Track Review: Trent Reznor – Theme From Call Of Duty Black Ops II

Posted on November 14, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Trent Reznor

After producing two home run hitting scores for The Social Network and David Fincher’s adaptation of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Trent Reznor was approached with the idea of creating the theme for Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It’s not his first approach to the video game world as Doom 3 and Quake also contains soundtracks created by the Nine Inch Nails frontman, but the CoD five minute epic shows considerable amounts of growth and willingness to fuse emotional arrangements with the grit and dirtiness which has shaped the music of his career.

A reverberated piano melody begins the theme as pad and filtered guitars set an ambient drone in the background and a pulsating bass and manipulated kick work its way into the mix by use of automation. It’s a delicate eight measure structure that beautifully builds a tension filled landscape that ends with half-note brass instrumentation that leads into the second movement of the piece.

A cymbal which pans between the two channels sets off a firestorm of an aggressive rhythmic section that’s relevant to the way most Nine Inch Nails songs are structured. While the rhythm itself is steady, it’s heavily effected and brilliantly produced. The snare drum is sometimes a bit lost throughout the more denser portions of song, but it seems intentional as white noise hits fill the mix on the same parts of the measure as the snares and creates a more layered off-beat world, but only come in when necessary. The kick drum, which is heard throughout the track is equalized to display the most low-mid frequencies and doubles up with a synth-bass stab, giving the track a heartbeat feel to it at times.

The low frequencies and high mids are given mostly to the dozens of guitar layers inside the Call of Duty Theme. Some of them drone, some contain melodies, some are filtered and then those filters automate when the track begins to build more, and there’s of course a bass guitar layer, which is where most of the low energy is focused. Regardless, the meat of the track is contained within these guitars and at times, especially during the climaxes of the song, will take up mid and high sonic field. They’ll also abruptly end toward the middle of the track.

A really creative approach to the theme song lies within one of the final quiet movements of the track. Reznor’s voice suddenly appears and applies itself to the beautiful ambience spoken about in one of the aforementioned paragraphs, but also pulls listeners in as a way to distinguish through voice that this is in fact a Trent Reznor production. The calls and screams contain more reverb than the piano because they’re not meant to have a main place inside the song, but will also automate themselves, much like a lot of what goes on in this song, to bring themselves up in volume during the rise before the final climax of the track.

Strings present themselves in cinematic fashion and mostly follow the piano line and use up the high energy of the theme song and while earlier in the song the cymbal brought in the initial heavy part of the theme song, it also breaks its way out and brings in the last come down. The final forty seconds of the Black Ops II theme follows an interesting, standard industrial-electronic outro, with a synthesized bass playing both a melodic and rushed rhythmic structure, while pad and piano play off of their original openings, then end on a faded whole note.

The Call Of Duty Black Ops II Theme is a solid effort from Trent and displays his willingness to explore different musical territories while finding ways to stay true to the sound that’s been true to himself since the Pretty Hate Machine debut in 1989.

Stay tuned to 2020k for an upcoming review on the new How To Destroy Angels EP, An Omen_!


Purchase Call Of Duty Black Ops II Theme (and an orchestral version, as well as the full soundtrack by Jack Wall) over at iTunes.

Posted in track review | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Double Sided Interview: 2020k Presents an Interview with Wet Eyes!

Posted on November 13, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Wet Eyes

“If you want to be involved in music, I think you will find a way to be involved or paths will be presented to you to get your foot in. You can’t really teach anyone how to be where they need to be.” – Wet Eyes

Minneapolis, Minnesota resident Ross Auger is best known under the alias Wet Eyes. I stumbled upon his music through his official Soundcloud page and after hearing a track called “Fresh Perk’d,” [click to listen] it interested me greatly. I’d just finished watching Double Take, which featured Alfred Hitchcock doubles and it was interesting to hear the same Folgers commercials from the mid 20th century being incorporate both in the movie, let alone through music! Though a mutual love for music, for talking about music, and coffee, Ross decided upon an artist on artist interview of sorts. He’d interview me and I’d interview him. My interview is in the entry below (or click here) and below are the answers I asked him.

What came first, the chicken or the egg?

I think it would be more interesting to see a chicken appear out of nothing so let’s go with chicken.

You’ve been involved in your own solo music through Wet Eyes, but have also hopped genres more than once in various other bands and projects. Could you mention some of those and what drives you toward diversity?

Of course. I participate in two separate rock bands. One being Electric Aquarium where I play bass and sing here and there. The other being Electric Gauge which is Electric Aquarium minus our drummer. In that scenario, I head back and drum with some spotty vocals as well.

I also provide (usually) the rhythm section for this project called Laura Moser. We haven’t released too much but it’s a project that I hope always sticks around. I also have a sort of hip hop project in the works that is basically a collaboration between myself and MonopoleJoe.

It’s hard to talk about other projects without mentioning some of the other people behind them. My friend Trevor Klopp and I have been making music together since we were about 13 and/or 14. We actually started calling our selves Electric Gauge around that time and have been working on updating some of those songs from back then. Electric Aquarium is (as mentioned) Trevor and I plus this solid dude named Andrew Blaeser. Both of those guys have their own monikers as well, Trevor’s being Spicy Tuna Melt and Andrew’s being Duke Silver. The new Wet Eyes album in the works (Silver Lining) actually has Andrew producing all of the beats as well as song layouts.

I think diversity goes hand in hand with my creativity. My goal (with music) has always been to reciprocate the energy given to me by favorite artists so I think diversity bleeds through that goal.

Previously, you released a a cassette via Jozik Records called Clepto Journals. It’s interesting to note that artists like Alaska In Winter have released limited cassette records and it seems that there is a small underground scene for albums to be released in this fashion. Could you shed some light on what about having a cassette release appealed to you as opposed to vinyl, CD, or a digital release?

What appeals to me about cassette is the aesthetic and nostalgia. I remember sitting in the back seat of the family van as a kid with a walkman and some neon yellow headphones staring out the window into rural Minnesota as the clouds hover. As far as aesthetics go, I think we can all agree that cassette tapes just look cool, am I right? I am also one of those people who will argue for the sound of analog over digital given the option.

I think the scene itself though is bigger than one might imagine. It’s a beautiful thing though. When you put on a tape, there is no skipping songs, no screens with information. Just you, the music and the warm pops and crackles.

In the same vein, you’ve started up your own record label of sorts called Wet Eyes Productions. What sparked this and what are you hoping to accomplish with it?

In all honestly, it was never intended to be a label. Initially Andrew (Blaeser) and I were going to start a production company and that was the name. Our paths hit a fork and both of us ended up in different schools, in different cities, which forced a halt in that idea. After my release on Jozik, I sent out some demos to more labels thinking that the only way to release an album was through a label. One of the labels actually responded suggesting I start my own label to self release, which is the way his label came to be. I tucked that idea away for a while until I released Air is Movement [Wet Eyes]. I had my own vision of how I wanted it to look in physical form which led to the self release. I have just continued to self release which is nice because I can work at my own pace. We will just have to wait and see if the path merges into releasing other folk’s material as well. I can’t say I’m not open to the idea.

If you could have dinner with any musician living or dead, who would you choose and what would be on the plate for discussion?

That’s a tough one. I keep coming back to tea with Thom Yorke. The Eraser is one of my personal favorites and I would love to just hear him talk in depth about it. I believe he has handled some big situations fairly gracefully as well, specifically the release and controversy with In Rainbows [Radiohead]. I can just sense he would be a good person to in general.

Alongside music, you’re currently studying graphic design, have previously directed music videos that have been released via a Vimeo account, and have released limited edition drawings and prints. What aspect of the visual world do you enjoy the most and what’s the process like for mapping out what sort of visual representation is going to be given to a specific song?

My brain actually works in a cinematic fashion. Just the other day I had butterflies in my stomach and I ran down this whole scenario to a co-worker of an eye level shot moving horizontally across an army of troops, each with my face. A voice shouted out “ THIS IS WHAT YOU TRAINED FOR,” and everyone stomped. “THIS IS WHAT WEEKS OF PREPERATION HAS COME TO,” another unified stomp. “GO GET EM’!!!” and the army yells out running forward. Then you cut scene to me confronting the butterflies of my stomach in the conscious world.

With music, your creativity is released into the wild. Your mind creates the images. With visual art, it’s like a peak into what’s inside of my mind. It’s one thing for me to sit here and tell you a story, but it’s a whole other dimension for me to show you the story the way I see it. Being able to then hold and run your finger across a print is a beautiful sort of trip. Computers can be kind of a big ol’ “Do not Touch” sign. When you get a print, it’s a little window into someone else’s mind that you can touch.

As far as mapping out a song, there are two sorts of ways that it happens. One being the song just presenting itself while I am listening back or mixing whichever specific track. The other is just simply from thinking. I almost always have a small notebook or journal on me. Many of those pages are filled with short film ideas that are based off of “What If”s or “Wouldn’t it be cool…”s.

Wet Eyes 2

With Autotune being a hot topic of discussion for a number of years, it seems as though Instagram and easy photo editing programs like it have gone under the same sort of fire as being something of a phase or an inauthentic representation and generalization of the photo editing process. Do you have any thoughts on this?

That’s actually a great comparison. I have a personal instagram account and I use a photo editing app quite often but I do not consider myself a photographer. Nothing will beat a professional photo or an actual polaroid. Bottom line, they are all just tools. If you wanted to discredit T-Pain for using Autotune, you might as well discredit me for using a guitar.

Authenticity is an interesting word though. As much as I do not like to credit the general population, usually people can see through those who use Instagram or Autotune as a way to be “cool”.

When do you feel most creative?

Around 8pm to when my eyes close for extended rest. I am definitely a night owl. I think the color of the sky at night and how light pollution soaks in (or doesn’t for that matter) is incredible.

During the creation process of your music, are there any specific go-to instruments or mixing tools that are standard procedure to use? Anything you try to stay away from?

I’ve got this Digitech rack mount that a friend gave me which I run every guitar or bass signal through whether the effect is on or not. It mainly stays on one setting of the hundred which is this amp simulator/reverb. Everything on Clepto Journals, drums and all, was recorded through that baby.

I try to stay way from working on music completely in the box. If I can’t reproduce what I’ve made live in some way, that process is generally avoided. The only plug-ins I really use are compression, reverb, and sometimes a little eq. With that being said, I have an overflowing shelf of pedals.

Recently, you’ve released an album called Freezing Thoughts Create Stability. What are some of the inspirations behind the nine tracks?

What’s funny is for the second time this fall, I have done something without conscious motivation. Freezing Thoughts being the first. One day I just caught myself putting the CD packages together and thinking, when did this start? I think my memories of Halloween as a kid asked for it. Most of the tracks were composed for some project that fell through or didn’t turn out exactly how I intended. The first track, “Coyote’s Mining”, is a song I wrote to serenade the cover art. The actual art piece was labeled a mistake for the class I created it for but I became really attached to the piece, which in hindsight might have also lead to Freezing Thoughts becoming what it is.

As someone who studied at IPR, do you find that attending a school based around the audio world is something that’s beneficial to someone who would like to get involved in music? What’s something you’re glad to have learned from attending this establishment?

I think it can be beneficial depending on how you utilize what you learned. I do not have many kind words for that particular establishment. I have my own way of doing things but I am grateful that I was able to learn how to work Pro Tools without having to teach myself. I did, however, meet some great people including Andrew and Tony who is the other half of the Laura Moser project. If you want to be involved in music, I think you will find a way to be involved or paths will be presented to you to get your foot in. You can’t really teach anyone how to be where they need to be.

Is there anything else you’d like to let the readers know about Wet Eyes?

I hate to name drop Facebook, but the Wet Eyes page is the easiest way to keep updated and informed [click here to be directed]. I have created a sort of mailing list as well if you’ve downloaded anything from Bandcamp, but emails don’t get sent as frequent. Silver Lining will be the first release of 2013 and I am in love with the progress so far which means I can’t wait to share it with whosever ears are curious. Maybe we can get an exclusive preview through 2020k? We’ll see…

Stream and purchase all of the Wet Eyes releases over at his official Bandcamp page, see all of the various other projects over at the Wet Eyes Productions Bandcamp, and stream music over at the Soundcloud page!

Posted in Exclusives, Interviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Posted on November 12, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Part one out of a two part Artist on Artist interview. Ross Auger of Wet Eyes interviews myself. Our interview with Wet Eyes will be posted in the near future. Enjoy the reading and support the 2020k EP over at http://2020k.bandcamp.com!

rossauger's avatarrossauger

Earlier this summer I received a message in my SoundCloud inbox. The samples I had used for a song had been pin pointed to the source of where I got them accompanied by a nod of approval through text. This continued into a conversation of mutual appreciation for Alfred Hitchcock and the back stories of live performances. Now at least once a week, my personal inbox tells me I have an unread message from RJ. With how long winded our emails become, I figured why not ask some more “serious” questions and share what Wet Eyes and 2020k might ask each other. Here is side one of the two sided interview.

Q: You and whose army?


A: Me and this army! (holds up fist, laughing) Actually, I’m answering these questions in my underwear, so I really don’t have an army right now. Is this the proper way to answer…

View original post 1,951 more words

Posted in 2020k Music, Interviews | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Vote Ke$ha For President

Posted on November 6, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Obama, Romney, Roseanne, Jesus, Ke$ha for PresidentI mean, it’s basically what you all were thinking in your minds so why not make it a reality?

It’s true, we here at 2020k (thanks to our friend Jessica A.) are officially endorsing Ke$ha for president because who doesn’t want to make it a law for mandatory Jack Daniels teeth brushing?

Not Really.

Actually, we don’t care who you’re voting for but if you’re a United States resident and a registered voter, we’re asking that you do get to the polls today.

Don’t know your polling place? Well head on over to Yourfuckingpollingplace.com and it’ll tell you.

You’re welcome.

Posted in Personal, Sine Wave | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Track Review: Imogen Heap – You Know Where To Find Me & #Heapsong Updates!

Posted on October 29, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Imogen Heap You Know Where To Find Me

Track by track: Lifeline | Propeller Seeds | Minds Without Fear/Neglected Space | Xizi She Knows | Me The Machine | Telemiscommunications | You Know Where To Find Me

Last we properly heard from Imogen Heap’s proper journey to creating her fourth solo album, was through a #heapsong titled “Xizi She Knows” and a collaboration with EDM’s Deadmau5 for his closing track “Telemiscomunications”. The “Xizi…” article was a tough one to write. While it was a glamourous track in its own compositional and culturally exploratory right, time constraints hindered the mixing process, causing the track to suffer an insufficient balance of low-end frequencies. “Telemiscomunications” was confirmed through both artists to be both part of Joel Zimmerman’s latest record >Album Title Goes Here< as well as the unnamed Heap record.

Imogen also paired up to present a mini-documentary on a song not yet released entitled “Me The Machine” that is a must watch for music and technology fans. Throughout the span of the feature, it shows Imogen and a crew attempting to put together a musical instrument called The Gloves and the struggles to put together a show to be debuted live directly after the film. It’s a darker side of Immi, who dedicates her all and neglects sleep to piece together this instrument that senses hand movements and connects them with instruments, effects, and other musical pieces within Ableton and elsewhere. In fact, the technicalities with the song were so direly important to fix that instead of jumping right into a performance, the premiere of Love The Earth (which Imogen scored) was premiered as a bonus present to tuned in fans and time buyer for the Machine project to work out its kinks.

And now we have “You Know Where to Find Me,” a strongly piano based song featuring thirteen different pianos in thirteen different houses throughout Edinburgh (The Space has placed together a great mini-site in dedication to this journey. You can see that here) and shines brightly in it’s view of writing a song to describe the River Thames on the South Bank. “This whole song is written about the river to have this still moment with us,” Imogen proclaims through the “You Know Where To Find Me” bundle which is available along with an instrumental, video, and Streamliner (formerly known as 3DiCD) through her official website.

It does it’s job elegantly and is written in a clever point of view that could be looked at from various different viewpoints and relatable to almost any situation. Lyrically, it’s something Imogen Heap has intricately and effortlessly accomplished through the entirety of her career thus far, being androgynous but extremely specific on the subject matter of her songs. “You could be screaming drunk” she states, followed by “well I’ve got my bad days too. I’m gonna be here for you..be still with me.”

In regards to mixing, it’s certainly not still when it comes to creativity. It’s great use of room space, natural & outboard reverberation, and volume control compression techniques shine each piano’s different character into one great mix and is then conservatively mixed to ensure that though they’re suited into the same sonic universe, their diversity amongst instrumentation and up-keeping are characteristically and clearly heard.

The lead vocals are the bits that are given the most attention and are uniquely used to create a low end buy placing precedence on them over every thing else in the mix. The entire spectrum of the vocal world is heard crisply, and is all controlled using intelligently used equalization to weed out areas that would conflict with the various instrumental parts.

Ironically, the vocals do get drowned toward the bigger, more layered portions of “You Know Where To Find Me,” and we can’t help but to think this is greatly intentional. After all, this is a song about a river and what better way to paint a sonic canvas than to do it chaotically through the mixing process? A bit more subtle is the ending lyrics, which fade away slowly and euphorically before all that’s left is a the ending piano melodies.

Imogen’s record seems to be shaping up quite nicely. The bumps in the road are few and far in between and are just speed bumps toward a project that’s spanned from city to city, country to country, and all ultimately from the head of Imogen and her collaborators. It’s all creatively connected so far and the guesses toward the next step in the #heapsong/untitled album are interminable, unforeseeable, and extremely anticipated.


Purchase “You Know Where To Find Me” at Imogen’s Shop [MusicGlue.com]

Posted in track review, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Natina Reed from R&B Group Blaque Involved in Fatal Car Accident

Posted on October 27, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Major Update: Throughout the entire morning of October 27th, 2012, 2020k remained hopeful that the sparse reports of the death of Natina Reed from the R&B group Blaque were false. Not only were the reports of a life lost from a car accident reminiscent of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who put Blaque together, but an interview with You Know It Got Soul showed Natina ready to make music once again with her group mates. Unfortunately, the reports were true. Natina Reed passed away at the age of 32 after being struck by a vehicle.

Though their discography is small, Blaque released a few great contemporary R&B albums. Their sound followed a pop formula, combined very standard production techniques and album flow, but had a sound signature to the period of which it was released. It was clean, wonderfully clean, and produced just enough to wiggle its way into the successful middle ground of the music scene during the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends, and colleagues of Natina.

Below is the original article…

We know nothing. Reports are coming in through Twitter following an apparent “exclusive” from Diva Whispers and follow up from That Grape Juice that Natina Reed from the R&B group Blaque has died from a fatal car accident on October 27th, 2012.

We remain skeptical. Put together by TLC rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes who suffered the same fate on April 25th, 2002, we’re crossing our fingers that this is a hoax spiraled out of control.

Blaque spawned few hits in the urban-pop scene with their self-titled debut in 1999 with singles “Bring It All To Me”, “I Do”, and “808 (Remix)”.

2020k remains huge fans of TLC, so it’s only natural our hearts hold a small place for the group modeled after and mentored by its main influence.

This post will be updated as reports come in. We ask that you follow our Twitter for more live updates.

Update 1: Several Tweets from inside the industry have been published on the web. Please remember this still means nothing.


Posted in Sine Wave | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Album Review: Tori Amos – Gold Dust

Posted on October 26, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

This is the first in a joint venture between Amber from Open ‘Til Midnight. In it, we combine our quite different thoughts on the newly released orchestral album “Gold Dust” by Tori Amos.

Amber takes the highly snarky and critical fan point of view, while 2020k focuses on the technical aspects of the recording and its final impact it makes with the end emotional result.

Both huge fans of Tori, RJ and Amber banter back and forth with Torisms and inside jokes as a way to portay a dialog between the two as they search to find a middle ground of sorts toward what they think of this 2012 release.

Posted in album review | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Concert Review: 10/21/2012 Fiona Apple – Stage AE Pittsburgh, PA & A few words about The Idler Wheel…

Posted on October 24, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Fiona Apple Stage AE Pittsburgh 2012When 2020k first saw Fiona Apple at the MGM Grand in Connecticut (read our review here), she was enchantingly tired. Tired because she hadn’t slept the night before, but enchanting in the way she soldiered through the seventeen song set in that groggy fashion that Creativitypost.com mentioned as being some of the more creative human feelings. It was wonderful, and when our best friend Kristen Adams scored a pair of tickets for a birthday celebration we were happy to join her at the closing show of Apple’s Every Single Night Tour in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania’s Stage AE – an area of the continental United States she hadn’t visited in twelve agonizingly long years.

Through the tour, we’d seen Fiona go through minor legal problems through the state of Texas for possession of marijuana and hash in an area that’s notorious for stopping celebrities for this reason. What would the closing show be without mention of it? Coyly and almost halfway through her set she started, while giving a smile toward an individual shaking his head off to the side of the stage. “I’m not dumb,” she proclaimed. “There’s a so much I could say and when I can say it..I’ll fucking say it.” That was that, and the show continued to uproars and screams.

In regards to screams, Apple warmly welcomed them. In fact, in the pause during “Get Gone” she allowed the audience to loudly exclaim their warm welcome back to the Pittsburgh area for what seemed like a few minutes, before smiling and continuing with the instrumental outro.

As the song finished, Apple looked off the stage and stated she wanted to act like it was the encore and do the encore now. The band, the staff, and even the audience looked perplexed. After all, “I Know” was only the sixth song in the set and while many of the numbers in the set were fantastically extended (especially “Sleep to Dream” which was performed two songs later and included an full band jam ending session with Blake Mills shredding in an endlessly powerful, musically confrontational manner), it wasn’t enough. What she meant, as she held her hands out in front of her was that she was going to give the audience one minute to do whatever they wanted because it was the last show and it was her “last chance to be an idiot.” She continued along the experimental monologue charmingly and ended it with “you got sixty seconds and this is your song and this is the encore“. After a scream of “GO!” the shouts began. She laughed, she smiled, and while she stated she was doing it because the pause in “I Know” was interesting, it was apparent from the smirks on stage that she was having the time of her life. Happiness personified. It was an artist’s interaction between all herself aspects of the venue, bringing them together in a sense of unity.

“Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)” followed in a rushed manner and dub-esque breakdown that ended in a more rocked manner, much like it has been performed in the entirety of the show and “Daredevil” off the new record The Idler Wheel… followed.

Though, it was the show’s ending number “Not About Love” of which floored the audience once more. Anyone who attended Apple’s Chicago show on the night of July 10th, 2012 knows the fury she can pack in the chorus of the song (click here to see what we’re talking about) and while she didn’t quite bring it to the volumes of that night, she did just fine. In fact, she continued the playful silent treatment to the audience by taking long pauses, even stopping to lay completely down on the piano’s stool (causing the entire band to heavily laugh, while waiting for the singer’s cue to continue through the song) in anticipation of more excitement and yells from the audience.

Afterward? She told the audience she loved them. Something she’s stated previously in interviews that she’s not used to comfortably stating. And oh, did she say it with pride, even looking into the eyes of the audience (and much to Kristen and my’s story, directly at the two of us).

Encore? Who needs one. She charged right into the gorgeous cover of Conway Twitty’s “It’s Only Make Believe,” left the stage, and that was that. Perfection and an optimistic Fiona Apple, glad to perform, but also glad to close the North American leg of the tour in support of her mid-2012 release.

Knowing Fiona Apple’s way of going about her artistic procedure, it may be a while before she’s back with new material and a new tour, but seeing The Idler Wheel.., which is one of the most well put together, stark, and fantastically written albums of 2012, and the rest of Apple’s best in a live setting is mesmerizing and enough for even the causal fan to be floored.

Setlist:

Fast as You Can
On the Bound
Shadowboxer
Paper Bag
Anything We Want
Get Gone
Periphery
Sleep to Dream
Extraordinary Machine
Werewolf
Left Alone
I Know
Tymps (The Sick in the Head Song)
Daredevil
Not About Love
It’s Only Make Believe

Opener Blake Mills delivered a great opening set with “It’ll All Work Out,” “Hey Lover,” and an tearjerking cover of Santo & Johnny’s “Sleep Walk” [his album Break Mirrors is available via Amazon. As well as a great stream on Spotify].

Photo courtesy of Swimforyourlife.net.

Posted in album review, Tour | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Infrasound: Kamas – Cerulean

Posted on October 19, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

Kamas Cerulean

21 year old Georgia native, Tennessee resident Christopher Kamas, known strictly by his last name Kamas is a Lo-Fi by Default artist who’s no stranger to the independent music scene. Known for his earlier releases via an official Bandcamp page, his latest 2012 release, Cerulean, has been properly released to a warm audience in it’s ironically digital-only glory (more on that statement later). The result? A jaw dropping collection of downtempo soaked ambient and heavily electronic numbers that explore polar sonic opposites within the same track span and dive deep into analog distortion and pitch bending that represent a stark, dismal emotional surface, while contrasting in representation of an extrasolar light under the grit of it’s dark exterior.

The appropriately titled opening track “Horizon” builds in a medium sized pad fade in before it empties into a temperate bass energy, complete with minimal rhythmic and human voice sampling elements. In contrast to it’s modest mixing technique, “Phillr” provides a more resonance feel in it’s glitch-esque sampling. The two, drastically different, do have an analogue tape feel and even contain clicks that help give the tracks stability and seamless blend from one track to another.

It’s quite clear from the first few tracks of Cerulean that this album is experimental and completely unique sounding to its genre. Although it does barrow from trip-hop influences, especially through the downtempo feel of “Radar East” and “Come Visit”, the interweaving of sound manipulation by means of warping the completed composition adds a breath of fresh air and quickly separates Kamas from the majority of Electronic music contemporaries.

Inklings of Boards of Canada do sneak through the cracks every now and then, channeling the duo a bit in “Don’t break it anymore” and also venturing toward their sonics with the static sounding song “Track Titled 5 But Got 6”, which is a short interlude track compised mostly of bass that fades into a following song, even shorter, but more melodic and called “Cloudland Canyon”. The two compliment each other well in that, just like the beginning two songs of Cerulean, they’re radically obscure from one another. The most Sandison inspired track seems to be “This Isn’t Just a Dream There’s Like Molecules and Stuff (featuring Powernap)” which carries one of the more mainstream sounding tunes of the record and provides a chill out vibe with layers and compression intricacies that need to be explored on several listens.

One of the more accessible and whole songs on the 2012 Kamas record is “Infinity Museum” which not only provides more of a traditional song structure, but also introduces several different genres that are interconnected into a single sound source. From a stereo sounding glitch opening, to drone stylings, and a standard beat, the ninth track demonstrates a feeling of eeriness, a connection with the darkness through lower sounding field-eseque recordings that come together to pull through a variance in direction with an optimistic melody that rides just below a head nodding percussive section that carries the songs drive and command. By the end, it’s the reverberation that carries out the track before it’s toned down to it’s meek beginnings. A return to form, but still bent out of shape and a slight morph and maturity in it’s final moments.

It’s interesting to note that “Ambient Piece For A film” was done in one take. Straight from a statement to us from Kamas, he declared “the song ‘Ambient Piece For A Film’ was the most out there I’ve done, being the fact that it’s all done live and in one take. I was twisting knobs and playing notes all at the same time, which is why there isn’t a lot of melody changes.” Considering this seems to be one of the more intricately put together pieces on Cerulean, it’s clear that a strong sense of humanistic appeal is poured into it and not just technically. Christopher continued, “[the song] was created after a long day of self loathing over where I was going with life, and out of all the cliches I was curious if I should stop making music or not.” Finally, he concluded “I kept making music, as you can see.”

“Ambient Piece For A Film” is the most experimental and shining moment on the Lo-Fi by Default release. Though the composition is more of an extended drone session that Belong would be noted for if they entered into a darker realm with their music, the metamorphosis of where the pads head are never predictable and so the song’s destination is impossible to be detected by the listener. Pitch bending, distortion, delay, reverberation, pulsing, structural building, structural tear down, and anything else you can think of is all present. It’s ever building, ever getting stronger while representing a desolate mood and hopeless life. Sometimes, a chord progression will shift to a brighter tone, only to be lost once most and eventually, without warning, the track ends.

It feels like a letdown after all of the building that “Ambient Piece..” does, but it only gives way to the second song on Cerulean that earns itself a medal for one of the top released tracks of 2012 – “Child”.

“Child” is a track that must be experienced. It’s warbling main synth melody sounds as delicate as the track name is and its melodic progression only gets backed by the monotonous, straight forward, scratched Trip-Hop percussion, warm & loud bass, as well as the main synthesizer line. If it’s naivity isn’t swallowed up quite enough for you at the surface, digging deeper there is mass analogue distortion that’s so natural, so crucial to the track, that it makes it a song worth listening to on repeat for hours. Clocking in at just over 2 minutes, its duration is meaningless in a world where the artistic value of Kamas’ ability as a producer, engineer, mixer, and composer is clearly demonstrated in such a short, simplified amount of time. It’s the entire package of this song that makes it so great. It’s also the in-distinctions, imperfections, and substandard sonic packaging that ironically turns “Child” and the majority of Cerulean into a solid work of art.

Though a seemingly dark album, the official release states the Kamas record is an album about love and stuff. “Loves You” explores a more streamlined genre hopping drone/downbeat Electronic world that’s a bit more optimistic and “Samurai” projects a bright and hopeful mood as well.

As mentioned earlier, Cerulean is only released digitally so far, via Kamas’ Bandcamp, but for a digitally released record it sounds warm. In fact, it’s one of the warmest independent releases of 2012 and is definitely in a league of its own with it’s ever morphing sonics and strangely complimentary contrasts.

It’s worth a download, it’s worth a headphone listen, it’s worth a lot of things. Cerulean, as defined in the opening statement of Wikipedia, is a color term that may be applied to a wide range of colors from deep blue, sky-blue, bright blue or azure colors through blueish green colors. Though Kamas’ record seems forlorn, after a few listens those colors and demonstrative feelings of sentiment do shine through in the most wonderfully vulnerable and gorgeously broken way possible.


Click Here for the Official Kamas Soundcloud page
Click Here for the Kamas Bandcamp page
Click Here to download Cerulean [Bandcamp]
Click Here to follow Kamas on Facebook

We’re also happy to announce that Kamas has contributed remixes to the upcoming EP release of “Contagion” [Bandcamp] by 2020k.

Posted in album review, Infrasound | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Alaska In Winter Announces Closing of Online Store

Posted on October 18, 2012 by 2020k | RJ Kozain

In extremely upsetting news, Alaska in Winter has closed their official online store. A small statement and explanation for fans has been put up on the official Facebook page.

“Dear Everyone, I’m going to be shutting down the online store soon and closing my music business down (perhaps for a while, perhaps forever). I want to thank everyone who supported my endeavor- I really appreciate those of you who purchased CD’s, Cassette Tapes, Floppy Discs, T-shirts and other outdated mediums which contained my music… and I really hope that you enjoyed such things. For the rest of you who never knew, it was something that I put an incredible amount of time and money into as well as all the blood, sweat, and tears available in my body that went into releasing Alaska in Winter music on my own label, designing and doing everything by hand (yes, Brandon made every single one of the items you purchased or thought about purchasing) to bring you guys something special directly from me. I hope it was worth it.  R.I.P. – A.I.W.M. store”

Initially, as a fan of Brandon Bethancourt’s musical endeavors as Alaska In Winter, 2020k feared the for the worse. Those who have followed the project knows of the suffrages and sacrifice made for the stunning discography and art that has been put together throughout the years. However, it seems as though this is more of an official closing of just the online store.

So, what does that mean? Support independent art. Make your purchases now, before it’s too late and they’re not available in these physical formats anymore.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT ALASKA IN WINTER’S ONLINE STORE

Posted in Sine Wave | Tagged | Leave a comment