Nur Ein XV

Moss Palace - Homestretch

Are you looking for this
Or maybe looking for someone that you’re going to miss 
Late at night in the summer 
Cross eyed kids caught in the lens of someone’s camera
How many times have me met
How many lines are running parallel and never connect 
You spend your life with a stranger 
In another they’ve driven their car into the water 

Believe me, believe in something better than this
Or should we try to put it all back together again
You’re leaving 
What’s leaving but another way to be missed
Or should we try to put the pieces back together again

Someone give me a hit
I need something that will get me out of this quick 
Turned my head just to see you
A Quick kiss a in the hallway by the bedroom 
Everything that we lost 
The clothes we keep out of the suitcase we pack in the dark
I cannot get rid of feeling 
That the beginning will one day meet up with the ending 

Believe me, believe in something better than this
Or should we try to put it all back together again
You’re leaving
What’s leaving but another way to forget
Or should we try to put the pieces back together again

And the cities we lived in 
may turn out just to be places that used to exist 
Before any of this 
Before your idiot kiss
Your future past and present tense

Believe me, Believe in something better than this
Or should we try to put it all back together again
You’re leaving 
What’s leaving but another way to forgive
Or should we try to put the pieces back together again

Future Past Present Tense

Following on from yesterday's quite successful attempt at making a beat out of coat hangers I started with a bottle of vitamin pills today. I created a nice percussive groove and laid a drum machine beat on top. I didn't have much more time so the synth parts aren't great. I was attempting to do something that wasn't just straight up chords but it's a bit meh. I also tried to do a basic spoken word vocal to go over the beat but it clashed with the synths and got all muddy. I obviously need to learn how to record and process vocals! Anyway, I just slapped it on the end and called it a day for this one.

Pills (Jamuary Day 8)

After experimenting quite a lot with sampled sounds as a starting point over the last few days I wanted to switch things up today. I decided to focus on trying a new scale. I don’t have much music theory so I’m not too familiar with anything past the basics so I picked Lydian Augmented in C. I’ve never even heard of this scale before but playing around with chords produced some quite nice results. I started with a piano sound as I find it the easiest way to work out a progression and baseline before diving into synths. From there it was a case of layering things up, doing a quick arrangement and finally adding some light automation on EQ and filters.

Jamuary 2024

Lydian Augmented (Jamuary Day 10)

Today I was inspired to try working in a novel time signature. The idea came from Gullo who I follow on Mastodon. He created a track in 11/8 today (https://soundcloud.com/cristian-gurra-50585796/118-cheerfulness) and I realised I’ve never really broken out of 4/4. 

My first attempt was genuinely so bad I didn’t want to upload it. A real mess. In that one I started with the chords and tried to get a beat to fit with little success. So I had another go, this time starting with the beat and once I had a rhythm I was happy with I started layering things up. I’m reasonably happy with the result and I shall be trying other time signatures again in the future.

The unknowable nature of time (Jamuary Day 11)

Today's track is doing double duty as it was created for the 2 Hour Album Challenge (2hac) in addition to Jamuary. The idea of that challenge is to create a complete track, start to finish in just two hours. There's also a theme which this time around was 'Life'. 

I decided to create my track in a musique concrète style by using only recordings of animal noises which I found on freesound.org. This was hard as I was having to do sound design on the fly (e.g. creating a kick out of a pigeon call and a clap out of a dog bark) while also composing. 

I actually only spent one hour on this as we're going out to dinner in a minute so I might allow myself another hour tweaking it tomorrow for 2hac.

Menagerie Part 2 (Jamuary Day 13)

A song by Berkeley musicians Mike Roberts and Will Hammond Jr. about a heat pump "with a lot of love to give."

(I'm Your) Heat Pump

These songs were written for the final project of a class about Asian American history and identity, using a framework that unpacks the particularities of ethnic heritage, migration experience, American culture, and racialization. Writing from my context as a white man in Seattle attending a Christian graduate school while reexamining my own Catholic upbringing, I explore how heritage, migration experience, American culture, and racialization impact grief and lament in my life.

Identity & Grief (TSS Version)

White School (TSS Version)

When I heard about the new genre that came from a dream, I had ideas. Here is my entry into the Hit Em world.

Hit 'Em (Dream Girl)

Jamuary Fun-A-Day 2025 05

Warrior is a raw and powerful anthem dedicated to those who have experienced difficult trials in life. It gives voice to anyone who has ever been taken for granted, oppressed, or discouraged. It is a song of true victory!

Jamuary Fun-A-Day 2025 05

Sam Douglass

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