I just finished revamping another piece, the Aldous Huxley one. It was a hellish workout. At several points, I just about abandoned it as unworkable. The whole point of the piece about how propaganda works because of repitition. So I needed elements that could be repeated (with minor variations) for five minutes straight without becoming tedious. I even studied the melodic arc of Ravel’s Bolero at one point, and created this killer bass-line emulating it. But it was too much. What I ended up with was a much simpler bass-line with this constantly changing vamp every few bars. The last thing I did was take my original live drum performance and hand-typed it into midi, so I could do subtle variations and fills. Man, did that ever work out well.

So now I have four finished pieces and a fifth that is so experimental, I don’t know if I’ll end up using it. It’s really out there. About a week ago, I came home from work after a day of non-stop music listening, bummed that it was all so mediocre. I put on a couple of my own tracks, and… holy shit… there was no comparison. I just wanted to listen to that all day. I know it’s just a taste thing, but it’s sure nice to produce something you’re proud of.