Tape loops of varied length - vol.02 by muqdisho
Tape Loops of Varied Length Vol.02 is more than an album; it’s a learning process. Between the previous record and this one, 135 days have passed, and many musical sketches were done. A few have survived to be presented to the world; some will never be heard again.
This album is split into two themes: Ambient and Doom.
The first part - Ambient - was recorded and re-recorded between August and September, and I wanted to convey a nautical feel to it. Malo Kingi is made of six-minute-long tape loops played on a 4-track Fostex with some digital loops to fill some areas. Carukia Barnesi follows a similar structure and has 60-second long tape loops played on a Tascam 4-track with some keyboards and digital loops.
Combined, these two songs are the core of Irukandji Syndrome, where two 4-tracks are playing different loops over each other to create wavy textures and create something different based on an improvisational session.
Doom is a different side of the music since it shows a more experimental approach to the musical elements that I want to introduce to Muqdisho.
Going South Dakota Fanning starts where the Ambient part of the album ends, but it continues with some of the patterns and elements. This song was the first one I tried to start on the computer and go on from there. I recorded some textures and a piano on tape loops and arranged them repeatedly until they matched something close to what I had in mind.
To Take Upon Oneself All The Pain of Living is the first song that I composed for this album, and it came from an experiment with ten-second long tape loops and some distortion pedals that I had with me. My goal was to create waves of saturated and distorted keyboards that would feel like noisy drone metal.
You Carried My Smile on Your Wrists is the most experimental song here since it started out of some tape loops that I had lying around after a concert I did back in May. Those loops were used as support sounds, but I started playing around with them and loved how those textures sounded. 15-second long tape loops are being played on a 4-track and 8-second long tape loops playing on another one. One of these tracks is the first time that I try to add drums to anything. I’m still unsure about it, but I’m willing to try it out on future tape loop albums.
The bonus track - 440702151312 - is an entirely different beast since it comes from a freestyle exercise that started after a friend shared with me some field recordings of a sea organ in Croatia. I selected samples and sounds that I liked and organized them in loops later recorded into tapes. The saturated tones are my favourite thing since they continue with this oceanic sound that I want to present through this album.
I still believe that the only way you can master a technique, it’s by doing it over and over again. For this to work, I decided to release an album every 135 days. Having a public deadline like this makes it hard for me to ignore my goals, and I can continue producing music consistently.
Something new will come in 135 days.
Tape loops of varied length - vol.02 by muqdisho was released September 27, 2019
