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WeeklyBeats.com / Music / Cosmic Cairns's music / The Most Rational Thing I've Heard All Week

The Most Rational Thing I've Heard All Week

By Cosmic Cairns on January 16, 2018 8:14 pm

I was at my local library waiting while my girlfriend went to the restroom.  She's notorious for taking a REALLY long time, so I was checking out this art gallery there while I waited.  Well, there also happened to be this crazy lady sitting on a bench in the middle of the room ranting to herself continuously.  It had seriously been going on for like ten minutes and she had barely stopped to take a breath.  Weirdly I was standing right by her and I couldn't understand a word she was saying.  At first it was uncomfortable, but then it started to get funny, and then I just started noticing the room had a natural reverb to it and she was creating this barrage of sound that was really quite amazing and I realized it was something I could never re-create on my own.  So I made a field recording of it.  I managed to get about two minutes before my girlfriend finally emerged and I had to take off. 

The recording unfortunately doesn't even come close to doing justice to what it sounded like in person, but I still thought I'd try to build a track around it.  I started off by tapping out a janky little beat literally on the arm of my chair.  Then I threw down a bass line and a few electric guitar parts.  Then I thought I needed to weird it up more to fully capture the spirit of the original inspiration so I started piling on some strange noises including some amateurish warbling on an ocarina I bought on vacation last summer in San Diego along with some other found sounds.  I think I also accidentally got a second or two of my dog's collar jangling when he decided to burst into the room while I was recording and jump on my lap. 

I'm not sure exactly how I feel about what I ended up with, but I think I kind of like it and hell, it's one more week down!

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CC Attribution Noncommercial (BY-NC)

This reminds me so much of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. I really like the disorienting nature of this track! Weird and wonderful!

Wisefire wrote:

This reminds me so much of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. I really like the disorienting nature of this track! Weird and wonderful!

  Thanks!  I need to listen to some more Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.  It's kind of weird because I was actually looking at my music collection on my computer today and realized I somehow had two folders for them so I consolidated them into one while thinking I need to listen to them some more.  It must be some sort of sign from the universe!  smile

CosmicCairns wrote:

Thanks!  I need to listen to some more Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.  It's kind of weird because I was actually looking at my music collection on my computer today and realized I somehow had two folders for them so I consolidated them into one while thinking I need to listen to them some more.  It must be some sort of sign from the universe!  smile


hahah, awesome. If i might recommend one of their tracks, this one is probably one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DUEAG5eO6c

Wondereful use use of the echoing voice: controlled chaos. Adolph Hitler on Vibes, indeed!

Really great story smile The voice is a great recording... All in all i had the feeling of being lost on a foreign crowded airport while not knowing where my gate is...

Dude, this is really cool and fun. That field recording sounds really sweet. I love your write up on this. By the time I finish my tracks I'm always too lazy to explain my process. Thanks for sharing and excellent creative work!

WOW, it was getting a little hectic by the instrumentation. I wish I could have had the chance to analyze the womans speech, too. All together the track is a great freejazzy powerful jam beside a nice story.

Wisefire wrote:
CosmicCairns wrote:

Thanks!  I need to listen to some more Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band.  It's kind of weird because I was actually looking at my music collection on my computer today and realized I somehow had two folders for them so I consolidated them into one while thinking I need to listen to them some more.  It must be some sort of sign from the universe!  smile


hahah, awesome. If i might recommend one of their tracks, this one is probably one of my favorites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DUEAG5eO6c

  Thanks for the recommendation.  That's a fun track!



Jim Wood wrote:

Wondereful use use of the echoing voice: controlled chaos. Adolph Hitler on Vibes, indeed!

  Controlled chaos is a good term.  I might have to use that for a song title later this year...



theGuen wrote:

Really great story smile The voice is a great recording... All in all i had the feeling of being lost on a foreign crowded airport while not knowing where my gate is...

  That's a really good image for the track I think.  Foreign airports can be confusing!



cfurrow wrote:

Dude, this is really cool and fun. That field recording sounds really sweet. I love your write up on this. By the time I finish my tracks I'm always too lazy to explain my process. Thanks for sharing and excellent creative work!

  Some weeks I actually like this one I actually have an interesting story behind the track and then some weeks it's kind of like, um, here's a song I wrote.  If there is any kind of interesting back story I will try to share it!



Q-Rosh wrote:

WOW, it was getting a little hectic by the instrumentation. I wish I could have had the chance to analyze the womans speech, too. All together the track is a great freejazzy powerful jam beside a nice story.

  A part of me was wondering if I was starting to bury the woman's voice too much, but I will say it sounds almost exactly how it sounds at first all the way through.  But now you've got me thinking... maybe later this year I will build another completely different track around her voice just to see what happens!

This is a very cool track.
Love the story to it.
I am with theguen on the airport comparison smile

Nice. The story behind it is pretty cool, too.

Great improv! I like the story too. It shows that anything can become an inspiration and just by being receptive you can find the backbone for a nice track.

dj someguy wrote:

This is a very cool track.
Love the story to it.
I am with theguen on the airport comparison smile

  Maybe I should make my own music for airports ala Brian Eno!  smile



E-dub wrote:

Nice. The story behind it is pretty cool, too.

  Thanks!  Not every song has an interesting story, but I will try to share when there is one!





RawTicks wrote:

Great improv! I like the story too. It shows that anything can become an inspiration and just by being receptive you can find the backbone for a nice track.

  I'm trying to be more aware of things going on around me for sound capturing purposes.  Especially since we all pretty much have little recorders in our pockets these days and you never know where inspiration might strike.

Love that bassline and armchair rhythm. That's a great story too, I love moments like that! Totally sounds like an airport. Good job, another week donw! I gotta go check out Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band now too ...

That drumming is top tier.

miraclemiles wrote:

Love that bassline and armchair rhythm. That's a great story too, I love moments like that! Totally sounds like an airport. Good job, another week donw! I gotta go check out Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band now too ...



Devieus wrote:

That drumming is top tier.

  Thanks guys!  Yeah, I was kind of just using the armchair to figure out a rhythm and then I was just kind of why not just go with the chair itself?  It's always fun to use non--traditional sources of sound.

Great inspiration and story!  I too agree with the airport comparison smile  Suhweet chaotic sounds toward the end too.  Nice work!

Tone Matrix wrote:

Great inspiration and story!  I too agree with the airport comparison smile  Suhweet chaotic sounds toward the end too.  Nice work!

  Thanks!  It's funny because it wasn't in my mind at all when recording it, but now I'm totally hearing the airport thing, too.  smile

Ocarina of Time ... on acid! Crazy stuff dude, I like!

Podling wrote:

Ocarina of Time ... on acid! Crazy stuff dude, I like!

  It is fun to get a little crazy sometimes.  smile

Awesome story, thanks for sharing. The track feels weirdly groovy. Praise the ocarina.

Coauctor wrote:

Awesome story, thanks for sharing. The track feels weirdly groovy. Praise the ocarina.

  Thanks for listening!  I bought the ocarina on a whim but I do like how it sounds.  I'll have to incorporate it into some future tracks this year.

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