I wanted to write a song that epitomizes the involuntary slavery towards technology and its powerful grip on society and culture. Yeah sure as consumers the public love the convenience of all these gadgets making their daily lives more tolerable. The danger is how our attitudes and children’s attitudes have been defined by someone else’s perception and the devastating effects on free thought.
Not to mention ripples across the globe caused by the needless consumption of bad technology. Nothing depicts this more than the consistent playing ringtone within the intro. Symbolizing how technology has made us cold, callous and just plain rude to one another. Most are also blissfully unaware of the damaged caused by our gadgets due to unethical source and manufacture. Just like the war in Congo and the aftermath that has seen the death of 5.4 million people driven by the trade for conflict materials that go into all our devices.
I decide to subtly and metaphorically speaking highlight all this with the use of rhythm. The main beat is no doubt Hip Hop, but I layered the programmed pattern with an unusual jungle style breakbeat which not epitomizes this horrendous conflict. I also wanted to make the rhythmic section dynamic and really punchy in order to depict the violence.
The main beat is a four-bar loop. As you can see from the screenshot above both the hi hat and kicks are varied in note lengths. There are also kicks, snares and hi hats offbeat in this production.The groove was actually inspired by another Hip-Hop producer I really admire 9th Wonder.
Once again, I used a crash and a Lex Luger style kick to create a dramatic drop from eight- bar chorus to sixteen- bar verse which added some explosive punch. I also used Scot Storch inspired chopped swoosh sounds with a little distortion to create a kind of space like effect which is what inspired the Odyssey part of the title a little homage to Stanley Kubrick. Quite a lot of sound design went into this arrangement especially the chorus once again I used the ringtone as the main melodic part and just pitched it up a couple of semitones. Complementing this with some other FX sounds to create some dynamics and drama to the chorus after all the narrative is provocative and dramatic.
Once again, I added that punchy beat to the chorus just to keep the energy flowing reminding the listener of its potency. Honestly it layered nicely under the additional sounds. The main melodic part really depicted that digital sound with short electronic sounds and glitches sweeping through another double bass style bassline. Another sonic signature on this EP. The outro has that signature ending only this time I used that Scott Storch style space swoosh to see the track out. I really believe that I have captivated the narrative of this title with the production. This track has definitely got that funk vibe.
Biblography and Discography
Online] Available at: [https://www.abc.net.au/news/about/backstory/digital/2018-09-04/what-its-like-to-ask-strangers-to-see-whats-on-their-phone/10199534] [Accessed 15th January 2020]
[Online] Available at: [https://www.express.co.uk/comment/columnists/peter-hill/374261/Smart-phones-lead-to-dumb-people] [Accessed 15th January 2020]
[Online] Available at: [https://mymodernmet.com/riveting-pink-infrared-landscapes-of-congo/] [Accessed 12th January 2020]
[Online] Available at: [https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/479422322817979729/] [Accessed 15th January 2020]
