"If I knew what the music was going to sound like before I wrote it, I wouldn’t bother.” - Glenn Branca, Vice interview

This piece revolves around a drum pattern I was obsessed with for quite some time: Symphony one movement four by Glenn Branca. 

Of course, the drums don't quite sound like in it. I was concerned with the oppression and weight they impose and I longed for emulating in some shape. I believe the original source is actually several - more than a dozen for sure - electric guitars violently competing for and working together attempting to turn an engine on; plus, some percussion to close the sentences.

Also, this was perhaps my very first attempt at creating a musical work that contains some kind of form, in a ultimately symphonic structure. In this text I intend to comment over each one of the parts as they appear to the listener, following my own compositional views.

Introduction (0:00 - 1:04):
The listener is introduced to what the song revolves around: the inquisitor and arrogant drums. Surfaced by the strikes, the bass comes along playing an angry but evidently monotonous, monosyllabic passage. 

Bridge/Break (1:04 - 1:37):
The beats abandon the revolting bass, now they are speaking for themselves. After an effort to find their limits and break their own virtues, (1:27) they eventually give up to the music and begin playing exactly what they were once hailed for.

Refrain (1:37 - 3:24):
All of the individuals join the tyrannical one. The bass goes with what they are known for. One of the guitars - the quieter one - plays a humble and repetitive phrase. The lead guitar is emulating a brass sound by hitting a unison, sharp and dangerous. (2:49) the lead replicates itself in stereo, marching forth to an endemic level.

Conclusion/Outro (3:24 - 4:08): 
With the lead steps advance, the drums resolve, losing their power. The loose guitar switching between unison and dissonant pitches indicates that the fire has been lit.

I believe I could have put more thought into mixing and recording this track. For now it has a demo quality in it, hence the given title. The DAW default normalize option really fucked this song up.

Gear employed:
An electric guitar 
A bass
An amplifier
A mic
Some cables
Pedal effects (OD-3 and the Big Muff are the ones I remember)
A midi drum pad (AKAI MPD218)
Ableton Live

Composer: Lucas Lentz

Demo #1

This pair of works I consider as twins. Not the identical ones, but the dizygotic, conceived with the same intentions.

These are my first takes in purely electronic music. Previously I had employed electronics in my compositions as means to achieve a sound I was imagining. In this sense the music wasn’t purely electronic in a way that it was born by machines - it always contained ontological human inputs and interactions.

This time I attempted to generate the sound without too much of my actions. Letting the sound escape through the computer and only act when capturing/recording. Here there were employed some of the “total random”, “probability”, “beat repeat”, “brain dance” VSTs that are freely available on the web to generate the rhythms.

In Kinorhyncha, the sound is tidy. I consider this to be more of a dance song. The synths are a background to the lively beats. There are surprisingly a couple glitches I thought as funny.

In Snap, the clicks are way more disorganized, I used some samplers this time and produced some variations for each of the samples plus a probability rule to “choose" which one will be played based on chance. The background synth is also randomized but fixed into a high pitched scale.

I believe the two songs are examples of improvisation. The line I drew here is that it can also be done by machines beyond human control.

Gear employed:
Ableton
Korg Microsampler

Composer: Lucas Lentz

kinorhyncha

Snap

Crowded Corners (the steps and they barely look at each other) begun as a conduction to emulate a restless sensation. This piece was also a target (the drums) for elements of probability variating its depth, volume and stereo panning.

 - - -  

The drums plays a part of echoing and interchanging their origin and variating their velocity to emulate the many steps in a crowded place.

The bass attempts to create a constant and cozy well-being, producing two basic pitches. Normal.

The synths are perplexing. Delays clash into each other; feedback corrupts the music, expressing the invasive thoughts of urgency almost as if it’s reaping the music apart, trying to leave the scene.

 - - - 

Gear employed:
Ableton
Korg Microsampler

Composer: Lucas Lentz

User 88613610