Music Updates & Stress Relievers

My electronic music group DefMod Network is in full swing. We’ve been releasing singles since March and tomorrow Gatchie, Ronni, and I will hit the studio to record and produce at least two more tracks.

While our first three singles are instrumentals layered with samples from allover the place, these upcoming ones will probably follow the path taken by our latest single “F The Algorithm,” which contains guest vocal work (on a vocoder) by Superdaimos and Sheryl Reyes. All three members of Defmod came from vocal rock groups so there’s that recurring itch for lyrical content that always needs to be scratched.

I’ve written some demos and I know my parters have a bunch as well so the session tomorrow is very exciting. What direction to take is totally up for grabs. And that’s the beauty of this group. There are just no rules. Rules are for fools, as I would like to say.

I’ve been listening to all sorts of music these days:

• Thom Yorke’s Anima

• JCBX’s Dreamer

• Cimonti’s End of October

• Liam Gallagher’s Once

• Bill Evan’s Waltz for Debby

• The School

Check out this Spotify playlist I’ve curated for NSFU and find many others. We’ll be updating this list regularly and will have other guest curators as well.

Writing, producing, and playing music is really a great stress reliever. I get so into it sometimes, I forget to eat or even sleep. Another activity that does this to me is:

Cooking - The calming sound of a sharp knife slicing through crisp vegetables and tender chunks of meat punctuated by the gentle tap of the knife’s edge on to the wooden chopping board is like a sonata in major 7th. Of course, the sizzle of ingredients as they hit the hot cooking surface lubricated by premium oil or butter, the sight of colorful vegetables dancing with hunks of protein as I flip the pan, and the aroma born out of the union between intense heat and the superb ingredients all take me to a place where morning mists hover over fresh, cold water streams.

Geez, I think I over described that thing right there. Oh well, writing relaxes me too so there you go.