48 DESPONDENT CLOWN RAP [120309]

Hello, December.

Download 48_Despondent_Clown_Rap_120309.mp3

Download 48_Despondent_Clown_Rap_RADIO_120309.mp3

Almost done

Four more to go. It's insane. It's to the point where I barely remember having made any songs prior to week 40. In fact, I barely remember having made last week's song.

Starting next week, I'll start releasing some mini-mixtapes of 52pickup tracks, categorized by my own whimsy. I'm thinking, for starters: Best Beats; Best Rapping; Wierdest; Funniest; and perhaps Songs I Hate and Refuse to Listen To. Perhaps you will help me by circulating these among your friend-groups.

As for the future of this site, it is up in the air. Without question, it will remain up as a part of the intertube. No doubt about that. What I have not decided is whether or not I will continue to post content here. It seems sensible to move all rotating content over to father-abraham.com - and maybe to start using that site a little more, as well - and to leave this up as a mini-monument to my year of work. Thoughts? Let me know how you want me to keep in touch, and I'll do it.

All this aside, it seems that the pace of my work will continue unabated with production gigs, collaborations, and more solo releases. I plan to start dealing in the 5-song EP. I'm going to clean up my studio and start working again on January 12. No rest for the wicked.

The song

The second verse is very strong. Perhaps one of the strongest of the year. I feel like I'm right behind the beat, but snappy at the same time. Unfortunately, it follows the first verse, which I don't so much like. It turned out to be quite difficult for me to rap over the sparseness of the Farfisa pads and the syncopated kick drums.

I took a risk here by not layering any supplementary kick drums under the drum loop. I was experimenting with letting the synth dominate the low end - usually I let my kick drums do that work - while the super-compressed kick drum in the loop pushed air but didn't really generate a whole lot of "thump." Not sure what I think of it just yet. Only time will tell.

The most positive part of this song, I think, is that I finally got my vocal sound right. I have been doing my own mixes since week 41 and have had trouble getting my vocals the way I like them - too often they have a lot of mid range and now enough low end (which makes sense, since I dislike the low scoop in my voice). This time, I captured that nice, gritty chest-part* of my voice and it really helped it jump out from the mix. The delays might be a bit overwhelming, but I dig them.

*Yes, chest-part.

Links


Christian Side Hugs. What the fuck. Thanks, Rick.

Don't throw tantrums.

@bobochimp

@sexiberlusconi

Ostentatious spending is out in!

Song details: Mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East, Cambridge MA.