On the way to making the album that this blog is supposedly about, I accidentally completed another album first. Oops.
I got on a roll with the one-a-day compositional plan I've written about earlier in this blog. I created a really crazy track that I originally titled "Alien Bounty Deliberation", featuring lots of freaked out, homemade, heavily processed alien voices over an electronica hoedown beat and thoroughly improvised, wandering and atonal orchestration. It was a blast and I really liked it when I was finished.
High on the experience, I had an epiphany in the shower that shed light on what to do next. I thought it would be interesting to create an album-length story comprised of instrumental pieces with one word titles. I reasoned that anyone glancing at the titles would immediately be able to figure out the simple story line. And the simple story line would have to be about aliens from other planets coming to Earth to eat humans--pretty straightforward. Amidst the hot water and soap, an idea, like so many other ideas in mankind's history, was born.
Those ten titles turned out to be...
Scrutiny
Invasion
Capture
Labor
Deliberation
Ritual
Decadence
Consumption
Next
Paroxysm
You get the idea.
The album I set out to create (and that I'm still working on) had reached another stalling point. It really is a big job and I was beginning to feel intimidated by it. Fortunately, since I had been writing so much material that was stylistically very different, I had an escape valve. I wanted to complete something, to have the sense of accomplishment of finishing an album that could quite possibly whet my appetite for finishing my main project. Kind of like a creative crop rotation to ensure a healthy supply of artifacts.
But most of all, it was a lot of fun. The whole thing took about a month, chiseling away a little every day. All of the compositions were created on the spot. I had no notes or ideas before sitting down. I just started recording and improvising and kept going until each piece was finished enough. It was great not to have to worry about conventional song forms--a medium I love, but can be a bit constraining when your mind is elsewhere. Equally refreshing was the lack of restraint I could exercise when creating sounds and drum loops. It was nice to break out and do something crazy.
I've always been a fan of music that's out there. i can withstand large amounts of dissonance and jagged noise. I enjoy a lot of music that would clear a room. Just ask my friends. Although the music I created for Corpus Alienum isn't too far out as far as I'm concerned, I can see where it might be a bit of a stretch for some folks. It is, after all, abstract instrumental music. But I tried to have some fun with it. There are many musical jokes. Consider it a soundtrack in search of a movie. Or a ballet. If someone wants to stage an alien invasion ballet, inquire within.
I plan on releasing the eponymously titled Corpus Alienum album as a download only release in June. I have already begun planning sequels. This is definitely the first in a series.
Now, back to the other album...
Posts
