listening to brian eno’s 1993 album (?), neroli.
just made some headway on a remix i started months ago. was in the tunnel - so much so that i forgot my AC was turned off in a record breaking heatwave. until my ears were sore and i was covered in sweat.
taking a break, with the AC on.
i picked this remix back up yesterday, and a simple note about adding a little vocal chop variation turned into me spending three hours writing a vocal focused track - which was simply NOT the assignment.
this past april i played a few dj sets in brooklyn and braille invited olan and i to his studio to jam (note: this is qrtr’s field notes so i will be using artist names mostly). after spending some time with keys, buttons and knobs in his little space ship, we stepped outside and enjoyed the spring weather on his stoop. i don’t recall the exact moment or context, but i remember fragments of braille recounting an interaction he had with machinedrum about what it feels like to be in a creative flow. it feels as though there’s a ghost in the room with you.
and i couldn’t think of a better way to describe the feeling. sometimes you’re patiently waiting for the ghost to arrive and possess you for a bit. sometimes the ghost never appears at all. sometimes the ghost grabs you by the arm and drags you into the studio casper style and doesn’t let you leave until you’ve finished its bidding.
all this to say, i was fucking possessed last night and veered so wildly off course in service of seeing an idea through. why would i write hyperpop style vocals for a heady instrumental club tune? if it were my track, different story. but this is a remix… it didn’t make much sense to do anything like that and because i started it as a mostly instrumental track, it was already so busy with synths and percussion that adding actual vocals and lyrics just turned it all into noise.
but those vocals were actually kind of sick. so i probably will use them on something of my own. it’s just so wild how they came to be in the first place - on a track they had no business being on.
i think when people first start producing music, they have a hard time with this idea of where to begin. the thing is, if you are patient and just keep at it - this ghost will eventually show up but you have to let it take over completely, even if you don’t think it makes sense in the moment and within the context. you just need to follow through and know when to save it for later. after years of following through, you’ll have so much material to pull from that you’ll never have to start from zero (unless you want to).
lately i love starting from zero… but sometimes i forget the importance of following through and letting the ghost do its thing.
today, i opened up the project file and didn’t even listen to what i did yesterday. i saved it in a different project and deleted all those new vocals. spent a few hours with some specific notes and references. and yes, the ghost was there. i didn’t even notice the AC was off.
