New track with Zilla Persona. We went for a JT/Timbo vibe, and I had too much fun beat boxing. Lemme know what you think!
I’ve finally released my new album Earthbound, which I wrote as a travel journal on a three-day train ride across the country last October. I’ll performing it tonight at PhilaMOCA as part of the Tuneout Tuesday event — if you’re in Philly, come on and stop by!
Wow, been a while since I’ve tumbld. Anyhow, there’s too much going on ( and my brain’s fried from the Global Game Jam this weekend, among other things), but one thing of note is I’m currently doing the Vocalist/Producer Competition over at Nerdcore Now with good friend and fellow 90s kid Zilla Persona. I had waaaay too much fun getting this track together — let me know what you think, and if you can spare a minute, give us a vote! I’ve got two shows coming up in the next 8 weeks (and I’m on vacation for two of those weeks), so maybe news soon?
Exploratory sketches for Pull #DevNight
End of the World lyrics
Here are the modified lyrics to my last Crossover track, if anyone is interested in such things:
Yeah man that’s great,
Let’s start with an earthquake
Let’s start with an earthquake
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn,
world sub its own needs, dummy sub your own needs.
Feed it off an aux speak, tell em get bent, grunt, (grrrrr) but no strength
Boom when the ladder starts to clatter
With the fear fight, down height, wire in a fire,
Representing seven games
A government for hire and a combat site (alright).
Left of west and coming in a hurry
Scurry, breathing down your neck with the fury
Reporters baffled (wha?) I don’t mind them.
(Look at that low playing!) Hah, well fine, then.
Uh oh, overflow, population grows,
You’re spittin’ common food, but it’ll have to do.
Save yourself, serve yourself. Listen to your heart bleed with the rapture, the revered and the right.
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light?
But I’m feeling pretty psyched.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine.
Six o’clock - TV hour. Don’t you get yourself caught in a tower.
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.
Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting.
Every motive brings escalation. Automotives bring incineration.
Light a candle, light a votive. Light up a spliff like seh yu need a motive
Step up step up, step down, down. Watch your heel crush that ground.
I’m a no fear cavalier. Renegade steer clear!
A tournament, a tournament, a tournament of lies.
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine.
Right right, I was gonna do the last verse but… I dunno
Fuck it.
Unu haffi come true, watch it when i rock mah flows
don’t bother looking up how the story goes
i knows it, and i tell you how the story close
call me jack the ripper, straight murda prose
Take it higha, liffin’ it up like messiah
Put mi in the RAF, I spit fire
I an’ I have a piece of the sky,
an i’m bringing down commandments from up on high - rastafari!
Exodus, mothafuckas can’t mess with us
If you’re runnin’ then you’re runnin’ with the best of us
But if your not, then you’re in the stampede
crushed under my heel while I’m running at full speed
Proceed with caution, burn like an ember
I don’t GG don’t know surrender
Mr. Saint, I’m cold like December,
Doin’ tracks by R.E.M so remember
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it
And I feel fine.
This weeks Crossover: R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World.” As a grime track.
Things I learned doing this track:
- Roasting is waaaaaay too much fun.
- I need a better vocal recording set up.
- Proper mixing is a dark art practiced by mysterious soundamancers.
I felt like the original rapid-fire delivery would translate a bit better to grime on it’s own, but needed to alter it here and there to get it to fit rhythmically. I’d originally doubled *all* the vocals, but after a bit more listening realised it was done predominantly on the female tracks (Lady Sov especially), partially for style, and partially to make up for the lack of the lower frequencies the fellows can provide.
I also decided to fuck the original last verse and freestyle instead. I think I made the right decision — no-one should ever have to rap about Leonard Bernstein.
God, it’d be so nice to just have a mixer and masterer on speed-dial. Getting vocals to sit in the mix properly is still just not something I know how to do. Practice, eh?
As always, you can tell me what to make! I’m up for just about anything, so long as it’s fun and challenging.
What do you think?
This video sends an important message: if you give us an award, the Cipher Prime team will abuse our bodies for you.
Programmer, writer, composer, and crazy person. Also, 