Oh the tragedy! So maybe I in fact have neglected my blog for a little while now. The fact is, social media like FB and Twitter have made sharing things so quick and easy that I often tinker around there and don’t take the time to write on my blog, namely because I can’t write worth a damn in the first place.
So, that all aside, I am unbelievably proud to introduce the newest album from BitPusher simply titled “Who Is BitPusher?” This is very obviously not my first album release, so why such a title?
I was thoroughly proud of Digital Bass 2017 and everything that went into it. Such tedious efforts were directed towards the mixing and mastering of that audio, and it was a big step forward for me in terms of writing music. This new album however is not just another step, but a massive leap! It all started with some online tinkering. Frankly, I had no motivation to begin another album after the last one, nor did I have any plans in mind. Later in 2017, I was online just reading some tech news and I found an article about the revival and clone of Fasttracker II. I had never used anything like that in the past as my only experience with trackers was overcoming my irrational fear of that style of music making and learning LSDJ. Little Sound DJ is wonderful, but it is a small environment compared to the bigger computer based softwares right? Nonetheless, I began playing around with this and a couple others. I was becoming interested but then after more messing around I discover MilkyTracker, a sample based tracker that is it’s own animal but a clone of FT2 nonetheless. Something about it was outstanding. I actually started falling in love because yes, I did watch a tutorial series on YouTube, but still, it really fit like a glove. Something about the process and entire workflow of Milkytracker just worked for me. So then it began!
So many more channels, so many capabilities, and just (from my view) jaw dropping mountains of sounds and instruments out there. I can take the sound of a single key press from a given synthesizer or piano and turn my entire keyboard into said instrument. This boggles my mind. It also requires me to literally write my entire song, even if the notation might not technically be correct on the real keyboard vs the (what I assume) note bending that occurs from doing things this way, but between that ability and the massive number of channels available to me, it felt like the fucking flood gates were blown away! The more I played with this, the more free musically I felt. Think about it. Going from making my non 8-bit stuff with Nanoloop to THIS….big big deal for me.
So if you read all of this rambling, now maybe the new album’s title makes sense. This new album is in every way 100% ME. Every sound, every note, every second is there because I put it there. I will not use pre-built loops and things of that nature folks, so when I talk about sample libraries I mean sounds, not sequences. It was also fun getting practice with so much layering. I still used recorded things from Nanoloop to import however, because frankly I absolutely ADORE sub-bass that is generated thru digital FM synthesis. So anyway, the TITLE. The musical incarnation of the human being behind or that is “BitPusher” is in this music. In my very twisted and perhaps absurd mindset, I have poured emotions and even pieces of my core being into some of this music, expressing feelings of joy and extreme sorrow, anger, and good moods, depending on the song. Musically, there is always my affinity for not being locked into one subgenre or style, but everything has far better writing and composition than any of my past work. Indeed I have never felt so uninhibited. It is because of all these things that I named this album what it is. Does any of that make sense? It’s OK by the way, you know, if you think my music sucks, and all of this is a waste of time and effort. On the other hand, I would gamble that if anyone anywhere ever picked up on my music and decided they liked something I did, this album would contain that one song. Extreme BASS as always, and just 100% me being me.
Another set of related updates; my website has been updated, and something super-fun for me; I have a distributor now! I mean yes, all of my music is on Bandcamp, some stuff is on Soundcloud, and there is always the option to buy a purely lossless and original retail manufactured CD, but I have moved it forward a little more because now, I am on iTunes and Apple Music, Google Play, Spotify, Tidal, and many others! My music is available everywhere, and when I say everything, I do mean everything, even the Atari stuff from 2010. In short; this is awesome. I don’t have any crazy dreams of becoming rich and famous, indeed my music is far too niche and even I don’t feel I’m exactly a “talented” musician. Also, as a whole, the crank it up generation has kind of passed and bass music is kind of dead nowadays. Still, if even one person somewhere hears one tune I write and thinks “holy shit this is sick!” then I’m one thrilled human.
So, thanks for tuning into a long ramble from yours truly. I hope you guys and gals in the chip world, the bass world, and the general nerds with trackers world might like something from this new album. It really felt good to feel so free.
See ya!
–BitPusher
bitpusher2600.wordpress.com 