Download the Track
Anyone who’s been following my tracks/notes recently will know that I’ve been delving in to the DJ Shadows / Avalanches / Too Many DJ’s style.
Linked at the top of this article is the first rendition of my latest piece of work - for now I’ve released it under the Creative Commons License as it contains many many samples from various sources in need of clearing. Any sign of protest from any of these parties will unfortunately mean that I will have to remove it, but until that time please feel free to enjoy it!
The track itself is meant to be a joke. The german lyrics are about “schlaraffenland” (utopia, or “land of milk & honey” in direct English translation). It then cuts away to an english chorus about a guy tripping out on mushrooms. The idea is that the guy is in this “schlaraffenland”.
If you look through the multitude of samples, the track also has the Pro-1 doing some underlying subs alongside the bass guitar (which is going through a fuzz pedal). There is also a Pro-1 (1:27) sound in the 2nd chorus on the right hand side… this was originally a simple up/down sawtooth, but I transposed it up a few octaves. You might be able to hear the Mellotron choir sound during the same chorus! The ARP 2600 (0:50) is playing on the right-hand side during the english chorus, and for the breakdown bit (0:48) for the machine gun kick-drum effect. I’ve also got the Octave CAT (1:11) working away on the weird blips, which is turn is going through a Watkins Copicat for that retro sci-fi effect. The CAT is probably my favorite synthesizer due to it’s grimey filter, and the ability to mix waveforms/modulations as you’re playing.
Slightly discordant in places, but then falls sweetly into chunky hooks. It’s a highly experimental piece which features no less than 7 tracked-samples stuffed in to one tune. The main bands are: Adjeef The Poet, Carmen, Portishead, and Gary Numan to which I fully credit this track to.
If anyone has any thoughts please feel free to voice them in the comments below.
Oggy Said on:
November 10th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Love it…slightly discordant in places, but then falls sweetly into those hooks
Really nice spread across the mix…a definite dancefloor rocker too…especially in an “indie-esque” club
awesome
MoonMax Said on:
November 10th, 2008 at 9:35 am
A god dam great song!!! Loved it a lot!
The only thing I’d changed is that it beggins like it ends, so I’d add some crazy instrumenatl fill-in or maybe even a part, or add something that’s called C leather. That would help, I guess.
MM
rumblejazz Said on:
November 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
This is wicked, very well put together, very tight production/sampling.
I don’t know if anyone else noticed this, but the hi-hat tamb sample panned right, really distracted me.
I think the structure of the track was pretty good, but I can understand the comments about the ending being the same.
Also the bass annoyed me a bit at the beginning, but I’m just nitpicking now, I aspire to produce something of this standard. Well done sir!
9/10!
Rj x
Greg Dunston Said on:
November 14th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Hey, this is a great tune! How did you manage to mix so many sounds together?
Lawrence Said on:
November 14th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Thanks Greg! It did take a while, but that’s the glory of sampling! Part of the reason I had to be extreme with the ‘width’ of the sound was to ease the whole strain on available headroom. I got there in the end thankfully after a bit of experimentation.
perbyhring Said on:
November 14th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
This is sounding very good. Very trippy sound.
My only problem with it would be the ending as has been mentioned.
And I don’t like the title very much. Just Schlaraffenland would be a better title no?
Great track!
Alex Said on:
November 16th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
This is amazing! Do you mind if I play this around at a few clubs?
Lawrence Said on:
November 20th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
Hi Alex, Thank you for the kind comments - Of course you can! I would be interested to hear any feedback you receive.
bstcrew Said on:
December 2nd, 2008 at 9:49 pm
oops I kinda sorta played this tune on our last show (on non-commercial radio in Antwerp).My apologies for not letting you know but because you stated that you put it under creative Commons I thought it would be alright. Hope you don’t mind. Anyway, great track! I hope you get some actual payed airtime with it.
Ten Flew South Said on:
December 13th, 2008 at 4:40 am
This is more like it, loved this one, great vibe overall especially that chorus, good job sir.