#240728: four more mad tracks
⎋/~
Welcome to another update from the backstairs. I'm writing this just one week after the last update and my gratest desire is to be able to write every week. I'm not sure I will be or am able to. Regularity is one of my greatest challenges. However 'The Backstairs Tone' is a membership project. And this past week I was thinking more about how I would like to create stronger connection between you and the projects I'm working on. I'd like the album that I'm working on right now to be your project, a project you're helping in making it happen. And you are. But here's my opening it up by saying this weekly letter and my work is possible with your support. Thank you for listening, suporting, and responding to it!
This week I was making an extra effort to write down notes about audio work. I didn't succeed in this for every day, but almost.
Generally looking at this week, after two very productive days of the previous week (Saturday and Sunday), there was Monday with great work progress too, but Tuesday with very little done, then Wednesday and Thursday again with great progress, then Friday when I was feeling quite depressed - but which ended with some clever work on Kamizdat (prepared the texts for one of the releases). Yesterday (Saturday) was more or less an off day, while today I wanted to record some vocals for Heaven with Loup, so I prepared everything (project, mics etc) and we actually started to record but rain and thunder kinda prevented it.
Goodies in this update: new almost finished tracks for Mad Jakale album - these are work in progress previews exclusive to The Backstairs Tone! It's the open studio time! Listen to them:
Just Start The Funk
Just Start the Funk comes from the very first entry of performers to the show and M. introducing them. It was supposed to have a big splashy feel, creating celebration and excitement about the show (imagine an MC trying to hype up the audience about the forthcoming show in next few minutes). The structure of the track was quite adjusted to the show and I struggled to find a different logic. I got stuck with trying to find some additional chords, like should be some kind of chorus that appears only after every 32 or 64 bars of relentless funk groove. I spent at least two hours trying to figure out in what key the track I wrote actually is(!) and what are the chords that are being used and how could they be interupted with a different chord progression! At the end I decided to rather use what's there as material that can be improved: the breaks in which M. was introducing different characters in the show. But not radical chord changes, just taking out and adding back the layers within the arrangement of instruments. I think it works. I ended up at (in my view) about 85% done track. The logic and structure is there, it just needs more details, improved transitions and breaks, embelishments and little twists'n'turns. The logic of the structure is the idea "it's simply a funk groove, interrupted with breakdowns". Now these breakdowns contain something I'd like to call "my kind of humour", or at least playing with expectations of the listener.
Jugo
The work on Jugo (Jugo-vzhod? South-East?) was pretty amazing too (at least in terms of flow). I leaned again into what is already there and just extended things, so there is now a bit longer structure and mellow refrain repeats itself again twice in the second half. I worked quite a bit on the vocal, since it's also just recorded at the stage performance, so it might not be perfect. There are also a number of little details here and there, some subtle layering... A cool feature in my ear is the feedbacking delay that feels like it wants to eat you only to move to the background for next repetition. I like that. I like that it's a bit gritty and distorted. What a pleasure to work in that way when Focusmate sessions were finished, stopped, nothing scheduled, but I keep adding little details. I worked quite a bit also on some pads, that I then kept in the background.
Heaven
"Heaven" is a song by the American new wave band Talking Heads from their 1979 album Fear of Music. It was written by David Byrne and Jerry Harrison. The cover I created here was made and is performed in the stage piece as a final, goodbye song. Personally I love the featured detuned synths and I worked quite a lot on the bassline, particularily in the last third when it goes a bit "funky". While I think the ending of it (it's kinda left hanging in the air) is quite appropriate, I feel like there could be an alternative extended version where the final extremely richly layered part could last longer, much longer. Today (on Sunday) Loup came to the studio and we wanted to record new vocals (as these on the current recording are from the stage performance) only to be rudely interrupted by torrents of rain and some heavy thunder, so we had to postpone.
Tossing Lawrence
The same day I worked on Heaven I also worked on "Tossing Lawrence". It's somewhat ambiental track, more focused on sonic texture, long loops, and without beats. Again, I used what was already there and just extended it and then tried to fix the transitions and repetitions and variations and gaps.
The state of these tracks is "almost finished" - when I have this kind of 'deadline-based' work I often use percentages to note how far I think a track is finished. I plan to go back to them, when I'll feel I have done all of them that will end up on the album, and do more additional detailed work, and mixing.
With regards to the album and its production and all the timelines: since I missed some deadlines, but also because of other factors - like invitation to perform at Grounded Festival on 22/AUG - we decided to not create a full-on promotion of the album release on that date and that context. However, the digital album will be released as a pre-order on 22/AUG and will be presented on that festival with some guest appearances from other members of The Feminalz (who are also the show 'Mad Jakale in a Film We Haven't Seen'), however the USB booklet and release in full will happen at a later date - most probably at the end of november. Before that there will be a single release (or two), maybe even a video, and a stream/listening party. In fact(!), the listening party (in a live-stream style, not Bandcamp-style) will happen on Radio Free Fedi on 27/AUG (20:00 CEST) as part of their FediWave month.
More on production: my designer - Tina Ivezić - has basic materials to prepare first graphic drafts, but I still need to get someone to write the liner notes essay. And there are some ideas and I hope to do some meetings about that in the coming week. And today I realised there might be a bit of a time complication with mastering. It will be a bit tight to have it finished by the 22/AUG. But we'll wiggle it, I'm sure!
So you see, apart from making actuall music, there's number of other things to consider and put in motion. But it's all good, I'm really happy with this week's progress, I feel there's a light at the end of the tunnel, I see the summit already, and as long as I'm making progress creation-wise, the rest will follow, or so I am convinced.
That's all for this week. My great hope is that I write an update again on next Sunday, as planned for the The Backstairs Tone in general.
As always, thank you for your generous support, patience, and being part of The Backstairs Tone journey. I hope next week treats you well! 💚
links
- https://blog.radiofreefedi.net/lets-do-a-thing-the-mid-year-fediwave-live-artist-streaming-series
- https://grounded.si
- https://emanat.si/en/production/image-snatchers-present--mad-jakale-in-a-film/