23/12/2019

Better Late Than Never

carbinax
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Just finished a track called “Electron” that’s taken me at least 15 years to get to the point where I know it’s finally done.

15 Years !!

Anyone who knows me knows I can start a track in the morning and it’s mostly done by the end of the day, so for me to work that long on a track is certainly something.

I actually started it on my first ever “DAW” which was Music 2000 for the Playstation One =P
I thought it was such a good idea that I rebuilt it by ear once I started using FL studio, as I no longer had the playstation, the memory card or Music 2000 , and all I had to work with was a badly mixed wav of the track in embryonic form on a minidisc.
I’ve released 2 versions of it , but neither felt “definitive”.
It’s continued to nag me in the background and felt like unfinished business, but thanks to a friend informing me that Gershon Kingsley had passed away, I started to work on another track that I had also previously released, and did the best I could at that time, but again, never felt that it was definitive.
That track was “Popcorn”.
It’s been covered by Kraftwerk, Aphex Twin, Herb Albert, and ever The Muppets had a stab at it.
The very first version I heard was by Hot Butter, and it was one of a few tracks that once I’d heard, felt like my DNA had been overwritten forever, and it was only fitting that I did the cover of it.
The first few versions were just OK. Other people comments on Soundcloud ( in those days when people still did actually comment on tracks )and said it was good, but I knew there was more in it.
Anyway….long story short……I finished it, and made the definitive version I had wanted to make from the start, but had to wait for my skills to catch up to my enthusiasm. You can listen to it
here.

Because I had difficulties with Popcorn, and then nailed it, I now had the confidence to tackle Electron.
I’ve spent almost the past 48 hours hunting high and low, taking the track apart, spinning it round, looking at it from different angles, and where I once had a 147bpm high octane train, I now have 133bpm track at a completely different time signature, so it feels like it’s about 120bpm with a swung beat.
The bassline was always the linchpin of the track, and it stood or fell by that alone, and the bassline never felt as muscular as I heard it in my head, and it absolutely needed to be, and I knew this was the time to get it done.

I don’t know what to do with it yet.
I’m currently working on around 80 tracks simultaneously, which will all be released in some shape or fashion in 2020, with a new album in the 1st quarter of 2020
With 303’s and acid having a bit of a renaissance, I’ve made some tracks that are quite distinct from the usual sound of Carbinax, as I’m revisiting my roots in acid and Detroit Techno.
I’m currently thinking of releasing that material separately. I may release it under a new pseudonym.

With only 4 days to go before it’s Christmas, it’s a bad time to release music, so I’m only posting a short preview of Electron for now.
You can hear it here