Today sees the release of my latest single, Land of 1000 presets. I should probably begin with the disclaimer that this track doesn’t actually incorporate 1000 different sounds, it’s probably more like a dozen or so. I mean, if someone is expecting me to start an electronica sub-genre inspired by 1980s Yamaha Portasound demo songs then you are going to be very disappointed.
This 2 track single is available to stream across all major platforms, and can also be downloaded via Bandcamp for a £1.
Links to all listening options can be found here.
About 30 years ago, I bought a 4 track recorder with the intention of capturing some musical ideas in the true spirit of an indie DIY musician. I just found the whole process very frustrating. Everything just sounded rubbish, as it became clear that I was never going to replicate what was in my head by doing everything all by myself.
Nowadays, I feel a bit spoilt for choice by the possibilities on offer. Modern music creation software makes it very easy to create decent quality recordings, and you can quickly source emulations and high quality samples of instruments and kit that would be way beyond your budget. This track may contains drums, analogue synths, organ, theremin, Mellotron, and xylophones, yet none of them are real. The guitar and bass may be genuine, but they have put through emulations of guitar pedals and amps that I can’t affford.
Despite, being mostly aided by MIDI lies, I am now in a position where I have the ability to sculpt those musical ideas into a finished product without the need to book expensive studio time, buy (and find somewhere to store) expensive vintage gear, or depend on other musicians to help me to realise my vision.
In many ways, modern technology has made it much easier create music in a manner that is true to the DIY ethos, then it ever was with a 4 track recorder. Of the course, the flipside is the difficulty in finding people willing to listen to it, but that’s always going to be a bonus for a true DIYer. To paraphrase the Desperate Bicycles: it was relatively easy, it was relatively cheap, go and do it.
Land of 1000 presets is also backed with a proper B side: Not the result we wanted, but we go again on Saturday. If you support a football team that isn’t funded by shady billionaires, then it is likely that at least one of your players has tweeted words to this effect over the course of the last season.
This was originally recorded over a couple of weekends for The Dark Outside’s 10th Anniversary broadcast, but has not been heard since it’s one and only transmission in October 2022. Despite being recorded in such a rush, I have always been pleased how this one turned out. Even though it might come across a bit rough in places, I have resisted any urge to go back and attempt to refine it any further.
CATFORD GYRATIONS 