Awkward Silence

New Track: Tim's Party Time

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:17:00 +0000

A track I threw together a lil while ago and revisited last night. Mix of some classic breaks, some Fela, and my own synthy goodness. Can you figure out which parts are synthesized and which are real? Gave it to my friend Tim to work with, hopefully he'll spit some hot shit over it. Go check it out in the Soundclick player at the bottom of the page.

Also, just to reiterate, I'll probably be rotating songs in my Soundclick player rather than permanently leaving em up. So enjoy this one for now......

Sweet Sweet Sarcasm: This is a good song.

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:11:00 +0000

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/11/23/do-you-think-they-know-what-rough-rider-means/

Just look. H/T Jay Smooth via Twitter.

Also, is that the Imperial Death March playing in the background?

P H A T A L

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Phatal has a kick ass new website. It's still being tweaked a bit, but please check it out. Explore and give us your feedback!

Watchmane: How I Got Over by the Roots

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:33:00 +0000

I'm really digging the new Roots single "How I Got Over" The video's pretty cool, very tasteful and straight forward. I do wish that the Roots would get more videos that compliment their sound as much as their content/lyrics. The track itself is pretty classic roots fare: Fela-ish keys and drums, conscious and fun lyrics, soulful singing. I always love the sense of honesty and playfulness the Roots bring to their music. Definitely a nice change of pace from the vast majority of the music you hear right now.

Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:10:00 +0000

So I'm making a few changes to the blog over the next day or two. Namely some link updates, possibly a bit of reformatting, but primarily the nature of my Soundclick player is going to change. Since a large amount of the material I'm producing now is actually getting made into songs I'll be taking down a lot of my tracks in order to avoid bootlegging and overexposure. I will still sometimes post full songs, but when I do they will be rotated in and out (for a month you may be able to hear the track and then it may get replaced by another one). I will also upload previews of songs. I know it's less fun to have track previews instead of full songs, but the internet is a sketchy place and I need to protect my IP (as in intellectual property, not my address). That said, I hope an increasing regularity of posting updates and thoughts as well as my music will keep this a worthwhile site =)

Also, since I'm updating the links section I think it's an appropriate time to say bye bye to the long dead blog "Too Sense" which was simply fantastic and disappeared over a year ago. I wouldn't have a website if dnA hadn't encouraged me too, so I salute you. Be sure to check out the new sites in the links section. They're wonderful.

Likeblood News

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Mbea Da 1, Yung E, Dre Strong: Can you figure out which one's the ninja, which one's the samurai, and which one's the pirate?

First up on the catching up to-do list is Likeblood. They've been having a crazy successful and busy year. A video on MTV Jams, another on 106 and Park, tracks with guest appearances by Raheem DeVaughn and Bobby Valentino...things have definitely been getting interesting.

The latest piece of news is that Likeblood is currently on a national tour hitting up 30 cities over the next month with none other than Raekwon and Dead Prez. Please check out the tour, it's sure to be amazing. Also, check out their website and twitter feeds for more info.

Screw It

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:31:00 +0000

Welcome back

The blog is back. I've uploaded a new track "Last Memory" to the Soundclick player at the bottom of the page. Just something I cooked up yesterday as a quickie. There's a lot of news to catch up on; big things have been happening over the past year. We'll talk soon. I missed you.

New Instrumental: Gears

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:34:00 +0000

Something I cooked up a couple nights ago. Feels a little incomplete to me, but it has a real lo-fi classic sound that I'm feeling right now.

Boomp3.com

As always, comments and criticism appreciated.

Instrumental: Everyday Endings

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:08:00 +0000

This is a piece I made about 2 1/2 years ago. It is all sampled material, from about 7 different sources (some of which I'm sure will sound quite familiar), and was made entirely in a waveform editor. As always, love to know your thoughts.

boomp3.com

Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 17:39:00 +0000

First

GO CHECK OUT THE NEW LIKEBLOOD VIDEO NOW In addition to the website the video is currently airing in full rotation on MTV Jams, so if you have extended or digital cable you might catch it on TV. (I didn't produce this track, but Likeblood are some of my closest friends and I've been producing for them for about 3 years). It's a really good video, stands out from the lot in my opinion, and I expect big things for them. (You can catch Blastphumis in the video throwing a little cash at the camera, good times lol)

Second

Likeblood, Blastphumis, and I have all been extremely busy with various projects. Blastphumis and I have an up and coming Phatal Records compilation album. The Likeblood album, is dropping in the near future so keep an eye out for it. I've also been working with a few singers on various projects... In short, I apologize for neglecting this blog so much. I'm really busy and I now have to be more particular about which tracks I upload to the site.

Third

I'm currently in the process for writing reviews for the most recent J-Live, Roots, and Nas albums. I also may do a short piece (not a full review) of the newest Portishead. I'll post them ASAP along with some new tracks! I expect to have at least one other post done by the end of tomorrow, and all of this should be done within the next week or two.

Thanks for continuing to check out the blog!!!!

New Instrumental: Ahead of It

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:14:00 +0000

Something I cooked up last week. Likeblood has been asking me to churn out some more commercial instrumentals, and I've taken it as a challenge. Here is the first of many I'm working on for them.

The track is a mix of samples and synthesis. I encountered a fairly common problem with this track; the sound that resembles clinking glasses is a sample, and is layered in with the old synthesizer sound that repeats throughout the whole track. I searched the sample source, and attempted to edit the sample in order to remove the synth sound for parts of the song, but to no avail. I'm curious if people find the old synth sound so repetitive that I should drop the clinking glasses sound more often in order to get rid of it... Anyway, I chose to just role with it and see how it came out, I'm curious what you all think.

boomp3.com

Also, big thanks to Boomp3.com for still running strong!

Had to put this up...

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 00:07:00 +0000

Sorry for the large gap of time between posts... I'll figure this out eventually =)

In the meantime, here's Nas with DJ Green Lantern and Barack Obama. If you have to ask why I'm posting this, you're funny. Thanks to dnA for pointing this out.

New Instrumental: Warming

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:28:00 +0000

Here's a track I threw together last night. It's still an early version; I intend to mess with the drums a bit and add in a third section to act as either a chorus or bridge. Hope you enjoy!

10 Points to anyone who guesses the sample.

boomp3.com

Oldie But a Goodie

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:14:00 +0000

Man do I suck at keeping up my posts. Sorry about that...life is hectic right now and most of my music energy is being used preparing for the upcoming mixtape Blastphumis and I are working on. I'll try to keep you updated, and I hope to FINALLY have some new tracks with vocals up here soon.

In the meantime, here's a track I made a whiiiiiiiiiile ago that Blastphumis and I are currently working with.

boomp3.com

New Track: Ice

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 23:47:00 +0000

My latest instrumental. Everything is sampled except the bass. As usual, feedback is always appreciated.

boomp3.com

New Track: The Green Goblin Enjoys A Film

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 23:59:00 +0000

Why is this track called "The Green Goblin Enjoys A Film"? Because my brother told me to call it that.

I'm VERY proud of this instrumental. I think I'm learning a lot more about layers and levels (especially thanks to my kick ass new monitors). This is about 80% sampled with some drums and synthesized strings thrown in to emphasize and add mood. The track has some small development, but mainly just switches between 3 loops. I've been listening to a lot of Jay-Z and Lupe lately and I think I was slightly influenced by the types of production they tend to have. What I mean is I think this is one of my more lyrics-friendly tracks that still maintains listenability as an instrumental.

Hope you enjoy!

boomp3.com

Thanks Mom and Dad!

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 22:47:00 +0000

I GOT NEW SPEAKERS!!!!!! M-Audio AV 40s baby! This should greatly improve the quality of my work since I will be able to hear more subtle differences in levels without having the compression of the headphones I've been using.

Reviews Coming Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:08:00 +0000

I'm going to post my reviews for the new Lupe Fiasco and Jay-Z albums pretty soon (next few days). They're really good and I didn't want to just review with my first impressions so I've been giving myself a chance to give them a more in-depth listen.

Also, New Years Resolution #8032: Post more often.

New Track: Sinking

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:01:00 +0000

A new instrumental I made. Mostly samples, a little synthetic embellishment on the drums. Hope you like it.

boomp3.com

New Track: Fading

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:44:00 +0000

Another 100% sampled track. It's a very mellow, sad sounding instrumental IMO. Blastphumis seemed to like it a lot when I played it for him, so maybe I'll have a vocal mix with him in the near future =)

boomp3.com

New Tracks! (FINALLY)

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 19:08:00 +0000

Life is rather busy at the moment. However, here are the somewhat meager fruits of my labors from the past several weeks.

First up, is "Sickle" a fairly standard instrumental loop with a few minor change-ups throughout the song. The drums are really more of a placeholder; they give a sense of the drum pattern I want to aim for but I intend to redo them.

boomp3.com

Next, is something I'm calling "Knock Knock". This is essentially a loop with a very short break it down towards the end. My brother recently introduced me to the group/album "Bumps" featuring members of the group Tortoise (a really cool electronic/jazz/a bit of everything group out of Chicago). The album is all drum loops and these drums, though edited a bit, are from it. This track is 100% samples =)

boomp3.com

Finally, an attempt at some drum and bass. Just a short loop.

boomp3.com

Hope you enjoy! More to come soon, just gotta finish my finals.

Jay Love Japan by J Dilla

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:00:00 +0000

Listening to Jay Love Japan I am reminded why Dilla is truly one of the greatest hip-hop producers of all time (and a personal favorite). It's not that this album is particularly fantastic, it's actually fairly run-of-the-mill for Dilla. However, unlike the gritty, synth-heavy Ruff Draft (that served as much to feature Dilla as a rapper as it did for him as a producer) or Dilla's masterpiece Donuts, with its constantly changing rhythms and samples that only the most advanced-flow rappers could possibly handle; on Jay Love Japan Dilla delivers to us some quality, seriously solid, almost classic-sounding instrumentals.

Why is that a big deal? Because what makes J Dilla such a strong, influential producer lies in his ability to develop complex, interesting instrumentals that are completely conducive to rapping. Dilla's best works lie not in his solo albums but in his production for emcees like De La Soul, Common, Tribe Called Quest, and Busta Rhymes. Listening to Jay Love Japan's instrumentals, one feels compelled to freestyle or write a verse in order to fill the vocal void that remains present in all tracks exclluding "Say It" and "First Time." If a producer's tracks make you want to rap...well that's about as good as you can get.

I won't be doing any categories other than an overall album rating this review since most of my categories are designed for an album with an emcee.

Overall Album: 8
Dilla sure as hell doesn't sound like many producers out there, and there's innovation in that. Thing is, the work on Jay Love Japan is par for the course for Dilla. The only track that seems to jump out at all is "Can't You See" with a close second being "In the Streets". Fans of Dilla will absolutely adore this album, but folks in general may be left scratching their heads a bit, wondering what all the fuss is about. The album length is also a serious issue given that it has been marketed as a full album yet only contains 9 tracks that give a grand total of 20 minutes worth of listening time. Solid drums, interesting sampling, complex mixes...all the hallmarks of a good Dilla album are present. But like J Dilla's life, all too often his own songs and albums seem to cut off prematurely, leaving the listener alone and wondering where it might have gone had it continued developing. I personally hope there is more posthumous Dilla going to be released; industry producers could really learn a lot about sonic unity and discipline from this guy. RIP Dilla; your shit is still good and you are dearly missed.

Prediciton

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 18:16:00 +0000

Posting soon, within next couple of days. Then I should get back to regular postings again. Midterms are a bitch. Sorry for the incredible lack of stuff.

New Loop: Darkglow

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:15:00 +0000

Three minutes of loopy goodness. No development, almost no change-ups. This is part of my new effort to start creating very bare bones tracks, get the vocals, and THEN embellish and develop. I'll be sending this to my old pal Dre Strong sometime this weekend, hopefully he'll come back with some good shit. Also hope to soon have that vocal mix of Crooked for you guys shortly.

New Instrumental: Crooked

noreply@blogger.com (Awkward Silence) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 18:13:00 +0000

This is actually a piece I started a while back. Dre and Blastphumis are recording tonight so I redid this one to match their song. When they have the track finished I'm posting it as well. Hope you like the beat in the meanwhile.

As a side note, boomp3.com seems to be working incredibly fast and efficiently. Kudos to them and thanks for providing this cool service.