breaks

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Typhoon

The center of the storm.

Karl D
Typhoon - Multi-Store Link

Originally released 10 years ago, “Typhoon” was essentially a standalone release. This was always a favorite due to the “fast but slow” nature of this track.

I always saw this as an “imperfect” track, in part due to the unique soundset from the Kaossilator Pro. The loops were recorded and then were sequenced with Ableton. This was an interesting constraint due to an implicit amount of imprecision with recording, which took a few takes.

Like many of my other favorites, the constraints give the track a lot of life, and imperfections are what makes it memorable. “Typhoon” is a track well-deserving of this re-release, just in time for hurricane season.

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Dawn of the Dread

Scary big basslines.

Karl D

Dawn of the Dread - Multi-Store Link

The original “Dawn of the Dread” came out in 2015, but was re-released in this single in 2021.

I wanted to have the remix in time for a Halloween 2020 release (which would have put it at about 5 years to the day after the original), but it just didn’t happen. After getting a little more time to bake, the remix gave this slow-roller breakbeat track some “oomph” with a proper drum & bass remix.

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Abyss

The downward spiral.

Karl D
Abyss - Multi-Store Link

Deep, moody dubstep. This is a dramatic piece which goes a lot of different directions, but ultimately is driven by the heavy bassline.

The electric piano was the last addition to the track, but has become the glue putting the whole thing together.

The remix adds some pace for a slightly different vibe.

FREE!

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life.refactored

A total album remix of life.remixed.

Karl D

Just a little over 6 years ago, I released life.remixed. Similar to what I was able to do for Existential Funk, I wanted to somehow update the release for it’s 5th anniversary.

I’ve been working on this for almost 2 years now, and today I am ready to release this “special edition” of life.remixed: life.refactored.

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Into the Void

Going forward means leaving something else behind.

Karl D
Into the Void - Multi-Store Link

As a young child, I read a children’s book which covered a number of natural and scientific topics. There is a part which particularly interested me which talked about the death of our Sun, to occur in 5 billion years. I would read this again and again until I was overcome with dread. Looking back this is probably a bit ghastly of a topic for 5-year old readers. As an adult, I have maintained a fascination with space, and find myself with a similar fixation on black holes.

Into the Void is presented as a concept EP in two parts, with a vision of travelling a great distance from Earth to a black hole. Starting from the excitement of beginning a journey, this moves to feelings of dread and timelessness near the end.

FREE!

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pseudorandom

Beats by the pound.

Karl D

The “random beats” series (the namesake of this site) was a collection of Karl D productions which were intended to be a more stripped-down standard of music production than full length albums and single releases. This series spanned 61 tracks across 5 volumes, at 2 hours, 30 minutes of music. Although the domain name preceded the series, it provided the inspiration for the nameless tracks, focusing on the music itself.

pseudorandom is a curated collection of the series, focusing on 14 standout productions (according to yours truly). The release of this compilation offers these tracks in the highest quality ever available.

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Existential Funk

The original epic that started it all.

Karl D

2008 marked the year of Karl D’s debut commercial album, Existential Funk. The album is a diverse mix of minimal techno, drum and bass, trance, breakbeat, trip-hop, and house.