Tripecac - Decomposed Pie (2008-2009)

The previous album (Composed Pile) had the rule that I needed to compose each song before starting to record it. I liked the end result, but was disappointed that the album took so long to complete (4 months).

Since I wanted to finish the next album by the end of the year (2008), I decided I would purposefully not compose any of its songs beforehand. The only other "rule" I made for myself was that I had to vary the effects template for each song.

Right around the time I started this album, I was getting into Fela Kuti and afrobeat. I was fascinated by Fela's extremely long, jazzy jams over funky, repetitive, percussion-centric grooves, with vocals not entering until the second half of the song. For me, it was love at first listen. I wanted to see if I could incorporate afrobeat ideas in my own music.

The first 5 songs are my afrobeat experiment, which you can probably guess by the song titles. I don't know if I'd call them "successful", since none of them really sounds like Fela Kuti. However, there are some cool groovy moments at times that might not have appeared if I hadn't been trying to emulate Fela.

The last 4 songs are baby-centric. The vocals are scarce and hushed, and the music retreats from afrobeat back into my usual blend of krautrock and jazz. Back to the womb, I guess.

Where Tripecac goes next I have no idea. Lots of changes ahead. Lots of diaper changes. Ha ha!

Sorry, my sense of humor is sleep-deprived...