Influence of Surroundings

I guess it is hard to even to try to think that how much your surroundings affect to art you make. I'd guess that art is the construction that is surroundings absorbed plus the filtration effect of one's thoughts and views. So it's something like:

Surroundings Absorbed + Artist's Thoughts & Views = Construction of Art.

There are two fundamental views on surroundings. One is the physical aspect, all that you see and all that you can touch. I guess that these surroundings don't have the most prominent effect on artist. Another point of view, that is far more prominent, is kind of feeling of the surroundings in one's head. Kind of state of mind. This feeling is constructed through perceived surroundings but it is strongly affected by all the connections in artist's mind.

Pori State of Mind

As I live in Pori (picture is taken from Bridge of Pori) it certainly has a strong influence on the music I construct. Old industrial milieu and multiple islets that dominate the landscape, most prominently beautiful Kirjurinluoto (something like Islet of Courier if translated directly) put their marks on my works. Those works capture the before lived me perceiving something new in a Pori surroundings. They capture the new connections and highlights of mind that come up.

It could be said that those musical constructions are then very deeply Pori influenced as this rendezvous with surroundings cannot be eluded. Then again can you in any way state that your music is global? It is always local, born and cultivated from local incredients, local surroundings, local state of mind.

Syndrome of Unfinished Creations

As I was exporting some TEP track billets out of my preferred program into MP3's I noticed that each of them had length of about two minutes. This is not a new finding, but this time I really started to think why it was this way.

Chau número tres by photographer padawan *(xava du)

It is very common that all the tracks I've made during my "career" and that are not completed have length of approximately two minutes. It seems that this two minutes is a critical track length in which I start to lose interest in a track I'm working with and start to have some new ideas for another one.

It is not indeed very handy personal feature as tracks should have length around four to eight minutes when completed (I think that tracks shorter than this cannot create atmospheres that would reflect my original intentions and ideas).

As I today thought about this feature of mine I came up with a proper name for it: Syndrome of Unfinished Creations. And I am pretty sure that it is the reason why only about 2 % of music I've ever composed is released into public (I've made around 500 tracks or track billets during my active years).

So Syndrome of Unfinished Creations means:

A condition in which a lot of effort is put to create something new (music in this case), but only minority of that work realises into releasable forms. 

I think that this kind of a reason is one of those why it sometimes feels like you don't achieve anything. You do so much work but it doesn't realise any way. I guess it is a common problem in life overall, but I try to look at it from artists point of view.

Syndrome of Unfinished Creations might have various reasons:

• Losing Interest in a track - Solution: Try to find new viewpoints, aspects and layers for a track. Add something to it, or rather subtract something from it. Try to imagine how it feels when you get your track complete. Remember that when you focus on one thing at time you'll probably get more done in a longer run.
• Perfectionism - Solution: If you have or create a habit of listening previous versions or mixes of the same track, you'll hear that usually those previous versions are the better ones. Usually perfectionism leads the track away from the original idea. For me perfectionism is usually technology related; I want to use some world class mixing methods or such and it ruins my track down. Perfectionism is one vicious circle. In its worst form you'll never get your tracks complete.
• Overwhelming Tech (that is you have so much of pieces of hardware and software that all your time goes to technical tweaking and solving problems) - Solution:  Reduce your hardware and software arsenals. Concentrate on music, creation. Try to understand that those pieces of hardware and software are just your tools and they should not dictate or prevent your creative process.
• Disbelief in Completion (that is you just believe that your track is never going to get complete and that's why you stop composing it) - Solution: Have a clear vision what you want to achieve with your track. If you'll have this kind of a vision, you'll know that there is just certain amount of steps that can be taken towards it. As you take these steps, every time you are closer to a complete track. It should break your disbelief.
• Too High Vision (that is, related to the previous one, that you set your expectations about your music too high) - Solution: Neither Brian Eno nor Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel of Air were musical geniuses when they were born or started to compose music. Don't set too high expectations to your own creations but instead be gentle towards them. You'll come better every time you spent time creating more.
• Disbelief in Releasing (that is you don't have courage to put release your music for everyone) - Solution: I know that there are people out there who want to do music just for themselves. But I believe that any music that is made can be more valuable when shared. If others get something, even a little bit, out of it, then it's worth sharing. There is also another great point in releasing your music: you might get comments about how to improve your composition (though not all of this is worth listening to) and proposals for co-operation. But rememeber that nothing of this can happen if no-one knows about you and your music.

I guess there are many more reasons for this kind of a syndrome, but you'll certainly got the point. If I should pack up some of the most valuable tips about this, it would be something like this:

• Concentrate on creative process
• Believe in yourself
• Experiment and grow

Now go, experiment, create and grow!

The Electric Phoenix

The Electric Phoenix is up-and-coming 8-track release from Elektropol. Tracks are filled with elektropolish soundscapes, beats, vocals and such - each having it's own story but being also a part of the ensemble.

 Cover draft v. 0.1 (Phoenix design by H-L Saarenmaa)

In-cover text draft

The Electric Phoenix itself is a mystical creature of Elektropol, electroborn from the oscillators of analogue synths (mainly Fatson 6000 and Urania Pattern Mk 3) that reborns after 888 years of living. It lands on the heat of the oscillators, disintegrates into square waves and is also given rebirth from the purest of them - new sound design, that is wiser than the previous in all fronts.

The Electric Phoenix reminds us about the chance of giving a rebirth for ourselves, finding new paths to travel, having an opportunity to change our direction. As The Electric Phoenix, we are not bound to selections we have made in the past. Our history should not be burden for us and it should not dictate our actions.

The Electric Phoenix, as flying through the air, isn't also guided by any outer force or environment it confronts. Phoenix is a super resolute, ferocious and filled with the sense of direction. It has wisdom to choose the best and the strength to achieve it. Wind makes no challenge for it, but merely reminds it that it is up for a challenge that it is yet again able to grow over with. Yet another small step to take towards the 888th year of rebirth into better self.

Tracklisting draft

1. Electroborn
2. Unbound
3. Vast Array
4. Zeniths
5. Scapefly
6. Harmania
7. Fairlight
8. 888th

Style draft

1. Electroborn - Rising, pure-sound soundscape, minimalist drums, orchestral sounds, choir, pads, angelic chorus, distorted arpeggio, edgy and sharp bassline, appropriate vox
2. Nonbound - More groovy and active melody, dancy yet soundscapish, ambient parts, rare and filled drum patterns, vocoder, app. vox
3. Vast Array - Varying ambiance, lots of small effect sounds at the background, different sampled vox, underlining bass and lead (yet not dominating), offbeat drum patterns
4. Zeniths - Glorious wind instruments, stabs and fx, glorious vox, strong and defined bass
5. Scapefly - Maximum ambience; pads, choirs, angelic vox, rare drums, long effect sounds, piano
6. Harmania - Darked sounds, distorted yet ambient, heavy, industrial
7. Fairlight - Final Fantastique, grand piano, electric lead, edgy bass, ambient breaks, glorifying vox, vocoder
8. 888th - Partly sad, melancholic sounds, minor keys, longer track, hints of happiness, app. vox

Notes for the whole album

• Zeniths continues from where Vast Array ends, appr. 50 % same instruments.
• Other tracks have 4 + 4 sec. silence in between.
• Same piano sound used in every track with different effects and / or setup.
• Same basic pad sound used in every track with different effects and / or setup.
• Same drumkit used in every track (2 kicks, 3 snares, 2 open hh, 2 closed hh, crash, congas, bongos, rims)? Mixing, effects etc. could be changed.
• 88-135 BPM.
• Vocal samples mainly from the Prelinger Archives.
• Same basic mixing setup used for the whole album (drum comp, bass comp, drum eq, bass eq, lead comp, lead eq, master comp/limiter/eq) - settings could be at least lightly varied.
• Same mixing channels used for the whole album: lead 1, lead 2, vox 1, vox 2, bass 1, bass 2, kick, snare, open hh, closed hh and rim, bongos and congas, pad 1, pad 2, pad 3, fx 1, fx 2...
• All the tracks (except Harmania) should be airy, sunny, pure, fresh and intriguing.
• Some references: Giant Robot, Air, YMO, Brian Eno, Massive Attack, Portishead, FSOL, Aphex Twin.
• Old sound elements: scratches, radio etc. buzz, Vintage Warmer, Prelinger vox, virtual analogue sounds, slight distortion.
• Lots of velocity variations, slight timing errors, automation (pitch, cutoffs, resonances, volumes, reverb/echo/delay variables, distortion levels...)
• Although being mostly atmospheric / ambient music, every track should have some catch; vocoder vocals, sample vocals, singing, one-line, lead or bass melody or such.