Intimate Grove - African Vibe

“Safrique” is my new production, an intimate grove with an African vibe.
This track is built in two distinct parts separated by a big music break.

The first part is where the memento is set with a gradual increase of sounds and intensity. This section of the music relies heavily on deep and somewhat emotional tunes raging from Deep House, Trance and African beat.

The big break that occurs halfway into the music is used not only to increase the emotional link with the crowd but also to prepare them for the second part of the track.

Here a mix of Jazz is introduced to give some personality and originality. This also creates the illusion of freedom as if the repetitive vibe of the music that was present until now is broken by an eruption of oxygen.

This track is so far one of my favorites and really touches me at a personal level.

I Hope you really enjoy listening to “safrique” the same way I enjoyed making it.

– THE HALFGAME

Hope You enjoy.
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It’s a beautiful day

And then one day, we wake up feeling we need something different.

I woke up at 07:15 this morning with some bad cramps, and I asked myself. - Am I getting old to the point that all of my hopes and dreams will never succeed?

I sit on the bed and look around and see four walls that suddenly feel strange to me. I’m all alone in this deserted room, its cold and all that I can hear is the humming signal of my turnoff TV.

I get up and walk in the direction of my bedroom window. Normally I would open the window’s shutters and let the sun in, but today I feel like leaving the world outside.

I walk out off my bedroom seeking some comfort in the freedom that the silence of the morning gives but immediately after exiting and closing the door on my back I feel the urge to turn back inside.

As I desperately turnaround and exercise my return to the safety of my prison I hear a sound coming from the other bedroom.

I stop for a moment as hopping that the sound is nothing more than a winter blow trying to force its whispers trough a small crack in a window.

I walk silently in the direction of the bedroom’s door and as I get closer I can hear a familiar sound getting louder.

I notice that the door is semi shut and although this may seem strange I feel a comfortable feeling of its displacement. As if it was intended and the whole purpose was to leave it open.

At this moment I know what I have to do. I open the door using all my ninja abilities and try silently to invade this dark and privy temple.

Inside I notice a small person figure lying down on a small bed moving very slowly as if awakening from a longtime sleep. I approach warily hoping not to scare this darkened figure step by step until I reach close enough to stretch my hand and touch the small person face.

As my skin reaches her chick a smile aluminates the room as if longing for my comfort, this small figurine as motivated by my actions says – I love you dad.

I lift my daughter in my arms and together we open the bedroom windows shutters, and guess what…

...It’s a beautiful day.

 

Hope You enjoy.
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Discovered in Order to Appreciate

I’m back with two new productions, “Electronics” and “For the Love of God”. These two tracks although sharing some similar construction methods are very different from each other, one being a more standard chillout jazzy music while the other is a darker, emotional and alternative.

“Electronics” relies on a more comfortable sound with happy soft tunes, there’s also a jazz vibe that nestles the music and really gives it a strong personality.

The most important instruments in this production are obviously the piano and saxophone that are for most part the primary sounds of this track. Nevertheless there are two others that also stand out. The first is an off tone synth sample that persists throughout most of the track and is used to disrupt the clean vibe of the track. The other is a two voice samples that give this music a very unique and unconventional groove.

In summary this track although simple is full of small details that must be discovered in order to appreciate the music to its fullest.

“For the Love of God” is a darker and more emotional track that relies heavily on atmospheric and alternative sounds. There is some Trip-Hop and Drum and Bass influences winch give this track a distinct vibe, especially the Bass and Beat that really define the music personality.

One instrument however stands out from the rest of the track winch is used as a lead sound halfway into the music in order to break the monotone vibe and give it a twist. This instrument is the flute, a very simple melody that has a big impact and really changes the music groove.

 

Similarly to “Electronics”, “For the Love of God” is also full of small details that must be discovered in order to appreciate the music to its fullest.

Hope You enjoy.
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Dalliance - A brief love affair

Perfection

It´s not every day that one music breaks from the convoluted process of creation and expands beyond, gaining life on its own, this happened with Dalliance. Immediately after placing the first sound in the grid I knew that this music was going to be special.

What started to be another flimsy track, strangely grew an exciting vibe that morphed the entirely grove emancipating itself.
I knew that this music was no longer my own creation, something more powerful was controlling me and I was only one’s tool of creation.

This brief love affair erupted and could no longer be contained, not even one hundred men with guns could swerve me from my path. The line was plotted in a way that was unalterable and I was very happy with that.
Every sound was delivered one after another in a methodical and symphonic way as if I was being conducted by a long time ethereal maestro, each one pasting perfectly in harmony as if they were meant to be together all the time. I knew that this was going to become the PERFECT MUSIC.

Then without warning the lights went off in my house, my computer screen was black as the darkest night. I panic, I cry, my work lost, my brief love affair disappeared, vanished, gone.
Why? I asked myself. Why give me this brief magic moment of delectation for then disown in a sudden lifeless moment of despair?
Why?

Ten minutes later the lights went on. I was afraid to turn on my computer since I didn’t remember the last time I’ve saved my work. If I knew how, I would have prayed the gods begging for a miracle, but I didn’t know how, I’m not a catholic, I was alone.
Waited for four hours until I had the courage to turn on the computer and see if there were any survivors to this light tsunami.
I pressed the on button. The computer took what seemed an eternity to startup and when finally I was able to access the music file and check its integrity I was presented, to my dismay, with an empty file.

And suddenly as it appeared, my brief love affair vanished in sorrow into to the guts of the black hole of darkness.

Hope You enjoy.
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The random desert - a movie buff life

Movies were always a big part of my life and naturally are a big influence in my process of inspiration when creating music.
Not long ago I’ve revisited one that really made a mark on my movie buff life, the name of that cinema masterpiece was “Lost Highway”.
This 1996 American psychological thriller written and directed by David Lynch had, in addition to its thoroughly surreal plot and characters, one of the most diverse and inspiring soundtracks ever.

As I watched “Lost Highway”, all the movie sounds and music that were kept deeply buried in my mind emerged and persisted in a stubborn wish to hum the hypnotic melodies that remained after the credits roll. “The random desert” is a reflection of the emotions translated to sound as I process all the information gathered throughout the visioning of the David Lynch disturbing, magical and unique work. There’s obviously a cinematic vibe cradling this music winch gives it a really unique vibe and sets it apart from all the other creations I’ve done so far.

Hope You enjoy.
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My Top 6 - so far...

Why the Top 6?

In no special order above you’ll find my TOP 6 productions so far.
These 6 tracks really stand out from all the others I’ve produced so far and each one caries some kind of emotion that makes them special.
I’ve decided to post this Top 6 just because I really felt the need to share with all of you, my most creative, unique and emotional tracks.
After almost 30 music productions and six months of hard pleasuring work it´s my obligation to thank you all that endured and persisted with me throughout all this time.

Thanks and hope You enjoy.
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Dancing Girls

“Dancing girls” is my latest production winch relies heavily on soft harmonic sounds, together with some jazz influences.
This production deviates a bit from my latest’s works, winch were a more commercial house driven approach.

This electronic chillout music, although simple in construction, it’s a very cinematic and, I risk to say, sensual track. The melodic repetitive sounds give this music a unique vibe that forces my mind to imagine dancing girls moving in a slow almost sexy way.
As inspiration I’ve used my memories from the sounds that I recall from the acclaimed TV show, Fame. This American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987 really influenced the way this music turned out to be. Maybe that’s why I associate this music to dance.

There’s also a big 80’s vibe that supports “Dancing girls”, this vibe was intended in order to give a retro feeling and also maintain some purity regarding my original inspiration.
Complementing the music and in order to give it more depth a I’ve included a saxophone melody that apart from giving that jazz vibe that I so much like also gives some diversity to the repetitive beat, bass and synth that can be heard throughout the music.

If you really like this music you should also listen to “normal days” winch as a similar vibe and is on my top ten favorite productions.

Hope You enjoy.
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Be Ready - Life changing moment

There are times in life when we are force to grow, these unexpected life moments happen in cyclic time and normally without warning. Throughout my life I’ve experienced a couple of them, some more traumatic than others, and although I try to withhold the most positive aspects of this learning process, the truth is that the negative aspects some time take hold of me.

I not a quitter and this will not be the first time I feel disappointed with life but again this in no time to give up. “be ready” is a music that reflects the persistence and resilience that motivates my walk through life.
Keep it simple is the motto for this production, simple beat, simple moody synth bass, some harmonic lead synth and several percussion and sound effects that complement the vibe.

This happy tune music is a good example of the abstract creation process and the power that resides on human emotions when used as an inspiration tool.
The technique used on the music buildup resembles my previous productions with strong emphasis on a French vibe with retro disco sounds.

Although all the negative aspect used as inspiration for creating this music the fact is that this production as a very happy vibe and is also very danceable. This is my way of saying that again I’ve endure and persisted and definitely rose from a life changing moment like a Phoenix from the ashes.

Hope You enjoy “be ready”
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Revelations - end of a cycle

“Revelations” closes the trilogy cycle of music productions inspired in a more commercial approach.
“Wolfmother”, “Filter” and now “Revelations” are my humble attempts of achieving a less alternative and a more appealing to the masses sound. My general idea is that I’ve accomplished my goal and the three music productions are somewhat a prove of that. They are easy to listen, danceable, commercial and at the same time original.

“Revelations” is a more mature music, in part due to the experience gain when working on “Wolfmother” and “Filter”.

The music structure is very similar and there were no major deviations to the previous formula, what makes the difference and set this music apart from the previous two are the small details that were implemented.

Some small nuances were added to give more deepness and body to it like low-end noises that are almost off tune and give a disconcerting and at the same time unique style, also the beat is more detailed and relies heavily on a afro vibe mixed with some filtered percussion sounds.

Throughout almost the entire music there’s a synth sound that changes tone like a wave up and down winch balances the music in perfect harmony, this sound is complemented by a lead synth that gives that French space vibe that I so much enjoy.

“Revelations” is a great way to end this cycle, one that gave me great pleasure and experience for my future music productions.

Hope You enjoy.
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Filter - Another commercial track

This will be the second music from a trio of electronic music productions that I’m currently working on. On my previous post I’ve showed the track “Wolfmother”, being that the first piece, a short and very commercial driven music.

“Filter” follows on the steps of “Wolfmother”, also attempting to create a more commercial and danceable tune, winch for me appears to be an almost impossible task. This time however I’ve tried to expand things a little bit and using the experience recently gain when creating “Wolfmother”, I’ve tried to create something more than just a commercial music and gave it my personal touch in order to produce an exciting and original vibe.

This approach resulted on “Filter”. This music relies heavily on a buildup technique winch is used to enable the creation of a memento that culminates, immediately after the big music break, in a explosion of sounds that tries to bring the dance floor to ecstasy.

I’m very proud with what I’ve accomplished and this track is certainly one of my favorites so far. “Filter” is a simple commercial, but at the same time, original track that I humbly present to you hoping you enjoy it as much as I.

Hope You enjoy.

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Wolfmother - Dance Floor Music

It´s been a long time but here I am with another new production, “Wolfmother”. This will be the first post from a trio of music productions that I’m currently working on.

This time I’ve aimed for a more dance club type of music and I believed that I nailed it. As inspiration to this track I’ve used some French vibes reminiscent of artists like Daft Punk and Cassius and also included some 80’s touch winch is so popular nowadays.

This track relies mainly on simple but very happy tunes and some consistent breaks that serve as moment builder that helps carry the dance floor crowd to ecstasy. This commercial aspect was intended and was one of my main objectives since this type of production is not common on my portfolio and I wanted to see if I was able to create a more driven to the masses type of music.

I’ve concluded that it’s more difficult to do a commercial music that the more alternative ones that I usually create, nevertheless I’m very happy with the end result and hope to repeat this experience more times in the future.

For now I leave you with “Wolfmother” promising to come back soon with more stuff.

Hope You enjoy.

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Colered times...

Created on June, 3 of 2012, “Colors” is my number 12 music from my upcoming chillout album “Generations”.
This music has an Electronic rock vibe to it mixed together with some small house nuances.

There was a major artistic influence on the production of this track, these influence remotes to the memories back in 2002. “You all look the same to me” was the title of the third studio album of the amazing band ARCHIVE and one track really stand out from this outstanding album.
The name of this music was “Again”, this 16:19 minutes song was simply a work of art, the vocals, the guitar sounds, the bass, piano and strings, all sounds were perfectly tuned and symbiotically connected making this track one of the most immersive and pleasing to listen.
This song made me buy the album without even knowing the band or their work, I know now that this was the correct decision and a life changing one. 

“Colors” was inspired in the sensations felt when listening for the first time to ARCHIVE, the sensation of listening to a sound that at the same time sounded familiar but was so different from all the stuff I’ve heard before.
I know it sounds confusing but that was exactly how I felt when I listen to “Again” for the first time, possibly because of the massive amount of information which my little musician brain had to absorb.
There´s a kind of sadness in “Colors” winch was not originally my intention but as the music evolved that vibe transformed the music personality and made it to become in what it is now.

“Colors” is a electronic rock kind of music that borrows a lot of ideas from memories and feelings from the old days when music didn’t had to follow the commercial and tendency rules, were the experimenting was encouraged and were the freedom of music art creation was accepted by all.
I miss those times, nevertheless here is “Colors”.

Hope You enjoy,

Jazz about nothing

This is me returning to an old and familiar format, being that, house music mixed with a Jazz vibe. This is definitely the style that I feel more comfortable and the most pleasuring one for me.
In my opinion this two styles really make a perfect combination, the energy of house music, with its simple beats some hit hats and bass, put together with Jazz music, being that trumpets, sax or piano, just makes me light feeling.


 
I don’t know if it is the deepness or soul of the house music or the improvisation of the “doing what you feel” of the Jazz vibe that makes this mixture so especial to me but the fact is that I feel very comfortable when creating this type of sound.
“Jazz about nothing”  is a music that invokes some very positive feelings and definitely brings some good memories from my young days when venturing trough the dance music world.

My first contact with this style of music was at a friend’s house. He was showing me is record collection and immediately one of its records called my attention. It was an old vinyl record with only two tracks, one on each side.
The record was poorly wrapped in a white paper cover and had written at hand in big black letters just the words “made in New Jersey”.
I removed the record from its packaged and put it on my friend’s turntable. As soon as the record started playing I knew that I was being presented with something deeply life changing, at least for me, it was like my musical sensibility had been slapped causing the elimination of musical barriers I didn’t know that existed.

This slap in the face moment was a turning point for me and a big inspiration for my future as an amateur music producer. Obviously there were other genres and styles of music that influenced my musical preferences and tastes but this Jersey house music vibe really caused a great impression and marked my musical life forever.

“Jazz about nothing” is a reflection of those influences; this music is marked by Jersey vibes like the deepness of the house beat accompanied by the funky repetitive bass and complemented by the jazzy vibe of the immersive trumpet riffs.
Summarizing this music is pure house music, at least as I imagine pure house music should sound.

Hope You enjoy.

The "French touch"

French House is a term that defines a genre of house music, one of my favorite genres and a very popular style particularly in the 1990s and 2000s.

This form of Euro Disco is known by its heavy reliance on filter and phaser effects and also by the use of late 1970s and early 1980s American or European disco sounds, loops or samples.

Daft Punk and Cassius

Daft Punk, Cassius and Etienne de Crécy are just some of the few French Artists’ that inspired a whole generation with this exceptional genre of house music.
Music’s like “Le patron est devenu fou !” and “Prix Choc” from the Etienne de Crécy Super Discount album and “Around the World” and "Revolution 909" of the Daft Punk Homework album are some good examples of what the “French touch “ is capable of and were responsible for the success of the genre throughout the dance clubs all around the world.

The “neu-disco” is a term that is commonly used to indentify this music genre, as the “French touch”- But what is French House?

French house consists of three main music styles, the space disco sound, Euro Disco and also the influences of the deep American House music with special emphasis on funky repetitive sound vibes.

This particular mixture of sounds was the inspiration that I used when creating the “Lost in France” track. This music relies on the use of retro sounds, samples and loops. It has a disco and space vibe with a small touch of funky bass.

In the end this music brings me some great memories and was one of the most pleasuring productions I’ve done so far.

Hope You enjoy. 

Music from a vision

Creating music from a vision and interpreting it to reality is nearly impossible, and that was how "technology" was born, messing around with various layers trying to execute my vision and failing miserably. This seems to be a common aspect in all my productions. Normally I have an idea and start working on it. By default I begin my focus on creating the base line of the music winch can be the beat the bass or the melody.

Sometimes I struggle on this part and it´s easy to distract from my path and divert on a different route. 

This is where things start to get messy, when experimenting and creating sounds and loops that fit with the music vibe it’s easy to find one that immediately transforms in another idea and distracts me from my main objective.

That was exactly what happened with “technology”, at first I was looking for a progressive house vibe but after finding the bass I decided to see how it sounded in a slower tempo, so I reduce the music speed from the initial 125 bpm to 110 bpm, mixed the bass with a synth sound and there it was a completely different result of what was initially intended. 

After this there was no way back and I just let myself go and continued working on this new vision.

“technology” is a electronic music that as a French vibe to it, again the futuristic cyber-punk feeling is there although in a more timid presence. 

Strong on melody this music is filled with synth loops and piano and flute reefs, complemented by strings to give more depth, this gives this music a Dream vibe that is masked by a Breackbeat drum loop that modernizes the music without disrupting its personality. 

In the end I found that I've created something original and good to the point I needed to share with the world.

Hope You enjoy.

Inspirations and references

Inspiration is something that doesn’t grow on trees and is not a thing that you can buy at a convenience store. Inspiration is something that grows from a feeling a sensation a memory, when your happy or sad, when you look at the sea or out of your apartment window.

Inspiration is in fact everywhere and you just have to let yourself go and let it command your actions.

That was exactly what I’ve did in “normal days”, I’ve just picked some random sounds and went with the flow.

This track as several distinct but very important musical references and not all directly linked to the electronic music genre.

There’s still some references to artists like Air or Archive, that refer to a more electronic sound but for this production I’ve used mainly as inspiration the sounds of bands like Pink Floyd and Supertramp.

I know it may sound weird, and it may look difficult to understand how this two amazing rock bands can inspire a electronic production, but I didn’t create a Pink Floyd or a Super Tramp music with beat, instead I used the feelings that those bands invoke on me to create an original production that may, as it does to me, give the feeling of déjà vu.

Supertramp and Pink Floyd

Despite all the music references and inspirations this music still has its own identity and it is by its own right a good track.

“normal days” is a very melodic track that tries to push the boundaries of rock and electronic music to their limit, without compromising the inspiration and with the intention of universally link this two amazing but nevertheless different genres of music.

Hope You enjoy.

House Technology - Part one

I feel the best way to review any music is to explain a little bit about their construction and what were the inspirations that lead to the final product.

For example, for the music “regardless of what you say”, I’ve got my inspiration on the classic House music sounds, the strong beat with 4 tempo Snare and Hit Hat accompanied by a funky Bass, simple but effective. I especially like the Bass sound that changes the music completely and sets the tone to the rest of the track.

After the first break a new sound is introduced. I’ve struggle on this part of the music and for a short time I almost give up on her. I’ve tried everything, Synths, Bass, Voice, Piano, Guitar and nothing worked. But then I remember, a very important rule that is – Keep it simple.

Almost by accident I found a Saxophone sample that with some simple twist, Distortion and echo effect, really workout perfectly.

This is very common on my productions, I try so hard to make an original sound that sometimes things get complicated and sometimes I forget this simple rule.

In the end in order to give this music some finishing quality touches, I’ve added some minor transition effects to smoothly connect the different parts of the music and also some Rhodes sounds that gave this music some personality.

And this is what “regardless of what you say” is, a simple music with strong beat and great melody.

Hope You enjoy.

Jazz, no question about it

On this production I've decided to go for a more traditional house vibe with a simple beat and some soft Jazz elements.

This translated in a more danceable music that despite at the beginning sounding somewhat a more commercial still manages to maintain its own unique identity. 

“Jazz” is by its own right a good track, simple beat, nice tunes and great melody. These three rules are the base foundations and serve as a guide for the rest of the creative process of the music 

The sounds and samples included on this music are all introduced in a slow and very smooth way into the track, this creates a very harmonic feeling were all sounds seem to blend perfectly.

There’s a sound that stands out from all other and that is the trumpet riff. This riff was introduced in order to give that Jazzy vibe that I so much like.

This sound gives that originality touch and at the same time helps to create a slower tempo illusion that helps to blend all the other sounds together.

I had some difficulty on finding a bass line that fitted with this music and at the last minute I’ve changed it completely and decided to mix two different basses that gave this music a somewhat funky feel.

And last but not list, so there is no doubt about the title of this track, you can ear throughout most part of the music a male voice continuously saying “Jazz”. Just by curiosity, after the beat this was the first sound to be included on the music.

Hope You enjoy.