I Don't Dance

I really enjoy the music of ATB, Chicane and others for reasons I can't explain because, ironically, I don't dance—I have three left feet, so I don't even try. No matter; I've created a place for my musical contributions to the dance floor.

The album is available from Unreasonable Records, digital only. BTW, all tracks are 125 bpm, so they'll sync up perfectly.

 


Track 1: Cascade
Released 2 March 2022

This is a rare track in that it ended up just how I'd envisioned it from the outset. All I wanted to do was build a richly-layered tune around a simple dance beat, and it went together in a single afternoon. Originally created for Harder Faster Stranger, "Cascade" found a better home here.


Track 2: Spring Dance
Released 8 April 2022

I needed to make some music to celebrate the coming of Spring. So here's a nice chillout nu-disco tune that came out much better than expected. Plus, it's all mine—drums, melody, chord progressions, the whole shebang.


Track 3: Mine
Released 9 April 2022

The only way to describe this one is "angry." Crank it up and maybe it'll help you work out your frustrations, especially towards the end when it starts to get very dense. Aside from a background synth loop, it's pretty much all mine. Incidentally, the title was inspired by a situation I had with Google: they flagged one of my tunes as being a copyright violation, which it most assuredly was not. I got it straightened out, but it did get me hot under the collar.


Track 4: Move It or Lose It
Released 10 April 2022

What started out as a bit of a joke called "Body Parts" turned into a potent dance number with killer bass that shakes my floor. About 50-50 mine and commercial stuff, it works really well played really loud. It's also got lyrics—such as they are—as well as some pretty freaky synthetic backing vocals I created.


Track 5: Ugly Bastard
Released 11 April 2022

I just felt like exploring a deeply-layered raw synth vibe, and the result definitely has some hard edges. I also detuned some of the sounds to make it a little primitive. It's outside of my comfort zone, but that can be a good thing; there's no better way to learn new stuff.


Track 6: Take Me Along
Released 12 April 2022

This fun little thing has been an on-and-off project for several weeks. I'd tinker with it whenever I got fed up with other stuff, particularly big heavy tracks like Oblivion. It actually started out as a "scratch pad" where I'd mess with chords; after a while, this lighthearted tune emerged.


Track 7: Go Get It
Released 18 May 2022

Yet another improvised track, "Go Get It" emerged from a chance combination of a random dance beat and an electric piano riff. After layering in all sorts of modified samples, I added some "lyrics" (in the same vein as "Move It or Lose It") and wound up with a pretty cool, if pretty simple, dance tune.


Track 8: 60-40
Released 20 May 2022

The tiny seed from which this beast grew was a little four-note sequence I assembled. It's strange and fascinating how these tunes often evolve. It's also interesting how some samples are unrecognizable after I twist and bend them to suit my needs; I'd love to know what people think is the source of the vaguely ethnic-sounding "instrument(s)" playing the melody. Also, see if you can spot a female voice.


Track 9: Please Stay
Released 22 May 2022

True to form, I started one thing (a jazz tune) and it morphed into something altogether different: a simply-structured yet densely-layered "wall of sound" dance track, having no less than two dozen sounds piled up by the end. Works really well played really loud.


Track 10: Force of Nature
Released 16 May 2022

Ditto the description for Track 9: it started out as a jazz tune and morphed into another dense dance track.

 

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