so, a tempo change; a key change; the addition of bass, drums, keyboards and that “theme from shaft” wah guitar…and a new active piece is born, based on the mostly ambient, definitely strange and eerie, “the pagan gods return”. I didn’t really mean to do a dance mix, it was meant to be a dubstep mix, but I didn’t have the right samples for that, so for a laugh, I stuck in some “dance” elements – and as it played – I just fell in love with it – it just rocks. It’s funny, it’s serious, it just works somehow – even though, in my normal music, it’s a million miles away from something I would “normally do”.
maybe that’s why it succeeds, because it’s very out of character (for a “serious” ambient musician – whatever that means :-) ), but once I started on it, I was determined to do a good job and create something worthwhile with this strange juxtaposition of “all human voices / ambient / strange” coupled with “bass / drums / dance beat” elements. of all the pieces I’ve ever done, it wouldn’t leap to mind that “the pagan gods return” would make the perfect topping for a dance mix – it just wouldn’t. yet – that’s what happened, I finished “the pagan gods return” – and immediately started in on this dance variation of the piece!!
in this dance mix – everything changes. it’s up tempo, it’s up pitch, and the new bass line and synth parts change the whole feel of the vocal samples. I’ve shamelessly, proudly even, re-used the wah guitars that featured in “sandpiper calls”, along with a new keyboard riff that preceeds the most amazing “theme from shaft”-like bass part, that is an amazing circular, four-note bass riff played three times in a row – I love that bass part ! so – drums, keyboards, bass, and wah guitar are added – and that changed everything in a most wonderful way.
the vocal parts, end up popping up in tiny spaces within the music, like intentionally-placed “found vocals” – when in fact, it’s pretty much the unchanged “the pagan gods return” – all I did was adjust the pitch and tempo, and then drop in the new elements. I could not have “chosen” where those voices went – they just landed, in wonderful stereo, right where they belong. sigh.
it may be a “dance mix” – which is normally, decidedly, NOT my “thing” – but it’s a dance mix born of the 1970s, with my “theme from shaft”-evoking wah guitar and bass – I really feel that my choice of new elements, has given me a dance mix that even I can be proud of – as an ambient looping guitarist :-) .
remember, it was just for “fun”, but I think by accident, it turned out really well, and if I were to listen to dance music, I would want it to sound like this – it’s upbeat, fun, but with very quirky “vocals” indeed – like the weirdest bill nelson “found vocals” piece you could ever imagine. I think a version with ebows added might be the next logical step, and I do want to seriously look at overdubbing some of the best or most unusual mixtikl pieces with ebow, guitars, guitar synths or maybe – all three :-) . This one, oddly, would be a prime candidate for such an evolution – give it some looped and live energy bow guitars…hmmm.
I love both versions, but this one, is at the same time, too funny, and yet, too awesome, and I am so glad I took the time, and tried it out – I must say, I’ve pretty much avoided the “dance” pak when choosing samples in mixtikl – (it wouldn’t naturally be my first port of call when looking for cool sounds!); but in retrospect, that was a mistake, because even though out of character – the samples therein are still excellent, still of a high standard of quality that I’ve come to expect from mixtikl, and, I was, and am, not disappointed – the greatest (and only?) dance mix I ever did (??). no matter what – it was great fun to do, and I really enjoy listening to it, no matter how in or out of character – it’s just an utterly unique piece of music, with the oddest “found vocals” in the universe – why not?
ambient loop guitarist dave stafford performed on stage with robert fripp and the orchestra of crafty guitarists in early
2009, and again with robert fripp and the symphony of crafty guitarists in 2015, and has worked with ambient music and looping for over twenty years. stafford has a rich back catalogue of ambient and loop music, +rock, prog or acoustic crafty guitar music: www.pureambient.com...more
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