week four

well, i found a local MC here in portland.. and that's super cool, but i only found one.. and in the meantime, i made a few more beats. i think these are 'technically' a bit better than my first round, but they also might be a little less experimental.. they're all in a pretty narrow range of tempo, and i didn't include a lot of the failed attempts..

in fact, you might notice many of them use the same drumbeat (and tempo, more or less..). 'cause i'm such a geek for hiphop right now, i wanted to play around with a few classic break beats, and i think this list of hip hop songs using melvin bliss' synthetic substitution is pretty crazy.. and i know & love quite a few of those on the list.. so i did a few beats using that as a starting point. kinda dorky exercise, huh? oh well.

anyhow, here we go:

checkers
braeburn
harder target
candy apples
colorwheel
daisy
fuji
magic spells
sticky spree
granny smith
mountain size
gala
rose
sour apples

a critique of pure music day 10

aristotle
aristophanes
vinca
nicomachus
summer

i'm pretty thoroughly wrapped up in my hip hop research project now.. the portland public library is pretty awesome, and has been able to hook me up with album after album - all the kanye, jay-z, wu-tang, dre, etc etc.. i could want, and i've also got spotify, so it's a pretty immersive experience around here.

a critique of pure music day 9

apollonius
pincushion
archimedes
reluctant robot
tacitus

lots of music going on around here - i'm playing bass with Jenn Rawling (& Basho Parks, among others..) for her CD release party, so that includes some rehearsals, but American Friction is busy right now and the New Mexican Revolution is still gaining steam.. whew.

and yet i only have one heart, and it belongs to these little one minute songs. ha!

a critique of pure music day 8

copernicus
plutarch
ptolemy
virgil
kepler

sadface. emily is back at work, the rain clouds have returned, the apartment is cold & quiet.

except for all these beats.

a critique of pure music day 7

copernicus
epictetus
thucydides
knight
rook

i really like some of these more recent ones.. little glitchy drums against the strings are kinda cool. can we combine Radiohead and Dr. Dre somehow? hmm.. i'm also getting better at making smoother loops, which is cool. it doesn't make it any faster or easier, but the final result is nicer.

a critique of pure music day 6

northside
queen
sophocles
lucretius
hippocrates

well, we took the weekend off to relax, 'cause emily has a four day weekend, but i figured i should start posting some more of them now. mostly 'cause i enjoy the five day work week so much. and also 'cause i've got so many of these little jams on the other computer i'm having a hard time keeping them straight. ha!

a critique of pure music day 5

galen
euclid
king
equinox
bishop

making beats, yo. sometimes syncing up really different music is kinda maddening.. like tuning a piano or something. yeah. but i'm getting better at knowing ahead of time what might work.. a little bit better.

also, TGIF- 'cause now emily has got a four day weekend.

a critique of pure music day 4

herodotus

autumn

plato

eastside

morning

day 4, day 4. the weather here in portland is a little bit crazy-awesome.. no rain for a few days, even a fair bit of sunshine. i think i might take advantage of that weather and walk to the library today, in between making beats. i should be writing rhymes, too.

a critique of pure music day 3

euripides
twilight
westside
spring
knight

hip hop kids, where are you? i need some verses.. 16 bars or so. ha!