BLIP....album breakdown (Side B)
My attempt to give some further insight into how NAHreally & I made the album "BLIP"
Side B
#8. Push Pressure Points:
So this is the most up tempo track on BLIP. I created it while I was in the middle of discovering and digging into a very niche and specific set of Christian music albums from the late 1960’s. I listened through so much music that really wasn’t my thing during that time but stumbled across an album with these strings that really spoke to me. This was another track where I spent a lot of time working on the drums to make them feel like they were a part of the original sample and added in some 808s to make sure it had a real low end to the track. Love Dillon’s verse and adlibs on here and feel like this gave
the opportunity to really show how he can rap as good as anyone currently.“My vocabulary’s massive, large like the scarves on Lenny Kravitz”
#9. Read The Room:
This may be the strangest beat on the album. It’s quite subtle, but due to the beauty of the main harp and vibraphone melody I wanted to create a juxtaposition incorporating strange sounds such as the sitar, female vocal line and accompanying weird noises. The main section has very unquantized drums and an ever changing bassline which was an idea I had late on into the process. The drop then brings a really slowed down effected drum break to bring a freshness to the chorus with some chords I played on the mellotron M-Tron plugin. This plug-in is based on an instrument heavily used in the late 1960s psychedelic movement and I just love the tone it has. It was kind of the first ever sampler using tape loops and is probably best known as the instrument played at the very start of The Beatles “Strawberry Fields Forever”. Here is an amazing video from Paul McCartney explaining the instrument.
#10. That Many Of Em:
This is a short and snappy track with fairly minimal production on it to be honest. I made this with the idea to give space for NAH’s message to come to the fore but was actually pretty shocked when he choose this beat. It’s quite odd and I was buzzing when he said he was going to write to it. It’s based around a sample with lots of little chops with vocal harmonies incorporated into it. Used a lot of different techniques specific to this song and it really is not like any other beats I’ve ever done before. It then ends with a 3/4 time guitar melody to bring it somewhere new before going into a bizarre little wig out to close. Absolutely love that this made the album.
#11. Brainstorm With Showers:
Another element from the late 1960’s psychedelic production that I’ve always loved is the so-called ‘watery’ guitar sound. This song is basically an ode to that sound. I wanted to use that sound to add a dreamy, otherworldly feel to the percussion. The rimshot is heavily treated with reverb in the vein of the song “Elevators” by OutKast, which I definitely used as a reference point. I remember the first few times I ever heard that song all I could concentrate on was that rimshot sound. It was just so unique and effective and I still adore that song to this day.
I then mixed the sounds in this track with a lot of different techniques, again which I hadn’t really used before, to allow space for the vocals. Lots and lots of work on different EQ’s on here. Love the hook on this one and how Jesse & NAHs vocals work together. Really good pairing.
#12. Bubble Wrap:
So this was the last track written for the album. This was a bespoke one of a kind production made with a specific purpose for the album. We felt like the album needed a little energy towards the end of the album so we wrote this track. The song is attempting to incorporate all the albums ideas and sounds in one track. Banging drums, funky bass line, lots of vocals effects layered over this constant and long sitar line, again heavily inspired by late 1960’s psychedelic music. I bloody LOVE the sitar and almost have to stop myself from trying to incorporate it in to my productions too much.
Here is one of my favourite sitar riffs - how great is this instrument!!!
#13. So It Goes:
We went back and forth on this one a lot and it almost didn’t make the album. It originally had 3 verses and 3 hooks but we decide to edit it down. Less is more and all that. Quite a straight forward traditional track. Beat has a real swing and tons of small sample chops to make notes elongate to make it into the melody on the track. Sprinkled in some extra guitar notes and lush backing vocals for some additional textures and help the movement of the song.
Final decision was to do a bit of a psychedelic trippy dream outro in 3/4 time to help lead it into the final track incorporating some of the sounds from the song and little celebratory fireworks.
#14. Little Wins:
Another dreamy one, with beautiful vocal harmonies and pretty flutes juxtaposed over some banging 808s. It’s a bit of a mad beat really and I’m not quite sure how or what possessed me to make it but it feels like the perfect closer to the album. We live in a world where everything and everyone is trying to grab our attention and overload us with negativity and comment of peoples lives. I love the idea of turning off all that noise and forgetting all that and focusing on positivity, what makes you happy and celebrating your small successes.
So that’s it……BLIP. Some of these could have sounded or been created very differently. What would that sound like 👀
Some extra new music coming VERY soon.
Until then the vinyl is sold out on Bandcamp but still available in some online shops. See links below:
Europe: Direct link is here hhv.de
US: Direct link is here: Get on Down
UK: Direct link is here Juno.co.uk
BLIP instrumentals are also available here:
Talk soon,
Ex.