Archive for the ‘Music’ Category

Karl D – Foresight

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Posted 05 Jan 2011 — by karl
Category Music

This track was stagnant for quite some time before I took some advice from a Doctor who told me that “Slow is Better”. (Sorry if this looks like a plug.  I really do like that commercial!  Step off! :) )

What started as a hardcore-sounding trance tune lost about 40 BPM to become a much more glitchy trip hop jam.

I’m feeling very comfortable with the 110-BPM tempo right now.  Another favorite of mine is the remix of Evening, which has a similar tempo.

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Karl D – Foresight

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Karl D – Dum Spiro Spero

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Posted 03 Jan 2011 — by karl
Category Music

The title is Latin, and might as well be called “The one that has a name I can’t remember”.

This production is raw, dirty, and admittedly busy.  At first I wanted this to sound cleaner as a whole, but I think it sounds good with a little dirt on it.  The contrast between the general grit of the track with the clean, ethereal synth providing the chords was very interesting to me.  That kind of contrast has been fundamental to several key productions of mine over the years, so this track in a way felt like a “return to my roots”.

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Karl D – Dum Spiro Spero

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Lasgo – Alone(Karl D Remix)

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Posted 02 Jan 2011 — by karl
Category Music

Much to my own surprise, I’m going to have some fresh content coming for you soon.  This remix from 2003 or so should hold you over until then:

I’ve never tried to distance myself from Eurodance music.  I’m big on the classics, like La Bouche and N-Trance, but Lasgo was one of the more relevant “nu-skool” Eurodance artists of the 2000s.  I’m really into several of their big hits.

During my concurrent(and ongoing) fascination with Hard House, I did this remix of “Alone”, one of my most favorite Lasgo tracks.   I made the decision to only include part of the vocals which I felt were really the core of the song.  There’s some very technical Hoover riffs as well as some revised instrumentation on the main melody, both of which I really wanted to be the stars of the show.

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Lasgo – Alone(Karl D Remix)

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Karl D – Penitence

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Posted 28 Nov 2010 — by karl
Category Music

Last one for Artifice, and it’s an epic one.

“Penitence” clocks in around 7 and a half minutes long, just about the longest I ever remember doing.  Of course, length by itself can never make the song.  Similar to both “3rd Level Down” and “The Exchange“, this track is deeply saturated in trip-hop essentials. There’s a point about midway where the tempo drops from the steady 95 bpm throughout the song down to a crawl.  I really thought this was a good way to isolate some of the elements and explore the emptiness of the sounds(in this case, a good thing, I think).  Certainly a pensive track which fits the title as well as the overall theme of the album.  I hope you can find as much meaning in the album as a whole as I’ve injected into it.  That said, the compilation is now available for your downloading pleasure in the Downloads section.

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Karl D – Penitence

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Karl D – Takedown

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Posted 10 Nov 2010 — by karl
Category Music

Slowly but surely, the Artifice EP is coming to a close.  After this one, I plan for one more track to complete this mini-album.

There is a common theme among this collection of tracks, which wasn’t my initial intention when publishing “3rd Level Down“, but by the release of track 2, a cohesive concept for the EP had been formed. I’d rather not discuss the unifying concept among these tracks, but rather you listened to them and took your own understanding from the body of work as a whole.   My guess is that you may draw a different meaning than what is my central intention, and yet that’s what thrills me the most about the meaning of music as a form of communication.  Our own perspectives shape the meaning of the piece.

“Takedown” justifies it’s title with tough wobbling basslines and forceful drums.  This dubstep slammer is decidedly menacing, which you may find generally inconsistent with the sum of my work as a whole.

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Karl D – Takedown

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Karl D – Trackdown

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Posted 13 Oct 2010 — by karl
Category Music

Track 3 from the Artifice EP is “Trackdown”.  The pads in the background bring the anxiety level way up, and the insistent bass bounces along through most of the track.  Like much of the techno work I produce, there are only subtle changes to the mix over time; but where someone else might see minimal techno as pointless and thin, I see exciting buildups and thrill.

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Karl D – Trackdown

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Karl D – Sinister

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Posted 19 Sep 2010 — by karl
Category Music

What do you call it when low-bit and dubstep collide?  Dub-bit?  Bit-step?

This track will be part of an upcoming EP, entitled Artifice, that will also include “3rd Level Down“.  Expect a few more tracks to be released before the full album will be included in the Free Downloads section.

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Karl D – Sinister

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Karl D – 3rd Level Down

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Posted 13 Aug 2010 — by karl
Category Music

I’m proud and excited to present this just-finished production to you.

“3rd Level Down” is a dark, illbient-style trip-hop experience. Slow to build up, this track has a definite apex as all the elements come together to make this track very moody and dramatic.

Those who are clever and informed enough may infer that the title’s inspiration comes from Inception. I’d be lying if I said the movie wasn’t an influence; in fact, the basics of this track were put down only minutes after I saw the film.

Enjoy a free download of this song below the player!

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Karl D – 3rd Level Down

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