Book of Changes: Track by Track Part 1
Me and Kuma listening to the finished first draft of the album for the first time. I hooked up a projector and allowed myself to play Mario Kart to celebrate finishing everything.
Here is a reminder of the structure of ‘Book of Changes’:
1. Track: Empty | Hexagram: Tranquility | Element: Earth
2. Track: Feng Shui | Hexagram: Already Accomplished | Element: Earth
3. Track: Loss for Words | Hexagram: Rising | Element: Wind
4. Track: Sincerity and Reverence | Hexagram: Observing | Element: Wind
5. Track: Scheminonameanin’ | Hexagram: The Creative | Element: Fire
6. Track: Truthsayer | Hexagram: Contention | Element: Fire
7. Track: Escaping | Hexagram: Travel | Element: Water
8. Track: Spirit Bomb | Hexagram: Humility | Element: Water
9. Track: Cold Mountain | Hexagram: Withdrawing | Element: Sky
10. Track: Permanent Waves | Hexagram: The Well | Element: Sky
Somewhere near here, I recorded the footsteps for the album intro.
Track 1 - Empty:
Empty opens with a ringing hum that fades into the sound of a stream flowing over rocks, eventually the sound of footsteps on dirt is heard, as the steps halt a meditation bell is rung, ushering in the music for ‘Empty’ the first track on ‘Book of Changes’.
The original track had drums, but we decided to do away with them. I will probably put the version with drums on a beat tape someday because it sounds completely different. The samples without drums enhance the meditative quality of the lyrics and gently introduce the listener to the world we built.
The hexagram for this track is Tranquility. Meditation is a practice of emptying the mind of all thoughts and tranquility is achieved in this state. The Element for this track is Earth, hence the footsteps, because this is our starting point, the point from which we depart and grow this album.
I recorded the flowing stream in Sedona, AZ and the footsteps are my own, recorded in the Coronado National Memorial near the border of Mexico. I remember when I drove there, ICE trucks were all over the place. The sound of the meditation bell that sets off the album came from a secret place.
The track ends with hints of the synth accents that will appear in the next track, ‘Feng Shui’.
Track 2 - Feng Shui:
This track comes out with a bang, picking up the energy from Empty and getting the album moving a bit faster.
This track is composed entirely of original instrumentation. I was glad that Noveliss picked this beat because I had a lot of fun making it and I knew it had a lot of potential. The main melody was played on a Casio keyboard played through a Marshall amplifier with a ton of the amp’s built in reverb and tape delay cranked. The bass-line was that same keyboard using a sine wave synth patch, and the other accents came from warping other interesting sounds that came out of that jam session.
The structure of the beat is a bit strange to write to, since the melody doesn’t sit exactly within the 4 bar structure, so Nov left some gaps in his verses and refrain. This forced be to fill the gaps with, you guessed it, my own lovely voice.
I am not comfortable singing but I can carry a tune and I don’t want to pay a singer. I wanted to create a nice call and response feel with his verses and refrain. Each line in the hook rhymes with the last line of the verse Nov just finished.
Nov’s lyrics convey his quest for balance using the 5 elements of Feng Shui. You can hear references to each element throughout the song.
The hexagram for ‘Feng Shui’ is ‘Already Accomplished’ which happens to be the hexagram that Snake Eyes wears on his shoulder in GI Joe. It is the thesis statement of the album and we intend to “begin as we mean to go on”. Start strong, seek balance, and victory is assured.
Track 3 - Loss for Words
This was the first track that me and Nov did together. It was the starting point for my journey out that would eventually lead to my hiding away in the desert to finish the album. I was happy with the first verses he sent me. Nov really never disappoints lyrically, but it is always nerve-wracking to send your beats out to someone not knowing what they are going to say over it. I felt as though he did justice to the beat and it gave me the confidence let him continue expressing himself over my music.
In contrast, the week before Nov hit me up, I had a rapper (who shall not be named) send me a verse that made no sense with an 8 bar shit-show at the end about sending a “dick pic to a thick chick”. I was not pleased. After sending my tempered feedback, the collaboration promptly ended because rappers can’t seem to take constructive criticism….So it goes.
The beat was made using a sample with some live instrumentation interlaid, so it’s a bit of a hybrid. The vocal sample is hopefully recognizable and legendary.
The hexagram for ‘Loss for Words’ is ‘Rising’. This stemmed from Nov’s refrain, “can I emerge?”. It reminded me of the emergent quality of reality, and how the quiet mind can take life as it comes while simultaneously asserting its sovereignty in a world that continually challenges it.
What is your favorite track of these 3?
