When I Believe

Double’s Dash Compo 11 fell on Level 99’s birthday, marking that round a “birthday edition” despite having no theme. I was away that Friday night, so I recorded my introduction in collaboration with music that the restaurant DJ happened to be playing in the background. Obtuse delivered his signature funk stylings complemented by Wildfire’s voice; Obtuse later noted that the sexy subject matter in his DDCs are brought about by his guest singers, and don’t necessarily originate from him aside from providing a welcoming groove. Level 99 teamed up with Cyril the Wolf once again to rock, with the former providing guitar chords and drums, and the latter bringing in the bass and vocals. swordofdestiny formed a One Man Army by teaming up with himself; he made use of his a capella from the previous One Hour Compo and created a new backing track for it for the round.

JHCompo on Tuesday featured a theme directly inspired by a recent event: a mild tremor struck the east coast earlier in the day, prompting an “Earthquake” theme for the round. nikola offered a “Roughly Shaky” tune using timpani to evoke the sensation of a quake and horns to set the mood. Obtuse fired up his funky bass for a jam that apparently got interrupted by shakes, but then resumed with a mellower beat. b-type wrote perhaps his most verbose entry yet, spitting earthquake-related flows in a prompt, efficient manner. Xerol submitted his characteristic orchestral stylings, this time in an unusual time signature. zorg’s choir-filled track “5.85” drew comparisons to Goldeneye 007, Zelda 64 and Metroid Prime among other game soundtracks. MisfitBYTE put up a patchwork of various electronic sounds that runs for half a minute.

swordofdestiny felt that in the aftermath of disaster one should check the status of the meatloaf, and expressed this through soft wub-wubs. mistermv once again brought in his dense trip-hop style to the compo extolling “doubt, the fear, the panic, the pain” to an appreciate audience. ShinnyMetal shined up his tribal drums and choral samples observing that “Earthquakes Can Cause Volcanoes to Erupt”. Jarski cited both sci and Dubmood for his ambient chip-infused composition doling out head-bobbing rhythms. coda recurring dog reference was unheeded by the earthquake as glitched barking pervaded his e-funk track. LuketheXjesse layered up his guitar and swiftly melted faces, triggering a chain reaction of replies to his one-word entry description. Finally Detective Tuesday ran from the earthquake carrying organ and piano in one arm, and string sections with blips in the other.

Thursday's OHC reached a milestone with its 150 round, and I performed a live cover of injury aka the compo organizer starla to mark the occasion. Obtuse ventured into the rainforest using various ethnic instruments to spike up the heat. Fusion2004 disavowed any resemblance of his track to "House of the Rising Sun" with its low-slung backbeat and blues rock structure. LuketheXjesse erupted into a bevy of guitar shreddage that surely raised the temperature of the listening party before ending on a G.I. Joe clip. CJthemusicdude's track begins as a hip-hop beat and continues covering a wide range of tempos and moods. nikola put up a tropical entry complete with steel drums and guiro action. sci made his tune entirely with Synth1 rather accurately titled "Some Spicy Acid Funk Junk" consisting of arrhythmic bursts of harmony.

Acuity laid down decay-affected piano over trippy drums and the buzz of electronics. mv appeared to have to the first entry of the night to incorporate the sound of a sizzling skillet, and followed this up with organ-centric strings-tinged funk. Usabell decided to afk and play a bit of Mario instead of creating a song. TheMisterCat returned from extensive hiatus to performed harmonized vocal pop graced with expert flauting. Bren submitted his signature e-lead with a bouncier theme than usual, preceded with "That's it! Go away now." An 8-bit blaze warmed up DDRKirby(ISQ)'s submission, allowing for warm glitch breakbeats, a cooler section and several genre change-ups. Finally MandraSigma chose "Chisporrotear" as the title of his track after asking about its spelling, and then builds his track around a murmured chant.

One of the reasons I grew disinterested in producing songs is my own dissatisfaction in being a "laptop musician". While there are great artists who choose to express themselves entirely through sequencing and synth programming, I lack skill in both areas. I've found that I get more enjoyment from an organic, physical approach to music and art in general. We all have our own approaches, and it is fun when people of all sorts of backgrounds come together for compo.