Zoom Résumé

Welcome back my friends...

As promised, here you'll find listed and linked all that has been recorded yet for the project...
Just click on the italic names that appear in the five sections below

• with Exo7

1. A first jam i have called lately Mulunde
2. A sequence of themes played on keyboards that are suggestions for saxophone parts that will maybe take place in the gigantic suite we are working on... Gosh...
   

• with Rival

1. A possible starting point for the rap instrumental upon wich he will maybe do the mc

• with Daniel Palomo Vinuesa

1. The first draft i shared with him on toy xylophone
2. What he did so far with it : brouillon
   

• with Ari Tintikakis

1. The guitar demo he sended to me

• with François Vanvinckenroy

1. The computer generated score he did on Band in A Box : I Built Myself A Bridge
2. A first fully replayed version on instruments and at a slower pace : Bridgemix
   
3. A second version with modified mid section (wich will be again modified later on)

Unfortunately, i found myself not as available i wanted to be at first. But you know what it is ; that's the so called Law of Universal Frustration : when you are down, you don't have a single interest at doing anything, and when you feel fine, things and ideas pile up at the speed of light while you haven't enough time to deal with one only... But, so far, in less than a month, about twenty musicians manifested interest in the project and five tracks are slowly taking shapes. Without judging the quality of the material that has been done, the balance seems fairly positive. Don't you think ?

Addition by Substraction

Being unemployed doesn't necessarily mean having plenty of time ahead... As anyone here on Earth - or should i say what remains of it - sunday is a pretty good day to do things you usually won't be able to do.

I'm not a cool guy, you know. Not cool because i can't let go. There is always something to do, and the MULTIPLY project, that's for sure, give me enough material to keep me occupied for the next few months. At least, before the World Cup begins.

It might not be a good idea to devote a single day to treat all the works in progress but i think i can manage myself to do so. And i did. I'm a bit tired i must confess, so there will not be audio samples this time. Sorry. Besides i've encountered some problems due to the tiny space wich is allowed for this purpose. But with the help of François, i will certainly do a resumé in the next few days and a clear and complete presentation of all that has been recorded yet.

• i found out some interesting samples that might appeal to Rival. A poignant little tarentel as intro and an arabic sounding loop with a fat beat. it sounds more like downtempo or dub actually, but, once again, i'm only searching now...
  
• i've recorded on keyboards some possible themes to be played on alto with Exo7 for our future track wich, in our minds, sounds like something intense, bigger than life, a 15 minute long epic, at least. Meanwhile, he started to recollect audio samples for a common basis.
• Ari's track has the potential of the best song The Smashing Pumpkins ever wrote since "Today", but it is so obvious to my ears - the vocal melody still rings inside of me - that i, of course, do not want to go in that direction. Surprisingly, i came up with an unexpecting idea and i'm quite happy with it. I was focused on the main riff, so there is still a lot of work to do upon it (other parts, adding keys and voice) , but let's say that we are now in front of something closer to Apollo440, if you know what i mean...
• ... and finally, "I Built Myself A Bridge" received a second lifting ; i've increased speed of the middle section, replayed drums, muted the main theme and added vocals. while it is slowly approaching its final shape, we are still far from it with lots of floating points to be resolved

Some More News

I've met Rival the other day in his brand new shop. We had a chat about his possible involvment into the project. He told me he was more sensitive to sad instrumental so, as you probably know, that's fine with me... The first step will be for me to produce a good sounding instrumental track - i have in mind an idea - we will then check together if there are things to be changed or not, and hopefully, if the result inspires him, he will come up with something cool. I really appreciate you want to do this with me, you got the real hip hop vibe, man. Chill !

About the Rhinestone Lives collaboration, i didn't heard the two melodies yet, but i'm about to, probably next week. Anyway, it is possible she'll do something else, keeping in mind a more "duet" style approach to the song. Hope she won't forget my voice can't compete with hers !

Two other persons might get involved in the MULTIPLY project : Éric Lamoureux, poly instrumentist who has some serious common points with me (King Crimson, Magma, ...) and also Vincenzogrosso from Dolorosa. Nothing scheduled yet really, but it's still cool to see new faces joining in.

On my part, i still have to work upon Exo7, François and Ari's sketches. Not mentionning what will be next. Oh boy, i don't even feel no pain ;o))

Things have come to... shapes !

What's up front ?

While i'm actually busy on the rough mixes for the forthcoming DeafDialogue album, the MULTIPLY project has grown enough to lead its own life without me ;

A meeting with Rhinestone Lives is scheduled for tomorrow or friday. Maybe we'll record something...

I'm about to see Rival and discuss a possible phat beat instrumental i could do to let him slam all over

François and i have spoken about what occured to his song. The middle part might be replayed at a faster pace and maybe without the main theme. I'll go back to it later on.

And last but not least, Daniel did come up with an extraordinary version of my first untitled track (remember, the one with the toy xylophone ?).
You can listen to it here.

Can i take you to the bridge ?

A very strange sunday where everything and everyone seems to find the perfect space to fit in.

From now on, everything seems to flow naturally. Even if the project was intended first as a one on one affair, one might wonder what it will be if we cross all the possibilities, thus all the people ? I say : why not ? Once again, the MULTIPLY project is open and YOU decide what to do. If you have plenty of time and if all parts agree, i see no reason why we shouldn't do it.

Anyway, time run out fast inside and outside the studio where i stood from 2:00pm to 6:00pm, working on François' tune. When i emerged from there, i noticed it was snowing. Did i somehow felt something even if i was locked between four walls and wearing headphones ?
Well, i'm not specially proud of the actual end result and most of all i don't know if the one concerned will appreciate the radical treatment. But remember, at this stage, everything we do, everything you listen to, are drafts. Coming back is always possible. But forward is better.
So here comes the Bridge remix ! (obviously, you'll see how Bohren & Der Club of Gore's albums had a strong effect upon me...)

Last saturday night, i did the translation for Exo7's poem, but i had no time left to play with Ari's latest demo. I will. I have to. Anyway, you'll be informed during the forthcoming week of the next moves (a jam session is planned with Constantin and Ximeng might send me some material) !

New additions

Exo7 and i (but mainly Exo7 actually) were thinking about something bigger. A gigantic piece of music so to speak, with multiple sections going in and out of the structure, following the long poem he wants me to sing... Hey mates ! That would be the first and last time you'll ever hear me singing something positive ! ;o))
I have to do the translation first, to get an idea of what it will sound like ; french and english have their own rhythm and their own colour, i've got to find the one that fits best.

I have to work upon the project François send to me last day. As he told me i can do anything i wanted to with it, so i think i'm about to replay everything and not specially in the right order.
We'll see... if only i'm able to do so. Check back tomorrow for a possible answer.

Daniel didn't had much time to spend last week on my first Untitled Track. Nonetheless, he found the blog idea a good one, saying "'s a good way to put everyone under pressure"... :o))

Today, i received a demo from Ari Tintikakis, who plays guitar in DeafDialogue. I admire the kind of easiness he has to draw a simple song just right away. This tune is very open and, at first listen, it seems there's hundred possibilities. So that's it, another working site has just appeared. Now i seriously need to organize myself...

Besides, Ximeng told me he wants to work on several tracks together (a possible Derek Bailey tribute, a cinematic song based on a movie we are both fond of, and many more), the man behind the Path through the Mist project reminded me it was up for it at 400%, and finally there's Guy Segers who's waiting for a first draft from me to maybe start the things off !

Yes. Pressure indeed.

First Insights

To make things clearer about what to expect of the project so far, here is a quick summary of what has been made yet.

... people i dared to ask (but i didn't give up yet) ...

• Morgan Agren
  
• Bill Brovold
• Percy Howard
  

... people who might be interested ...

• Dominique Lawalrée
• Rival
  
• Guy Segers
• Philippe Wauquaire
  

... people whith whom future recordings are planned ...

• Mourning Dawn
• Constantin Papageorgiadis
• Path Through The Mist
  
• Sex Circus
• Ximeng
  
• Pierre-Michel Zaleski
  

... people who already work on something ...

• Exo7

We let the music flow and we improvised something on last sunday 5th february at Goddess Studio. I sat on the drums, giving my kit new sound perspectives with the addition of african percussions (djembé, tama, and so on). Then i added bass and Exo7 played the didgeridoo part.
In two hours, it was done ! More overdubs could have been made (more percussions, some guitar, even voice), but it is only a sketch, a basis.

Well. If it sounds promising, that's not what i thought at first as a fairly balanced collaboration, Exo7's part being very symbolic on this one. So, we keep it, but we are already thinking of doing other recordings, starting of with one of his poem we'll have to musicaly illustrate.

• Daniel Palomo Vinuesa

Daniel was the first to positively respond to my request and showed a real enthusiasm to take part to this project. Somehow, i feel that our respective musical universe quite match with each other. So as he requested that i give him something to begin with, i've decided to work on a simple melody line that would have undoubtly my personal imprint. I took my toy xylophone, doubled the lines with a richer harmony and send it to him right away.

Now, i'm just curious to hear what kind of bad treatment Daniel will inflict to this first draft...

• Rhinestone Lives

Marja seemed to be delighted to share a song with me. She had already written two songs (Give Me Something, I Can't Breathe), showed me the lyrics but i'll wait to hear the melody prior to record it in a real Rhinestone Lives fashion way !

• François Vanvinckenroy

To tell you the truth, since the end of the Carpigstroke Band, François never gave up the idea of a real collaboration between us two. Somehow, the MULTIPLY project could be used on this peculiar occasion like some sort of springboard for what will come next...
I just received a first sketch of a song generated by his computer after he encoded the actual score. The song is called I Built Myself a Bridge.

The Multiply Project has begun

In order to stay musically active and because i was approached by a subsequent quantity of people who seemed to be interested by some of my past works, i've decided to go on with a multi collaborative project.



Basically, i've asked all the musicians i know - pros, semi pros and amateurs - if they wanted to share the bill with me to finalize a project wich can be thought, at first, as a ten songs cd, with, say, ten duets, ranging from jazz to hip hop, to abstract electronica to folk song, or even death metal !

As for now, i have already received many positive responses. In fact, much more than i expected at first. And at least two are already running on. The project was an exciting bet and yet it holds all its promises. Because it is intended to present multiple perspectives, i've called it MULTIPLY.

I'm neither a geek nor fond of the so-called blog mania but i found interesting the idea to create one only on this purpose to share with everyone involved, and everyone interested into, the creative process of this adventure...

I don't know where it will lead us. I'm sure they don't know either.
The whole thing is to discover it together.

Next time i'll talk about the content of the two pieces we are working on - and why not ? give you some audio samples - and i'll do also a short presentation of the guys involved so far.

And for those of you who still wonders who the fuck i am : http://users.skynet.be/carpigstroke