Monday, December 8, 2008

Outskirt - Last song, album closed







On Dicember 8 16:30 (so this is the exact "release date" :-D) I rendered last song and uploaded on MySpace, Last.FM and Missero.it:

15. Belief: Pride

It's an endless single cuban (in my way) loop, with compulsive bass, an insistent xylophone and a reasonable amount of small percussions layers (but drum set is definitely rock.) It prepares with diablo rhythms and lightheartedness to approach melancholic Pet's Repository intro.



I got a largely foreseen sense of emptyness, and temptation to add another song or two. Or three... Probably they should sort out kind of cover of the rest of the record, after one month passed on this project the reason is obvious. Better leave it alone, it's over... Never flog a horse after the finish!

Now have a rest with music, and prepare graphical announce(s) to friends (and enemies).

Outskirt - Belief: Slot & Wrath







On Dicember 7 I completed both Belief: Sloth & Belief : Wrath, and uploaded on MySpace, Last.FM and Missero.it:

12. Belief: Sloth

A bit sloth and a bit lazy, 7/4 . Maybe it's the most mainstream part of Outskirt, a contaminated synthpop.

13. Belief: Wrath (Hommage à Shinu Mazafakingu Ujimushi)

It's a cover of TBA by Shinu Mazafakingu Ujimushi, an english grindcore band who recorded only that song on a Lo-Fi or Die compilation. I listened to it zillion of times, for a couple of reasons:

1) I got it only in mp3, and it's disgusting low quality, maybe they did it with a VeryVeryLame mp3 codec for bad cell phones. Sounds are melted like you were listening the band from into a washing machine, except a tom, in fact ...
2) song's "melody" (...) is overpowered by a single note, the one of a very acute tom, metallic like the snare drum by Metallica in St. Anger (years before Metallica).

I just couldn't stop to listen that watery roaring made by bass drum, bass, guitar and snare drum, and above this hammer hits piercing my brain. Sometime I think that I probably I'd never love so much it if it was not so really bad coded. Points 1) and 2) are in symbiosis.

I replayed (almost) slavishly same drum sequence, with different timbers and sounds, and recreated the "roaring" with three violas. The result is kind of "Kronos Quartet plays Shinu Mazafakingu Ujimushi". And I putted on a different layer the rest of drums, reaching three plans instead of the original two.



Now I only miss 15. Belief: Pride. So I'm just a little late (one day) on my supposed timeline.


Saturday, December 6, 2008

Outskirt - Pet's Repository







On Dicember 6 I completed album's closing song, plus uploaded it on MySpace, Last.FM and Missero.it:

16. Pet's Repository

After a pondering time, I decided that cemetery or graveyard are terms too gothic. Repository is ambiguous, can be the ultimate repository, or kennel. It's difficult to argue who's more tied to solitude, so O.T. is off.
Song is a result of contructing and dismantling. First I grew up with dozen of instruments and atmosferic pads 'til the grosser. Then I had a u-turn and started to delete part after part, so i obtained a skeleton progressive, I mean more similar to Cardiacs than Camel. I like the result of a punk approach to prog, such as Pere Ubu (in an avant fashion) or Cardiacs (more melody aware) did.



At this point songs I have to finish are: 12. Belief: Sloth - 13. Belief: Wrath - 15. Belief: Pride.


Thursday, December 4, 2008

Outskirt - Belief: Envy







On Dicember 3 I completed Envy part of Belief suite, plus uploaded it on MySpace, Last.FM and Missero.it:

14. Belief: Envy

Envy is in my opinion a childish/unripe kind of defect. So this is the seed.
Talking about the song in itself, it's an electronic section starting as cold sum of sequences, dense but minimal, with shifting changes on the like of Raymond Scott's Soothing Sounds for Children, and its develope is dotted in a crescendo by some Carl Stalling 's intruders.
Don't know if conceptually speaking I went on a cacophony, or better, an unnecessary remark on what was already remarked. The result sounds much frenzier and brilliant after Stalling invasion, that's the most important thing.



This evening I worked on (old named) Pet Cemetery (16th and last song): I completed the sad main sax theme and a seed of variations, so I'm at 25%. I feel it's getting better than I expected, so I'm in euphoria about it. Meanwhile, I think this title reminds too much Ramones' homonym song.
I don't dislike them: with Dickies they're my favourite idiot punk band. They reached out the sublime, in their kitsch, primitive but effective approach. I listened a lot to both for years. But I change the title whatever, just to avoid somebody think about a cover; so now it's Pet's Graveyard. I keep it for a couple of days, to test if start to seem unsuitable after a while.

Then I tried to go on with Belief: Sloth, but some pegs doesn't fit in their right hole. Days in, days out.



At this point songs I have to finish are:

- 12. Belief: Sloth
Something to re-work, or throw and make it another way.
- 13. Belief: Wrath
Hommage à Shinu Mazafakingu Ujimushi, great one-day band, so it's a grindcore part; yet to start. But got it all perfectly clear in my mind, I only want to play it for last.
- 15. Belief: Pride
Got the cuban theme, and some hypothesis on the (coherently) cuban develope. Here the problem is keeping the piano fresh as a rose.
- 16. Pet's Graveyard
Started at the best, probably tomorrow this will be the song I'll work on for first.

If I'm in the right mood, maybe I finish the four songs within monday. So I can let a couple of day pass and then make the last full check, before declaring work done, and think about a videoclip.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Outskirt - from Thar Desert to Belief: Greed







On November 30 I completed songs I described while working on them in last post, so I uploaded all on MySpace, Last.FM and Missero.it:

08. Junction Box
09. Belief: Lust
10. Belief: Gluttony
11. Belief: Greed




On December 1st I solved a couple of problems in song n.7, so I finished it as well.

07. Thar Desert

Bass, which serves both rhythm & melody, a compulsive-riff guitar and a very dry drum set. Funky to the rougher, I had in my mind Bill Laswell style when he played in Massacre or first Material record (Memory Serves), plus the old No Wave funk area (Konk, Contortions, Liquid Liquid and the like).



This evening I made some modification in another couple of songs: orchestral background in Reidsville, NC and a couple of passages in Zimniy Dvorets. Updated both songs and uploaded to the usual repositories.