AfP: Collaboration number 10 (!) with Susy! I'm so very lucky to do this each year. I started a sort of maximalist industrial electronic track very early in Feb and immediately realised I had no idea what to sing over it... so I threw that hot potato/mess to the other side of the world to see if Susy could come up with something. And come up with something she absolutely did! We definitely embraced the madness with this one. Thank yoooooou Susy. This was an absolute bastard to mix, but fairly happy with the end result. I have just messaged Susy the title suggestion but she hasn't read it yet so I'm doing the respectful thing of.. just posting it anyway. Ta-da!
Susy; I’m A Ok with the name! Wonderful to collab again with this master - yikes didn’t envy him mixing my zillion of vocal tracks!
I had just listened to a podcast about nuclear waste warnings for future civilisations - as well as about birds forgetting their own songs as their species die out…. feeling a bit misanthropic. But also wondered if the antidote is compassion, for yourself and then others, the planet etc. Anyways hopefully a lil light in the darkness!
Thanks Ad again for another aural adventure, it’s always fun!
This place is a message.. pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor. Nothing valued is here. What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours. The danger is to the body, and it can kill. The form of the danger is an emanation of energy. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.
Hating on my humans
I am not proud of my people
the ants go marching one by one off the cliff
block your ears oh block your ears
David Attenborough
cannot make it better
shut up cos it hurts my eyes
what’s the antidote
to this apathy
that would make us listen to this wise?
all the little birds
forget how to sing
as we carry on burning
ten thousand years what will be left behind
what will survive?
floating space toxic waste
plastic artifacts and neon cats
hating on my humans
I am not proud of my people
the ants go marching one by one off the cliff
block your ears oh block your ears
human find the kindness
learn to love your people
I am the swarm, I am the bee
you are the wave, you are the sea
@danvaillancourt Mar 2022
This is great. Artsy, ambient, experimental and dynamic. I love the various shifts of feel and tone throughout. The vocal effects are great and ranging from spoken word to various deliveries and treatments works well. The ending stanza leaves me with some hop at the end. Fantastic collab.
@hanley Mar 2022
EPIC! You two have made some big loud wacky tracks in the past, but I think this one could have taken that up a notch!
I listened to that same podcast, so the intro particularly is visually vivid.
So much grit and grime in this, very well done to have created a great balance of sounds/tones whilst letting Susy's vocals shine through (yes all of them). Is your vocals in there Ad? Or are you just too polite to turn them up a bit?
Love that ascending chord progression with the chopped up vocals, and huge drop with the organs and 'acoustic' drums. A powerful and positive message for all of humanity!
@leepat Mar 2022
i can’t help feeling Bjork would have wanted more synth bass and djshadow more jungle beats ;)
great work guys!
@loveonamixtape Mar 2022
DAAAnnnnng love the dark, slightly ominous atmosphere here and there is SO much going on! Vocals sound great, that flute bit is awesome, so many great touches. Love how it pulls back around the 3min mark and then blasts off again 30 sec later and with the cymbals and synths and that beautiful haunting vocal dancing on top of it through the ending.
@balancelost Mar 2022
Crumbs! This is so in my face it's hitting the back of my skull. It's an electro behemoth. Haha it definitely sounds like you leaned into the madness. Susy's voice is always amazing and the mash of vocals and those gargantuan synths is bombastic in the extreme. The flute made me laugh when it came in; as welcome as it was unexpected.
@sailingmagpie Mar 2022
What an absolute beast of a track! Everything is spot on about this - the super dark intro, the punchy low end, the fantastic vocals, that fute solo(!). Hating our stupid species has never sounded so good!
@mikedebenham Feb 2022
This is a monster. So many great things. The slightly alien word phrasing in the intro. The layer of gauzy muck over Suzy's vocals in the alternating verses. The huge build. The message. Love it.
@paulh1237 Feb 2022
Aaah that David Attenborough section is such a lovely melody, an birdsong sort of quality. Some of the harmonies and layers here are just superb. When it all crashes in at 3.30min mark with that synth ooh it was powerful stuff. Those last two lines are amazing! Love this.
@tangle Feb 2022
Mindblowing!!! What a collab! The flute before Attenborough section is so lovely and 3:02 to the end is the best thing I've heard all year. Those synthy walkdowns and chopped vocals into the climax at the end AHHH. So powerful. I'm a huge fan of you both so what a treat to hear your genius brains together. Love the line "I am the swarm, I am the bee you are the wave, you are the sea".
@shortdan Feb 2022
Blimey, this really is layered! I'm not remotely surprised this was tricky to mix. Strikes me as the sort of thing you've just got to decide is done at some point or you'll keep tweaking forever! Definitely a bit different to any of your previous collabs. The change-up 2/3 of the way through with the chopped up vocal is superb and a proper 'hell yeah' moment and then when the main vocal kicks back in it raises the whole thing to the next level. Worth all the effort this, really excellent work.
@davidbreslin101 Feb 2022
Sounds like a fascinating blend of blissed-out J-pop and Goth apocalyptic opera.... the bitter and the sweet together have a real kick to them.
@judypie Feb 2022
Well y’all know I love bonkers, and this is it! Gosh, how those pipes make me want to frolic! This is a dire warning for sure but.. is it just me who is looking forward to having neon cats?! :p This feels SO expansive and there’s so much to take in, amazing work on wrangling it all and making it sound so wonderful guys.
@vomvorton Feb 2022
Wow, this is huge and noisy! And bleak times infinity! Of all the songs tagged "muzak" this FAWM, this one probably fits the tag least. A truly awesome track, in the traditional awe-inspiring sense - feels like sitting too close to the speaker while this was playing might take off a layer of skin. Erm... in a good way.
@lenigmusx1 Feb 2022
Wow… first the message seems so pointed with the what we are on the precipice of globally. It is quite chilling to me that Chernobyl is the back drop for this authoritarian aggression. I am sorry that I relate your song to world events but that’s what it did for me.
In the end the fact that nature and beauty seem to win out is nice and hopeful. The kindness and compassion are the key! Humanism is the only political philosophy that matters.
The song is stunning and a crazy journey. Amazing landscapes and beautiful vocals. Is that crackling pink noise suppose to be radiation permeating the environment? Wow
@kendrakinsey Feb 2022
What a cool piece! Do you like Janelle Monae? This reminds me of her kind of theme songs. The voice sounds great and the instrumentation is so complex, I’m sure it was complex to mix but it sounds so amazing! And susyblue’s voice sounds great nestled in the sound. Gosh it’s just so cool all around, I love love the ending lyrics!— nice work yous guys
@jimdgreen Feb 2022
Wow, this sounds massive! It must have been fun/a challenge to mix. Feel this need a mid film montage to go with it!
@unpronounceable Feb 2022
I stopped what I was doing because I really wanted to listen to this. There's some really beautiful lyrics here: "all the little birds
forget how to sing
as we carry on burning ", "I am the swarm, I am the bee
you are the wave, you are the sea". As always, excellent production. I love how you've treated the vocals. This feels like a masterpiece to me. A lot of conflicting feels inside of this musically and through lyrics. Great ending. Great collaboration guys. I hope you're both well.