Xenophobic Tourism

As has happened previously this month, this is not the song I started with. I had an idea, and had started trying to find sounds when I realized that what I had in my head was going to need an earlier start and a lot more prep work. Around midnight I decided to switch gears, but wasn’t entirely sure where that would lead me. This type of sound wash ambient is nice in what it brings to you can change entirely based on what you bring to it. Try this experiment: play this track and then try shifting your mental … Continue reading

Hadal Zone

Sitting down to write, I don’t think I was intending on a return to the deep space music / dark ambient genre, but here we are. I tried a slightly different approach this time, going with a slower tempo and then using a super sparse drum pattern, but running it through several effects. The opening note and kick drum sound remind me a lot of a song I wrote back in the 80s, but it’s only that opening moment. After adding the bass drone and letting it loop around for a bit, I started thinking of footage you see from … Continue reading

The Stinking Rose Waltz

Brian Eno is apparently my spirit animal this month. He has, of course, been a huge influence on my ambient compositions, but he has also been a source of inspiration and motivation in my musical and creative world in a much more general way. In 1975, Eno teamed up with Peter Schmidt and created a deck of cards, each with a single sentence crafted to inspire creativity and shake up the reader’s approach. They named the set Oblique Strategies and have done a few limited edition pressings over the years. I’ve never been able to get my hands on an … Continue reading