Conceived on an a.m. walk yesterday, the new e.p. should be about a 5-minute walk itself.
6 tracks planned. The name is a play on a pretty luke-warm record rating (Hello Pitchfork.).
‘Should’ because this all happening real-time. The idea is to break down time and the all impediments between [writing + arranging/ recording + mixing/ mastering] and [getting the thing released]. So I am now both starting and finishing. Hope to have a couple more songs by the long weekend’s end. I hope.
There will be one single out on streaming (demo here), and the rest will be for sale on Bandcamp. But, the whole dang thing will be free to you dear readers of this very mailing list.
There will also be a $10.00 BONUS version in which purchasers will not only get the digital files, but will also get some stickers, classic rock pins, and a couple olde, classic cd’s from the back catalog.
Ten $20.00 farm-fresh/ hand-crafted/ organic/ trade certified cassettes will be available. Made on demand and with paint-pens and sh*t.
Thank you, and please tell your friends to sign up for the email list.
Almost strictly #80s #djset yesterday. Fun to air all that stuff out. Some really nice surprises, and I few former sure-things just don’t work anymore. [ #setlist below] #austindj
*Work For Love, #Ministry is a bit of lost classic when you consider the more well known part of their catalog.
*99 Red Balloons — don’t play it in a DJ set. Period; especially if you have the English version.
*Any Police works if you’re outside and it’s sunny.
*Album versions of #daftpunk #GetLucky is great.
*People love #MissingPersons even though they are not immediately recognizable to most.
* #RunningUpthatHill into Big Love was a good idea. Works. Same drum beat. Although, sonically Big Love songs 100x better.
*I bet you could play Everybody Wants to Rule the World 3x in as many hours stink-eye-free.
* Always end with Love Plus One. Always.
SET \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/
Drowned World/Substitute For Love, #Madonna
Walking On The Moon, #ThePolice
Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Kate Bush
Big Love, Fleetwood Mac
When The World Is Running Down, The Police
T’ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It), Fun Boy Three
99 Red Balloons, Nena
Too Shy, #Kajagoogoo
Set Adrift on Memory Bliss, PM Dawn
Do You Really Want To Hurt Me, Culture Club
Voices Carry ‘Til Tuesday
Never Let Me Down Again, #DepecheMode
Cruel Summer, Bananarama
Work for Love, Ministry
Hold Me Now, Thompson Twins
Instant Crush, Daft Punk Feat. Julian Casablancas
Everybody Wants To Rule The World, #TearsForFears
Pelota (Cut a Rug Mix), Khruangbin & Quantic
Enjoy The Silence, Depeche Mode
A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays, De La Soul
Crazy (12_ Mix), Icehouse
Cold Heart (PNAU Remix), Elton John & Dua Lipa
Get Lucky, Daft Punk Feat. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers
Me Myself and I, De La Soul
Holiday, Madonna
Pale Shelter, Tears For Fears
Dance Reaction, #MetroArea
Bizarre Love Triangle, #NewOrder
Chameleon (feat. Kira Divine), #PNAU
(Keep Feeling) Fascination (Extended Version), The Human League
Dreams (Gigamesh Remix) Fleetwood Mac
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (My Songs Version), Sting
The Jam, Kideko
Lover Come Back (To Me) [Extended Version], Dead or Alive
(the pictured cassette is some old thing I got at Goodwill a long time ago. Found an amazing lot of self help tapes.)
Learning the MPC has really changed the way I look at Ableton and everything else in my recording and producing workflow.
Cross trains is good work. I know this, but sometimes reminding helps.
I used this nü MPC sensibility this am when I sat dow to make my #botd (make one thing every morning–at least 5 a week.) It’s sped up my Ableton work flow, really helped with phrasing, and helped me make decisions and commit in regards to song segments.
Also, Scaler 2.5 is very helpful melodically as well as speed-wise. Having some assitance once I have the chord structure is huge. I can only imagine the workflow improvements once I build up a bit of speed; tracks in hours not days.
Is it cheating? The best answer I’ve heard besides the very accurate “no” is: ‘Who are you cheating?’
Lovesongs Mixtape, Vol. 1 may feel like a step back in time to listeners, but to Austin-based electronic artist, mrtorian, it’s an evolutionary step forward, going from more-typical singer-songwriter to loops-based indie chill/dance songs. This wavey, sonic blend of 80’s and 90’s vibes is dedicated to love and inspired by the times he almost got arrested for loitering outside his local record store as a punk kid.
This ep is the sound of two worlds—melodic house and singer-songwriter—having it out. mrtorian decided to do something crazy during the pandemic: put his instruments back in their cases and recover his early obsession with electronics. He learned a lot of old classics, diving deep into organic/ melodic/ deep/ micro/ lo-fi house music.
The result is a sub-sub genre of House Music. Call it ‘(around the) House Music’. Lovesongs Mixtape, Vol. 1 is a mini movie soundtrack with colorful lyrics like “Bikini Blue” that transmit 8-bit nostalgia.
3/26 – The Arbors at Round Top – 12-3PM – Round Top, TX
4/2 – La Grange – 5-7PM – Houston, TX
4/2 – Private Event, Houston, TX, Acoustic with Neil 9PM
//BIO//
mrtorian (JD Torian Sr.) is an Austin-based electronic artist with a classic song-based, analog writing approach that slots right in with his love of Melodic House, Indie Dance, Downtempo, Chillout, Ambient, and even Rub-a-Dub.
He writes and plays all the time, be it at home in his underground lair, at staged micro shows around his neighborhood, and now with an anywhere-is-a-venue ethos all around town.
A hybrid of a live electronic show and a DJ set, it’s hard to tell the difference between his music and the records he’s slipped in. The samples, slices, and synths all mix into a set as varied as his years of influences.
It all feels cool, relaxed, dance-y, and mostly happy; just like him.
Show is “postponed.” With no back-up, it’s kind of canceled. Hence the quotes.
A few lessons here.
Don’t make a non venue a venue. I had an idea for this owner, who is a friend (was?). Maybe in hindsight it all looks pretty-self serving, but I was only willing to try this new idea out w/ myself as the unpaid help.
The idea is small electronic music that’s unobtrusive; listen while you’re doing your thing, whatever that may be. Here folks don’t specifically listen. More passive environmental. Do it right and you enhance the experience of what’s going on around you.
Save a concert venue, this should be the aim of mostly all music being played out. And DJ’s.. Been my experience this is what the people want anyway.
Don’t ask the venue to stay open late for your test. It is very hard to change behavior. Things get weird. Maybe the owner was obligated to say yes face-to-face.
Instead get in the middle of traffic. Don’t recreate. Innovate within a known something.
***
Building-up a music following, career, catalog, etc. is a near-infinite series of deeply personal failures with a few small victories thrown in. These victories more than make up for the blue times.
Canceling a show is pure punishment. Makes you feel like a heel. And worse, it gives you the opportunity and excuse to stop all work. And pout. But you have to keep on it. Find a way to keep the momentum going.
***
Last year I junked a busy singer-songwriter thing in favor of an electronic chill-type set up because it’s what I wanted to do in the first place. A lot of work down the drain, and not. Process are familiar if not the same, and all of this work will pay off in the long run. This I know for sure.
The entire thing’s been a bit of an a**-whoop, but I know where I am going. I will get there.
Austin TX 