Digital EP: Transmissions Part I

While I was working on Radioatomic, I had a few offshoot ideas that further explored the radio theme, to the point of incorporating snippets of distorted radio transmissions into them. This was the loose concept behind 'Transmissions.' The project has since morphed into a home for 'orphaned' experiments that came about from tinkering in the studio. I foresee a series of EP's of this nature, with a full album as soon as there's enough material. For now, you can grab Transmissions Part I here, or stream from the player below:

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1. Microbes - Testing some new equipment gave rise to this Frankenstein's Monster of a track. I never quite knew where I was going with it from one minute to the next. While searching for a title, I found an old educational film about bacteria; a monologue from which tied everything together.

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Equipment: Korg SQ-1 sequencer and MS-20 Mini (wobbly 'bassline,' panned left, and pink noise 'footsteps', panned center), iVCS3 soft synth (bubbly swamp noises, panned center) Korg Monotribe (space drum-thing sequence, panned right), Curtis for iPad granular synthesizer (pterodactyl sounds), GMedia M-Tron (choir), various field recordings.

2. Echo of the Telegraph - The Korg MS-20 synthesizer is equipped with CV (Control Voltage), and can be patched in such a way that it effectively plays itself. The usefulness of this is very limited, of course, but it leaves your hands free to shape the sound while it's blooping merrily away. One such improvisation forms the backbone of this track. To that I added TAL U-No-LX (melody), Crumar Performer (strings), cymbal, and synthesized percussion.

3. Trans Earache Express - Of the many recordings of trains I've made, I had one striking passage I wanted to build a song around. I called upon the Korg Monotribe to provide bass accompaniment (recorded live), and added a little percussion.

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4. Ghost Box - In 2013 I worked on a soundtrack that could be described as steampunk-meets-chorale. I think it's one of the best things I've done, so I hope I'll be able to release it someday. This song shares some of the sonic characteristics and overall mood, with the exception of vocals and snippets of radio recordings. A 'ghost box,' in case you're wondering, is a radio wired to constantly cycle through frequencies in the hope that spirits will vocalise through it.

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5. Lost Transmission - Written around the same time as Ghost Box. I took a lengthy recording of a transistor radio tuned so that the signal stuttered, and played it back at half-speed through a digital emulation of tape delay. I then came up with something complimentary on the Roland HS-60.

Digital Album: Radioatomic

At last, the album is complete. Releasing it in stages has been an interesting process, but I always intended it to be a cohesive work. Ladies and gentlemen, the first 'proper' album by The Manitou since 2008: Radioatomic.

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If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that Radioatomic has been inspired by radioactivity and the Atomic Age. Production began in early 2013 and has taken over a year and a half to complete. That isn't to say it was my sole project during that time: two (as yet unreleased) soundtracks were tackled, and a handful of songs that didn't fit the theme are waiting in the wings for the follow-up.

The songs herein range from 'atmospheres' and experimental pieces to synthpop/electropop with a dark edge. They were created with a host of analogue and analogue-modelling synthesizers, virtual instruments, digital sampler software fed with 'found sounds' (field recordings, etc...), and a handful of drum machines and electronic toys (a track-by-track list of these devices can be found in the PDF booklet accompanying the release).

Track listing:
1. March Of The Rads
2. Electro Magnetic
3. Isotopes For All - Part 1
4. U235
5. Isotopes For All - Part 2
6. 96.1 MHz
7. Half Life
8. Global Warning
9. Nibiru
10. Radium Smile
11. Reactor Four
12. Atomic City
13. Cathode Ray
14. Fukushima Fifty
15. 96.2 MHz
16. A Robot In Every Home

These sixteen tracks all but fill an 80 minute CD, but the deluxe digital download on bandcamp includes seven bonus tracks: the single edits of five album tracks, an instrumental version of Half Life, and the electro mix of Atomic City. Thus every track released as part of the series of free singles is included in the package.

Also included is a 30 page .PDF booklet with liner notes, lyrics, and track-by-track artwork and instrument lists. For more detailed commentary on each track I suggest searching this blog for the keyword 'Radioatomic.'

The artists Atomic Shadow and Kraftwerk deserve special mention, as both heavily influenced this album. Specifically, it was #9 by Atomic Shadow that inspired me to browse the Prelinger Archive for public domain film reels, resulting in 'Isotopes For All' and 'Atomic City.' Kraftwerk have been an influence on my music from day one, but during production I realised that their 1975 album Radio-Activity had more than just its subject-matter in common with this project. If you haven't heard it I urge you to follow the link and do so.

Digital Single: Cathode Ray

Fourth in my series of free singles is Cathode Ray / U235. These both lean towards the experimental, so they were a lot of fun to put together. There's nothing like unleashing your 'mad scientist' side in the studio!

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Cathode Ray opens with a march-like rhythm created from snippets of a sample & hold patch on the Korg Monotribe. The Monotribe also provides a recurring bleepy filter sequence. A bassline, drone, and some percussion sounds recorded from a Toshiba radio form the backbone of the track. The Alesis SamplePad was used to sequence some Speak & Spell percussion and tom-toms. Novation K-Station adds some extra percussive sounds. I manipulated my voice with the Marantz PMD201 tape recorder to create the spoken word part. A very nice VST called Lounge Lizard provides the electric piano.

I should point out that the TV featured in the artwork is exactly as I found it. No TV's were harmed (by me) in the making of this e.p.!

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I did something a little different with the video this time. It's shot entirely with a 40mm macro lens and features some of the instruments and devices I used to make the music. My tin robot 'Mini Radiocon,' which you might recognise from the cover of 'Let's Build Mecha!', also makes an appearance.

U235 was the first track I made for the new album project, and my first experiment with the Korg Monotribe. Once I had a patch and a sequence programmed, I recorded several live improvisations, cut them into chunks, and assembled them into a track. I then created various percussion sounds on Roland HS-60, TAL U-NO-LX, and K-Station, and added in a snare from the Yamaha MR-10. HS-60 provides some other synth sounds, more Monotribe was overdubbed, and K-Station and Yamaha CS01 also provide some melodies. Electric guitar can be heard on the ambient sections (backwards). My voice was once again pitch-shifted with the Marantz PMD201.

The title refers to the only fissionable isotope of uranium to occur in nature. In the film A Is For Atom, which I sampled for Isotopes For All, U235 is represented by a frenetic cartoon character. The bouncy arpeggio reminded me of that.

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Digital Single: Isotopes For All

The second in my series of free singles is Isotopes For All Parts 1&2. These two tracks date from earlier in the recording sessions than Electro Magnetic, and are a little more indicative of what to expect from the rest of the album.

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Isotopes For All - Part 1 was inspired in part by the works of Atomic Shadow. (If you haven't already, I urge you to give him a listen. He has a new album out called City of Chrome and Glass, which is very good). Further inspiration, including the monologue heard in the track, came from a 1953 educational(?) film called A Is For Atom. The naive and alarming nature of the film, juxtaposed as it is with the cute Disney-esque animation, prompted me to re-purpose it in a way that highlights the more disturbing elements of 1950's atomic-age thinking.

Snippets of the soundtrack were copied to cassette tape and the pitch modified manually with my Marantz PMD201 tape recorder. To my mind this further enhanced both the disturbing and comical nature of the monologue. Forming the basis of the music is some quirky synthesized percussion, rendered using the TAL U-No-LX softsynth. Weaving in and out of the track is a bassline constructed on the Korg Monotribe, and an arpeggio from the K-Station. In between the narrated sections, the Roland HS-60 adds some interesting sounds and the K-Station provides a second bassline.

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Isotopes For All - Part 2 evolved out of a desire to see how the music would sound with a more conventional beat. It was initially a three-minute recording (this became the 'single edit') of Monotribe bassline and K-Station arpeggio with parameters such as filter-cutoff manipulated in real-time, to which the instrumental parts and drums were added. An early version used the Monotribe's analogue drum sounds, but I found they muddied the mix. An 808 kit from the Boss DR-550 left room in the mix for some phased strings courtesy of the Crumar Performer run through a Small Stone phaser.

After receiving the demo, my friend Jimmy sent me an extended mix of the track he'd put together for fun. I liked it so much that I decided to make a longer version myself, and that's how it ended up two-and-a-half minutes longer. By this time the bass patch on the Monotribe (which has no patch memory) was long-since gone. I came close to replicating it, but it didn't have quite the edge of the original, so I used a mix of the original recording and the new.

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96.1Mhz, an experimental 'atmosphere' was included on the e.p. to break up the two different versions of Isotopes Part 2. It consists of a recording of radio interference augmented by sound effects from the Korg Monotribe.

Digital Single: Electro Magnetic

Leading up to the release of my new album, I'll be releasing a series of free two-track singles. The first of these is Electro Magnetic/Nibiru. It will be available for free on my Bandcamp page until the next single is released (at least two weeks).

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Electro Magnetic was inspired by the knowledge that electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) are buzzing around us almost constantly in our technological society. Far from being gloom-and-doom, however, Electro Magnetic is an upbeat electropop song with minimal vocals and a focus on synthesized percussion and electronic rhythms. I came up with the idea when I was walking in the woods, and recorded some hand-percussion into my digital recorder so I'd remember it. It was later re-created in the studio. The sounds were created on Novation K-Station and Roland HS-60. The Crumar Performer is also featured on the bridge, and the Boss DR-550 provided the tom-toms.

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Nibiru began as a bass sequence on the Korg Monotribe. I recorded an improvisation of various filter and LFO tweaks as a single take and constructed the rest of the track around it. Also featured are the Roland HS-60, an arpeggio from the K-Station, and some Speak & Spell percussion samples. The title was inspired by a phantom sun purportedly hiding behind our own.

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Also included is a single edit of Electro Magnetic, which omits the extended breakdown. It essentially follows the same structure as my original demo.

Digital E.P.: The Mechanicals

The trilogy of experimental robot music tracks I wrote for Doctor Who: Centurion is available on my bandcamp page. The track listing is as follows:

1. The Mechanicals (Part 1)
2. The Mechanicals (Part 2)
3. Insufficient Data
4. The Mechanicals (Part 2) [End Of The World Mix]

Running time: 21:03

The remix was a last-minute addition that my good friend Jimmy 'Jamz' Aaron and I cooked up over the Mayan Apocalypse (hence the title). It really took the track to another level.

Stay tuned for some track-by-track commentary.

Digital Album: Thought To Be Extinct

New to my bandcamp page is The Manitou's 2008 album 'Thought To Be Extinct.' I still regard it as some of my strongest material, and am pleased to make it available again. All 13 tracks are streamable for free, and can be purchased either individually or as a complete digital package with PDF booklet: featuring artwork such as that pictured above, the lyrics, and a list of instruments used in the recording.

The Manitou - Thought To Be Extinct

To coincide with the release, I've uploaded a slideshow I made in 2009 to accompany the song 'Switch On, Switch Off.' It features photos I've taken throughout the 00's, of chemtrails and other aerial phenomena (thanks to my dad for the idea!):

The Manitou on Bandcamp

 

I now have an account on Bandcamp for The Manitou's music releases. The Let's Build Mecha! e.p. is already available, a bargain at $5 CDN. It comes bundled with the PDF liner notes, and your choice of high-quality format, including FLAC.

http://themanitou.bandcamp.com/

I hope to get my Thought To Be Extinct album uploaded in the very near future, once I've finished the booklet and gone over the master recordings. There may be some singles forthcoming even sooner than that. Stay tuned!