NFR: Progressive Rock that made me what I am...

Malström: (a musical thesis)

1. A violent or turbulent situation: caught in the maelstrom of war. 2. A whirlpool of extraordinary size or violence. [Obsolete Dutch : Dutch malen, to grind, whirl (from Middle Dutch; see melə- in Indo-European roots) + Dutch stroom, stream (from Middle Dutch; see sreu- in Indo-European roots).]

In my mind when a genre is in a post phase, it brings what it created as child from its parents full circle...it brings its creations back to the parent genre. I think we are in a post phase for electronic/electronica. This work of four songs is bringing what was given to electronica from its parents and grandparents: Metal, Rock, Blues and ultimately jazz. In addition it Malström does something else... it virtually "mimics" its parents but still remains purely electronic. Malström was not made with the instruments of its parent genres.. it was made with software and modelling, it was made with Math, and computers and a lot of heart and determination.  

After "Malström" I present back the parent genres expressly Rock and Metal, three "popular"/mainstream artists who are top in their respective genres and I have "extended" those compositions to be influenced by electronic/electronica, and one "pure" creation of my own a progressive rock song that never was... "Charge of the Light Brigade (Balance of War Mix)

My "Rigs" for this project: 

Guitars: 5x Slayer 2 vst
Bass: Modo Bass by IKMultimedia 
Amps: Amplitude 3
Drums: FPC with HD Metal and HD Rock kits
Score: MIDI
DAW and Mixdown/Master: FLStudio 12.x

Malström

The word "Post" is hard to explain when it comes to "movements" in art, music, etc. but I think one thing all seem to have in common is it is a later in a given period, or even after it has ended... or just before. To me it is a period when the form returns to what made it... Early post rock went back to Jazz, Blues, etc but with Rock influence. Post Electronica is returning "home" to techno's great grand father "Funk" and ultimately Rock, Blues, and Jazz, and even Classical... but with the electronica fully intact. Wintermut3 has been experimenting with this post music for about 5-6 years...Here is a playlist of some of those efforts...

Post Electronica

Pink Floyd has always been my favorite band overall, and 'Animals' was one of the albums that helped 'shape' Wintermut3 as a whole, and my favorite song has always been 'Sheep',

This version is 'extended', meaning that there are new lines in the keyboards that are not in the original song, these are things I can hear when I listen to the original that are 'missing.'

*Note* This is not a remix,and zero samples were used--absolutely none from the original​ on "Animals", or any live recording. This work was lovingly built from the ground up using virtual instruments, amp simulation, and hand laying each note by working from a base "score"

*Update* Version 2 fixed fixed the "sheep" FX, fixed fade out problem where slight re-entrance  of sounds at end after full fade...  Cover design updated and possibly  final

Sheep (Pink Floyd vs Wintermut3 extended mix v-2 )

Update: This track is doing better than expected for a first pass--Hopefully I am turning some people onto Yes's amazing original. I still have plans of expanding this out as I did for "Sheep" but I have been on a bit of break... 

WM

mix "Levels:"  [SouthSideOfTheSky_12_5.flp]: 2nd pass, spent a lot of time working with amplitudes guitar tone and the dynamic "shaping" of Slayer 2 as it works through Howe's very complex and amazing guitar work.  I went with a rougher tone than the cleaner original as I feel that tone will eventually be what I want for the new Wintermut3 parts that will be added later.  And I feel a stronger tone fits the syncopation and aggression of the song better. I tamed back the Organ and spaces elements better across the stereo spectrum overall to clean the mix a lot, now the drums are more present, but  I also know the current line does not reflect Bruford's Jazz style and will using Quantification and varied midi velocity to make the drums more interesting. The main guitar still needs tweaking at 3 to 4 spot in the Dampening and "slap" controls on Slayer to make it closer to what Steve did, but 3 to 4 is way better than the complete train wreck at points in the first mix where entire stanzas were off ... a lot... :) Hopefully next version will feature new score elements  (via Wintermut3) 

mix "vanilla" [SouthSideOfTheSky_12_1.flp]: very early first pass, i know mix is a bit off--especially in drums...
By far one of my favorite Yes tracks from the amazing/breakout Yes album: "Fragile"


Next steps--after fixing drums of course--will be creating new "lines" score elements via Wintermut3 (aka me)  (think of the 20%-30% new additions I did in my "Sheep") more piano lines against Wakeman's amazing Brahms inspired Piano work--one of the reasons I grew to love the sound of Piano so much, was Wakeman's masterful playing

South Side Of The Sky (Yes Vs Wintermut3 Levels mix)

A very experimental and progressive track that explores complexities of the genre

however realize as per usual with me ...their are no instruments or band just my pure tenacity to create a mathematical illusion--there are no samples or loops, just modeled instruments and thousands of hand laid notes .. just my laptop and my imagination...

Malström 1

My spin on one of my favorite bands of all time's most quintessential and epic songs.... very a work in progress... forgive the few sections that still need shaping. As big as a Yes fan as I think I am, I am near embarrassment in not learning of Chris Squire's passing... by far one of the true cornerstones (if not the cornerstone) of both Yes and it's unique sound... he is very much missed  I have brought his amazing bass work to bear a bit more in this mix and I think Modo Bass does about what can be expected from a "not a real bass" bass... I only mean to pay respects to Mr Squires amazing gift for create bass that was organic and rhythmic all at the same time....

Close to the Edge (Wintermut3 vs Yes RIP Chris Squire mix)

Malström 2

Malström 3

The "cycle" of Malström comes to a  subtle but fiery conclusion as previous themes from key Wintermut3 metal songs and reprisals from the  cycle  its bring this complex series to a hopefully sane resolve... 



My "Rigs" for this project:

Guitars: 5x Slayer 2 vst
Bass: Modo Bass by IKMultimedia 
Amps: Amplitude 3
Drums: FPC with HD Metal and HD Rock kits
Score: MIDI
DAW and Mixdown/Master: FLStudio 12.x

Malström 4

Homage to one of  favorite songs of my longest running inspirations and as a tribute to Chris Squire (their amazing Bassist, who passed due to  Leukemia in 2015) This is all ampsim, no samples used... 

RIP Chris, you gave me love of Bass...

*Update 2** sadly the entire mix in the first version was badly skewed due to some bad mapping in the FPC (all beats are through this for me) which caused a lot of the compressors to misfire.   Plus the newer drumlines were a zoo of beats, sooooo reworked those heavily --there are still a few unruly ones, but they will be dealt with shortly ;)--There are only a couple fixes in this version and is very much what I initially envisioned when I decided to due this homage to Chris Squire. So a couple of automation fixes in the string tension of Slayer 2 should be able to fix the only two places I hear the Slayer2 VSTs not doing what I want. I brought the speed from 120bpm to 115bpm but the final may end up somewhere around 117/118ish.

*Update 3**, hopefully the last:  cleaned up the drums  and the majority of the slayer2 automations....



My "Rigs" for this project:

Guitars: 3x Slayer 2 vst
Bass: Modo Bass by IKMultimedia 
Amps: Amplitude 3
Drums: FPC with HD Funk and HD Rock kits
Score: MIDI
DAW and Mixdown/Master: FLStudio 20.x

Heart of the Sunrise  (WMS vs Yes Black Sun Mix)

An interpretation of this class Yes track that features Rick Wakemans amazing keyboards

rigs: 

IKMM syntronik: V80
IKMM syntronik: Pro-V (prophet 5)
IKMM syntronik: Drawbar Organ
IKMM SampleTank 4 (pianos) 
IKMM Modo Bass (Chris Squire's amazing Rickenbacker Bass)

**Note at around 10:20 you can hear as the prophet decays into detuned bliss.. .how accurate IKMM has modeled a true analog synth but rendered it digitally :)

Awaken (WM vs Yes Rick Wakeman Tribute)

I Spy, with my Electric Eye. I Spy with my Electric I... A tongue and cheek play on words to further the idea and concept of Artificial Intelligence-- a big focus of the Album
Note: this is completely computer generated--no samples are used. All guitars are modeled emulators ("Slayer 2", "VB". etc) run through "Amp sims" (Native Instruments: Guitar Rig and IK Multimedias: "Amptitude"). It was this very song that I first "discovered" the idea of "Steamfunk" which culminated in the creation of my virtual band "RUR"and the creation of the upcoming Album: "Four Horses"



Electric I ( You Got Your Funk In my Techno mix)

I have always had a general rule about Wintermut3, "I make music I want to hear" A Part of that has been to overcome barriers and "traditions"  of what Electronic music has been and continues to be--the upshot being, Wintermut3 will move in directions (Funk, Metal, Rock, etc ) that are of interest, despite being a pure electronic artist. Note this does not exclude me from making more "common" types of Electronic music. I will never stop making--as long as I breathe--Trance, Jungle, Breakbeat, Techno, etc. In Fact for about 15 years I have been exploring the idea that we may be not just at an Post Electronica but may in fact be nearing a musical Epoch (for lack of a better word) what I am saying is we might be heading for a music metamorphis on the order of when Baroque became Classical Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann (most prolific composer in history, over 3000 compositions (Late Baroque-->Early Classical)  Mozart,  Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert. These types of musical epochs are a hundred to over two hundred years in length. The period that is being bridged for us is the hundred or even nearly two hundred period in which Blues and Jazz was born and then over a hundred years influenced nearly all forms of music that we know which all music was. Electronica was born around the mid to late 1920s as that was the time several electronic instruments (Theremin ). For the most part Electronic music has been amazingly resistent to Blues and Jazz, but there are definately times that resistence has lessened. I feel all the various forms of music that where born out of Blues and Jazz or heavily influenced by it are fusing back into Electronica. I am not the only artist who strives for a hybid of "real" and electronic. Only time will tell...  

to that end, from Blade Runner: 

Dr. Eldon Tyrell:  "More Human than Human"
which I extend to Wintermut3:
"More Real than Real"  (on creation of "virtual" music)

Overall I am inspired even driven by this quote:

“Once you free your mind about a concept of harmony and music being correct, you can do whatever you want. So, nobody told me what to do, and there was no preconception of what to do…"  :Giorgio Moroder

In addition to living by the above quote:
Welcome to my nearly 20 year journey:  my music project Wintermut3 originally created in late 1998, with a first public release in early 1999 on mp3.com and other Music sites...

Originally inspired by the works of William Gibson, Wintermut3 is about bringing the listener into the sights and visions of the music. 
The music is highly story and concept driven and is made to immerse the listener in mood and feeling. 
The overall goal is to take the listener to a place they have never been before.
Highly infused with the music of Progressive Rock (Yes, Rush, Genesis, etc.) and early electronic (Tomita, Vangelis, Tangerine Dream, etc) all blended in with more "contemporary" electronic sounds (Massive attack, Enigma, Orbital, the Orb, BT, etc) into something I call: "Concept Electronica". None of the sounds you hear in Wintermut3 are "loops" or "samples" especially the more organic sounds (electric guitars, horns, etc), I lovingly lay every note and run them through various software (DAWs, VST, VSTi, etc) and or model the Instrument that renders them. I have spent many many years to get Wintermut3 to sound as "real" and organic as I can... I take great pride in this ;)
Regardless, what results is music that follows the original premise of my musical "project" Wintermut3--music that is a logical progression of what is known and loved up to the point of the project's inception over 16 years ago--In short, it is music "Built for the Future", not now...but it is always fine to like, love it now...