Drizztopher and FYNIX and Friends

UPDATE: If you like this, then check out Dying Breed: https://soundcloud.com/fynix_fynix/drizztopher-walken-dying-breed

When I first wrote this beat, I thought it was a little too old school. I thought it was a little old fashioned, and just plain. But damn! @drizzty said he would write something, and he completely rejuvenated the beat!

I started with just a simple keyboard riff. It's just a basic bass riff in the left hand and chord stabs in the right hand. It's not very active, and it alternates between IM7 and IVM7.

The rest of the beat just fell in place after that. I layered on saxophone, bass, strings, drum kit, and auxilliary drums.

At first I sent this beat to another rapper, but he said it wasn't his style. So I was worried that it was a little stale. Then I sent it to @drizzty and I expected to hear the same thing. But when I got his rhymes, they seemed to hug the beat. Like the rhymes and the beat were forged as one.

The two flowed so well together that I did almost no editing. I shortened up the intro and put a fade on the end, but otherwise I just dropped in the vocals.

Thanks for listening!

Tempo (feat. Drizztopher Walken)

So this track began life as an experiment. I wanted to write something so slow and chill that it was difficult for a vocalist to work with. I dragged the tempo down as far as I dared, then put a super slow chord progression in place. Then I soaked it in reverb and ambient synthesizers.

Of course, the idea that a track is difficult to work with only makes sense for rappers who are inexperienced, or who just aren't very versatile. So I sent the track to @drizzty and he loved it. He wrote something in like one or two nights, and I was just gobsmacked.

There was definitely a reciprocal or iterative pattern of development on this track though. When he sent me the vocals, I reworked the track to fit the feel of the vocals. Then I edited the vocals a bit, and he wanted to redo the vocals. So we did a bunch of rounds of editing.

In the end, we ended up with a track that sounds very lonely. We sort of dug into the idea of solitude, and loneliness to the Nth degree. I think it works, and I hope you like it too!

Thanks for listening!

Drizztopher Walken - Somber Sonnets

Damn, how can I describe this one? TLDR, @djcohen and @drizzty made a banger, and I got to spice it up a bit.

This track started on therapcommunity.mn.co. I said we should trade remixes and when the time came to do it, I was working with @djcohen. We talked about which tracks to trade, and when he mentioned GBAD, I was completely on board. 

The problem with a tune like this is that the original mix is such a banger that it's difficult to know exactly what to do. You don't want to completely tear it down and destroy what's there, but you need to do something to remix it.

I started by shortening it a bit. I took out one repeat of the refrain and a little bit of the intro and outro. Then I pulled out all the drum layers except the kick and the snare. This left the track feeling pared-down and minimal. So I started building from there.

I noticed the lack of a deep bass, so I added a bass. It mostly stays on one note, but I put in a descending riff on the refrain. Then I wanted to draw out the theme of time travel in the lyrics, which is already represented in DJ Cohen's original mix by lots of reversed sounds. So I added reversed drums in spots. Then I tacked a little reversed section on the intro. Then I added tape-stop/scratch effects to put in little reversed bits here and there.

Finally, I added a few little extra touches. I added the crowd noise when the final verse begins. I added risers. I added a glitchy outro that I wanted to sound like a CD skipping (which is retro these days).

Then I spent a few days tweaking the mix, and that was it.

A million thanks to @djcohen and @drizzty for letting me remix their dope track!

Go Buy a Delorean (Drizztopher Walken, DJ Cohen) FYNIX Remix

Alisa said she wanted to come over to jam, so I sat down at my piano to write something. I spent about 15 minutes working out a simple refrain at the piano, then shifted to the computer to lay out a rough sketch. When she came over later that day, we laid down the vocal for the refrain.

Then I layered in my usual instruments and synthesizers. I added some vocal effects and risers, then I shared it on therapcommunity.mn.co. I asked for anyone who was interested to write me a rhyme for it.

Of course, the hardest working rapper in the game, @drizzty, got back to me first. He wrote a catchy lyric that fit with the refrain.

After getting the vocals, I spent about a month tweaking the arrangement and the synthesizers. I'm still not totally happy with the arrangement, but I think it's in a good place. I got such a good performance from the vocalists that I really can't screw up the music that bad.

Thanks for listening!

In the Middle of the Night (feat. Drizztopher Walken and Alisa Tantraphol)

I wanted to do a remix of @drizzty's dope Magnum Opus track, but it was a little tricky because the original setting/samples are so strong. The original backing track is so good that I thought I couldn't really do a new take on it if I used them.

So I scrapped them entirely and rewrote the entire backing track. As usual, I did a mix of pop and soul. The track really grooved when I got a few sax stabs behind it. Then I edited down the vocals a bit, and the track was pretty much done. 

Getting the vocals to sit right took me a long time, but I'm proud of the result!

Drizztopher Walken - Magnum Opus (FYNIX Remix)

Plugged in man we thought that it was great.
Over and old, yeah we made a few mistakes.
Screen time, rewind, what's that?
Calculated time I just been doing crap.
I've got a laptop, tan digitally enhanced.
Fresh air? Nah, breathing computer fans.
Get my desktop clean export then go mobile.
4G dreams react then go mogul.
Groundwork laid, learning number munchers.
Now iMac making beats during my lunches.
Gateway to the getaway.
What's PTO? You ever get a day? Get away.
I'm cool, calm, and collected.
Spend my time on the message.
Yeah, burning oil late night,
Hmm, writing till they say "Yes Drizz, these messes
are barely in my way like a pest is."
I circumvent the trauma all our routes have been destined.
If country roads could take me home I'd sit and play guitar.
Maybe write a song about my favorite dog or car.
That's John Deer living not a car in the world.
red maga-hat-wearing both me and my girl. Psych.
That's not for me, but who am I to say what you should like.
I still rock Reebok and Bugle Boy on my Huffy bike.

Stop by when you got a minute, let's hang.
Real face time not a digital screen.
Connect, affect, it helps us make sense.
Why we out of touch, like we lost fingerprints?

We're taught to live life like a treasure hunt.
If it don't take dollars is that what you want?
It's not survival or the fittest or the baddest,
just a shit conglomeration trying to keep their pockets padded.
It's on us. It's time to stand and blow the whistle.
Keep our fires burning through the night and any drizzle.
If we lose momentum and our cause starts to fizzle,
they'll be right back at it making money with their missiles.
They even have cute names like a Tomahawk.
A Bunker-Buster. How far I like to fill my talk
with buzz words that I hear on the news.
Regurgitating visions like a chick on The View.
No common sense sense like a problem sentence.
They say grammar doesn't matter and you accept it.
If you're that gullible and you get dumbed-down,
buy a TV host, but you don't get my sound.
Oh that's that East Coast shit, man white boy rap.
Sorry I like to bring attention to my problems and crap,
that I see around town or up on the screen.
I'm not wading through life like it's a half-hearted dream.

Stop by when you got a minute, let's hang.
Real face time not a digital screen.
Connect, affect, it helps us make sense.
Why we out of touch, like we lost fingerprints?

Drizztopher Walken - Let's Hang

This is a follow up to Tempo: https://soundcloud.com/fynix_fynix/drizztopher-walken-tempo

Drizztopher Walken - Dying Breed

Make sure to check out Dizztopher Walken (https://soundcloud.com/drizzty) and C3LO (https://soundcloud.com/celoambriz)

Drizztopher Walken - DyingBreed (feat. C3LO)

There's so much greatness in this track that it's hard for me to talk about. The original song and vocal part by Courtney Grace is excellent. It was really easy to recontextualize it in an interesting way, and Drizz's featured verse really ties it together.

Check out the original here: https://soundcloud.com/courtney-grace-11/i-wanted-you-you-wanted-me

Check out Drizztopher Walken here: https://soundcloud.com/drizzty

Courtney Grace - I Wanted You, You Wanted Me (FYNIX remix, feat. Drizztopher Walken)

I'm just a DJ with a time machine.

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Send me a DM for bookings/remixes/collabs, or hmu on email: contact [at] fynixmusic [dot] com

"FYNIX has taken the time and consideration to build something from scratch yet that allows the natural soul of the original song to shine with absolute brightness. Beautifully done." - Stereo Stickman