I didn't think I'd have anything to show you guys today. While I thought the beats portion of this endeavour would be relatively easy, I was struggling today. My vision was to take a 150BPM percussion loop and layer it over 75BPM beats but it kept on sounding all dubstep (which I have nothing against but I was going for a kind of tripped-out Led Zeppelin groove).
Eventually, I came up with this (which could be my favourite beat so far - but I still have mixed feelings about it):
Marching to Hardbeats
Marching to Hardbeats MP3 by M. O'Neill
I actually had a lot of trouble finishing this one. I had the snare pattern (a four-bar loop in 3/4, courtesy of Battery 3's Full Kit) and the kicks (a one-bar loop in 4/4, courtesy of - yet again - Battery 3's Turntable Rocker Kit) but nothing I came up with to build on it seemed to work. I tried a lot of chopped-up vocal and beatbox kits before eventually settling on the handclaps (4 bar loop, 4/4, Battery 3's Hip Hop Kit) and, after a great deal more experimentation, Battery 3's West Africa Kit (4 bar loop, 4/4).
A part of me still feels it's missing something but I don't want to clutter it much more (and I do enjoy the interplay between the two time signatures). I almost want to add a tambourine but I feel that will make it too World Music and I'm trying very hard not to lean too far in that direction. As silly as it may sound, I want to make hip hop informed by other cultures - not hip hop of other cultures (even for no other reason than the fact that I have little familiarity with them and would no doubt fuck it up royally). Anyway, we'll see what happens.
(Oh yeah, the title is a reference to the Cult of Luna song of the same name. Cult of Luna are an incredible band. Their Salvation and Somewhere Along The Highway albums are still some of my favourite records of all time. Check them out.)
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