Digital Desperation

Hello everyone!

This is a set of tunes I've been working on for most of the last year. I was thinking it works together as an album. I'm still kind of on the fence of releasing it though, so I figured I'd post it here before getting it up on Spotify or Bandcamp.

The name is up for review. Actually everything is up for review.

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/sets/digital-desperation

I guess I'll use this thread for any future stuff I might make.

I like Lost in the Void, that trumpet there is brilliant! I like the combination of straightforward exotica cheese (no offense ;)) and odder idm-ish stuff. Getting mu-ziq vibes, as well.

Oh and Safe to Eat is a great track too.

  On 3/19/2021 at 10:41 PM, th555 said:

I like Lost in the Void, that trumpet there is brilliant! I like the combination of straightforward exotica cheese (no offense ;)) and odder idm-ish stuff. Getting mu-ziq vibes, as well.

Oh and Safe to Eat is a great track too.

"Straightforward exotica cheese" is a great sounding phrase although I have no idea what it means. But I'm guessing this is referring to track 5 mostly, which is kind of a Propellerheads tribute.

Also, glad you liked the trumpet! I am a trumpet player of course, so it only made sense to use it. It can be a tricky though... I don't want this to turn into "me playing over a backing track". I try to use it only when there is place for it in the music.

The third track also has trumpet playing throughout.

Lost in the Void is my favorite of the bunch(I first heard it in that other thread where it was posted), but it was cool listening to the others.  Overall, I get Stereolab/Mu-Ziq vibes here and there.  The Moog/MS20ish sound in Bunker Bitch at around 2min grabbed me as well.  If I had any suggestions, I guess I would say if I were remixing any of these, I'd add more synth-y weirdness.  Like Raymond Scott style modular/analogue noodles to sit alongside the more traditional sounding instruments.   Good stuff!

oh my the "mariachi" brass section in supersaturation is gold! your melodies are something else... it all sounds so organic like a band jamming... this is quite genius overall!

  On 3/20/2021 at 9:21 PM, BaggerMcGuirk said:

Lost in the Void is my favorite of the bunch(I first heard it in that other thread where it was posted), but it was cool listening to the others.  Overall, I get Stereolab/Mu-Ziq vibes here and there.  The Moog/MS20ish sound in Bunker Bitch at around 2min grabbed me as well.  If I had any suggestions, I guess I would say if I were remixing any of these, I'd add more synth-y weirdness.  Like Raymond Scott style modular/analogue noodles to sit alongside the more traditional sounding instruments.   Good stuff!

Thanks a lot! I think that's a good idea moving forward actually, to get more into the synthesis of it all.

A lot of people seem to like Lost in the Void. The Amen Break strikes again, I guess!

  On 3/21/2021 at 2:04 PM, Tim_J said:

oh my the "mariachi" brass section in supersaturation is gold! your melodies are something else... it all sounds so organic like a band jamming... this is quite genius overall!

Thank you very much! It's comforting to hear that it's organic sounding, it really was what I was going for! I'm glad you liked it.

I like how It's Already Tomorrow has this three parts arrangement. Middle part is huge (reminds me of Scandinavian black metal for a reason). I would maybe tame the ambience (reverb or tails/decay times) in the track, because it feels like, let's say, over-compressed or is just lacking dynamics.

Liked that keys solo at around 1:50 of the Bunker Bitch a lot.

  On 3/27/2021 at 9:25 PM, Mrzyglosz said:

I like how It's Already Tomorrow has this three parts arrangement. Middle part is huge (reminds me of Scandinavian black metal for a reason). I would maybe tame the ambience (reverb or tails/decay times) in the track, because it feels like, let's say, over-compressed or is just lacking dynamics.

Liked that keys solo at around 1:50 of the Bunker Bitch a lot.

That's great advice. This is actually stuff I lose sleep over so having some feedback on it is golden.

Maybe I thought the high "plings" of the keyboard were hurting my ears so I compressed it but in the process it might have lost something. Also, the whole track is drenched is the Valhalla Shimmer reverb, which could definitely be dialed back a bit.

I'm going to take another look at it. Thanks!

Another thing I've been working on recently. I guess it's a bit long, but I hope that's OK. 

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/the-whole-solar-cycle

Really enjoyed the way this one spools out.  It's got a prog vibe for me.  I'm jealous of your ability with the live instruments!  

  On 3/31/2021 at 12:30 PM, ArtificialDisco said:

Another thing I've been working on recently. I guess it's a bit long, but I hope that's OK. 

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/the-whole-solar-cycle

Yeah, this is sweet! Once again, the brass is awesome!

Thanks for the comments!

Here is another funky sort of thing I've been working on:

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/how-do-i-turn-it-off

I did some more breakbeat stuff:

Actually it kind of got spun out from a piano composition that I made a while ago.

Thanks to soundcloud for the title of this one. I guess it's supposed be cutesy error message, but it kind of sounds like it could be a Philip Dick novel or something.

This is also probably the most IDM thing I can muster at the moment.

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/our-robot-think-youre-a-robot

  On 4/22/2021 at 4:28 PM, eassae said:

Very nice dark<->light vibe in the first section. Love the hammered piano chords. I'm always a sucker for dark trumpet with lots of reverb.

Thanks a lot! When I got to the point of settling it down a little I figured it had some space a little trumpet playing. This type of sound owes everything to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew.

That FM bell midway is lovely.  Solid track through and through. 

  On 4/22/2021 at 8:58 PM, BaggerMcGuirk said:

That FM bell midway is lovely.  Solid track through and through. 

Thanks a bunch. I did have your earlier comment in this thread in mind - to get more weird with the synths. I'd like to think that paid off at least a little bit.

I've been sitting on this for a little while now. In retrospect, I don't quite know what to think of it. Also, it's probably the jazziest thing I've done in a while.

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/on-the-down-low

  On 5/14/2021 at 6:15 PM, eassae said:

Good and dirty track. I like the slow undulating pace.

In terms of production I was wishing there was a little less, or the frequency range was narrowed, or both, for the reverb on the drums. It set them way back in comparison with the lead horn, which is cool, but they felt a little muddy to me. Could just be a personal preference though.

No, you could be on to something. I liked that reverb snare sound and decided to go with it. But too much is too much and muddiness is definitely something I don't want. I'll look into that.

I made this for a contest. It's for Samples From Mars and their Kawaii keyboards sample pack. Personally I'm just sinking deeper and deeper into breakbeat madness. I don't know if they that's what they want or what they even thought was possible, but I think it sounds nice.

A hip hop sounding big beat kind of thing. I went on a tour of get-rich-quick youtube videos for the vocal samples:

https://soundcloud.com/artificial-disco/is-this-for-real

Some more funky stuff

Really like the bouncing echo effect, as well as the lead monosynth.  

Nice off-beat rhythm on the organ stabs. Reminds me of Luke Vibert's Kerrier District stuff.