February Album Writing Month - FAWM.ORG

Ben Lowe (@musuko)

progress: 3

joined: January 25 2010
location: California, USA
website: www.cutthenoise.com
influences: half-handed cloud, starflyer 59, danielson, microphones, wilco, sufjan stevens, arcade fire, M83, manitoba, max tundra, the notwist, animal collective, panda bear

Bio

FAWM 2012 VIDEOS:
raise our hearts to you: http://youtu.be/hUL1l4mnIGk
dromedary: http://youtu.be/mrOB3boy0PA

This will be my third FAWM. I'm looking forward to some dedicated time to write a few songs. I've made the decision to make some kind of release with several songs that I've put together over the past two years, but I'm going to wait until after FAWM this year to make the final list. Then I'll try to sit down and really hash out some "better than a demo" quality versions of the tunes.

Also looking forward to collaborate a bit if I have time and utilize some of my newer Logic skills.

Oh and maybe shoot some video of stuff I do.

GEAR:

On the computer:
Logic, Renoise, and maybe a bit of Garageband

iPad:
For instruments, inspiration, songwriting, and all kinds of other stuff.

Ukulele:
Go to acoustic instrument.

Other stuff:
Korg Monotron and Monotribe for crazy sounds.
DIY stuff like amps and whatnot.
Danelectro '67 guitar (though I can't play it)
Acoustic guitar (also can't play it)
Various toys.

2012 Songs

1	raise our hearts to you	15 comments // 3 months ago
2	dromedary	9 comments // 3 months ago
3	heavy shovel	16 comments // 3 months ago

Soundboard

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mooingmenace 3 months ago

Yeah, they definitely sound a lot like The Unicorns. They just need some really awesome synths and some more uptempo songs and they'll be the same band (unless they did that already). The videos are great too.
rem80s 3 months ago

Thanks Ben, I appreciate the comment... I couldn't agree more, I think a lot of people are missing the point of the "noise-rock," but everyone is entitled to their opinion, haha... you got some great influences as well, I was going to list The Microphones as one of my influences but I thought not enough people knew about them.
toms 3 months ago

Thank you, Ben!
stevenwesleyguiles 3 months ago

I *think* the opening sound in that song is using Reason's "Subtractor" device. I don't know exactly what setting it was on. I just new I wanted something cool and low.
radioovermoscow 3 months ago

Thanks bro! It's not a vocoder - just a layered vocal, done to cover up the fact I'm hopeless at singing
mooingmenace 3 months ago

You should definitely check out Kino's Journey if you haven't already! It's not like Beck but it is absolutely brilliant. I haven't heard anything by The Islands and I couldn't find anything on youtube. Where can I find their stuff?

And I haven't played with many programs besides Fruity Loops and Ableton but I'm all for sticking with what you know. It's pretty crazy just how disorienting it is to open a new music making program. The last thing I tried was a tracker for NES music called "FamiTracker" and I have no idea how I'm supposed to make music longer than one loop.
theawkwardsleep 3 months ago

thanks for the kind words. love your sound. watchlisted as well.
johnnycashpoint 3 months ago

Thanks for the comment - the static is actually the Casio VL1 drum track, run through an overdrive VST then a dub reverb VST, with some manual L-R-L hard panning for the last 15 seconds or so.
mooingmenace 3 months ago

However, my favorite VST of all is this: http://illformed.org/plugins/glitch/

Oh man, that character limit is lame. I'm not sure if I was going to go on about anything else after that. Sorry for clogging up your soundboard.
mooingmenace 3 months ago

Also, I still adore his slightly earlier stuff. Zieg Mir, Rock N Roll, Disco Rangers, etc are all extremely solid tunes. And I LOOOVE "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?" in it's entirety. I haven't gotten around to extensively listening to the rest of The Unicorns discog (though I have it) so my other preferences are a bit scattered (Emasculate the Masculine and Peach Moon are really high on my list though.)

ANYWAY, I do still want to make a shoegaze dubstep song. I haven't gotten around to asking one the forums and I haven't listened to your stuff yet (let alone read your profile yet) so I don't know what you're all about. I use Ableton and I synthesize most of my sounds by sampling things I love, dropping them into Simpler, bringing the loop space down to a single wave, sometimes tuning it (sometimes it's too sporadic to tune) and then adding effects. Redux for bitcrushing and just their vocoder for white noise.
mooingmenace 3 months ago

I LOVE YOU (sorry you just got me really excited )
Beck is my favorite manga of all time. Have you read the entire thing or only watched the anime? Because maaannn it went on just long enough for me to really feel what they were going through, even if Chiba's was a little too whiny for a little too long. I love both though, I just wish it was popular enough/Madhouse was invested in it enough to adapt the entire thing.

I don't really like Skrillex anymore. The entirety of the Bangarang EP is awful and the Mothership tour was the most offensive thing I've ever attended. It was set up like an electronic 'concert' and there was nothing flashy until he came on stage with his lame "Skrillex Cell", only to be the WORST DJ I've ever had the displeasure of paying $50 to see. He played "All I Ask of You" three times and screwed up mixing into "Promises". BUT he is the reason I'm fixated on being a DJ and producing electronic music so I can't just neglect him as an influence.
emkeev 3 months ago

Thanks so very much for your thoughtful comment about the song that got away... maybe I'll re-post it. I agree that it has merits and I'm going to try again!
negasi 3 months ago

I have a MT-100 (it's currently not operational), the SK-1 and a radioshack keyboard which is apparently a repackaged Casio.
lazyafro 3 months ago

I'll check it out! And I know what you mean by having the "ear for chiptune." I use the "Magical 8-bit" plugin, which comes with the sounds pre-made, and they sound pretty close to what I'm going for. Good enough to get by, anyway
lazyafro 3 months ago

Thank you for your kind comments! I'm just using Garageband with an 8-bit plugin... I currently don't have the patience for tracking haha
vomvorton 3 months ago

Cheers for the comment on Face Like an Android - the backing vocals have a bit of this on them, as well as reverb and EQ: http://www.voxengo.com/product/stereotouch/

Sounds pretty tasty on acoustic guitars / ukes, too!
mattblick 3 months ago

Thanks for the positive comment Ben. I've only heard one Bazan song but will be checking him out soon!
tiedyehero 3 months ago

You're welcome and thanks for you comment too. I appreciate it.