Desktop Rhythms! (2014/2015)
Sometimes
inspiration comes from your surroundings. Sometimes it comes from something someone said. Sometimes it comes from
that 10-month old head of lettuce you forgot was at the bottom of the fridge. And other times, it comes directly from
what others have done. Desktop Rhythms is that.
What
is the inspiration here? The theme? I'll throw a hint: "wubwubwubWOWWOWWOW-zzzzzzzzzz-WERB-WERB-WERB". Yeah,
that bassy, wobbly style of music that everyone and their grandmother listens to. But would it REALLY be GoophBall music
if it was standard, cookie-cutter wubwub?
Desktop Rhythms
is not "dubstep" in it's traditional form. This set in itself is almost satirical in that it takes a lot of dubstep
elements, and then just goophs them up. The shuffles, the wobbles, the wubwub, the sub-bass, intros, drops, all here.
But it would also be incorrect to say the set shouldn't be taken seriously. Because it is, for all intents and
purposes, musically pertinent to my own development as a composer, and is still intended to be listened to with the appreciation
of the music itself in mind.
There are dubstep
tropes here, at times exaggerated beyond normalcy, mostly for the purpose of emphasis. Why? To put it directly
in the listener's face what makes this contemporary style of music, dubstep, what it is; and also to show that if I wanted
to, I could actually totally be a "traditional" dubstep artist. At other times the tropes are more subtle, and
I let my personal style dominate the moment. Why this? To remind the listener that this is still GoophBaLL
music. There are several familiar devices within these tunes to remind people that "Oh yeah...this is dubby, but it's
still totally goophy." My hopes is that no matter which tune a person listens to, they will never say "This is pretty
dubby...but where's the gooph?" or "This is definitely GoophBall music...but uh, there is no dub in this."
This said, I hope everything about Desktop Rhythms can be appreciated. My
own musical style and creativity, the dubby-ness- everything. It's an expression of a popular contemporary musical style,
while simultaneously being an expression of my own creativity. I'm not a dubstep artist and don't devote myself to the
style, but I do hope that people will understand from this that as long as you have your own creativity at hand, you can take
inspiration from ANYTHING (in this case, a particular style of music - dubstep), and make something recognizable AS that,
while STILL keeping those things that people would use to identify it as being YOUR work. This doesn't just apply to
music, but visual art, writing, anything...
Good luck
in your creative lives, everyone. Enjoy!
