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An updated version of the bay’s hyphy sound.

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What is a vacuum? What does it accomplish?

If it functions well, it achieves nothing.

Featuring clarinet and robot vacuum.

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This was short-term work again. Most of the week I thought I was gonna make something with Tidal Cycles. I got started on my laptop this morning. However, we decided to go to the park, so I brought my m8 and made something with that instead.

The bassline I had going felt boring - very 'middle-of-the-road'. However, since I didn't have a lot of time, I decided to stick with it.

The end is also a bit weird, but oh well. At least I got something :)

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Story time again...

I have a complex relationship with this song. I wrote it in the early noughties and I thought this was it; this was the song that would put me on the map! It didn't, obviously, thanks to my inability to do anything about it. I had big plans for it but no means to make it happen.

It currently holds the highest record for most recording attempts made on any of my songs, because over the years, if I ever got an opportunity to record 'properly' at a studio, this song was my go-to. But each time, someone else was recording me, going through their filter, so none were quite what I was going for and it never felt 'done'.

Since starting Weekly Beats in 2020, I had pretty much written off Conman as a possible entry because it certainly isn't new and it had already been recorded. However, while I was pondering songs and ideas in preparation for recording today, it occurred to me that I have not had a go at recording it my way.

Version history (for funzies):

I first recorded it as an acoustic version around 2007 along with two other songs, using a voucher I won at an open mic night to record for an hour at a local studio. Eh, it was fine, it was free, but definitely not how I intended it to be.

Next, while attending TAFE around 2011, one of the Tech students (stage and studio production) asked me to record a song with them for their project. This version was recorded as a band with other TAFE students, but the end result steered away from my vision of it, because it was his project after, so he intentionally messed around with 'studio wank' (as he called it) to showcase his work. I like this version but I consider it a neat 'remix'.

Next up, after meeting a similar-minded muso at TAFE, we started a band called Triggerhertz around 2014. Conman was an obvious choice for me to bring to the setlist because it was always intended for a band. We recorded it with four other songs in 2016 for what would have been our first EP, but we disbanded shortly after the sessions, so this version never made it past a rough mix. To be honest though, this version already wasn't feeling quite right either, so I didn't lose sleep over it.

The last attempt I made was in 2018 when someone local advertised their home studio for a great price, and also offered to play drums, which was the main thing I preferred to outsource. It headed down a similar road as the Triggerhertz version, with a fairly 'classic rock' vibe, because I didn't want to be a nuisance asking to stack guitar tracks to fatten the sound. This version also didn't make it beyond a rough master.

So here we are; 2026... the drums aren't real, there's no big studio, it's just me with my very humble little recording set up, but it is the closest version to how I wanted it to be, albeit a couple of decades too late. I always wanted fat guitars and punchy bass, so at least this version is closer to baby Jai's original vision. I ran out of steam as I was trying to finish up, so I got a bit lazy in some bits, like, I intended to mess with panning to make the chorus pop more from the verses, and I wanted to add a bit more 'human' to the drums by adding incidental accent hits here and there, and the solo is still the scratch takes but I got super tired and didn't have the energy to try get them cleaner. Eh, that stuff can happen another time if I can be bothered, the main thing is it's closer to done than it has been before. Yay.

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I'm sure this song is better with a vocalist, but we ain't got one so they're being replaced with chiptune.

This song was a direct request, rather than one asked for, by Mr. Eos, who gave me a song to base this week's song on: For the Glory by All the Good Things (hence the title). A fine band and easy to build on for us (reminds me of Imagine Dragons), but I'm not sure I caught the spirit entirely, probably too much going on. The song itself is still really nice with many things going on.

- Spider

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Ever wonder why you don't hear rock'n'roll mixed with ska, mixed with drum'n'bass, mixed with acid???

Here's why 😂

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fms synced with LSDJ

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I called this Almost because it almost sounds like the main pad is singing.

Tools:

IPad running Cubasis

Main Pad: Continua

Other Pad: Dark Park

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Kind of a pop track. Midi instruments and my "flow" over it.

Lyrics:

En vacances, sur cette ile paradisiaque

Je me prélasse, joue tranquille, au dominos

Aligne les tuiles, un tracé rigolo

Et tout à coup un UFO

Une pyramide lévite

J’essaye de faire tomber les dominos

Rien ne bouge le doute m’habite

Le temps s’arrête

C'est les vacances, Les vacances.

Mais c'est étrange.

Fitness journal. I pretty crushed it last week, bounced back from multiple weaker weeks to 12hrs of cardio. Weight still at 92 tho... I should start to check what I eat.

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spent a coupla days on this one, including some early mornings before work. enjoyed more of the creation process than the final output, but it's still pretty good for weirdo idm glitchiness.

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