Tripecac - In the Margins

This ten-minute jam introduces the "New Tripecac". It starts off sounding like a John Jarvis song my sister liked, but then mutates into other grooves which focus on rhythm rather than melody. I recorded with the Triton's sequencer, and did little or no editing and quantizing. As with most of the songs on this album, I adlibbed each part in turn. For this one, I think I started with the EP.

The title refers to my attempt at getting into "The Zone" when it comes to playing music. In order to relax and stop being self-conscious, I closed my eyes and pretended I was playing a concert. I found that if I could get in a "meditative" or "trancy" state, I could maintain grooves for several minutes. This was back before I used Sonar to edit my solos, so I needed to play the notes right the first time. As you can tell, I made lots of goofs, and lost the "vibe" every once in a while, but overall I think the song is a decent overture.

This is the beginning of a really long piano-trance improv. It starts off pretty but later digresses into a pattern that continues for the rest of the song (14+ minutes).

Here's a link to the original version: listen

This was a [fake] bongo jam to which I added piano, organ, bass, and drums. It wasn't really going anywhere, and was too fast for me to maintain for more than a couple minutes.

This reggae/funk jam probably could have been edited into a full-fledged song, except I didn't know how to use the Triton's editor. Nevertheless, Dad liked it enough to put it on Dad's Picks.

I was trying to see if I could match the sound of my favorite George Benson CD (Beyond the Blue Horizon). I think I got kind of close with the instrumentation, but there's no melody to hook the listener. I thought Dad might like it (since he had Beyond the Blue Horizon) but I didn't get much feedback from him.

I was experimenting with effects and probably arpeggios, although I might have played each of those notes; I don't remember. It certainly was trippy! :) Too bad it's a little sloppy in parts.

I think the title is a warping of the phrase "head over", as in "let's head over to that tree". I think I was trying to submerge my conscious mind in the stream of the music. I wanted to stop being self-conscious, wanted to get my head under (subservient to) the music rather than above it (dominating it).

The reason I was trying so hard to relax is that I didn't know how to edit my performances with the Triton's sequencers. I needed to get my jams right the first time. Later, when I switched to using Cakewalk and Sonar, there was less need for sustained "perfection".

This is the sort of song I can picture my dad playing on his piano. When I was recording it, I pretended like I was listening to him play. I then added some light drums and bass.

I tried very hard to keep the piano prominent, since I didn't want the drums to dominate. In retrospect, I wish I either hadn't added the drums at all (which are sloppy), or had spent some time cleaning them up. Back then, though, I was using the Tripecac for sequencing, and didn't know how to edit very well.

This is a swinging low-organ groove. I was probably testing the Triton's handling of a 6/8 time signature and/or triplet quantizing. I'm not sure how much of this is actually quantized.

The title refers to my attempt to stop being self-conscious and immerse myself in the music. Unfortunately, it's not as relaxing as I wanted it to be. The drums are sloppy and loud at times, and the organ muddies up too much space. Oh well.

Dad liked it, though, and chose it for Dad's Picks.

This EP solo starts off a little annoying and self-conscious sounding, but has some nice chilled-out bits.

This is taken from the middle of a very repetitive piano-trance improv. There's no melody or even variety in terms of notes (except for my mis-hits). I was focusing on sustaining a groove for as long as possible.

Here's a link to the original version: listen

This is a relaxing "trance" song that I started using Cubase. I liked its soothing groove, and considered extending it, but I didn't have confidence in my ability to edit it. I decided to keep it as-is, "warts and all". I thought "Warts and All" would make a nice title.

My sister had recently sent me a nice letter. I felt like dedicating this song to her. However, that felt like a cheesily sentimental thing to do. I then had the "brilliant" idea of calling it "Sisters and All", the implication being that my sister is a wart. Very funny, huh? :)

Okay, it's a stupid title, but it's a pretty song and in retrospect I don't mind naming it after my sister.

I had recently bought a Pod Pro (for recording and adding effects to my electric guitar). This was one of my first tests with it. It consists of my adlibbing four tracks of guitar, one at a time.

I liked the end result. It sounded trancy and exotic. It was encouraging; I've always regarded myself as a pathetic guitar-player, but somehow the Pod Pro made me sound like a "legit" guitarist. Cool!

This is one of the very few Tripecac songs which used a "canned" rhythm (in this case the Triton's "Streetwalk" combi). Usually, I prefer playing all the notes myself.

I was experimenting with piping my guitar through the Triton's effects. I wanted to see whether a signal from the guitar would lower the volume of the rest of the Triton's audio tracks. Likewise, I wanted to see whether a Triton-based sound (like an synth) would have a similar effect. In other words, would the Triton automatically normalize the overall volume of the outputs?

To find out, I recorded myself noodling on the guitar and keyboard at the same time while the "Streetwalk" combi played in the background. I had one hand on the guitar, the other on the Triton (playing the synth and tweaking knobs), and my foot controlling the Triton's sustain pedal. I recorded everything in one take to a single stereo audio track.

When I listened to this "test" later, I forgot all about my experiment and just sat there amazed at how cool this chaotic little test ended up sounding!

This is a repetitive dance groove that I had sequenced on the Triton a few months earlier. When it came time to master the song for In the Margins, I decided to "spice it up" by throwing on some vocals. I plugged the mic into the Triton and recorded myself adlibbing vocals along with the music. Since there was no way to separate the vocals from the music, I'll never know for sure what words I was singing, not that there's any deep meaning in them or anything!

My dad liked this one and chose it for Dad's Picks.

One day I came up with a simple MIDI drum and bass loop and applied just the right amount of reverb to give a really "live" sound. This had been something I'd been seeking for a long time. I was listening to the same 4 bars over and over again, and for some reason it never sounded "canned". I decided to record it as-is: just that loop playing by itself, over and over and over... For some reason, I never tire of listening to it.

The title has two meanings. First, "beso" means "kiss" in Spanish (awww, how cute!). Secondly, it's pronounced "base oh", which sounds like "bass oh" (as in the instrument, not the fish); this relates to the predominance of the bass line. You can hear me pronounce it in a later version of it: "Beso Beso".

This is a rough sketch of a "real" song that I never completed. I wrote the music and some of the lyrics on my parents' piano. The rest was improvised.

It's sloppy, but I like the energy and overall "feel". The hyper organ solo at the end finishes the album on an optimistic note!