@Azzarole and I met on elektronauts a couple of years ago, found out we lived in the same city, he sold me a pedal, invited me to a jam session with a drummer in a basement, and we hit it off and became friends. I brought a bass player along for the next session, fast forward a few months and we had a handful of songs and played our first show together. Our bass player moved to another country, unfortunately, but we still managed to record an album. I mixed it throughout the last months, we had it professionally mastered and it turned out really nice and special.
Itâs kinda crazy to think that all this wouldnât have happened without elektronauts (and elektron instruments) so cheers to all of you for being such a nice community. Hope you enjoy the record!
Iâm really happy this is finally out in the world ! I am very proud of this album and hope that some people will listen to it and maybe find something in it. Elektronauts has brought lots of wonderful thing to my life, but this album and band is without a doubt the best among them!
Letâs add a little more context: all of these songs stem from jams we had in our cozy rehearsal room. We came up with probably 80% of the song and arrangement there for most songs, and then @Python spent the biggest part of the winter pushing them over the edge to really well arranged and produced songs. We recorded all of our parts individually, but all of the inspiration comes from four people vibing and playing together.
What I like specifically about the album:
each song sounds different to me, yet it still feels cohesive
live drums, bass and drum computer are intertwined and form a robust rhythm section
Been listening to the first 6 tracks loud in the car this afternoon - i really like the mix - fat, but not annoyingly inyerface - , the spirit and vibes, the voice is interesting. What i would change is that the guitar and the lyrics could have a little more âsecretâ here and there and the arrangements are almost too dry/minimal at times. But that is just me and if somebody would tell me, wait til their next album itâs gonna come in hot on Grönemeyers âGrönlandâ label (which is home to very good neo kraut and other advanced stuff) i wouldnât be surprised at all. Good job guys!
Thanks for taking the time to listen and giving feedback ! I never heard about that Grönemeyer label and find it fascinating (also sounds like high praise). If you ever find the time to listen to the last track, Iâd be interested to hear your take. It might be the weirdest one on the album, but I think itâs my favorite.
Curious to hear what you mean, would you add more layers/tracks?
Just listened to the tracks again incl 7 , i got why you recommended it , itâs great.
regarding your question for a more detailed comment, let me say just this: I got a personal (weird?) taste when it comes to sounds, so i am no way any reference for you and already did comment maybe too much on your âfresh babyâ. Itâs so good to hear such a project and i too sometimes thing about finding people to make music with here where i live. I really like your work and wish you all the best with it and am very curious to hear any new tracks!
Guitar is exactly the kind of stuff I love myself. I love the beautiful bell-like tones, almost a tinge of surfy vibes to it, and the crunchy stuff is very nice too. Very tasteful playing.
Vocals are excellent. Gives me sort of Joy Division vibes. Vocals often make or break albums for me and this passes with flying colors.
Bass sounds great, really pops in the mix. Super good mix by the way. You guys really nailed it. Seriously. You managed to hit that sweet spot where the raw energy comes out but it never seems overly polished, but yet is also very high fidelity. Not easy to do!
The other thing that stands out to me is your song composition. You really kept things flowing and interesting. Nice little build ups and break downs. Great grooves. Nodding my head as Iâm typing.
Thanks a lot for the kind words, youâre making me blush!
Iâm really happy with how the guitars turned out.
The bell-like tones are mostly chase bliss lossy, the crunchy tones is the dusty mode on chase bliss clean.
The bass guitar sound is mostly chase bliss clean, as well, but in the regular compression mode. Iâll share some more details on the mix and production later today, but aside from the pedals used, itâs exclusively bitwig stock plugins, which are excellent imo.
Thanks for your detailed breakdown of what you like and your kind words about my vocals, much appreciated ! Also thanks to everyone else who took the time to listen to the album and comment on it !
Itâs funny my vocals remind you of Joy Division. I barely know them and they never clicked. I also try to avoid singing that way a bit, yet these comparisons keep coming up. So I guess I am in some way profoundly influenced by singers like Ian and those with a deeper voice that followed in his footsteps.
Unfortunately, no further live shows are planned at the moment, as our bass player lives in another country now.
Which reminds me how crazy the recording process for this album started. Shortly before we wanted to begin recording the bass parts - our bass player was already getting ready to move in a few days - my laptop broke.
So I quickly had to set up bitwig on my steam deck and cut together the rough structure of the songs based on the best live takes from rehearsal recordings we made on our cellphones as a guideline for him to record his parts. It looked absolutely ridiculous:
He busted out three takes for every song in a single afternoon, and I mostly used to first ones. Top bloke for sure.
I later showed that picture to the mastering engineer after he mentioned how even the mix sounded and that he had very little complaints. He had a good belly laugh about the picture. Very nice guy, as well. He had a machine drum built right into his mixing desk. He also deserves a big part of the praise for the sound of the album, as his mastering job really lifted the whole thing to another level.
I also switched from the steam deck to a MacBook for the majority of the production.
! I am very proud of this album and hope that some people will listen to it and maybe find something in it. Elektronauts has brought lots of wonderful thing to my life, but this album and band is without a doubt the best among them!
! I never heard about that Grönemeyer label and find it fascinating (also sounds like high praise). If you ever find the time to listen to the last track, Iâd be interested to hear your take. It might be the weirdest one on the album, but I think itâs my favorite.
Itâs so good to hear such a project and i too sometimes thing about finding people to make music with here where i live. I really like your work and wish you all the best with it and am very curious to hear any new tracks!
