I was invited by Jason Richardson to take part in a Shinobi Cuts remix chain, an album where each track is a remix of the previous track. The final remix is done by the creator of the track that started the whole thing off, making for a kind of musical strange loop.
When you listen to the album, you’re listening to the music evolve, track by track. It’s a brilliant idea. In the era of streaming, we might reasonably ask what albums are even for. Why does some collection of tracks need to be listened to as a group and in a particular order? I like the idea of having an evolutionary structure tying the tracks together.
Going in, the only track I heard was the one previous to mine, the one I was supposed to remix. The stems were full of tasty parts, but they had a cleaner sound than I like. I used all the sounds I was given, but I stretched and processed them to make for a stranger and murkier vibe. I also wanted to add some vocals, and some humor, so I took samples of this film and vocoded them lightly:
This is my first time working in the dub idiom, and it’s the first track I’ve done in many years that was professionally mastered. I’m really pleased with how it sounds. Enjoy:
I was disappointed to hear that the remix of my track didn’t keep many of its elements. Overall, though, this has been a fascinating and inspiring experience. Hear the entire album:
The logistics involved in collecting stems from each participant and getting them to the next one must have been pretty intense. But if I can figure out a way to do it without too much fuss, I’d love to structure a class project this way.
Coincidentally, the same day the Shinobi Cuts album went live, I learned from Twitter about a painting remix chain that’s happening on Reddit. Small world!
Something incredible is happening on reddit. I'm tempted to say these people have way too much time, but this is legit amazing. #RecursionFTW pic.twitter.com/mr8jHjTbnV
— Nick Kapur (@nick_kapur) January 30, 2019