[no cover yet]
[no cover yet]
Twisting in the Wind is the followup to TWISTED HELICES' first album, Traversing a Twisted Path. The history for that album holds generally true here, and the best way to summarise my first attempt is, as someone said, mixing "a big glass of coffee with a lot of Mountain Dew." It was an attempt at deconstructing pop music, to mix and meld contradictory musics.
Twisting in the Wind is a much more sophisticated attempt at doing the same. The album is more conceptual, more tighter musically, and as I say, everything in there is present for a purpose (in contrast to songs in Traversing a Twisted Path which were essentially first takes). The album was composed and recorded using computers primarily (see my equipment list for the gear I use these days).
The album is about society, and how twisted it is. The title is a play on words and like most of the album, it is a contradiction lyrically and musically. On the one hand, the name suggests a mellow image of happy frolicking, but the cover image belies that. Likewise, a lot of the lyrics are tongue in cheek, because I never take myself too seriously (yes, the pot police are indeed coming). Musically I've striven for calculated dissonance and unnerving syncopation, by atonal layering of melodies and constantly changing time signatures and drum patterns within and between songs. The vocal style has been influenced by The Residents (of course), particularly the Woodwood: Curious Stories from the Bible album.
Even though all the music isn't recorded yet, the album has been thought out and most of it has been written. The tentative track list is given below, so you have an idea of what to expect (links are provided to completed songs):
Four of the songs from the first album have been reworked. Three of the songs were originally not done using MIDI (unlike with the first album, all the MIDI files for this album are available---the plan is to rework all the remainining tunes from the first album done without MIDI). The other song is here because it fits the concept so well. I apologise for the laziness but the songs are significantly different.
To me, creating music is a lot like creating a piece of visual art. My paints are bits of musical ideas and sounds. My brushes are the tools and instruments I use for creating. A final recording is a canvas that I've painted on.
As usual, all the music in the album can be gotten on-line without any restriction, and I encourage (commercial and personal) copying and distribution of the album, in accordance with the Free Music Philosophy.