Vol 2

Hi Guys,

Vol. 2 is nearly here! It's two-part collection. "Vol. 2: DnB Sessions" and "Vol. 2: The Mix Sessions". It's pretty self explanatory really. The Mix Sessions stuff is all the tracks (+ more) that was released to YouTube under the Mix Sessions name. DnB Sessions is the really new stuff that no one has heard yet, but as a hint: "Don't Scream" is part of that collection, even though it's not really DnB.

Strangely enough, the Skyline stuff isn't nearly ready yet. Well, the collection itself has been finished for ages (it's up on the YouTube account), but I haven't gotten around to the remixes yet. I've been working a lot and have also been trying to catch up on general life. There's some really cool and different directions I wanna take with these remixes (sneak peak: there may be some vocals) which only adds to the time they're going to be finished. So, you'll have to wait a while for that release.

Also, I am still waiting for material from Alter Ego. Danny has said he's got some new mixes he wants to send me, but they're not quite ready yet, which sucks. I've got some unfinished tracks but I really don't want to review them. Well, because they're unfinished. I know he's busy with work right now, so lets give him some space shall we?

Hmmm, I might even feel an Akuma/Alter Ego collaboration down the line... I'll have to talk to Danny about that.

So, release date for Vol 2. is sometime this week. That's as specific as I'm going to get.

As for Skyline + Remixes, I haven't a clue. Sorry!

Promises Broken

Remember last week I told you I would be releasing the following....

• Full hi-quality download of the "Skyline" collection, including three bonus remixes
• "Akuma Vol 2" featuring brand new tracks and tracks in the "Mix Sessions" collection.
• A review of some of Alter Ego's material (headed by some old band mates Danny & Kyle).

... and I didn't. Well, I will! But it's going to be on Tuesday. I would have them ready for Sunday, but since I'm in Wales again this weekend, I don't have a strong enough internet connection to upload anything.

Who knows, I may come back to Manchester on Sunday, and you might get them early. Who knows....

The one, and only

I think it's about time I shared my love for Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin. The guy has some serious heavy-weight material going on, and for those of you who know of Aphex Twin, will know of his continuous work within the electronica music industry.

It's around about 04:35 in the morning, and I'm spending my time browsing YouTube. At this surreal time in the morning I often find myself listening to strange but wonderful music, and Aphex Twin always appears in the search bar at some part of the night.

But I'm not actually going to show you an Aphex Twin song, I'm going to show you a song that was somehow distributed across the internet via Torrents and P2P filesharing software as being Aphex Twin (just like the famous apparent Ghost in the Shell song, which I'm pretty sure turned out not to be Aphex at all) but indeed, Mr. James seemed to have no involvement with the song at all. I could be mistaken, but that's what I've gathered from information around the 'net.

I had aquired this song a while ago while browsing around the internet for some Aphex Twin material, and when I found this track I absolutely loved it, and I've just rediscovered it. The song is simply titled "Violin Solo". Imagine: violin + jazz + minimalistic bass + jazz piano chords = hyperactive yet extremely cool and laid back, Italian coffee bar. That's this song all over. Give it a listen, it's brill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5j3CORfxmw

Don't Scream!

Right, so I'm excited about this mix. While I was working on it I sent the work-in-progress versions to Danny from Alter Ego to grasp his opinion of the track, and he liked it!

So, after a few bottles of beer and a Chinese takeaway last night, I got to work on finishing the song I call, "Don't Scream". I'm not sure why it's called that, maybe because of the creepy feel, but who knows. My mind doesn't always work properly.

Anyway, the song isn't available on the YouTube channel yet because I don't want to keep releasing anything under the "TheDarkMunk" channel name. I'm going to create a dedicated Gmail address for Akuma Music, along with it's own YouTube channel as well.

But the song is available via SoundCloud! And here it is:

Dont Scream by akumamusic

I'm also still awaiting Danny to send me his finished Alter Ego tracks so I can do a piece on them. So, that will come in due time...

Long Break, Back on Track

After a short break, and some dabbling here and there, I'm back in the creative mood again. I've been working on some tracks loosely based on psytrance and have also been experimenting with some new beats and sounds.

A new work in progress, "Don't Scream", will be ready in a couple of days and will hit the YouTube account shortly after.

I've also got some goodies coming up over the coming week:

• Full hi-quality download of the "Skyline" collection, including three bonus remixes
• "Akuma Vol 2" featuring brand new tracks and tracks in the "Mix Sessions" collection.
• A review of some of Alter Ego's material (headed by some old band mates Danny & Kyle).

Alter Ego, I believe, was first conjured up during the days of playing in "the jam room" when me Danny and Kyle were part of an industrial death metal band (or somewhere near that genre), Serafim. The both of them started to experiment with FL Studio, creating some interesting tracks using hip-hop, jazz and metal styles to influence their core sound.

So far from what I've heard of Alter Ego, I love it. Keep your eyes out for a review of some of their tracks this week.