From the beginning, I already knew I wanted the artwork to be dark and broody, just like the music used. I wanted to use photography because I thought that a 'behind the scenes' kind of thing would work well. I love that kind of thing, on movies, on albums, on any creative project really, the behind the scenes are always the funnest stuff to check out. I think its because sometimes art and creative shit can come off as very pretentious. Trust me I know.
I sometimes read blogs everyday for half of the day, so I see a lot of creative things being carried out and sometimes you just skip stuff because you just like 'whatever dude, keep it real man'. But when you see the behind the scenes stuff it makes you realize that real people with real thoughts and real emotions was involved. Im generalizing here, but I know you know what I mean.
More photos after the drop.
So...
Spent the entire weekend sitting in front of my computer. Staring. At Ableton. Trying to find out what works, what doesn't, cutting up sound clips and movie dialogue, searching for the perfect interlude. Music. A lot of the time, its what I live for, wishing that it was my first choice career wise. The time spent editing and mixing was super worth it though, because by the end of Sunday night, at about 11 o clock, I was done, exporting it, cutting it up, done with editing the photos I took earlier in the afternoon for the artwork. Done with all of it.
And after listening to it for the first time in its entirety, late that night, it really made me smile. I never knew it was so much work to be honest. I have a very good friend, Rameez, who happens to be a very talented DJ and creative music producer who seems to do it with so much ease. Then again, he is a bonafide pro, who opened up for international acts like Cosmic Gate for example. The dudes been doing since his early high school years.
Anyway. I think the best part for me was making every song fit into the set, making every song fit into the idea of what I wanted the set to be. I wanted it to sound 'out there' sonically, like, a heroine infused electronic jam session in a way. I wanted it to sound like something I would make, something that had that 'FRKTNST' feel to it. And I must say, I think I definitely succeeded in doing just that.
If you listen to the set, you will hear that I struggled in the beginning, like with the first track, getting the tempo right, but after a while, I was like, fuck it. It sounds cool to me, so off tempo, so wrong, but it works within the set I reckon. Because as you get deeper within the set you will realize that the whole thing is slightly, off. Well. It is what it is. Night music. I hope you enjoy it though, don't make any judgements too soon. Play it till the end, and let me know what you think.
Click here to download it:
MediaFire Download Link
Details:
Size: 165 mb
Duration: 1hour 08min
Bit Rate: 320 kbs
01. Intro
02. DropxLife - 1stxFlr
03. Four Tet - Harmony One
04. Depeche Mode - Freelove
05. Woods - Woods Children Part II
06. Massive Attack - Angel
07. Phil Collins - In The Air Tonight
08. Kruder & Dorfmeister - Lexicon
09. Télépopmusik - Breathe
10. Miss Kittin - Dub About Me
11. Gil Scott-Heron - Where Did The Night Go
12. Tim Hecker - The Piano Drop Part I
13. Chris Isaak - Wicked Game
14. Trent Reznor - Videodrones (Questions)
15. Depeche Mode - Dream On
16. Vernian Process - Grudge
17. Henry Mancini - Lujon
18. Bon Iver - Blindsided (Purple Cloud Edit)
19. Tim Hecker - The Piano Drop Part II
20. HAL 9000 - My Mind Is Going (FRKTN Edit)
So. If you know me, you know I am super in love with music, not just any music though, not that radio friendly bubble gum. Oh no. Fuck that. Im talking about that Skunk Anansie, that Radiohead, that Daft Punk, that Rick Rubin shit, that Jay Z and kanye, that Dead Prez, that (OVO) and especially that super fresh The Weeknd stuff. Anything that oozes real substance. Man, I love that shit, cant get enough of it actually. Would take a couple of bullets for any of those guys, straight to the face.
Anyway, been really pumping that Watch The Throne album lately, thanks to my homie Ziyaad Lalla, who is also listening to it as much as I am. Its love man thats what it is. Both of us are really lovers of impeccable musical production.
We love it all, from Anjunabeats and Anjunadeep, Ed Banger, The Neptunes, Daft Punk, Noah Shebib 40, and that whole (OVO) Stevie Wonder sampling awesomeness. We just love it all! How can you not? And that West Coast Death Row Records 'aint nothing but a G thang baby' Tupac stuff. Wowee! Classics of note! Its all about the love. So while I was trying to get all the job bags off my desk today, I came across this video on Vimeo:
The Watch The Throne mini documentary. If you have ever listened to the album you are really going to love this. Its so cool! All the footage was taken at this castle somewhere close to France, where jay Z and kanye went to record the album. They did this because they didn't want anything to leak prematurely. So cool to see these two musical legends do their thing, they even have Russel Crowe in there. I really enjoyed it, so if you haven't heard the album, kanala people, download that shit, soundcloud that shit. And play that shit loud. Play it loud and enjoy it for what it is. It is truly a masterpiece of a record. Real talk. No jokes.
And its four months later and BOOOOOOOOM!!! Im back. With some new artwork that Im currently digging. I should win the award for the most inconsistent blogger. I should win it, but I know I wont. I don't win awards. Im not good at stuff like that. I am good at finding cool and pretty visuals though. Its what I do. I say I love alot of things, but what I truly and honestly love with all of my simple existence is art. Pure art. You know the kind. The art made by people not necessarily artists, that actually do it for the love of making art. You know the kind. You've seen it before.
That photo taken by that person, and that photo turns out to be the best thing you have seen the whole day. Thats that real art Im talking about. Not the art piece owned by some white family who lives in Camps Bay, who also has it hanging in the South African Museum. Anyways.
Im going to try to keep it simple. Below is a couple of pretty looking pictures that I like. Look at it, download it. Make it your iPhone wallpaper. Email it to your friends. Follow the link and read up about the artist. Email the artist and tell them how much you enjoy and appreciate it. Copy the artwork to your flash and store it in a folder called 'New Downloads' where you store all you new mp3 downloads. Do as you wish.
'Do as thou wilt. It is the whole of the law.'
Daniel Heidkamp
Dont know much about the dude. Except that I really really like his painting style (Im obviously no art critic) and his colour palette is pretty cool as well. So childlike. I like it. For more be sure to check out his website. There are other links to follow on there to find out more on the artist. Im feeling lazy so. You go check it out. Have fun.
www.danielheidkamp.com
