This project started when I moved into an apartment deep in the woods of Santa Cruz. The place was pretty much cut out of the redwoods, and I lived surrounded by trees and nature...

The problem was: no cable TV, no places nearby to hang out, no friends close-by, etc.

So I decided to turn this limitation into an opportunity, and came up with the idea of doing an album that was different than anything I've done before.. While I mainly make rap and hip hop, using a computer based system, I decided to try making an instrumental hip hop album that was made mostly with live instruments, and that wasn't going for a polished feel, instead I wanted to use my surroundings by allowing the woods around me to keep the album feeling "natural" and real, mistakes and all..

The process involved making the basic "beat" in Reason, then overdubbing instruments live on top, so I added live bass, guitars, hand percussion, synth overdubs from my iPhone, "improvised" percussion such as hitting a beer bottle with a stick... basically anything that looked fun to play or hit (like I mentioned I was getting pretty bored in the mountains LOL)

Then, as per my usual M.O., I mangled the project with the help of James Cigler, AKA Felix Inferious... He is a major analog/modular synth junky, and took my tracks and ran them through all manner of analog FX, modular mayhem, etc.

After the analog mangling, I did some digital mangling with the help of plugins such as Audio Damage, Universal Audio, iZotope, etc. I also overdubbed a couple synth VSTi's where it seemed to fit, and added some more guitar, drum and even Korg monotron overdubs at this point. Also I had DJ Destro come over and lay down some excellent scratching on these tracks.

What I ended up with, was an incredibly elaborate and messy concoction that sounded good at points, but then turned to chaos really quickly... It then took months to edit and mix the tracks, so that they weren't so insane to listen to. This involved a lot of cutting and a lot of mixing...

And the result is what is here today! I'm not going to say this is a masterpiece by any means.. it is what it is, a crazy experiment that started in the woods, and ended in my studio.. and I really love how it turned out... I hope you enjoy it too!

Videos:

Anti-Matterhorn ---> youtu.be/-wqe7lP_Orw
Consensual Sysex ---> youtu.be/PKXw4IXaQjQ
Solid Bro ---> youtu.be/94pgrhUSmqE
Who Wants Cake? ---> youtu.be/3zykUyb688k