dad, they're singing in tune.
Let me analyze Lorna Derek.
They're singing in tune and mom was
doing a very pretty harmony that I would
say reminds me of like choral music.
[Music]
Happy birthday to you. Uh-oh, I just
touched my mouth.
Okay, the next one is Q Kther.
[Music]
What instrument is that?
[Music]
Gosh, I wish I had heard this album
when I when it came out.
I really think this would have
influenced me. I feel like there were
directions I was kind of heading on my
own that were maybe not towards the drum
and bass side, actually definitely not
towards the drum and bass side of
things, but a lot of his music is
sounding to me like
marrying
acoustic
instruments that you might find
in
both like orchestral music and folk
music
with technology. That's sounded almost
like a clarinet, but it was being played
by something that has an has action.
You know, almost sounded like keys or
something. So, is it a mellotron?
I can't wait I can't wait to look it up.
Oh, but I will wait. I'm being
patient.
That was also very uh pretty, but very
dreamy. It wasn't like here's a chord,
here's a chord, here's a chord and then
it loops like a chord progression. It
was very like here's a chord
and then here's like a nearby chord. Let
me kind of pulse on that and then kind
of move down. It felt almost like it was
more being created by like spacing
than it was
trying to create some kind of
catchy hook thing, right? Which I'm sure
is not really his thing anyway.
But if you transcribe that, it would you
probably I'm guessing would see that
he's probably just kind of moving
down. I mean, it reminds me of a
keyboard.
But I don't know. That's how I was
thinking about it.
But also look like a clarinet. So, I I'm
I'm not sure what was going on there.
But how what a cool This is cool though.
Right? It's it's wonderful to listen to
music where everything makes sense and
you don't have to think about it and it
just feels good or it makes you want to
dance like pop music.
I pop music does more than that. I'm
just giving an example. But it is really
cool listening to music like this where
even something that feels fairly
innocuous, I would say, is making me
think so hard because I'm like, what is
that? What is making that sound? I think
it's normal for our brains to try to
match up what we're hearing
with something we've heard before. And
if it starts to sound like an acoustic
instrument, we're like, is it that? But
it does doesn't quite sound like that.
So, what could it be?
And um yeah, so
not surprisingly, all of this music is
really keeping me very engaged.
It's it's engaging my listening in many
different ways.
Accordion.
Okay. Yes, maybe maybe. I wish Mark was
on the live stream. He plays accordion.
He'd be able to tell us. Okay, now that
you said that.
[Music]
You're right. It Well, I do think it's
an air. It's an instrument where air is
involved.
Well, air is involved in everything with
sound, but you know what I mean? Like a
column of air.
Some some Yeah.
Good good guess. The next one's called
Melt Face Six with a pH. Makes me want
to listen to Melt Face 1 through 5.
[Music]
Brilliant outro.
[Music]
Oh, detuned.
[Music]
Another super cool track.
That last part I was trying to figure
out the piano cuz it was so harmonious.
I was just like, this is so strange. Um
[Music]
It's like a very pretty
minor
figure.
So lovely.
Love the I just love the glitch. I think
he's doing such a good job with that.
He's definitely keeping me very
interested the entire time.
This one had some very floaty melodies
again
and chords and they sounded
um
Lost my train of thought.
Oh yeah, at the beginning they were kind
of out of tune and kind of going in and
out of tune.
So, I could see why T Rez sites him as
an influence cuz I think, you know,
there's there's it's clearly a type of
musician who
finds a particular beauty
in things sounding broken and out of
tune.
And until you're exposed to that, you
know, I think it's understandable
that that might be a little unsettling,
you know, and not not beautiful.
But really just weird and confusing.
So, I feel like I'm primed. I mean, I
don't know if I'd listen to this 20
years ago if
I would have liked it. I think there are
parts of it I would have liked, but I
don't know if I would have actually
taken the time to sit down and listen to
the entire thing.
There may have been moments where it was
would have just been too weird for me,
but it's hard to say.
Chris says it felt more like a great
jazz track. Interesting. Why do you say
that?
How would How would Aphex Twin spell
jazz? c h z j y z z s c. The next track
is bit four
and it's only 25 seconds long, so it's
going to be a little interlude, I think.
[Music]
A lot of reverb on that.
[Music]
prep guarec 36
Ah, prep probably refers to the prepared
piano.
That just reminds me a lot of like the
minimalism
the minimalist music that I was
listening to in college.
It's
sounded like a prepared piano and it was
very exact though. Like it sounds like a
machine was playing the piano and it was
uh
percussive not tonal. Just really cool
sounds and it's so unusual, right? It's
just not something you hear every day.
Really cool rhythms, lots of
syncopation. Right? I think it would be
really interesting to hear that sampled
as like a drum groove, like the basis of
a drum groove for another piece of
music. I mean, I feel like
I feel like a lot of uh us
really like hearing unusual sounds in
the music we listen to, you know? I
Sometimes I worry with how much I'm
chasing novelty.
Cuz I can get bored with things.
It is really exciting to hear new
sounds. Father.
[Music]
Well, that was a tonal.
Very modern sounding.
I was trying to search for patterns and
I couldn't find any, but of course I
only listened to it once, so
if I listen to it again and again, which
I would do if I were alone, I would try
to figure out if there was some pattern
there.
Cuz it sounds like
it sounds like a computer
did that. Like like he
gave some parameters to some technology
and then it's playing the piano cuz
everything was extremely exact.
All the dynamics were very consistent.
All those chords were huge and they were
all the notes were being played at the
same time. It just didn't sound like a
human was playing it. It sounded random,
but there's a chance that it was
actually organized.
But, it's but it's perceived as
randomness or it could have been random.
I mean, we could just, you know,
I guess I should have released that
track. Should just do a whole album
doing that and then people would be
like, "You are a genius." This next
track is called taking control.
What a normal name.
Makes me suspicious.
I like that long clap.
[Music]
I love that gate.
I do, too.
I'm taking control of a drum machine.
The drum machine is taking control of
him. What do you think?
[Music]
water
Reason
Taste this. This is is the ambient part.
[Music]
Well, uh I'll be honest, that one wasn't
really for me. I I don't I didn't really
enjoy that. Uh I think it's because it
just didn't feel very musical to me. How
many one shots can I jam into 7 minutes
14 seconds?
And maybe that's what he did. I you
know, in which case it's a success. I
can't say it's bad. I just
don't think I will ever be listening to
that one again. petite
petite fille
c x
Oh god. Hit
hit did hit I'm going to hate editing
this video and watching myself try to
pronounce all of these.
[Music]
That's so French.
French impressionist
t w c
[Music]
This makes me want to meet all the Aphex
Twin. Aphex Twins
I was going to say Aphex Twin fans, but
it came out as Aphex Twins.
Just because
I feel like like Nine Inch Nails, you
know,
the fans have so many different parts of
them to be enjoying this music.
You know, to to love this kind of
gentle, like I said, sort of French
impressionistic piano solo. It's very
sweet, almost like a a lullaby. And then
to be like,
you know, to this frenetic drum and bass
and then this crazy kind of sound design
track was guar guar No, that's a
different one. I really enjoyed it. I
would love to see a really talented
uh
pianist like Nahre Sol
do an interpretation of that.
Like kind of add some movement to the
left hand and like she could she's
incredibly skilled and
just to I I yeah, I just would love to
see what she would do with those
harmonies and and it's so pretty.
It was really nice. As it had that that
French sound cuz I think it was
pretty pretty part in the girl with the
flaxen hair by Debussy.
That sound.
Seventh chords.
Definitely got a little bit of like the
La Mer flavors as well.
Next is ruglin holon
or holon
or ruglin ruglin holon
[Music]
Cool.
[Music]
That was uh
something where things repeated, right?
So, there was some predictability.
[Music]
And then the
The fact that I could play along to
that,
you know, means that there was some
predictability.
Sounded like another prepared piano to
me.
Which is a cool I
I
have always wanted to do that. I haven't
had the option. I don't know how you
would get your hands on a piano that you
could mess with. I'm sure there are
non-destructive ways to prepare piano,
but of course I wouldn't want to do that
to someone else's piano.
Goals for someday. When I hear a
prepared piano, sometimes it makes it
sound more wooden.
Kind of the way that like sometimes
wooden tonal instruments can have
a little bit of a hollow kind of and and
tonal ambiguity to them or it'll sound
more like a harpsichord. Not ex- not
exactly like it. Much more metallic
kind of biting, sharp. I don't know. I
have all these visuals in my head, but
it it goes there. And then with a
prepared piano, sometimes depending on
how you heard how how hit you hard
the key um
sometimes it will sound more like a
regular piano.
And sometimes it'll sound really dead.
You know, so there's all this like
organic variability.
Was the same every single time and that
that
was so staccato and so bright and so so
loud and really short
and it sounded really good. I just
enjoyed that timbre. Details, details.
Really pretty and I would say that that
was in D minor. Next is AFX 237 version
7.
AFX AFX
coincidence?
[Music]
Oh god.
[Music]
It's like Chemical Brothers on glitch.
[Music]
What's this called?
Those endings of his
this like drawn out weird note or two.
It's it's it's it's interesting
listening to AFX Twin this way. I mean,
listening to the track all the way
through
and then talking about it cuz it goes
through so many phases even in just a
couple minutes that it's like
I by the time it's over, I'm like, I
kind of forgot what happened to me.
But I do like this last part was really
interesting. These
cuz it sounded like like a signal and
then it gets
or you know, a note, whatever. It gets
repeated octaves higher really quickly.
And the way that he mixed it,
I got this like really strong
vis-visual. Maybe it's like almost like
a video game visual or something of like
really steep steps like in every step is
when it goes up an octave.
So it's like,
you know.
And it they're like going up on either
side like in these like waves and it's
like creating like a like a cityscape or
something. Yeah, it's very cool. Next
one is Zygomatic 17.
Makes me think of
maybe like 1950s science fiction movies
or something. Like like they would name
a device the Zygomatic 17.
[Music]
Oh, cool. Triplets.
[Music]
DJs? Like drum and bass DJs ever spin
this stuff?
It changed too frequently to dance to.
[Music]
Oh, no.
[Music]
Oh, that's nice.
[Music]
That's cool.
[Music]
Stuff at the end.
Thank you for your attention. Bye.
Uh, I I was definitely not expecting
a robot to talk to me at the end, but
before that I was going to say
I wasn't expecting a song like that to
end the way it did with this very pretty
stuff. I'm trying to figure out kind of
the sound of his tonality.
I feel like a lot of the time it's
actually quite simple. I don't mean
simplistic. I mean
simple like
pentatonic scales and
kind of I don't know, there's a lot of
like there's not a lot of tritones. Kind
of a neat sound. It's sort of innocent
childlike
tonality against that. There's some
sounds that he was using in this track
and in taking control that remind me of
some of the one shots that I got my
hands on in 2001.
So, same year. And they're stuff that I
was hearing in like rave music and and
some trance, too. Certain kind of clap
and a certain kind of high hat. I like
the high hat, but I have I have grown to
not really like the sound of that clap.
So, it's funny. I I imagine I'm not the
only person like this where
there's particular sounds that when I
hear them, it doesn't matter if the
rhythms are cool, if the melody is cool,
if the chords are cool, if it's being
expressed through that sound,
I just like don't like it.
It's kind of crappy. It's almost like
you know, it's like cilantro.
I wish I liked cilantro, but I I don't.
It tastes like chemicals and soap and it
ruins everything that it's in.
Same thing with that clap. I'm just
like,
so I was wondering if you guys recognize
that sound and if you know where it came
from cuz I'm guessing it came from a
sampler.
Uh, Chris saying, isn't that the TR-909
clap? The cilantro clap?
Yes. Claplantro.
Next track is
Besk- Besk- 3 epn.
Why am I even bothering to try to
pronounce these? I'll just flash them on
the screen. And then I'll have a super
cut at the end of me trying to pronounce
all the names.
Little reward for those that watch till
the end. Back to Besk- Besk-
3 epn. No, no, no.
[Music]
Interesting how prepared piano can kind
of remind me of like
gamelan music.
[Music]
That ending reminded me of like the way
I might end a song when I was a kid. Not
saying that what he did is immature,
it's just the way I used to end, you
know, my like just go like
and then
it just kind of like
[Music]
I wouldn't say it was atonal. I actually
I mean, I don't know. I could definitely
detect patterns, a lot of a lot of
dissonance and I wouldn't say it has
like a key a lot of the time, but there
are moments where I was like, I am
connecting the dots in that way cuz
that's what my ear is searching for.
And some interesting things. That's what
our brains are doing with music usually
is finding patterns.
I shouldn't shouldn't generalize that,
but I think a lot of the time that's
kind of what's happening.
It's finding patterns.
So, it's cool to try to find patterns in
something like that. Really cool rhythms
in the first part. The middle part got
really like kind of tame. I lost
interest for a moment, but then I
thought okay, maybe it's just the
contrast between all the rhythmic
complexity I was just hearing and now
it's very simple. So, what if I just
pretended the song started like this and
then I was like, oh yeah, now I like it.
I basically feel like this music is
doing experiments on my brain. I'd be
really curious to see after we do this
listening party how many of these songs
have been covered on piano.
You know, and how coverable are they?
Our last track
of this two-disk album is Nanou
2.
[Music]
Oh, French impressionist.
[Music]
I've heard this.
I don't remember how or where.
[Music]
This sounds like the end.
[Music]
Like two people saying goodbye or
the end of someone's life or something.
[Music]
Nice.
[Music]
Oh, that's exactly what I wanted him to
do.
[Music]
That one has such a powerful mood
to it.
It's incredibly spacious, yet this lush
chord
and then all this space to just
like let it envelop you.
You're like swimming in it.
Every single time you have that time
with the chord.
And it really makes you like think and
pay attention, at least me. How I'm
feeling.
You know, it's like in the silence. I
know it's not silence, but in that
resonance
you're kind of left
with yourself.
So, I like
the space in that.
A lot of those chords reminded me of,
you know, big jazz chords.
And I'm pretty sure every single one of
them had a tension in it. So, but I what
I mean by that is it had either like a
seventh, a ninth, an 11th, a 16th, 13th,
I'm sorry. I was thinking sixth.
13th.
Really enjoyed the kind of like higher
like, you know, you like chord is like a
chord. I don't know what then they were.
I'm just making it up, but
and then it go like
I don't know. And then the next one, I
don't know.
This little uh kind of echoes sort of of
the chord. Nice little offset.
Really pretty.
There was a moment where
I
uh I don't know about y'all, but
sometimes you're listening to like a
a line. So, like the contour even of the
top note of a chord or a melody itself
and you're sort of your brain might be
sort of
almost imagining where it's going to go
next.
And mine was doing that at this one part
and then she went to the place I was
imagining.
That's a really
That's a really a fulfilling experience,
I think.
It's also really fulfilling though when
you're like, I think it's going to go
here and then it doesn't. But where it
goes is even cooler or just as cool, but
different. That's also really exciting.
I'm a fan. I'm a fan of this album.
Until next time,
I love you.
Gin Waithak. Best
Best School 3
Vor Dos Vor Dosbin.
Um Um Gaia Switch 7. Ruglin Holon or
Holone. Baidin Yon Chord or Ruglin.
Ruglin Holone. Strotha Strotha 10th
10th.
Peti Alt
Peti Altil Hi uh Skolias Lif Ad Dagro Ad
Dagro. QK 3 Buttolum Buttolum Romada
with a hyphen.