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Crito – Daniel Gadd

Dark Horse

Dark Horse (Live Version)

This is actually a simple melody laden with melancholy, starting off slowly and carefully, and then culminating in a euphoric crescendo. A nice exercise in arrangement and orchestration.

Endings are just beginnings

Endings are just beginnnings

Chrysalis

All Systems Go

All Systems Go!

DECADE: Improvised into existence from scratch during the last hours of the decade ... A quick recording resulting as a protest against myself, and my endless recording projects ... 

Alone with our dog; other family members visiting relatives in another country. But make no mistake, an excellent way of spending the New Years evening; initiating some drum loops, without any ideas whatsoever: but feeling inspired, can I find something anyway... ? Initiating some chords via a Roland arpeggiator, time ticking away ... 

Update 22:49: Got the bulk of a track done. 0ne hour and counting ...

Update 23:27: adding a synth line right at the start of the final ... does it work...?

Update 23:48: I think it does. No time for polishing the mix, let it be raw! Upload now ... 

Going public 23:58 SWE time

INSTRUMENTS: YAMAHA & ROLAND keyboards, IBANEZ electric guitar, BOSS ME 80 pedal effects, drum loops. Recorded line-in, .WAV, no midi.

ARTCOVER based on a photo taken by DS 2019.

Happy New Year to all /DS, right at the border of 2019 and 2020!

DECADE

Dance the night away

Dance The Night Away

REPORT FROM PLANET THREE: a 16 min long track based on some ideas emerging when I was exploring a new keyboard; the opening chords were among the first ever recorded - in "performance mode" (no midi) - and then other ideas grew out of it. I wanted to make a long and restless track with lots of related passages, variations on a theme... It started out rather electronically, but then I integrated the guitars, aiming for an ensemble approach; it took me a year to complete.

Most of it was recorded before the World Crises, but I now can't help to associate the sounds of the synth arpeggiators with the Virus flooding the Mankind. Although the music wasn't conceived as a statement over the new gloomy era, it is for me emotionally connected to it. When the music took shape, people started to die around us; personal values were at risk in the pandemic, when the virus probed a close family member for weaknesses for a prolonged period, resulting in severe pnemonia which almost took her life. For a more distant relative it was fatal.

For a long time, I intended to use these ideas for another big recording project. But then, I (rather late) realized that the material stands better on it's own - as a REPORT - and I am quite excited about it. The process was long and unpredictable, but that is the nature of composing ... All music was hand-played (if counting the arpeggiators and ignoring some drum programming) and overlaid using the DAW as a multichannel tape recorder (line-in, .wav), avoiding midi and accepting some non-fixable human error.

I understand that few will listen to it all (thanks if you did!) but I have always had a soft spot for longer tracks, where sections relate and share underlying DNA. A story, maybe our struggle for survival? Is the final too gloomy, should it have ended differently? But those complaining guitars at the end felt right to me, crying out their painful statements - a memorial over the losses, after our Ultimate Victory.

INSTRUMENTS: I used ROLAND and YAMAHA keyboards extensively, emulating synth sounds, organs, piano, bass guitar, and percussion. I also played my electric IBANEZ guitar through the BOSS ME80 pedal effects - including occasionally playing it as bass, and added (sparsely) some notes on my acoustic 6s Hagstrom and 12s GUILD. Both programmed drums and drumloops were used too, occasionally spiced by some extra ALESIS drumpad hits.

ARTCOVER: based on a photo taken 2018 by myself, arriving just in time at the southernmost spot of Sweden to capture the sunset while gathering up for the Blood Moon to appear.

A magical night, representing the great moments on Planet Three!

REPORT FROM PLANET THREE

This is a song I made to honour my twin sons Emil and Michael.

Gemini

A weird song that I actually made in 2009, with a simple melody, tremolo guitars, synths, timpani drums, and whalesong. I always try to make songs that are not really genre-specific.

Life Goes On

It's not so easy to describe my music, but the influences are so diverse, the arrangements so kooky, that it is hard to slap a label on it. Each song is different, and the closest I can come to labelling is to call it 'eclectic', meaning that I derive inspiration from many different sources. Another possible label might be 'modular', because that is the method that I use to put the songs together; I break them into blocks that I can repeat or alter and reuse. I learnt this from listening to early Depeche Mode. Another influence is Mike Oldfield who has inspired me to make music 'without words', to let the instruments tell the story. Other influences include Faithless for their melancholy dance anthems and willingness to embrace diversity in all aspects of their music, as well as their awesome production quality. I tried to steer away from pristine production, because it is nice to sometimes hear a little hum from the electric guitar, or some fret noise or a little distortion. Keeps it real. Anyway, enjoy the playlist, and feel free to leave a comment.

All Systems Go!

Theuns Kruger