Tuesday, December 29, 2015

see, there isn't a left-right criticism here. it isn't even really a criticism of drug culture, per se. it's more of a criticism of the groupthink that comes with hyper-commercialism - which was really the basis of what we call the 60s "counter-culture". it's consequently some kind of an anti-capitalist critique. what frank was able to see was that the so-called "counter-culture" was really just expressing the same value systems that the dominant culture was. it was just a type of fashion, and, as such, was firmly rooted in capitalist values. that's what he's mocking here - the reality that the supposed revolutionaries of the period were just all about buying into something.

i've pointed this out before: it categorizes zappa properly as the definitive proto-punk.

28-12-2015: viewless & idiotic

tracks worked on in this vlog:
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/young-people-have-informed-and-defined-views-that-should-not-be-discarded-off-hand-due-to-their-age
https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/nicotine-actually-has-relatively-useful-properties-as-a-stimulant

finalizing nicotine actually has relatively useful properties as a stimulant

i took a look at what i could do with the files from this track and concluded i couldn't do a whole lot. to begin with, the tape was warped over the start of the track. second, a lot of the detail was added in at the wave editing stage, and consequently cannot be reconstructed. so, remastering it became a non-starter. further, without the extra flourishes, the electronics only version is pretty boring.

but, the track does belong in the concept of this record - if it were excluded, it would be the only major track to be excluded (except "too cold", which i do not have tapes for).

as it happens to be, though, this is the only track from this period that i kept an instrumental copy of. so, i've just run it through the mastering effects i've used for the other tracks, for consistency, and uploaded as is.

there's one more track left. this will really be done by the end of the year!

initially written in 1997. recreated over the summer of 1998. remastered on dec 29, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/nicotine-actually-has-relatively-useful-properties-as-a-stimulant

finalizing young people have informed and defined views that should not be discarded off hand due to their age

this track is also closed. i have two more tracks to analyze before this record closes.

the trick was that i had accidentally stumbled upon an error in my copy of cubase: when you duplicate a track, it seems to reproduce itself slightly misaligned. this opened up a lot of space for wave interference in the higher harmonics, which created a little bit of distortion in the high end of the bass guitar - a slightly unusual effect. but, when you reopen the track, it realigns properly - which was just overloading the bass guitar.

it was when i was finally able to reproduce the error that the mix came into focus.

initially written in 1996. recreated over 1998 and finalized in dec, 1998. reclaimed july 19, 2015. corrected to control for malfunctioning electronics on dec 29, 2015.

https://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/young-people-have-informed-and-defined-views-that-should-not-be-discarded-off-hand-due-to-their-age