broken vape
By MAXELL XL3 on March 22, 2026 12:59 pm
That’s the story behind this track:
My daughter plays violin in an orchestra of young musicians. They are very ambitious and regularly create additional projects such as films and live performances. Their latest film, “Protectors of the Earth,” is a statement about peace and awareness, highlighting the beauty of our planet as something truly precious. You can really feel that spirit in one of their performances, where they gave a concert on a mountaintop in Bulgaria.
This week, she invited a handful of her friends from the group over to our house for a good meal. When they discovered my musical instruments in the basement and bedroom, there was no stopping them — they immediately started playing and jamming together. It was wonderful to see this generation lose themselves in classical music. They are incredibly talented.
As I listened, I felt the urge to record the moment somehow. But the only device available at the time was an old Grundig TK145 tape machine with a Grundig GDM311 microphone. The reel that was already loaded — containing classical music — was simply overdubbed for this purpose. I placed the microphone on the floor between the piano and the cellist. Behind her, the violinist was a bit too far away to be captured with the right presence, but the atmosphere of the room and the audience came through quite well.
What I didn’t realize, however, was that the machine’s rubber belts were struggling with the tape. The recording ended up full of extreme wow and flutter — it almost sounds as if the reel is about to stop or fall apart. It was heartbreaking, because they played so beautifully, with emotion, soul, and remarkable skill.
So I had to find another way to preserve the essence of that evening. My idea was to build a kind of sonic “cage” around the recording, using a solid beat and allowing imperfect, detuned sounds to appear and disappear within it. The beat itself is a reinterpretation of a track by my band Bergheim 34 from 1999, called “New Ground.”
Now that it’s finished, I have to admit: it’s an experimental piece, not exactly radio-friendly or commercial. But that’s precisely why it belongs here on Weeklybeats — among listeners who truly appreciate this kind of work.
Audio works licensed by author under:
CC Attribution Noncommercial No Derivative Works (BY-NC-ND)
