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Tom Dudley - The MIDI Years
“The MIDI years” is a bizarre collection of compositions
I wrote and recorded in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
These recordings were done exclusively with MIDI synthesizers (except “Bolton
Road”, which features a real electric guitar).
I used “Cakewalk” software
to record and edit the MIDI data.
By today’s standards, the audio quality is not great, in fact
it sucks.
But I was crazy enough to compose and record this stuff, and there may
be somebody out there who is crazy enough to listen to it and enjoy it.
I hope so, because every note was painstakingly placed and edited at
the computer to make the instruments sound as natural as possible. The
technology limited what I could do, but it did allow me to hear my compositions.
I was working with a Windows 3.0 computer and a cheap synthesizer, not
real live musicians.
The MIDI Years theatrical trailer (which may be more entertaining than the music itself):
About The Tracks:
Classical Massacre is in part, a tribute to Peter Schikele, aka PDQ
Bach.
My dad turned me on to classical music at an early age. Lovers of classical
music may appreciate this, or hate it. I love it. It is plagiarism taken
to the extreme. I stole every familiar melody I could think of, and overlayed
them on top of one another, in three movements. I wish I could hear it
performed by a real orchestra. (I may be alone in this desire)
Skitzo Skertzo is a shout out to my hero, Frank Zappa (as is Bolton
Road).
Musical exercise: Try learning this tune with your band. Frank could
do it. So could the Dweez. Go for it!
Too Much Espresso is a musical palindrome of sorts, inspired by Bela
Fleck and the Flecktone’s UFO TOFU. The first half of the head
is played in retrograde during the second half of the head.
You’ll hear it. ;-)
Midnight MIDI…is the result of me staying up
way too late!!
I like it, but it’s a bit spooky…not for the faint of heart.
(Do NOT attempt to learn this tune with your band!)
Bosnian Blowup is self-explanatory. It’s one of my favorites, and my band mates in County Farm love it best of all. It’s about war. War sucks. My older brother was in a Baltic dance group when I was young, and he educated me about odd time signatures. He was dancing in 9/8, and I was learning Mahavishnu Orchestra tunes in 9/8.
Bolton Road…It stinks. Don’t go there. Trust me.
I’m talking about the road in Atlanta.
The song smells like Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa.
I like the rhythm section behind the guitar solo. The guitar solo…not
so much. lol
So there you have it! Thanks for listening to The MIDI Years.
There are many more obscure recordings from this era in my vault, but
they are all on cassette tape.
Remember cassettes? LOL
If y’all want me to rip that shit to MPG, I’m down with that.
Seriously, there's this one tune where our dog's bark is triggered by
every snare drum hit...it's awesome! And there's "Martha's Chrome Underwear!",
OMG! And "Rapid Transit"...
...But I digress.
They say "Leave 'em wanting more", but I fear that ship has sailed. ;-)
Peace,
Tom Dudley
www.hoothollermusic.com
"Tom
Dudley - The MIDI Years" by Tom
Dudley is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This means you are free to copy and distribute files from "The MIDI Years" for non-commercial purposes, provided that you include the following copyright statement:
"(Song title) from "The MIDI Years" copyright
1998 Tom Dudley. www.hoothollermusic.com.
Licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Some Rights Reserved."
To download files from The MIDI years, go to this page, right click on the file and choose "save link as".
Contact Tom Dudley at:
Tom Dudley
Hoot Holler Music
828-658-1565
tomdudley@hoothollermusic.com
www.hoothollermusic.com