Jikkenteki

12/8 as a time signature is just a way to write 4/4 with 16th note triplets without putting the term "triplet" into the notation. When I was in music school one of my instructors liked to say that 12/8 was basically the "musical snobs way to notate 4/4 16th note triplets". There are numerous alternative ways to notation just about anything time signature-wise, but I was taught that it makes more sense to go with the simplest and clearest version. I will guarantee that 99 out of a 100 dance music artists writing pieces like this in their software are using 4/4 with triplet quantization and not 12/8. For my tracks not in 4/4 (that I can remember off hand) The Long Walk Home: Something New 5/4 Stepping Forward 7/4 Flights of Infinity: Symplicity 15:07 - 19:16 section is in 5/4 The End of the End is in a cycle of 3 measures of 6/4 and one measure of 8/4 The Beginning is at the End: Self Destructing Mechanism is in 5/4 until 7:49, after which it is in 4/4 As mentioned already, Ubar Tmar makes a lot of use of non-standard time signatures. Simon Posford does on occasion as well, although more so in Shpongle than his other projects ("...And the Day Turned to Night", among others, is in 7), in addition to his slick shifts between straight sixteen notes and triplet 16th notes and vis-versa in 4/4 time signatures.

No I'm not... er... wait?

Check your inbox. There are two different versions of the CD with two different track listings. The original was a privately printed affair that the organizer of the event sold fairly well. They made a reprint with proper distribution and a few of the artists wanted out of that one and the track listing changed some. As for my track, it is actually one of my older tracks, pre-dating the first album, but it stayed in my live sets pretty much until I was forced to quit performing and always went down pretty well.

I can understand both sides of the proverbial coin as I hate the waste factor as well. On the other hand, my closets are loaded with boxes of PAR-2 releases and while we might like to move them, the fact of the matter is that no one is buying. The only release that came close to selling out was our first compilation (I.E. the earliest one made). The next best seller was my first album but I still have 500 copies of that sitting in boxes next to me. Things progressively get worse with our last compilation selling almost nothing and being pretty much unsellable due to the "distribution" deal we got through a shop with those. We never got a cent back on that one and again boxes and boxes of them siting around. The end situation is we haven't sold a copy of anything in years and any money anyone has offered me for the remaining stock is completely lost in the costs involved in shipping the things internationally (I.E. we have to pay to give them away). Basically for all intent and purposes it is a waste of money to try and move them anymore and it is a waste of space to keep them. We loose either way so in the end they will eventually just all be thrown out. Such is the cost of doing business unsuccessfully ...

I believe I have told this story in the past, but several years ago I was at a party and after a live set was approached by an individual who expressed his appreciation of my music and continued to babble on about how much he liked it and all and often listened to it at home, for which I thanked him. Then he proceeds to ask me what drugs I take when I write music. I told him I don't and never have taken drugs and they don't hold any appeal to me. He laughed and then reassured me that it was ok to tell him the truth because he wanted to make music too and really wanted to know what drugs I took to make the music I make. I again told him I don't and have never done drugs period. Again he laughed and said I could stop joking now. This exchanged continued for a few minutes until he finally realized that I was indeed dead serious that I do not and never have done drugs ever. Once this sunk in, he got belligerent, and starts yelling about how I am just a poser and my music, which five minutes ago was great, sucks and eventually stormed off. While I find this amusing enough in and of itself, perhaps more amusing is I have had similar conversations a number of times over the years. Um, so yeah, I was one of those artists who didn't use drugs...

Back when I was still playing live I tried to always have the ablility to add or rework something on the fly. I tended to mix my studio tracks down to six tracks (bass, kick, percussion, cymbals, leads synths, background synths and sound fx) on individual channels so I could apply effects and what not on whatever section I felt like at the time. It also helped in being able to adjust mixes for particular venues to some degree. In addition, I always had a large selection of percussion and break beat loops that weren't in any of the original tracks, that I could trigger and work with live via buttons on my midi controller (think like live DnB, etc percussion elements). On top of that I always had my midi keyboard running to two different software synths which I would select in the mix and would then play parts from the tracks or improvise additional stuff over it. I had more than a couple people tell me after live shows that it was the first time they had seen anyone actually "playing" in a live set. Coming from a live music background this seems like the bare minimum to me, but to each his own.

I'm still floating around on occasion. I have a couple tracks from a couple years back that need finishing, but music making is pretty much at zero as we are raising an infant now and I don't have any studio space or the time to devote to any of the rough ideas I may have. For a few years there I had zero interest in making music at all so I suppose the fact that there is any interest at all now is a step forward.

I just wonder how much freetime the person who made this had when they decided to make a video for the whole damn thing.

I think you are the first person I have seen to have notice that without being told. I always did a lot of non-standard time signature stuff but very few people seemed to notice (which I guess means I was doing it right).

I have a handful of copies of Flights of Infinty left, although sadly I don't even have physical copy of The Beginning for myself much less for sale. PM if you are interested.

I am guessing some of you have heard already but yesterday I received word that Hiro/DJ Sharaku, probably best know to many here as the founder of the Japanese label 6 Dimension Sound, passed away yesterday after a long battle with cancer.

With the sudden price drop, I got myself Logic Pro for X-mas. Whether I do anything with it is another story...

The remix was done probably sometime in 2007 or 2008 if I remember correctly. I was working on a remix album that ended up getting canned when damn near everything in my life fell apart I I shifted my attention to what became "The Beginning is at the End", which burned me out completely. There are about 5 other remixed floating around but most will probably never see the light of day for various reasons (some artists started demanding rather large amounts of money and such). That said, I did a Filteria remix that still wish was out there.

I have added what will probably be the final batch of CDs for sale including a number of the rarer (and more expensive) ones such as the Japanese TIP Colors series, Pleiadians, some old Astral Projection, etc. http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?seller=Jikkenteki

Thanks. I needed new material for my sig. Back on topic, I am giving this a listen and am rather enjoying the atmosphere I am finding in this release. Haven't listened to much dance music in the last couple of years, but this is some good stuff.

Update, Getting close to finishing the goa/psy-related listings and just finished listing most of my TIP and Matsuri CD's (the most tramatic of the listings for me, breaking up my lost fought for complete collections there). Next will be most of the Spirit Zone stuff and a bunch of digipak releases to finish the listing venture. http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?seller=Jikkenteki

Quick update, If I haven't gotten back to you yet I will do so with in the next day or so. There are been something of a rush on a number of the same items (many of which are now already taken) so I am asking people to now officially just keep an eye on the discogs sellers page ( http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?seller=Jikkenteki ). I will be going through and listing all the items I have no issue with selling at all today and tomorrow (about 125 cds up at the moment) and after that I will take a hard look at the things I have left and decide what to get rid of there. From this point forward if you really feel the need to contact me about something not listed, but in my collection, please INCLUDE AN OFFER. Due to the nature of my situation and such, I haven't really considered the prices on anything rare yet so any "how much do you want for XYZ?" emails will just get a "How much are you willing to give me?" response anyways so please try and include an offer and save us both time for those situations. Thanks for interest and sales so far. Rennis

I have been informed that my contract at work will not be renewed and due to the difficulty involved in having to find a new job that will sponsor my visa, moving and saving the huge amount of money needed to get an apartment here I am forced to sell a bunch of things, including almost my entire psy-trance CD collection ASAP. Due to the number of items it will take some time to get everything fully listed on Discogs for sale but so far I have listed these items. http://www.discogs.com/sell/list?seller=Jikkenteki A couple of key points -PAYPAL Only! -Shipping anywhere is free -Due to the huge number of CDs I have had to move half way around the world, all the jewel cases have long since been thrown away. The CDs will come with the CD and all original linear notes, tray cards and what not packed in CD storage envelopes (this does not apply to Digipak CDs and CDs with unusual cases that can't be replaced. They are in their original cases).

Try this? http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TIWAE6TQ

God damn I swear this freaking album is cursed. Since the majority of people seem to be unable to download it, I am taking it off the server until I can find some workable method here. Unfortunately it is 3am here and I have about reached then limit of how much I can be bothered tonight. Those of you who did manage to download it, feel free to pass it on if you have the desire.

The first link is a zip file I made on OS-X. The second is a rar file I made on Windows as some people seemed to be having issues opening the first one. The content is the same in either case. 7 wav files of the individual tracks, one mp3 of the whole album and text file with track info. The server seems to be having issues, but I have downloaded both files successfully several times using Firefox with DownThemAll and unzipped them successfully.

I have no clue what the problem. Try this one

Anyone else having trouble with this? Our server has been a bit iffy as of late so I'm not sure if it is a constant problem or an occassional one. I test downloaded the whole thing with no problem.

Many of you are aware of this already, but due to various issues I do not want to get into deeply I have lost all passion for making music and I am stepping away from anything related to this kind of music for the forseeable future (I've learned better than to say forever, but this feeling has been growing for nearly two years now and I don't see much chance of a change anytime soon). I do not want this to become a bitch and cry-fest so suffice it to say that for all intents and purposes I am getting out of the scene in general. I have no desire to put any additional effort into "releasing" the album anymore and will make no further steps to do so. With that said, some people here appeared to be waiting for it, so I am making the files available for a limited time HERE. This contains the individual mastered wav files, as well as a 320kbs mp3 of the full album. It is possible, probably even likely, that it will end up on Ektoplazm some time in the future, but I need to emotionally "wash my hands" of it now. Thanks for the support to date and best of luck to everyone, Jikkenteki

Hey, I know what trance is, listen to it, produce it and am from Minnesota (granted I don't live there anymore but......)