I saw Meat Beat Manifesto perform at the Cat’s Cradle on Friday. I had never seen them live before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I have to say that I was very impressed. They were doing live video manipulation non-stop for the entire show, which really works well for their music considering how many samples they use. It was fun to see where some of those obscure noises in their songs had come from, from old Westinghouse promotional films to Dr Strangelove to Faster Pussycat, Kill Kill! to A Clockwork Orange.

Last Friday was {Andrew}’s last day at the office. He’s off to new adventures at his new company, but he will definitely be missed. Without getting too morose, it has gotten me pondering my own life’s twists and turns — what a strange journey we are all on. Anyway, the work crowd went out for some libation & celebration on Thursday and I partook just a little bit more than I should have. I don’t usually drink that much on work nights, and now I have confirmation that it is a poor idea, Friday morning was quite unpleasant. Oh well, live and learn.

Well, here’s my latest creation. I still find it odd how I can have so many other ideas ages ago that are still half-baked, yet this was only a few work-nights of work. Chinol is a nice departure from my trancy sort of stuff I’ve been producing of late. It came together when I re-realized that rhythm doesn’t have to be limited to percussion. I think the best part of this song comes from the rhythmic syncopation & interaction between the drums, bass, and high-pitch “ice block” hits. And just having the kick accent on beat three was something new. It is weird, it’s not like I didn’t know this stuff, but I had fallen into some serious ruts I guess.

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