Imbued Vagary: Creating the Basic Track

Imbued Vagary: Creating the Basic Track

Our plan was simple. Lay down basic tracks of the IV set performance from Ableton Live onto disc. I was able to record all 8 songs from the set. This video is the eighth track from the set.

I kept some MC2P4 asides and commentary when editing this video. I'm tickled by the camera work on this!

Yet another creation by Thee Sub One Genius and Imbued Vagary!

Counting Comets... a solo experience...

Counting Comets... a solo experience...

Some late night solo jamming by Thee Sub One Genius. This video shows exactly how I structure my performances through Ableton Live. A little skill needed here.

Enjoy!

Imbued Vagary set list Briefing...

Imbued Vagary set list Briefing

This is a brief video from this past weekend. As we take a break from practice, we take the time to review a DVD showing video from a previous set performance. We want to make sure that we're doing our songs in the right order as well as understanding what the structure is for each song.

Yes... I know... exciting stuff, eh?

Imbued Vagary - Synth Jam August 6, 2011

Imbued Vagary - Title 4

Over the last year and a half yours truly, Thee SUB ONE Genius, has been working on material with the members of Any Questions?. Calling themselves Imbued Vagary, this outfit consists of Matt Norcross (Ttam Troll) on Synthesizers, Scott McConnell (MC2P4) on synths and effects, as well as my input which includes rhythm, drop-in sequencing using Ableton Live, and various effects. This video is a practice run of one of our songs we will be incorporating into our live set. There will also be a digital release coming in the near future. Stay tuned!

Look at these Long-Haired Hippy Freaks!

Art Institute Days

Ah yes! My youthful college days resting and relaxing in the Philadelphia sun! This picture was taken from a picnic that was hosted by the Art Institute of Philadelphia. I would not doubt at this point during the picnic, all of us were having the most fun that anyone could have during their college days. If you haven't figured out already, I'm wearing the pink tie-dye and doing my best Karl Wallinger impersonation (if you're not sure who that is look up the band, World Party). From my position, clockwise, are: Holland Midyette, Paul "Grink" Ashman, Jeanie Gushrang (I hope I spelled that correctly), Joe Sorbello, Jane Campbell, and David Weiner. Holland was my roommate for several months during my first year at the Art Institute and was the most amazing guitar player I had ever come across. I have not heard anyone play like him before or after. I met a lot of incredibly talented people during my tenure at AIPH and I feel honored that I had an opportunity to be there and be in the presence of such enormously gifted people. My hats off to all of you!

An extra special thanks to Dawn D'Amico for sharing this picture with me. It will always be treasured!

The Old Mixes in with the New...

The Triumphant Return of an Old Familiar Machine

Outside my front door today, was a package and inside that package was the Yamaha PSS-460. This is the synth I used to record a lot of my early material such as 'Measure for Measure', 'Forever We Will Live The Night', 'The Light Shines On', and 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' (no, not the Alice Cooper version). I found this gem on Ebay for very cheap and I just had to get it! Now that school is almost over, there will be more time to be spent creating music and getting reacquainted with this old machine.

A Preview...

PREVIEW A REMAKE OF 'MEASURE FOR MEASURE'

A remake of Caught In A Web is something I have been beating around for quite some time now. I believe it would be an easy project considering the music is already written and the basic ideas of the songs could build into something more.

Well, I did happen to record a new version of 'Measure for Measure' which happens to be the very first song I ever wrote on my own.

You could not equate a song like this with SUB ONE, however some of the other songs that were part of the original 'Caught In A Web' recording have such potential. With a world of professional studio gear at my disposal I only feel it fair to breathe some new life into these songs and they will be presented here on the SUB ONE blog.

Once again, the remake of 'Measure for Measure' ---

SUB ONE - Balance

Balance (single Blog release)


DOWNLOAD CD GRAPHICS HERE

DOWNLOAD ZIP FILE THAT INCLUDES CD GRAPHICS AND MP3 HERE

Balance (single Blog release).

The latest material from SUB ONE from the CD release, SEANCE, the instrumental 'Balance' is an eclectic mix of classical, world, and electronic music. This was recorded during the summer of 2008 and final mixes were done in 2009, final preparations for this single release was performed in Feb. 2011. For those of you looking to burn a hard copy for your collection, I have included a cover graphic available as a separate download.

Another release from the SUB ONE Blog...

Click here to listen to 'Balance' by SUB ONE

Thee Sub One Genius in a Floating Fish collaboration...

Expanding on my creative self and being inspired by the likes of local act, Imbued Vagary, the members of both camps have been collaborating over the past year with an intention to bring manipulations, sound malformations, video terra-firma, as well as explosions of digital noise to a new level. This video is one of many that will be posted here on the SUB ONE Blog in the next few months.

This video is also just a taste of what made up our practice. I chose two clips to edit together. Part Two is coming soon.

Stay tuned!

NO C RADIO PODCAST, FIRST TRANSMISSION...

NO C RADIO PODCAST - LISTEN HERE!

This is the first in a series of podcasts I will produce for the SUB ONE Blog. Titled No C Radio Podcast, this will feature some of Thee Sub One Genius's favorite tunes along with live performances. The main feature of this podcast is that everything is recorded live to digital, warts and all. No edits, but possibly an error or two!

This first release of the No C Radio Podcast features music from Einsturzende Neubauten, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, The Ramones, and REM.

Announcements will be made here as to when the next podcast will be uploaded as well as any special features on the show.

Please sit back and enjoy the music.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE NO C RADIO PODCAST

Thee SUB ONE Genius

Rockin' Some Beats When I Should Be Studying

Yes, when faced with the choice of finishing a written assignment for class or shooting some video for my Blog, I decided to fore-go my scholastic responsibilities and rock out a little. Kids, do not take this as a suggestion to NOT do your homework. Stay in school!

Stay Tuned!

Sorry folks it has been a while since I have posted on this Blog! I had too many things going on and certain things took priority and others had to take a back seat. The SUB ONE Blog made the back seat list however I feel the Blogline Endeavor section is as complete as I'm going to get it for the time being. More material will be added as I get to working on this once again!

Some things to look forward to are a podcast I'm working on called NO C RADIO PODCAST. It will include music that I enjoy and will also include live performances from local artists and local artists that have become part of my collection over the years. I will be adding material from the Floating Fish jam sessions that have been going on for the last year and are available to listen to on the Floating Fish Blog. That can all be accessed HERE. There are also many other projects in the works that will be uploaded as the opportunity becomes available. Please check back soon!

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Chemical Imbalance

Continuation of the SUB ONE Blogline Endeavor; 1998 - Chemical Imbalance

Upon searching through some various cassettes from my days in West Virginia, I stumbled on this gem of an original recording of the instrumental, Chemical Imbalance.

This was another composition that became part of the web site project known as 'Psychoblitzerblobbenbleegen'. This track is interesting because it exhibits a more mellow side to SUB ONE and was also my attempt at experimental ambient music. A remake of this song using sampling and various experimental recording techniques ended up making the track listing for 'IYUS AAS MEMSMIS'.

Another classic from the SUB ONE archive, Chemical Imbalance (WV version).

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... I Bleed Robot

Continuation of the SUB ONE Blogline Endeavor; 1998 - I Bleed Robot

Various instrumentals did see the light of day and were put to wax finally upon creating a website called 'Psychoblitzerblobbenbleegen'. My purpose was to post my music as it was completed and would eventually culminate into a large selection of songs. However, with time and a busy schedule I ended up only posting three songs. 'I Bleed Robot' was my first use of Software synthesizers which I had used on a Pentium 133 PC clone system running Windows 95 along with my Yamaha PSR-500 and the Yamaha GM generic soft-synth. I also used Cakewalk 3 Midi sequencer for most of the MIDI tracking.

Another classic from the SUB ONE archive, I Bleed Robot.

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Ghost of a Chance, Original Demo...

Circa 1997/1998

The beginning of a long drawn out process. Originally, this song was to be an instrumental included for a website I created titled Psychoblitzerblobbenbleegen. My plan was to feature these songs as an internet only download. All songs would be featured in MIDI format and those who were remix savvy could do anything their hearts desired with these songs. Three songs were posted but 'Ghost of a Chance' had remained unfinished at this point.

This demo recording was a work-out session where I was deciding how this song would fit together. Parts of this song were played on guitar (the section I like to call the 'Teddy Bears Picnic' breakdown) and translated into various keyboard parts. Once I made these arrangements, I programmed the rythym using a software synthesizer and other various parts were worked out on my PSR-500.

There are other alternate takes to 'Ghost of a Chance' that I will be posting here on the SUB ONE blog as they become available.

From the SUB ONE archive 'Ghost of a Chance (Instrumental Demo)'.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Chapter 4, West Virginia Mountain Momma... take me home Country Roads...

West Virginia, Mountain Momma, take me home Country Roads...

Chapter 4, West Virginia Mountain Momma... take me home Country Roads... Circa 1997 - 1999

No, I did not have a flash of inspiration to write country music. Yet during the first months of 1997 my girlfriend and I made a move to Charleston, West Virginia. This put a few things on hold in my life including my music. However, once things changed for the better I was able to sit down again and put some ideas to wax.

Most of my time being Wild and Wonderful was spent recording instrumentals and pieces of songs. A good portion of those pieces ended up being material that would end up on CD releases such as IYUS AAS MEMSMIS and Nillum Noom. 'Ghost of a Chance' is a great example of taking as much time as I could to write and record a song.

Something else notable about my move to West Virginia is that I was able to upgrade my equipment from my typical two-track tape deck to a MIDI enabled computer system. This created possibilities for me that I didn't have before. I was able to run an early version of Cakewalk on my PC and utilize the MIDI functions on my Yamaha PSR-500. Where I was using the Song Editor function on board this keyboard before, now I could assign voices to separate MIDI channels and program each track separately. This made songwriting so much easier and opened creativity for me.

However this was not without difficulties. My time in West Virginia was met with a serious case of writers block. For the life of me, I was stuck in a rut with what type of music I wanted to record and how I was going to take SUB ONE to the next level. It even got to a point where I just wanted to rid all of my equipment and give up on music all together.

I'm glad I never finalized that decision.

A handful of instrumentals were recorded during this time including 'Attention Defecit Disorder', 'Chemical Imbalance', 'Monster Neurality', and a few that have yet to be titled. I will feature these songs here on the SUB ONE blog as I take you on my journey through the country roads of West Virginia.

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... You Are Solitude (90's version)...

"It's a flame that's burnin' you can see..."

After the release of Poom! I started writing and recording new songs. During the summer of 1996 I relocated and moved in with my girlfriend, Tina, who I shared an apartment with in Horsham, PA. This made things difficult as far as having adequte space to set up my recording equipment and have the time to actually sit down and write songs. However, I was able to set aside days and spend hours doing what needed to be done. There were other recordings made during this session for 'You Are Solitude', they included a newer take of 'Turn You Into A Doll' and an off-beat ballad titled 'Forever is Not Far Away'. I want to share the latter title here on the SUB ONE blog but I'm having problems trying to locate it. Once I find it, I will definitely post this in the near future.

From the SUB ONE archives, 'You Are Solitude'.

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Turn You Into a Doll (90's version)

Turn You Into A Doll (90's Version)


"I wish I could just turn you into a doll so you can be at my disposal as you hang from the wall..."

The subject matter of this song is, of all things, Masturbation. Yes! I will not beat around the bush!! I am singing about how much of a pervert I really am! Blow up dolls, phone sex, pornography, sex toys, and a desire for sex is the contextual makeup of 'Turn You Into A Doll'.

This was the original version of this song recorded in 1994. The middle part using the samples, sound effects and weird voices was added later. A few years later, in 2001, this song was re-recorded for the IYUS AAS MEMSMIS CD.

This song happens to be one of my personal favorites, specifically this 90's version. This is one of the first recordings done where I had ditched my previous tape deck (a personal boom box) with a pro dual cassette deck. Using this deck created a nice, even compression to the signal and any future recordings I did had more of a saturated tone to the over all sound of the mix. These recordings still sound great to this day.

Yet another unearthed gem from the SUB ONE archive, 'Turn You Into A Doll' by SUB ONE.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Silicon Penis

Silicon Penis


"I got a lion raging in my pants, as I grab ahold with both hands..."

Another weird composition from the same sessions as 'Take A Listen', 'Silicon Penis' was my attempt at incorporating humor into music. I would have liked this song much better if I would have had some sort of effect, whether it be compression or distortion, on my vocals. This is one song that has remained in the SUB ONE archive since it's inception back in 1994.

One part that stands out in this song is the chaotic random sequence that occurs toward the end of the middle eight solo section. Crazy man, crazy!

Yet another unearthed gem from the SUB ONE archive, 'Silicon Penis' by SUB ONE.

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3

BLOGLINE ENDEAVOR... Take A Listen

Take A Listen


"You got needles sticking through your arms... YOU'RE INSANE..."

One of my weirder compositions, there is also an alternate take to this track that includes chaotic synthesizer laser bleeps and blurbs before I come in with the phrase "You've got no remoteness..."

The context of the lyrics to this song is talking about a roommate who had recently moved out and he left his trash scattered throughout the back room of the upstairs. Not to expose too much detail, but the phrase "You're taking drugs..." is a reference to him as well.

Another unearthed gem from the SUB ONE archive, 'Take A Listen'

CLICK HERE TO PLAY MP3