creative use of those quirky synth sounds

On paper these synths are so nasty sounding but your use and blending of them makes it such a great unique artistic experience.

Totally cool and beautiful (sound)track !!! Big respect 😉👌

This will be my first full album that I plan to release widely to other platforms. It has been a couple of years since I've put out an LP or EP. After holding off for a while I feel I've finally reached a critical mass of recent songs that fit together into a cohesive final product here. If you've been following me and keeping up with my semi-weekly song releases then everything here will sound pretty familiar, but it was a fun exercise to construct the flow how this all fits together.

Listen now on SoundCloud/BandCamp... out soon on Spotify, Apple Music, etc.!

Earth Anthem

This is another track that started with a quirky volca drum beat. This time most of the melodic layers were made with Korg Module, and virtual synths from Moog including the Model 15 and the Model D. I also used a variety of other soft synths and a little bit of the Minilogue XD.

Cover image credit: Stewartbaird CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Lighter than Air

I usually don't sit on unreleased tracks... but this one started last Winter as a proposed collaboration that never came together. After giving it another listen recently, it resonated with me as an especially good track to put out during the week of the Summer Solstice! This is my favorite time of year and I'm finding there is something really nostalgic about this one. Once again the minilogue xd is heavily featured.

Cover image credit to Richard Rydge (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), found on Flickr.

Summer Skies

This is my first track working with my new hardware synth, the Arturia Microfreak! It's my second major synth purchase, and it has lots of interesting routing capabilities(a bit of a semi-modular design based around a digital matrix system). I know I'm barely scratching the surface with it on this track, which also features the trusty minilogue xd and lots of vst instruments such as the Animoog Z and the Arp Odyssey.

Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (CC BY 2.0)

Ocean Currents

I'm getting deeper into sound design with the new synth, the arturia microfreak! ... had fun with this one layering multiple patches on top of one another. I also used the korg minilogue xd and a handful of korg soft synths.

After GrevusAnjl recommended it, I'm also experimenting a ton with AI-generated artwork using the WOMBO dream app which I used to produce the cover art on this track.

As always, thanks for listening!

Metaplasticity

Thank you Laar for being so easy to work with and having accepted vocals recorded with a nasty cold! Say goodbye to those fairweather friends please.

Fairweather Friend

My Fairweather Friend ( collab LAAR)

Finally working the Volca Drum back into the mix after not having used it for a little while. I like the lofi effect it gives the drum beat. With this track I leaned a little heavier into the Vital VST I've been experimenting with, also used the old minilogue and microfreak. Thanks for listening!

Homeostatic Imbalance

Santi Caballero, Gabi Martínez y Sergio Párraga

Bluessix

Quiet Space

(Free WAV Download available here under '••• More'; and eventually, as part of a future solo album)

Greetings my friends. I admit up front, this is a strange write-up… culminating from years of trying to navigate a world that no longer makes sense to me. And maybe that’s a good thing. We all needed a wake up call to just how ineffective and unsustainable it all is? And the last few years have provided examples of that… in abundance. 

Speaking of abundance (or in this case, lack thereof), Cheer and I have been discussing this one a lot lately; specifically in regards to the shops and restaurants we frequent. I finally gave up on building a DIY, music-centric desk I designed, because none of the local hardware stores had enough of the pieces in stock. We’ve watched our favorite Romaine lettuce disappear from the shelves, to be replaced by something half the size and twice the cost. Several of our favorite restaurants have closed permanently, and the wait times at others is painfully long now. 

Apparently, shop and restaurant owners can’t get anybody to work for $15/hr when it costs $30/hr to afford rent and groceries now. (How could we have ever predicted or prevented that? One might speculate.)

It’s enough to make the average mind go a little panicky. “Why don’t you have that in stock?”, ‘Why did the price on this just double overnight?”, “Why have we been waiting for 20 minutes just for the menus?”. All of these are very real, and very concerning… specifically if we never stop to question how much of that thinking is the result of being programmed to think like consumers our whole lives.

How often have you heard a commercial say something along the lines of “You deserve this because you are worth it.” Or “You should fear this. And our product/service can protect you.” Or “You should take this prescription, despite the list of side effects being longer than the list of benefits.”

I suggest we ask ourselves ‘Am I thinking with the mind of a consumer right now?’, and then be very willing to let those developing thoughts roll around in our heads for a while. 

Cheer and I concluded (with minor alarm) that we are both profoundly brainwashed by ‘consumer’ thinking; and it shows every time we feel a sense of panic in the store. Sure, things are a bit more scarce than they were 5 years ago… but does anyone (old enough) remember 30 years ago, when the stores contained half of what they offer now? (And none of us were freaking out over a lack of choices then). How about a time when you couldn’t have something shipped to your door overnight (many of us can still remember a time when 6-8 weeks was a decent shipping window).

Maybe the path to changing this paradigm is for us to get out of that ‘consumer’ thinking, and focus more on a ‘grateful for all the amazing things we have’ kind of thinking. I can still go to the store and choose from an abundance of fruits and vegetables, a teetering display of chips and dips, a bevy of beers from around the world. There are still more choices than my simple brain truly wants to think through, even if they are sold out of the Smoked Salmon and Ketchup flavored Cheetos I was specifically looking for.

So my plan going forward is to TASER myself (at least psychologically) every time I catch my brain being consumery. And the goal is to reach a point where I’m not thinking “It’s not fair my favorite restaurant closed.”, but instead thinking “How cool is it that I had that experience; and got to support the family that owned and worked that restaurant.” 

We’ve reached some critical tipping points that are well on their way to determining our future; and I believe a healthy attitude (dipped in gratitude) is the thing that’s going to keep us from gnawing each other’s faces off over the long haul. Them’s my weird thoughts for the day. Take em with a grain of salt (assuming the store carries the brand you like). I hope you enjoy my latest musical offering, ‘I’ll See It When I Believe It”. :)

WTF! The Musical

I'll See It When I Believe It

Lyrics, vocals: https://soundcloud.com/modesaboutme & https://soundcloud.com/themysteriousdecibel

Music, production: RUIZZOIDMAN

PARENTAL ADVISORY (with Modes About Me & The Mysterious Decibel)

Nights in Palm Beach / Paploviante 2022
Paploviante Bass, Music, Picture and Mix Mastering
Vocals : www.Ghosthack.de
Lyrics:
- Verse One -
Do you remember when we were carefree?
When we didn't listen to no body
Do you remember the nights in Palm Beach?
I do
- Pre Chorus -
Walking underneath the palm trees
Figuring out what sights to see
Wondering where we'll get our next drink
I know
- Chorus -
Well I don't care
as long as I am with you
We could take on the whole town
So tell me if you're down
I can bring you to
- Verse Two -
Do you remember when we were at our best?
When any comments said were left on read
Do you remember the nights in Key West
I do
- Pre Chorus -
Walking underneath the palm trees
Figuring out what sights to see
Wondering where we'll get our next drink
I know
- Chorus -
Well I don't care
as long as I am with you
We could take on the whole town
So tell me if you're down
I can bring you to

Nights In Palm Beach - Paploviante

Bent Out Of Shape

Stay Please

What a wonderful tune Seagull sent me to collaborate on.  His nylon-string and bass playing is lovely but he asked if I could help with a second guitar voice.  The Taylor JKSM seemed the perfect fit with its sweet steel-string acoustic voice.  The undercurrent of meaning in the song is best described by Seagull himself:
"The song is called Stairway, and I realized that it reflects everyone's climb in life. We are encouraged and taught from birth that we must constantly get better at everything. Better upbringing, better behavior, better education, better job, better pay, better things, better health, better parent, better home, better car and so on...But what is the real goal of all this striving? Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with education hopefully producing better and more understanding and empathetic people, and a safer and nicer society. But.....and I think it's a big but.... as we are obviously being trained to buy all the happiness we need in life instead of experiencing it in a peaceful, healthy and experiential life." 
It is a question of what is ultimately important in our life and are we willing to make the climb to reach and attain it.  Something to ponder while you listen:)
Hear more of Seagull's amazing music @farout-music-studio.

Stairway (Seagull, David and Clara Sorace, vocal)

This is a song that we co-wrote, a simple love ballad that includes a brief piano/electric guitar duet between verses. The subject is self-explanatory. A belated Happy Valentines wish before February melts into the Saint Patrick’s season!

Copyright 2023 Daniels & Durgy / Gentle Rain Records
Written, Produced and Performed by Nat Daniels & Craig Durgy
Lyrics:

Of all the things I ever held
Of all that's wrong and right
Nothing makes me smile like you
Or hold onto so tight
Of all the time that filled my eyes
The days I’ve sifted through
What could make me more alive
Than time I spent with you
And nothing hurts as much as missing you

If heaven was a place to find
It’s always been in you
Like a secret key you turned
I opened up to you 
And like an angel bathed me in your light, you made me whole..
Of all the places I have been 
I’ve never felt more home 
I miss your laughter and your hand in mine, 
And I will love you far beyond our time

Bent Out Of Shape

Tea R. Sea

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