Welcome!

Daemon Electricity is my personal music project for the past 10 years. I have developed a pretty extensive collection of recordings and arrangements in that time. I haven’t really pushed too hard to promote, sell or play in front of live audiences so much in the past but all good things must come to an end.

As far as releases go, I’m proud to announce the release of 6 selections including 2 1/2 full albums of material I’ve put together and feel pretty good about. I also have 3 additional releases that didn’t really fit the same criteria for those releases but that I still feel really strongly about in their own right. I didn’t put out any crap, I swear!* I think I make music that’s more intended for headphones and herbal therapy time in one mindset and more energetic music that would be more suitable for a bigger sound system and less sloth-like pulse rates in another. As a result, I try to keep things from slowing down to creepy movie soundtrack levels for too long on what I would consider a major flagship release.

The Wicked Album Mix and Unwicked

In the case of the Wicked Album and Unwicked, it’s really more of a chronology and difference in ideas for how to arrange some music. When I first started having grand visions of what it would be like to produce an album, I wanted to make The Wall or Dark Side of the Moon just like everyone else, with all it’s transitions and even grandiose dramatic piano (Yeah, that’s a release unto itself. Stay tuned.) and would never just collect a set of the best tracks I had from a group of arrangements and just commit to those and make them play together. I wanted a bunch of recurring themes and basically a rock opera or hint at some continuity like The Downward Spiral does at the very least, I guess. Well, that never happened exactly, but I eventually learned how to settle for the best-ofs and make them play together for the first time on The Wicked Album Mix which was kind of a compromise because it does have some seamless transitions, but I don’t know how you can really have a rock opera without lyrics.

The problem then becomes that while The Wicked Album incorporates some of the best arrangements I did in the “FL” era of arranging, as well as some good arrangements I did from around the same time as The Wicked Album, I never really did a release for the “FL-###” era of tracks, and there are some pretty good ones on there, I think. Also, because The Wicked Album is a bit of a remix, it’s not the full length, fully arranged version of FL-002 or whatever that intro track is. (Seriously, I forget what track is what more than you’d know. Maybe I should commit to more creative track names.)

002

If the previous era of “FL” tracks (indicating FL Studio projects) were mostly defined by software synths then the next phase would probably be defined by utilizing and recording from outboard gear and sequencers and arranging in Ableton.  This album represents the eschewing of proper retirement savings for an orchestra of beautiful black and silver boxes and hardware and wires to hook them all up.

Also, along the way, I felt the urge to smash myself on the rocks of pasty white boys trying to pay homage to the hiphop I grew up with and the dusty vinyl beats I continue to grow and get nostalgic with, from guys like DJ Shadow, RJD2, MF DOOM, J Dilla, and Madlib.  I love triphop and when it comes to actual work ethic and demeanor, there’s really no one I admire more as a producer than Madlib.  There’s no one I’ve learned more about low-fidelity charm from than Madlib. There’s probably no one that has inspired me to clear technical obstacles and get down to business more than Madlib. Dude makes beats and digs for records all day or he’ll make an album in a day and not sample a single thing.  Also, nothing Madlib does is a big production.  He’s famous for making beats in the hotel room in Brazil with a boombox, a crappy portable turntable, and an SP-303.

I don’t think I wallpapered the room on this album with dirty vinyl the way Madlib does on his tracks, but I did get very much into crate digging and dollar records (and if I ever get a bigger place, I will probably be just as unrestrained about carrying out 40-50 dollar records on a trip, but I don’t wanna move that shit out of a rental) and I felt it was beginning to represent itself on this release. As an aside, Peant Butter Wolf is still the only person I’ve ever presented with a demo CD.

Specter Signals Series

This will be an ongoing series of mixes designed to transition smoothly between some of my more beat driven remixes into more sparse soundscapes. Think of them as movie soundtracks in search of a movie.

Gonzo Gizmos Series

I like clanky and subtle ambient beats that sometimes lack melodic content. I have a nice pile of modular gear and it’s great for making bloops and bleeps. I understand this is a little on the self-gratifying side but I’m fairly certain I’m not alone in liking this kind of music. Think of this as more of my “Ambient Works” series. OK, that’s a little self-gratifying in it’s own right.