dacca

This is a statement of philosophy as well as fact. Examine any black and white photograph closely enough, and you don't find any grey pixels...they're all either black or white.

Computing is a very binary world, a bit is either on or off. Mind you, that ignores qubits (I'll let you Google that one) which are both ON and OFF at the same time.

But is the world black or white? I'm NOT talking about race here, I'm talking about facts. In a world of 'alternative facts', what are facts?

For me, science and philosophy are the best roads to truth. Each to their own I guess, except where non-factual or alternate-factual "truths" impinge on my life.

I had this odd idea to try and combine heavy metal and Gregorian chanting, and so this track is the result. There are two manually played Gregorian chant tracks, and a manually played Toccata organ, and everything else is Apple loops composed and arranged by me.

In my mind the monk is part of group of monks chanting, but in his heart and his metal head he's rocking out like in some Terry Gilliam fantasy visualisation. Eventually the bells toll and call him back from his fantasy and back into his Gregorian chanting.

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The artwork I used is Rubens - Head of a Franciscan Monk

A dark and moody piece, but with a reflective mood I feel. No particular reason why, it was just what happened when I started creating music in Logic Pro X one evening.

All synths and pads played manually.

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Artwork: Upstream by mislyd on DeviantArt

I had a bad car accident a week ago and, even though nobody was seriously hurt physically...it really knocked me about emotionally.

Divide nothing into one and you get...infinity.

I wanted to escape into nothing, but realised it's easier to escape into infinity...with music.

Infinity is a more comforting thought than nothing.

All synths played manually in Logic Pro X.

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Check it out - Infinity Mirrored Room - 'Filled With the Brilliance of Life' by Yayoi Kusama, Flickr

https://www.flickr.com/photos/blahflowers/7266204820

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Here's a later track of mine also on the subject of Infinity:

https://soundcloud.com/dacca/sometimes-infinity-is-enough

You don't want to encounter the pit fiend....nasty!

If you enjoyed this track, try this:

https://soundcloud.com/dacca/demon-prowler

There used to be days when I would despair at our 'world leaders', and where they are leading us.

Now I despair pretty much all the time.

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Image: Michal Osmenda - "Dark Ages"

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dark_ages_(281346032).jpg

Another Apple loop composition. This time I'm mixing blues, latin bass, 70s keys and drum kits, and a mix of rock riffs and solos.

Songs made from Apple Loops are always quite challenging...it's not the music (which I normally lay down first)...it's making it believable as a meaningful song, within the available loops for each "voice" of of which has only a small set of lyrics.

I set out to create some kind of 70s love ballad, and I'm happy with the mix of relaxed/reflective moments and rock.

I hope you enjoy it - please feel free to download - it's free!

The world may well be about to end but the real question is...Do You Party?

This is one of my Apple Loop compositions, featuring reggae and traditional African instruments and various rock guitar loops.

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If you enjoyed this track you might also enjoy:

https://soundcloud.com/dacca/i-reggae

The vocal and ambient keys are from Novation Launchpad pads arranged by me, with muted bass, upright bass, drum kit and rock guitar all played manually in GarageBand.

I was imagining a futuristic survival story, with a solitary figure walking out of a vast nuclear wasteland. Either it's not so radioactive anymore, or our survivor is resistant to radioactive damage...or a bit of both.

It might seem like a bleak idea, but there it is...someone survives! That's where the beauty in my track comes from.

I created the futuristic sounds first using a couple of very old Logic Pro X synths, and added a 'textural electric' guitar (and I fiddled around with the EQ settings quite a bit to get the sound you hear). Then I added the gentle melodies and chords (which are Logic Pro X Apple loops), to allow our survivor to escape those toxic wastelands!

I hope you enjoy it!

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Image taken from 'Wasteland' by daniel.stark, Flickr