Remnants

Special credit to "Supernova Remnant Bubble" by Hubble Heritage licensed as CC BY-SA 2.0 used in the album art and my awesome partner Amanda for making me another image to mix with it :).

Released: December 12, 2020

After looking online at videos using my music I was inspired to create an album with tracks that didn't make it in previous albums so people could use them in their projects. It's super cool to see the ways that your art can trickle into people's lives. I had already put a lot of work into these songs so it was just a question of polishing them up and making them feel cohesive together.

There should be a lot of familiar sounds in here, and some of it has already been released as demos over the years. However, there should be a lot of new stuff that people haven't really heard yet too. I also feel like I got a lot better at mixing & mastering the tracks so they sound more impressive on a wider range of sound systems than some of my previous work. Granted, some songs don't sound perfect I'll admit, but hey I'm doing this shit for free so at some point I'm just accepting that I have limitations lmao. At the very least it should sound more consistent through the album & a little louder on all of the tracks than before.

Each song has its own story that I encourage you to read about below. The album is named Remnants since most of these are tracks that didn't make the cut in previous albums over the years. There's a bunch of stuff that I've worked on since releasing my last album though, so some of it's new too.

Another reason for the album's name is because it feels like music that is the remnants of a bygone time that's quickly morphing into a weird new world. The spectrum of when I made these is pretty broad with some stuff going back as far as my college years (2013-2016) up to this year.

Anyway, excited to see where this will end up.

Links

Songs

This music is licensed under the Creative Commons 4.0.

Descriptions

A Lot to Unpack

I originally made this song as an intro for a podcast that my partner is working on. It's not out yet so I can't link to it here, but I felt like it was a good intro for this album as well. Goes well with the album art!

Forward

It's called "Forward", because that's what I was feeling in my life at the time coming out of a bit of a rut. Chose to place it here on the album cause that's how it feels as a project too. Recorded with my Casio CTK-720, which is the derpy piano I got in middle school. Used renoise to mix, master and add the bass & strings.

Morning Rise

I woke up one morning and decided to pump out an epic trance banger I guess lol. To me it feels like flying through the skyline of a cliché chrome-plated futuristic city. You can close your eyes and take the journey you'd prefer to, but this one was pretty fun to put together either way.

The People United (Club Mix)

Originally I was working on a remix to Keep Ya Socks On from the [WOLFANA DIRTY BOOTLEG], but decided for personal reasons that I'd rather turn it into a remix for The People United from my Groove Masta Putz album. Took forever to finally get the levels right, which could probably still be perfected, but I have to put it out at some point. Regardless, I'm really pleased with this one. Hopefully someday I'll hear it at a march, or a club whenever those open back up lol.

Water Before It Boils

When I originally was working on this track I was drinking Aha (bubble water) and named the working project that. It was never consciously a decision to follow some sort of water theme, but the textures and vibe feel aquatic. Anyway, listening to it makes me think about the tension of how much drinkable water is left on the planet in the midst of climate change, hence the title.

A E S T H E T I C S

When I made this there was a competition of sorts by Youtuber FrankJavCee to make a dope song using some samples he released. This was my attempt at that. Didn't get much traction with the community though lol. Regardless, here it is and hey maybe you'll like it! Or not. That's cool too. I kinda like it, it's got a weird dancey, lounge and epic orchestra vibe going at some parts. An exploration of aesthetics maybe?

Regeneration Chamber Malfunction

This feels like the spiritual successor to the track Angel's Arp (Regeneration Chamber) from my Groove Masta Putz album. This time the Regeneration Chamber has some issues going on and like needs the water filter changed or something. It's been sitting around since the last album I think though.

Beautiful Phrases

This track is fairly old now, and one of the few where I kept the working title because I think it fits. It's a comforting, soft, trancey lullaby sort of thing. Reminds me of 2015 in my dorm while I was comforting my ex-girlfriend and I played her this.

Remnants

I didn't like this track at first, but I changed up the melody, added more sections to it and now I think it's really fitting as the title track to this whole project. I had this sitting on my hard drive collecting bitrot, but it was basically done since around the time I made Dope Beets. It was on soundcloud until I needed to delete it to free up space (I think? Might still be there tbh), but never made it to an album. Truly one of the older remnants on here though.

False Hope

Honestly really surprised this never made it onto a previous album. I already had a lot of chill hip-hop on the Groove Masta Putz album though so maybe I decided against it because of that lol. Anyway, I sampled Marshlands from Shadow of the Colossus and turned it into an ambient trap banger.

Decisive Moment (Dm9)

Another ambient exploration of recording a live synth jam in Renoise, which is no small task given that I rely on the sustain pedal running an arp and then switching to another instrument, hoping it doesn't accidentally stop the other ones while I start playing the new one (all in one take!). Similar to Fading Memories (Fm9) from the Groove Masta Putz album, only this time now with the Dm9 chord and 3 synths instead of 2. Full of pitch, mind and space bending ambient comfort to really just chill out to. This is the shit I live for yo.

Named for the times we're living in right now, given how decisive the current moment will be in shaping what our future holds.

Whats on My Screen (Feat. Kevin Dyer on Drums)

I jammed out with a homie of mine who plays drums and we recorded a few of the takes we did. I really liked how this one turned out even if the quality isn't perfect. Made the best of not having a mixer or great recording software for live sessions.

The actual song itself was inspired by seeing the daily catastrophe of the Trump administration on my phone paired next to seeing an ad on the TV for Obama with David Letterman on Netflix and realizing that liberals are really just hoping that if we go back to the same do-nothing-for-working-people normal that lead to Trump that we'll somehow fix anything... Anyway.

The Shit Show... for Mother Base

Came home late one night and got inspired to write some raps. Decided I wanted to rap over The Base from Sonic Adventure 2 so I chopped it up and wrote about the Earth as a base. That's also why the title is named in the style it is, because the songs in the game have a name with the level it went to.

Link to the lyrics here since they're pretty long to post here.

Fun fact: in case you're curious by what I meant by "18 months, that's what they tell me. Self-destruct likely, the clock keeps counting." then here ya go. (WARNING: Climate Change)

Less fun fact: That article and this song were first posted about 18 months ago.

Touch My Beard

This one is pretty old. I made this one while I was studying abroad in Spain and putting together tracks for a collab album called Manifesto with 90stalgia. It didn't make it on that one, but it's got a fun video gamey vibe that would be perfect for some creative commons projects.

Crash Bandicoot

Was hanging with my girl and made a whoppin' banger out of tibetan throat singing and me saying crash bandicoot and slowing it waaaaaay down. Seriously, if you listen closely that's what I'm saying on the track lol. That and imitating some weird crash bandicoot noises.

Laundry

Another oldie with a fun story. Back when I was in the dorms I put together the original track in the time it took to start my laundry & finish it. The mixing & mastering took some time after, but I'm pretty happy with this one. Super chill quickie, great for background or exploring music. Or you know, doin' laundry.

Icy

This is one of the leftovers from when I was working on the Electronic Poetry album. It's an icy, chill cave sort of vibe that would also be perfect for a video game or winter chillin'. Kinda has some original Playstation vibes to it maybe?

Stars as They Fall

A great loop for either some credits or a super chill hub world where you're walking around the town and can see shooting stars or something. Was originally just trying to practice bossa nova rhythms and this is what happened lol.

The Time It Takes

Played on the Casio before going to bed. There's not enough time in the day. So I played in the night. Headphones encouraged.

Dust & Dead Skin

A very fitting end to this album and as a follow up to the previous track. One day I came home from work early because I thought I might have COVID symptoms (turns out it was just stress), so I decided to actually make some music for once. The song is about how work gets in the way of having time to make music, but I actually had a day off and energy to do it for once. My keyboard was literally covered with Dust & Dead Skin because of how long it had been since I played it, hence the name lol.

As with the last track, I used the Casio to play all the different instruments and layered it together with Renoise.