Fellow opinions toward a concept

[Queso]

Dear fellow lounge mates,

I am working on a concept with my band Maria for an album we're going to record soon.

we're just going to set up all of our stuff in a warehouse, live there/make music for a few months.

anyway-

my reason for sharing with you what we have so far is because i would like some opinions from you guys, and also some ideas if you have any. if you come up with some cool, i'll give you credit for it and everything.

 

a man wakes up in a forest with no recollection of anything from his past. the only thing he remembers is a dream he had right before he woke up on his back staring at the trees above him, a falling dream.

he is going to have some items with him, that he doesn't know what they mean.

so far he's going to have a pocket watch with 13 hours and initial engravings on the back, and a dull, bloody knife.

also a scar, i don't know where, and of what though, somewhere on his body that he won't see right off the bat.

all of the items will point back to a time not too long ago in his life, where he killed every body he ever loved.

later on in the story, when he peices all his memories together after some time, there will be an epic ending of suicide. how? by jumping off the highest peak he can find.

this album is going to be a cycle. i'm going to produce it a certain way, that when you play it on repeat, it will totally flow into each other. over, and over, and over.

now, what's going to be crazy about this, is that everything isn't the way it is, as we see it.

physics will be altered, there will be odd creatures everywhere, and time will be somehow symbolic. (13 hour watch, havn't figured out the significance yet)

we're going to do a lot of outdoor samples, experimental recording, good stuff.

we have a dilema though. since we don't have a singer, how would we incorporate the concept into the music, other than the mood of the story?

we were thinking having random, sparatic commentaries by him, or something, and maybe finding some good, guest singers to do some work. the truth is, it's extremely hard finding somebody who doesn't want to scream like a little wanker about how his girlfriend dumped him...which is in now way what we are looking for.

we are leaving the motiv to why he killed them up in the air. he won't even remember why he did it, not being able to return to society, that's why he ends his life, and without realizing it, ends up right back to where he started.

 

if you have any ideas on some more items that he finds on him, or their signifance, that would be awesome. i brought this up here because you guys are very creative, very sharp minded, and seem to be supportive :Alien:

 

we aren't going to get this on a label or anything, we won't even play any shows, but we will have a website where all the music will be, and i'll give credit to everybody who helps out. (as well as guest musicians, hoping to get some strange instruments incorporated into this)

 

the music will be jazzy, ambient, experimental, electronic, complex, "trippy", and hopefully good.

 

thanks for your time,

-jason :Alien:

[Fishteacher73]

Where to start...lots of ideas, lots of questions....(Why do they always seem linked?) Ween recorded The Pod in a similar manner. Holed-up in a studio ate, drank (among other things...), and lived the album until it was done.

 

Scar: wrists....a failed suicide attempt? Perhaps a premonition of his iminant actions. He understood the "evil" inside (I am hesitant to even qualify his murdering as evil at this point. Perhaps just a failed attempt to avoid his fate. Kind of Sophocles-esque).

 

Final act of suicide: Perhaps since we have seen that his "physical" attempts have failed, an act of mental suicide is nesseccary for his demise. A final acceptance of his true fate?

 

13' o'clock: Another reminder that his place is no longer in the "normal physical realm". 13 traditionally is associated w/ bad luck...Does the watch work? Perhaps the "time" could represent the individual tracks. 13 being his final act. The watch esentail becomes a relative timer to the end?

 

Integration: There was a Blue Oyster Cult album named Imaginos that concerned time travel. The tracks were in no particular order since time was able to be manipulated.

 

Vocals: Keep looking...you'll find someone that realizes there is more out there besides punk (not a lot....but there is...lol)

 

 

Just ideas....Good luck.

[Queso]

we pondered the idea of slit wrists, havn't decided yet.

as for the watch, i was thinking something what you were thinking. when he wakes up and discovers it, it will be 1, his final act, will be 13.

everything about this though, won't be obvious. i like music you kind of have to think about it.

thanks fishteacher.

[Tormod]

Oooh...intriguing...I'll think about this. But I know Killean will be excited...PM him in case he misses out on this one.

[Killean]

Not overly ecstatic but I can try to contribute somthing.

 

First thing I'd like to ask you is the exact nature of this project. Is this supposed to be a story (w/narator) with music accompaniment, music that you can listen to while reading a story, or music with the lyrics being the story? With the answer to that then I'll know how much to spend time on details of specifics.

 

And idea though:

Odd critters and the Mystery Man killing everyone he ever loved. You could use those critters as a symbolic representation of the people he loved. He kills the creatures in defense but they end up showing who or what they really were after death.

[Queso]

that's pretty cool, thanks.

i'm not sure how we're going to incorporate the concept into the music yet, other than mood.

[Fishteacher73]

What is the "type/genre" of the music (Although categories can be a bit confining, it would help to possibly have an idea of what the overall "feel" would be like)? Is it more electronica or organic? Do you think that it is going to be loud and fast, slow and subtle, a mix of tempo and dynamic?

[Queso]

the music will be jazzy, ambient, experimental, electronic, complex, "trippy", and hopefully good.

something along the lines of that, whatever happens, happens.

 

going to incorporate a lot of vintage tones with new production techniques and stuff. no specific genre.

 

definitely a mix of tempo and dynamics, we're going for a full 80 minutes if not longer.

[Turtle]

On the idea "(13 hour watch, havn't figured out the significance yet)" How about a 13 hour watch but with 7 minute divisions? Or some other number of minute divisons thatn 5; then you have another cycle to play off of, as well as the epicycle 7x13. Clocks often are used to illustrate the math principles of congruence & residues too.

___Maybe on the killing thing he had to kill a few (harder if they are loved ones) to save the many? I saw a study just the other night where they proposed that scenario to people in MRIs to see what the brain did, ie. what areas lit up in response to this dilemma. It was the Scientific American Frontiers show with Allen Alda.

___Very cool ambitious creative overall project Orb. :confused:

[Fishteacher73]

Possibly even use the time on the watch for each track to derive the time signature?

[Queso]

ooooo...fish. that hit the spot.

when i compose, i do a lot of time changes....but the idea of having the time be relevent to the time signature, is perfect. thanks a lot! that sounds so cool.

i'm moving all the stuff into the warehouse tomorrow i believe, even my computer. so the only time i'll get to post is at school. i'll keep you guys posted though, if you'd like.

 

i will definitely have most of the song be the time signature of the track, ie: track 7, 7/8

track 13, 13/8 (that will be a fun one)

 

oy, i'm so excited to get this thing started.

[kaelcarp]

As someone who has done music very much along the same lines (concept albums with lofty artistic goals, similarly mind-bending and fantastical), your ideas intrigue me. It reminds me of something Philip K. Dick might do.

 

Some ideas:

 

- Reversible themes. Use musical phrases in the opening that can be played in reverse later on. It can help with the idea of time being oddly structured.

 

- Different voices for different people. If you go with different singers, make sure there is a logic to who sings when. If you have someone as the main character voice, use that person consistently. If the guy has competing thoughts (such as his desire to block out bad memories vs. his desire to know what happened to him), they can be represented by different singers.

 

- Recurring themes. Not just musical, but conceptual. Perhaps the number 13 shows up all over the place. Perhaps several pieces of music are in 13/8 time. Perhaps there are 13 tracks or 13 themes that are repeated throughout the work. Maybe every 13 minutes in the recording, something specific happens.

[Queso]

thanks for the input kaelcarp, we are on the same page.