More FM3 Buddha Machine related stuff

Just noticed that there exists also this FM3 Buddha Machine related album called In An Expression Of Form by Masuran (which used to call themselves Royal Trans). It´s free download so give it a try.

Funny thing

Just recently noticed that there is also death/black/progressive metal band in Finland called Ikuinen Kaamos. This blog does not have any connections with that band but anyway go check them out here or there.

Having fun with toy synth

I am a proud father of little girl who was born in february 2008. I just found her a kids toy synthesizer at a local flea market for 5 euros. Now it seems that I am the one who enjoys playing it more. It has these ridiculous cheap unrealistic sounds like piano, guitar, banjo (my favorite), flute etc. There´s also buttons for funny little sounds like frog, dog, bird... But hey, that´s not all. There is also a set of pre-programmed rhythms like rock, slow rock, waltz, tango etc. which you can slow down or speed up. The best of these pre-set rhythms is called 16 bit which is a killer low fidelity-trash-dirrrttty electro beat! (loop sample here) Drive it through distortion effect at 110% volume and you got a nice punky disco beat.

I´ll probably use this marvellous little toy somehow in my future projects, unless it breaks down before that. My daughter´s playing style is more punk than mine, meaning she likes to beat it real hard.

Wanker in commando mask ruined my day

I was supposed to post more stuff but late happenings took all of my time and energy so more stuff coming soon.

Tuesday was a sad day for Finland. Another random school shooting incident in a year. Previous shooter was a big fan of KMFDM (one of their songs could be heard on his YouTube posts), now this time this idiot called himself Wumbscut86 on YouTube. Not necessarily a good publicity for those bands. Fans can choose the artists they like but unfortunately artists cannot choose their fans.
Stupid fucker couldn´t even shoot himself properly (died only after few hours of shooting himself). Where do these morons come from? Incidents like these piss me off.

IKUINEN KAAMOS

My third offering here is "Ikuinen Kaamos" 3" CD-R (eternal polar night).This recording does not exactly file under "happy music".

First track Kadonnut jälkiä jättämättä (lost without a trace) and 3rd track Pimeys vetää meitä puoleensa (darkness attracts us) are based on old Organ Favorites -LP that is played by broken record player via different delay and reverb pedals. Somehow Phantom of the Opera comes to my mind while hearing Pimeys.

Syttymissyy tuntematon 1 and 2 (cause of fire unknown) is based on Popol Vuh track played backwards at 1/10 and 2/10 speed. 2 is extended remix of 1 and more rhythmic.

Privatområde i Västerås (private grounds in Västerås) features a growling loop as a backbone. Over that come various noisy elements from television broadcasts, metal plate, Steim crackle box and interference noise from radio. Noisier than previous tracks.

Hölle (hell) was made back in 2006 by scratching, beating, shaking a Chilean rain stick and amplifying an electric fan. There is also distorted sound of me playing bass guitar by electric toothbrush. All sounds were driven through distortion, delay and reverb.

Äiti, joku tuijottaa meitä metsästä (mom, someone is glaring at us from the woods) is based on simple cello loop recorded while rehearsals at local music school. Cello loop has been treated by Korg kaoss pad. I Believe there will be more stuff based on those recordings sometime in the future.

Temporarily offline.

Review can be found here.

UPDATE: Officially released by Lona. Get it here.

BUDDHA MACHINES ON FIRE

My second offering here is "Buddha machines on fire", made under my alias Salakapakka Sound System. Here I use FM3 Buddha machine, various other Buddhist loop jukeboxes and various other sources as material. You can find loop players for sale at Buddhist temples around Asia. FM3 is Chinese based ambient duo who released their own version of loop jukebox. All nine loops are available as zipped uncompressed wav files here. Check out also their intriguing ambient albums such as Pinpan. A second generation Buddha machine is supposed to materialize this autumn.

Check out also Robert Henke´s fabulous and hypnotizing live recording of him using layers of Buddha machine loops (available free there).

First track on "Buddha machines on fire" CD-R is called Synteettinen munkki 1 (synthetic monk). Name is a word play. In Finnish language word munkki means monk and doughnut, it is also used as a slangy word meaning female breast. Both Synteettinen munkki 1 and 2 are basically looping and synthesizer improvisations. Both have been slightly edited (about minute cut off from the middle) and eq´d. No other post-processing made. Expect no beats or catchy melodies. This is slowly evolving stuff with pulsing synth and Buddhist chanting loops (reminds me a bit of early 70´s electric music - hence the name synthetic monk).

Second track Lo-fi Buddha is a long ambient piece which uses mostly FM3 loops, delay and hissing/scratching interference noises, that´s why it is called "lo-fi" (maybe I should call it garage ambient?).

Monk with no name is not a western rip-off as you may think. The basic backbone of this piece is shameless dance-oriented beat that slowly drifts back and forth between straight and reversed beatloop. Just like Kapina Tiibetissä is my rare excursion to metal, Monk with no name is just as rare example of electronic beat oriented almost-danceable music.

Kapina Tiibetissä (rebellion in Tibet) features uncommon combination of Buddhist chanting and death metal. This must be closest thing to metal that I´ll never make. That metal sound is made by combining small snippets of guitar riffs and pounding drum fills. Thanks to Maria for letting me use small pieces of her early band demos.

Delayed mantra is based on one short mantra loop and synth drone. Loop has been treated with alternating delay so sometimes it evolves into distorted noise.

Street Buddha is a growing piece which includes various FM3 loops, material of chanting beggar monk, shopping mall noises and ringing bells I recorded during my visit to Osaka.

Buddha doesn´t smile anymore is an easy ending for the album. Slowly drifting piece "for those early misty mornings". Maybe my own favourite at the time of writing.

SALAKAPAKKA SOUND SYSTEM: Buddha Machines on Fire
Free music archive
mediafire links coming sometime

Review of this and many other interesting reviews can be found here
Few words of this release also at excellent disquiet.com

UPDATE: Now available as separate files (compressed or uncompressed) there. Few tracks as mp3 files also here.

KAHDEN KULTTUURIN ÄÄNIÄ

First post is a work I made in 2006-2007 while studying sound engineering and sound design. It is a musique concrete album composed of field recordings I made in Japan and Finland. No “real instruments” or ready made sound effects used. Some of the sounds have been heavily processed and some are unaffected.

Track 1 Konkuriito janguru (concrete jungle) uses Japanese urban sounds (human sounds, game halls, announcements etc.) and track 2 Oikorata (short cut railway) uses Finnish urban sounds (amusement park voises, trains, breaking glass, construction site noises etc.). Track 3 Shizen no uta (song of nature) uses Japanese natural sounds such as cascades and crickets. Nuuksio-Aapajärvi makes a heavy use of Finnish natural sounds like birds, dogs, fire, squeaky wood and so on. Track 5 Inoru (pray) includes Japanese religious sounds (Buddhist monks praying, temple bells). Track 6 Jumalan kämmenellä (in the hand of god) uses finnish religious sounds such as Evangelical-Lutheran and Orthodox masses, pagan ritual sounds and church organs.
Tracks 7-10 are extra tracks that were not included in the original CD. They are demo versions of Inoru showcasing slightly different approaches/mixes/sounds of the same theme.

"Kahden kulttuurin ääniä” (sounds of two cultures) CD was originally made in 5.0 DTS surround sound and stereo mix was just an extra version that was not supposed to materialize in a first place. Because I haven´t got the chance to listen to DTS sound at home I decided to make a stereo version which I could play at home. Unfortunately mixing down to stereo had to be done quick (and I was then tired of the whole project), therefore I´m not completely satisfied with it. But after all it is not commercial release so why bother whining about it.

Download MarkoV: ”Kahden kulttuurin ääniä” (bonus version) at mediafire.

Introduction

Dear surfer,

This blog has been created mainly for distributing the music/sound art I make. Occasionally I will comment a thing or two regarding my interests.
I will post on irregular basis most of the hits and misses I´ve made. Love it or leave it...
My primary influences and interests are musique concrete, experimental electronics, drone, ambient, noise, Aube, NoN, Troum, Fennesz, Pan Sonic, Sunn O))), Eraserhead soundtrack etc.
Stay tuned, download the stuff and drop a comment if you feel like.