Timescale: Volume 3: Hierarchy 2: (Arrival: Weeks, Days)

Starting on the 21st of February, I decided to race myself to my own album release by writing and recording another EP in that time

Tracks go from most egregious, offensive, crass, abrasive, to most fun. Reverse order listening is for descent into madness, forwards listening is POV.



Real time entirely unedited notes:
Particle Dust and Wanderlust(?)
Metal EP:

Tuesday February 21st until March 1st at midnight. Much how chemical fires are merely a single unfortunately timed spark, what was supposed to be a harmless happy Birthday for a friend became busting out the 7 string guitar, became a challenge. That’s right. It’s been a fake Christmas present all along. I said one album March 1st,

(Cont. Feb 23)
and it originally WAS one album, but now, it’s a big release party!

(Return to Feb 23rd)
It’s nearly impossible to ironically make music. I can’t not be excited about what I find myself working on. This is the feeling I remember, and yet, I’ve just invented!

I wanted to prove something simple to myself, that I could just make that style of music easily. Instead? WOW is this FUN!

Here’s as much music as I could possibly cram into a week, to the detriment of literally everything else, particularly sleep. I have accidentally learned that it’s impossible to make music that doesn’t sound like yourself as long as you set aside time to truly see it done.

(Feb 24th)
I’ve now managed to bite off significantly more than I can chew. I’m too much of a fastidious perfectionist to let stuff slide, and so I go back to fix things a little bit at a time. The total workload increases all too quickly, and I’m left having to try and smash everything together. It’s all rushed, but I guess that’s the point…

This started in such a dark place, and now it’s so much fun I can’t wait to keep going. I really did end up on the other side of whatever this blockage thing is.

Damn you February for being the shortest freaking month.

Also: I’d like to thank Derek Holdsworth for being such a badass. On the track, he is nothing short of miraculous. But, particularly, in talking about trading guitar lessons for running and training sessions, we talked about how being a metal vocalist is just a matter of doing it, getting out there, and believing it. “I only feel that way on the track” was his response. For 1: absolute chills. Oooh ya. But, secondly, 2: Why don’t I just *do that too?* Exposure Therapy of the highest degree. It’s fun to walk on stage at a dingy bar open mic night and bomb, just to say you did.
(Hi! Tristan From the Future here! Holy Hell is this some exposure therapy. I never have to listen to my own voice this much, but I sure did wing it. And you know what? That’s what’s on the record)


It’s baffling just how many styles of metal there are.

I found myself hearing so many
(Hi! future Tristan here, not sure where this was headed)


Send messages if you read this far. Okie dokie.

Oh boy is it late. It’s 4am once again here.


(Feb 25th:)
Wowowoww!!! I just recorded some of the best guitar solos I’ve ever put to “tape.” Hmph. I should do this more often.

Okay this project is too rich with ideas and there’s too many things happening in this track. I’m going to shelve this one for another date because I think I’ve accidentally made music that needs much more time than the smidgenesque epoch-ito I’ve allotted myself. It’s still just the 25th. I can make 3 more silly songs that aren’t deeply - seriously - all-consuming;


(Feb 26th)
Time to fix the holes in these few small ideas.

Okay. I kinda cheated here. One of these songs is from high school. I realized I’d spent 2 days working on something that’s JUST TOO much to put into this for this week. On a nice long walk I asked myself what I’d like to accomplish with this “album,” and it’s just a fun project. I shouldn’t be stressed about it, each of these should be FUN things I made in a day. I already stretched myself a little thin with “Lifetime by sunrise.” So it’s just things I made in a single day. Hence the bonus track, hence May 26th 2016. To be fair, I did make that in a day, only a great many years ago. It fits in the style and yet it’s just marginally worse due to the *many years* of improvement in between.
(Hi! Future Tristan Here again. If you BUY the album it’s a bonus track! Remastered n all!)
(HI!! Future Future Tristan. What would be the point of THAT?! We’re tryna move on from holding onto the past!!)

Now it’s evening of the 26th. Another *near complete song here with some of my absolute favorite shapes I’ve put to recording. I think this is working out so well. I can feel that sense of sharpness and urgency returning in real time with the focus that’s gone into making completed contained thoughts.
‘
Maybe that revised breakdown [in Corrosion Compactor (future Tristan Names the song)] is a bit gratuitous, but I certainly won’t be much happier with this than that


These Strange technical difficulties of my computer overheating because it’s running so many amp simulation tracks is going to make my head completely melt. I swear to all that is as holey as Swiss cheese.


Okay. 2 hours later. I think I’m gonna miss the 12 hour mark on this track today. My butt is sore from sitting here for so long. Now that it’s 12:30 I’m gonna have my first meal of the day.. whoops.. didn’t go on a run either, but I definitely have leveled up in the music department :) I love the feeling of palpably growing. Also, when you focus on one thing, you can truly hone your whole brain into it.

I named the riff in the middle of this song Tappy, and wouldn’t you know it, the bearer of that nomenclature is the oh so wonderful Michael Tappel. Not sure if this is his cup of tea but I thought of him!

Pancake break.


OKAY!!! It’s 3AM! I am going to RESOLVE to PUT THIS FINAL SONG ON THE ALBUM! Earlier I was out loud to myself debating whether to say these riffs are to be recycled at a later date. To think I could make music this week I can’t make later is clinging to the billowing inexistent future. There’s infinitely more time later than there is now. I just have some simple open streamy chords and I played one of the best solos I have ever recorded. To think I need to “save this” because It will be better later feels like I don’t believe in myself to do it again. “This time IS the time.” It’s precisely that fear that’s stopped me from releasing or making music in the last 3 years, and why “Sandwiches from Vertical Strangers” took a year to put together, and then I waited ANOTHER YEAR! No. Tappy’s Revenge was one sitting, and thus, I’ll finish this song with a day to spare, and then tie up loose ends and print all my final tracks. AHEM!!! The race is ON!!!!



(Feb 27th 4:30pm. 31.5 hours till drop)
COOL I just spent 2 HOURS tracking ONE Part of this song on bass. (For future reference, Imma call it “this song” until it has a name and it’ll be the longest one on the album). At THIS rate I should have a thermonuclear meltdown and spend my last few stem cells regrowing longer femurs to get out of here just that much quicker. No matter! I’ll just have another big bowl of something or other to eat and… hmmm… I’ve neglected to put food in the fridge I see…

Taco break. Wrote lyrics for Corrosion Compactor at the taco joint and recorded the vocals in one sitting because I wanted to come up with another name for a vocalist. Procrastination is key. Especially if you give yourself no options other that do

Kicking the can down the road


….


God damn.

Midnight. Album photo shoot done.



Can you Tell I’m dreading working on this?




Too much time to know what to do with. Too much stuff to know what to do with? To many books to know how to read. Too many toys to know which to play with. Too many things to do with one thing to sit me down in one place. Particle dust? Wanderlust? Attention. Inattention. Drafts. Drifts.

Per my aforementioned meltdown, ^^ que entrance music. I think it sounds like the solo on Corrosion Compactor.

Shhhhh don’t tell anyone I’m still editing music for the ACTUAL album Collecting to Remember. Procrastinate procrastinate procrastinate procrastinate. Good thing nothing else in my life is like this. Hm… Is that something I’m supposed to learn? Things were looking so good now.

I’ve decided now on including the bonus track on “Collecting.” Some of you will find it by buying it. I’m glad I did, because it fits right in.

Printing Music. Printing masters. Printing music. Printing masters. The sun’ll come up soon.

IDEA strikes.
Remember how earlier I said this idea was too good to not use? Too good… to use (((?)?)!!)
“Do you ever have those moments where you find yourself sitting, staring out a pane of glass, and suddenly it hits you, IM DRIVING!!!” - John Mullaney
Where… is the logic in that?! I never accused myself of being logical, or rational, but I certainly thought I’d think with my brain at least once. Here we are now. Right as things should be. Well that was a weird 4 hours. Hmmmmmm. We’re back to life and I had to see myself through the oddity of whatever that was back there. It’s 5am on the 28th. The album is done. We’ve explored patience, darkness, self doubt, rebirth, joy, fun, laughter, pixelation, silliness, screaming hard enough to taste blood, Loving how some of my vocals sound, Listening to the sound of anger turn to distress turn to laughter, hating how my voice sounds, the act of moving forward, acceptable thresholds of imperfection, the sheer existence of anything at all, pancakes, rollerblading, 5 birthday songs, and finding out just how much I love music. I love it. I love it in a way that I have never loved it before. I don’t know if I’ve ever played where I am this freely uninhibited. I love it here. I love it all.

Now you have a fun album to listen to, or not to, some notes to read, or to not to. There’s no rules. Only bikes and guitars and
[Future Tristan here, I don’t know where this was going, and I don’t need to]

Goodbye and Thanks for all the Fish.