Making Music For The Gods And For Myself
What once began as an escape quickly became a hobby and then started taking over elements of my life as I knew it. What sounds like the genesis of a foreboding cautionary tale of mounting drug problems is actually my very spiritual path into music. Call me a musician, a music(al) lover, song critic, sound engineer, audiophile (non-racist tho), or 'that guy who always has new music to share'. I mean, you can call me by my name too but you're picking up what I'm dropping, yeh?
When I was a youngster there were phases that built upon each other. Discovering a record player and modest collection of vinyl in the attic was a major step. I was fascinated with the rhythmic drone of american army music but nothing was deeper than my romance with melody. I could not put the brakes on my wonder towards memorable tunes. Even just small segments I would later call sampled loops were infinitely interesting to my young mind. The journey hasn't ended yet.
Now I make music in numerous genres, craft sounds from physical sound modeling synths, I write music with other people, am known for getting lost for hours in my guitar playing, love a good sound engineering problem, and the list seriously grows with every new chapter of my life. What I lack in all of this is projects to participate in. Honestly I just need to get more involved with a community of audio nerds or musicians... OR BOTH!
Here's a modest selection from my past musical projects:
Dank Bank:
These are all Hip Hop and other bass-centric musical explorations.
176400:
Modular VCV rack jamming.
Live show audio mixing:
I was part of the crew that brought Seattle the infamous Turntable Sundae which was a monthly residency at a bar in Belltown called The Upstairs. Many good times were had at these fantastic shows.
ElectroNick:
Ah Fruity Loops. I will never forget our time together. I made techno... really weird techno. My moniker was some variation of ElectroNick (ElectroNic, ElectroNik, Electro Nick, etc.). I was young and had fun.
Story time!
Once upon a time I had a whole external HD full of my life's creative works archived and ready to turn into a portfolio. Then a roommate surprised me with an unplanned party in which my external HD was stolen. Sad day that was. I am stronger because of it but I have nothing to show for all those hours toiling away at whatever DAW and VST I could get my hands on.
This brings me to the heart of what I'm postin' about today. Seems like I've been on some kind of spiritual path through the years; all of which is bonded tightly by music and sound. I am privileged to have seen My Bloody Valentine perform in Seattle back in... I think it was 2009. I am also privileged to have witnessed the 2023 Sunn0))) show at the Neptune. Both provided me with an altered brain state that was so far beyond pleasant and introspective. After each show I found myself questioning if this brain state is solely established by an extreme wall of sound.
This is kind of where I am in my musical path. I find myself exploring frequencies people have claimed to be sacred. I've been down some rabbit holes about how plants communicate at ultra high frequencies. There has been a deliberate adventure into extreme volume levels too. That last one has been fuuuuuun. It's all still as spiritual-feeling as it ever has been too; a quality of making music and sounds that has yet to fade.
Perhaps I'm a vessel for this music I'm making. Perhaps I am not. Honestly I don't have a pull one way or the other because, in the end, I make these songs that give me a process I can only describe as therapy. There is a lot of philosophy regarding Gods and Goddesses as divided segments of the self's persona, ego, subconscious, etc. Similar in type, there is plenty of theory surrounding divination; stating it is a method of understanding human psychology through self reflection. So, in vein with my grey-middle-path ways, I dedicate songs to various deities as much as I dedicate them to myself. Often I pour my intention of solving my own life problems into writing a song and then find myself gravitating towards ethereal ideas. These ideas, in turn, become the stuff of long lasting solutions. It's kind of like meditating (there's that brain state stuff again)
It's all great for writing creatively. I'm writing songs for the Gods. I'm writing songs for myself. I'm writing songs for the sake of writing. You know, ultimately I'm not sure! I love this chapter. Whatever's really going on in my reality, I love this chapter. I continued some long term special projects, I started making Thrash Metal, I'm dipping into Neo Soul, I started a drone album... 2023 was a productive year. Now if only I could stay focused long enough to finish all these projects! Hahaha! Fuck it man - I'm a Mystic.
-MN