Rogue Data
“Infinite” was a good example, as I tried to make something with the sensibilities of Detroit Techno, but the depth of of Massive Attack or the intensity of Biosphere. The main riff is very unusual….dissonant, possibly unnerving, but the juxtaposition of the vocal, which begins to fragment over time, on top, gives it context as it fades into the background, with all focus transferred to the vocal. You forget it’s there as it dissolves into the background. I had a lot of fun with this one. It’s moody, but it’s the kind of moody I like.
Flensic 2.0 is a very old friend. I have no idea why, but I love this track. Actually, I do know why……….it’s the mystery. Sometimes tracks take on a life of their own, and have their own inpenetreble persona. If I could sum up Flensic 2.0 in one phrase, it would be “for now we see through a glass darkly”. It feels like an old friend, yet is still a friend cloaked in mystery. I accept them at face value, yet know nothing beyond that.
I’ve wrote before about how I’ve sometimes felt like I am simply a conduit, and this music flows through me. Sometimes I get in “the zone” and hours pass like minutes. I’m oblivious to time, and I’m only aware of allowing something to flow. Beyond being open to curiosity, I have no idea what I’m doing. I can’t read or write music, and genuinely have no desire to learn these “rules” as I prefer just discovering things instictively………intuitively
Flensic 2.0 mystifies me….even after working on it for countless hours on version 1.0 which was released well over 10 years ago, and countless hours on version 2.0. Like some mysterious Egyptian ruin, I felt the need to excavate it, and see if I could unravel it…..but it’s still a mystery to me.
I knew from the start that “In Dreams” was a special track. I prefer ambiguous vocals and sometimes go to great lengths to obscure things and put them just out of earshot. I like how people will all hear something different because there’s no clear meaning to it. It’s more of a personal thing.
With “In Dreams” however, the vocal fit the music like a hand in a glove, and I thought it was so catchy. Once the vocal connected, this track came together very quickly. Don’t ask me how it ended up sounding almost semi-tropical with something that almost resembles muffled steel drums……I don’t know. It led, and I followed.
Maybe it’s similar to how a bird flies….it can’t see the air currents and the thermals, but it instinctively knows how to effortlessly urf them.
When Richard D James , as Polygon Window, used the phrase “Surfing on Sine waves” for one of his album titles, he was communicating the same thing. There’s a flow to it., and It’s always on.
“Short Circuit ( Error Detective Mix )” is one of the best tracks I’ve ever made. To me, it has something French about it, or maybe Italian. The chord structure feels almost fundamentally classical when you peel back all the electronic layers, and there’s something very bittersweet about it.
I’m all about melody, and this one genuinely floors me. I absolutely love it. I love all my tracks to a greater or lesser degree, and wouldn’t release them if I hated them. Some might see it as some kind of conceit, but there’s nothing quite like creating something good that’s never existed before. That will never lose it’s appeal.