It’s a mix of experimental IDM with noisy breakbeat influences and a bit of deep house. There’s a melodic backbone running through it, with a little nod to Metroidvania games.
So yeah… it’s another glorious mess. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, even though I know it probably won’t be the easiest listen for everyone.
As always, I’d love to hear what you think.
No video this time. Making clips takes a huge amount of time for me, and I don’t feel they add that much. I’d rather focus on the music.
After this release, I’ll be slowing down my production for a while—maybe even stopping completely—to work on a live mix of the ten or so tracks I’ve made over the past year. That mix will be performed at a festival in France, and I’ll also try to turn it into an album while I’m at it.
I’ll keep the essence of each track—the riddim, as we’d say in dub—and reshape everything live using controllers.
Anyway, the SoundCloud and YouTube links are below.
I know I naturally write like an AI bot, but somehow you beat me on this one.
The track definitely feels like a texture to me; it’s a drone, at its core, and doesn’t really move on from there. I could see this potentially being something played in front of a live audience, but with the generated vocal cuts just being thrown about, it hits more like an experimental piece without the glitchy bits.
None of this is bad, either. It just doesn’t feel very human? Melodic? It’s kind of like an AI-generated EDM / drone crossover. Having a single part (even a bridge) that strays from the endless drone might really change the whole mood of the track, or even getting someone to do the vocal parts IRL, but if this is what you’re going for, keep on keepin’ it on.
Thanks for your feedback, I really appreciate the time you took to listen and share your thoughts. You’re actually right about the AI aspect, because I do use AI in this project, but it is only one element among many other techniques that are part of my computer-assisted music (MAO) workflow, such as the use of samples, VST instruments, MIDI programming, effects processing, and recording real instruments. traduis en français encore stp In this track, there are actually two different vocal elements: one is a sample taken from vinyl, and the other one is indeed AI-generated, but then processed as a vocoded voice. The drone part comes from guitar chords processed through Ableton Live effects. I also use real instruments (mainly guitar and a few hardware synthesizers when I can afford them — my hardware setup is quite modest, as I don’t have an unlimited budget for gear haha). I don’t necessarily ask myself whether the result sounds “human”, “machine” or “AI”. What interests me is how all these different materials can create a specific emotion or atmosphere. AI has simply become part of my creative process since the beginning of the Mick Math project. That said, your comment about the arrangement really resonates with me. I am currently preparing a live show and I will probably rework all these tracks (you can listen to the other ones as well if you’re curious). The idea is to keep the essence of each piece while stripping them down, creating more movement, and making them more immediate, both for a live context and for the album. Regarding the vocals, I would really love to work with real singers. I think a human voice could bring another dimension, but I simply don’t have the right contacts for that at the moment. Thanks again for your honest feedback. This is exactly the kind of discussion that helps me think about the direction I want to take the project in.
I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, even though I know it probably won’t be the easiest listen for everyone.