Minilog E.P. – Arbot
I made this E.P. in the last weeks – wanted to make something that was glued together like it was one long flow of sound but still capture the groove and maintain a character where the songs can be listened to seperately… although I strongly suggest you just download the album (for free or give what you want) and listen to it uninterrupted. I tried some new/old different stuff on Minilog, I felt free to experiment with sounds I never made before and incorporate them in the sounds I use all the time… I tried to keep it pure and simple, hence the name and cover-art.
The concept of Minilog was conceived as an image of a tree, a drawing in my mind (log=tree). Log is also something funny (inside joke between me and my girlfriend).
I really love this album, it turned out just as I wanted. I hope you guys feel it too…
Arbot Programming Controller 40
So I made an elaborate ableton template for playing stuff live without even having to record loops. Basically it’s a template with 1 drumrack with 4 drumsounds and 4 more instrument racks.
For every drum I can choose either of 3 sounds, 2 of them are samples, the other one is an operator instance that I can tweak live.
The instruments are a VA modeled Juno 60 and 3 MS20s. The Juno and one MS20 has an arp, I also made one MS20 polyphonic (I’m a cheater, I know).
I DIY-ed a toggle switch on my keyboard controller to be able to sustain notes, that’s why I don’t really need any additional sequencing.
The most fun I’m having with the stepsequencer for the drumsounds. I found this amazing tutorial on how to make one using Abletons Midi Routing (no Max needed).
Demoloop: http://soundcloud.com/arbot/arbot-programming-control-40
Tutorial on a stepsequencer for live:
ARBOT
Since the last time I posted here some things have changed… Alien Robot Dance is no longer the name I use to release tracks, from now on it’ll be Arbot. Something terrible happened the last time ARD visited space… there was panic, fire, busted airlocks and there was something ‘else’ aboard the ship. After the crash something melted into me, bonding with ARD, assimilating my 80’s synth and the rest of the ship…
Arbot was born
Album release: Bad Mojo For Disko / Thoughts about Lobbying
I released Bad Mojo For Disko on the 14th of november. You can download it for free from my bandcamp page.
A little note about the cover-art:
I made this as a tribute to the album art of MAXI-Single ‘Legs – the Art of Noise’ by designer John Pasche (1985). I bought this album at a record store, solely for it’s cover. Shame on me but I couldn’t really recall who or what ‘the Art of Noise’ was. When I listened to more of their tracks, I realised I already knew them before. It is some crazy music… really good stuff (still talking about the Art of Noise).
Back to ‘Bad Mojo For Disko’. It’s a collection of songs I made early 2010 – influenced by stuff that happened that year, games I played, albums I bought, stuff I saw on television, etc… I wasn’t so happy for a while either*
I’m telling this because for me the context of the tracks is very important – that’s why I decided not to just grab a few old songs and mix them together with some new ones for the release I’ll have with Caoutchou Records in (early) 2012. Also because I think there would be to much songs NOT getting released. Not that I can’t choose, that I can’t decide what songs are best… I think they are all release-worthy. Not everyone will like them, I’m sure, but the songs must see the light of day to be at least able to survive. If I don’t share them they are dead anyway.
* Influences might be: Silent Hill 2 and 3 (amazing soundtrack!), Mr. Oizo (hiphop, deep funky shit), Mr. Scruff (more bass, dubby grooves, …), we had crazy winters in 2010 and 2011 too, short snowy days.
The reason I do this weblog (that few people actually read) is because I think it’s important as a person and an artist to be real. Show people that there are more aspects to Alien Robot Dance then just songs, liveshows or album-releases. Producing is all about bringing emotions to a set of drumsamples and other sounds. And that is a personal contribution. I’m not saying other people don’t do this… most of them do… but most (and especially the not very famous ones) tend to hide behind a tough image. Everything they do is bigger then life, better then the rest, more amazing or astonishing. The stuff they write about themselves is mostly bullcrap, leaving out eh embarrassing parts, not focussing on the things I would want to know if I was interested in what the artist has done before (the whole point of a Bio, no?). Making music is not comparable to working a 9-5 job, we don’t need resumés and motivation letters, we don’t need labels for every little thing we do…
Ok, it’s true… Lobbying is necessary, or else I wouldn’t get myself anywhere. Not that I’m ‘somewhere’ yet, but the live shows I did are the result of lobbying nonetheless. I contacted Caoutchou Records with a very personal message, something about the music, something about myself and the constant struggle, trying people to listen to the music I put online. Off course that’s important, because if I wouldn’t want people to listen to my songs I could just be as well not making any… No… It’s true, I want fame, or some acknowledgement… all producers do. Maybe it’s not popular to say it, but it’s part of the deal. And yes, even if there wouldn’t be any people left in the world, or if I would be banned from releasing even one more song to the public… I still would be making music, because that’s what I do. I thing I would be sad though, because I wouldn’t be able to share it, share the emotions, share the transcendence of music, of what it can do to your mood. There is music that makes me happy in one blink of an eye, and other music makes me gloomy just as fast.
I was saying lobbying is necessary… well, this weblog, my twitter, my facebook… maybe being a self-centered sarcastic prick sometimes (but not trying to) is my way of lobbying. This is who I am, this is Alien Robot Dance (or ARD if you like), and this is where the music comes from.
Making a weblog all about ME sure sounds a little self-centered… I know that. But hey… if you’re reading this, you must be enjoying it 🙂
PS. Oh yeah, I almost forgot… I’m working on some tracks for the upcoming Caoutchou Release… not going to share them before the release so it might be calm the next few months… maybe working together with a few MC’s to spice it all up a bit.
Releases featuring me…
Updates and links
Announcer Voice: “So there he is again… finally, Mr. Alien Robot Dance”
*recording of applause*
ARD: “I know, it’s been a while… Heck, it’s been a few whiles even!
My paths strayed away from this blog. But only to come back here with a lot of stories…”
Now seriously… I did a lot of stuff last few weeks. Let’s get to it!
Yesterday me and my friend Brecht (notforward – Sir Radical) did a remix for Stories From The Lost (a band where he plays guitar). The remix could end up on the B side of their first real vinyl recording!
The track is called ‘For Clouds’…
For now the ‘dirt edit’ remix is still on the Monomaniacs soundcloud page. We need another name for this project because there turn out to be tons of bands with that name!
The remix turned out to be very very weird and bassy… like it a lot!
http://soundcloud.com/monomaniac_msc/for-clouds-dirt-edit
Saturday I did another jam with Grim (Genjutsu). We might do an artsy thing next year in Köln : making live soundscapes at an exhibition. MIGHT! We decided for practice and easiness, it would be good to start of using only synths…
Here is a 45 minute video of our first try:
Oh, I did this one too (only the song, not the singing!) – this is going to be used in an App. for Iphone and Android:
I also did this Shepherd remix (Winged Chariot)for an upcoming release on Umbrelladelika Records, it will feature with other remixes by Ninjato, 1352 harmonics and more…
I tried to keep the sound of the original but cutting up the groove so it would BANG. I changed the melody into something else, and added some synths as well…
http://soundcloud.com/alienrobotdance/winged-chariot-ard-rmx
I’m playing at the DUBSTEPIC III festival on 28th of october in Qubus Oudenaarde. The line up consists of Ninjato, Hermutt Lobbi, 1352 harmonics, Montgomery Clunk, Stubborn, Leftchest, Bobby Tank and many more! Very stoked about this one. I’m preparing an hour long set, I’ll be launching tracks and mashing them up live like I used to do in the preview sets. Here is a little preview:
Beats by ARD
I’ve been doing some beats lately. Some of them don’t need any work to be presented as a track, others still really are in the ‘beat for rapping’ league – not a bad thing though.
I got a SCSI Flash Card reader for the MPC, it kept screwing up the floppies. My best guess is that the floppy drive is broken or at least getting old. Now all the sampled stuff, sequences and programs are on 1 flash card. If it bugs out on me, I’m screwed. I sampled some drums from random places: reggea albums, soft rock (the pretty reckless, foo fighters), hip hop and electronic stuff (gorillaz), jazz records…
Here is some of the work I’ve done lately…
Akema: http://soundcloud.com/alienrobotdance/akema
Intermitted…
Working on a few tracks at once:
Finishing this one:
Akema
http://youtu.be/t_Bd8fD-C80
I have another MPC beat I’m reworking to a track (Fudge), and i’m also re-working Crash on Juno to a club-banger 🙂 lol
Another Few New Tracks
This is some work I’ve been doing the last few weeks:
http://soundcloud.com/alienrobotdance/revoid
Gigging and other stuff
It’s been some time since I last posted something… I know 🙂
I had another few gigs, one at the global soundcloud meetup day in Antwerp (thanks to Tom and Stijn from the Baton Rouge HQ weblog, ‘the Dukes’ and Webcomrades). Cops came to the performance, complaining about the volume, so the owner of the place turned it down to mice-hearing-level. It’s funny how people that were there are still amazed that I also make chill and relaxed music, as they apparently missed the second half of the set because they simply couldn’t hear it anymore!
I really can’t complain though, it was a fun evening.
There’s been the gig at DOK. That was nice. No pictures or video from the set though. Me and my friend Grim (Genjutsu) from a Journey of Jen did a workshop/hardware-share in the afternoon. Brecht aka 1352 harmonics showed up, and Maarten & Maarten, 2 guys I met on the internet.
Then there was the Peer Pressure Summer Kickoff Producer Contest. Lots of fun, not a lot of crowd. The first contestant that performed was 1352 harmonics, I made this short clip of his – amazing – set:
Pictures shot by Thomas aka Vertical 67:
arbotmusic.wordpress.com 