A while back, a netlabel whose music I like to listen to mailed me to say there was this release:
https://coldtearrecords.bandcamp.com/track/summer-rain
It's part of a 6-track album, and it immediately struck me as an amazing piece of music.
It starts with something that is pretty common in music that includes field recordings: 30 seconds of rain. It sets the mood well for what is to come. The type of rain in the recording and the first hints of percussion suggest light summer rain, as opposed to a deluge.
The first two synth elements to arrive are in minor key, and continue the gentle nature of the sounds. The first is a little sharper, the second has a cleaner and more rounded sound. Already there's a nice mix of sound types, and that variety continues as it goes.
The kick drum shows up along with another new synth sound, this one more melodic than the previous ones.
Around 1:30 the rain is fading out, as yet another synth element is added to the mix. This one is a harmonic chord setting in the background. Everything is getting to be quite dense now in terms of rhythmic elements, like it's setting up the rhythms in the track to match the density of the rain drops in the opening sample. Soon after, more ambient background synths are added, plus a heavier bass sound.
At 2:34 we get a break from the drums, several of the elements drop out, and another new synth melody comes in. The rain comes back near the end of the melody, and the full drum treatment gets added along with another melody synth. (I'm just saying to myself right now how amazingly good this stuff is) The drums are rather light, with a breakbeat sound to them and a sharp but light snare.
At 3:41 another harmonic synth line gets added as one of the melodies drops out. This one has a nostalgic feel to it that I really like. The hihat rhythmic accents in the drumline match the gaps in the melodic elements very well; all these disparate elements have been composed carefully to compliment each other.
Already, this would be a 5-star track in my iTunes collection. But then at 4:00 the drums drop out again, and it adds an almost menacing sound into the mix; a periodic sort of "bwom" that plays once every 16 beats and gives the music that extra edge that moves it from being "great" to "brilliant". When the beat comes back, we get a new melodic element that has its samples played backward. While everything has a light feel to it, the minor chord structures combined with the "bwom" and that backward synth keep the track firmly out of New Age territory. As an aside, I think of New Age music as very light, usually in major chords and without sharp edges.
At this point, we've gotten all the elements that will be used. These are then mixed in different groups for the remaining two minutes to construct different flavors as the track leads out.
It's rare that a single track so perfectly combines so many different elements with such compositional confidence. For further Echo Delta listening, I highly recommend his Dub Techno album, Blu Eon.
https://coldtearrecords.bandcamp.com/track/summer-rain
It's part of a 6-track album, and it immediately struck me as an amazing piece of music.
It starts with something that is pretty common in music that includes field recordings: 30 seconds of rain. It sets the mood well for what is to come. The type of rain in the recording and the first hints of percussion suggest light summer rain, as opposed to a deluge.
The first two synth elements to arrive are in minor key, and continue the gentle nature of the sounds. The first is a little sharper, the second has a cleaner and more rounded sound. Already there's a nice mix of sound types, and that variety continues as it goes.
The kick drum shows up along with another new synth sound, this one more melodic than the previous ones.
Around 1:30 the rain is fading out, as yet another synth element is added to the mix. This one is a harmonic chord setting in the background. Everything is getting to be quite dense now in terms of rhythmic elements, like it's setting up the rhythms in the track to match the density of the rain drops in the opening sample. Soon after, more ambient background synths are added, plus a heavier bass sound.
At 2:34 we get a break from the drums, several of the elements drop out, and another new synth melody comes in. The rain comes back near the end of the melody, and the full drum treatment gets added along with another melody synth. (I'm just saying to myself right now how amazingly good this stuff is) The drums are rather light, with a breakbeat sound to them and a sharp but light snare.
At 3:41 another harmonic synth line gets added as one of the melodies drops out. This one has a nostalgic feel to it that I really like. The hihat rhythmic accents in the drumline match the gaps in the melodic elements very well; all these disparate elements have been composed carefully to compliment each other.
Already, this would be a 5-star track in my iTunes collection. But then at 4:00 the drums drop out again, and it adds an almost menacing sound into the mix; a periodic sort of "bwom" that plays once every 16 beats and gives the music that extra edge that moves it from being "great" to "brilliant". When the beat comes back, we get a new melodic element that has its samples played backward. While everything has a light feel to it, the minor chord structures combined with the "bwom" and that backward synth keep the track firmly out of New Age territory. As an aside, I think of New Age music as very light, usually in major chords and without sharp edges.
At this point, we've gotten all the elements that will be used. These are then mixed in different groups for the remaining two minutes to construct different flavors as the track leads out.
It's rare that a single track so perfectly combines so many different elements with such compositional confidence. For further Echo Delta listening, I highly recommend his Dub Techno album, Blu Eon.
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