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                P u r e  A u g u s t  M u s i c d i s k                 
 

  " We must not listen to the advice of anyone, except of the fleeting
            wind which tells us the history of the world. "
                            - Claude Debussy

   This disk celebrates several things, and in doing so ended up
  being about several things as well.  It marks the beginning of
  my fourth year as a tracker.  Composing it began at about the
  same time as my relationship with the most beautiful and loving
  girl in the world.  Every song is more carefully put together than
  anything I've written up until this point.  It is the first musicdisk
  I have done solo.

   In some ways it is an experiment, but in others it is the shaping
  of everything I've learned into a solid whole.  You will find I
  experimented a lot with features new to me (a former die hard St3
  tracker), and I tried to use creativity as much as possible.  I
  played with echoing, octave layering, envelopes, and texture.  I've
  tried to get some different sounds out of my piano samples -
  since I use them in every song I figure that's a sensible effort.
  A lot of samples show up in all of the songs - and I apologize for
  this, it is the result of a lack of great sampling resources.

   A brief technical note.  The songs were composed in, and are intended
  to be played in Impulse Tracker.  If you have installed the IT add-on
  for Cubic Player, you can use it for these songs, but the sound
  quality is somewhat decreased, and there are some subtle features which
  aren't supported.

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  1                H a m l e t  A n d  V a n i l l a                  1 
 
  Track: One        Time: 3m39s       Began: Sept.96     Finished: Apr.97

        "I want to tell her though, as much of a risk as it is."
                 - Atlantic, Personal Journal (1996)

    In speaking of this song, I need only relate a little true story.
   A guy (let's call him Jack) falls deeply in love with a girl he hardly
   knows.  But the girl (Jill, let's say) has a boyfriend already.  
   Nonetheless, Jack and Jill become good friends.  They even go out and do
   things together.  The more time Jack spends with Jill, the more intense
   his affection grows, but the more problematic the situation.  He 
   doesn't want to say anything to Jill because he is afraid of her 
   reaction, and since she is already with someone, where could it get
   him anyhow?  Then, simultaneously, two things happen.  First, Jill
   splits with her boyfriend.  Second, she moves away.  Jack, driven
   to the brink of insanity, finally breaks down and sends a letter 
   to Jill revealing his love for her.  Jill writes back saying that she
   knew for a long time, and she had some feelings as well.  The
   correspondence continues for a while, and the two realize that they
   have something that's potentially serious.  They try many times to
   get together, but fail each time.  Frustrated, Jack lashes out at Jill
   saying that she's playing him, and Jill lashes back, calling Jack
   selfish.  The two never sort out their problems, and they never see
   each other again.  The end.  Now what fun would the world be
   if every story had a happy ending?
 
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  2                    C l e a r e r  S k i e s                       2 
 
  Track: Two        Time: 3m23s       Began: Dec.94      Finished: Apr.97

         "Man o man, this has been in my head for a long time."
                - Atlantic, Notes from Sunshine (1995)

   Clearer skies is a re-engineering of a song called "Sunshine".  
  Sunshine was released with Neophyte (a group consisting of the then
  unknown Daedalus and Malakai) in January of 1995, just following the
  breakup of the long-deceased talent generator of Mazurka.  The
  composition was cheery and uplifting, but tragically it sounded like
  something played off a gramaphone.  It needed completely new samples
  and a new life altogether, and so I resurrected it for Pure August.
  You probably haven't tried it, but turning out-of-tune samples meshed
  into chords by Digiplay (a future crew invention) into real tracked
  chords is no easy task.  I think this song was originally inspired
  by Jonne Voltonnen (Purple Motion).

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  3                  H e m i n g w a y  T r a i n                     3 
 
  Track: Three      Time: 4m03s       Began: Aug.96      Finished: Apr.97

        "The smooth roadbed like a causeway went on ahead through
                               the swamp."
                     - Hemingway, In Our Time (1925)

   One of these things is not like the other... Admittedly this tune
  doesn't really go with the grain of the rest of the disk, but that's
  excactly why I chose to put it in.  Originally, this seventh song slot
  was filled by a different tune which sounded more like the others, but
  you know what they say about variety.  The headstrong blind forwardness
  of the tune made me think of a freight train, and I finished it with the
  image of Hemingway's train in mind, plowing its way through the American
  midwest.

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  4           M y s t e r y  W o r l d  P a r t  T h r e e            4 
 
  Track: Four       Time: 5m23s       Began: Jun.95      Finished: Apr.97

            "A planet doesn't explode of itself," said drily
             The Martian astronomer, gazing off into the air-
             "That they were able to do it is proof that highly
             Intelligent beings must have been living there."
                    - John Wheelock, "Earth" (1961)

   Wow, it's nice to get one of these tunes out, finally.  Part
  one came out about two years ago.  It was tolerable, and easily
  forgotten because of it.  Eventually it suffered the unforgiving
  wrath of the 'del' command.  Then Mystery World part two came out of
  my brain.  It consisted of terrible vocal samples (chanting even worse
  poetry) blended with the sound of dragon balls in motion and pornamentoed
  vibraphones.  If you can imagine that.  Needless to say, I never got the
  outside confirmation I needed to give me the confidence to release it.
  You might well ask why a sane person would then continue on this path.
  I think, somehow, I was initially inspired by the music from the Lion
  King (NOT the Elton John stuff).  A couple of the samples even came from
  it.  Needless to say, I strayed from that style, and went back to
  something a little more like myself.  This song was the winner of the
  local Toronto Tracking Competition in March 97.  Thanks to those who
  voted for it, and gave me input during its composition.

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  5                   T w e l v e  L a d y b u g s                    5 
 
  Track: Five       Time: 2m51s       Began: Sept.96     Finished: Apr.97

    "One two three, four five six, seven eight nine, ten eleven twelve,
                   ladybugs came, to the ladybug picnic."
                        - Sesame Street (1980s)

   I'm shocked at how few people remember that melody.  Anyhow, it wasn't
  my original intent to work Sesame Street into this song.  Originally,
  I was merely trying to get the funkassiest groove out of the 7-2-5-2
  floating tempo, with a little success.  The little blippy sounds made
  me think of ladybugs (although christ would wonder why, if he cared).
  Then, stuck for a melodic idea, I threw the piano imitation of the above
  quote in.  The final product is rather messy, but it was great fun to
  do.  After all, tracking is about process.  If the composing is torture,
  and you just do it for the excitement of releasing the tune, then you're
  missing out.


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  6                R a g - a n d - B o n e  S h o p                   6 
 
  Track: Six        Time: 4m16s       Began: Jan.97      Finished: Apr.97

           "I must lie down where all the ladders start,
            in the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart."
         - W.B.Yeats (The Circus Animals' Desertion) 1939

   This song has always sounded like it was reaching down into something.
  Some of the basic music in this was aided by the advice and consultation
  of my brother, and he certainly deserves some credit for the overall
  production.  I'm quite pleased with the sound quality I was able to
  get out of echoing and layering profusely, although you might well argue
  that it got out of hand.  This is one of those tracks that seems to
  sound kewler the louder it is played.. Just try it.

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  7          T r i b u t e  T o  O c e a n  R o m a n c e             7 
 
  Track: Seven      Time: 4m03s       Began: Jul.96      Finished: Apr.97

          "For thy sweet love rememb'red such wealth brings,
           that then I scorn to change my state with kings."
                 - Shakespeare, Sonnet 29 (c.1600)

   "Beauty.s3m" sat on my hard drive for quite a long time, and the
  number of ords remained consistent and intimidating.  I hate loading
  songs up in cubic and seeing that same length number all the time.
  Sometimes you just wish it would grow a few extra ones.  But upon
  being inspired by my going to university and hooking up with my
  cosmic completion, my 'other half', I was able to work on it again.
  All my love out to Isabel.

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                          I n f l u e n c e s                           
 

   The music of this disk was influenced largely by Friedemann Witecka
  (belonging to the Narada artists' group of the U.S.), Underworld,
  Erasure, Andrew Sega (Necros), Ani Difranco and Tori Amos.  I should
  also give credit to Red (Darren, my brother), for his occasional
  critiques, through which he worked some of his style into the music.

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                      S a m p l e  C r e d i t s                        
 

   Some samples are original, but not many relative to those that are not.
  I'm not sure about all of them, of course, but I would like to send
  out thanks to the following people:

   Necros (Andrew Sega), Porus (Mike Ladanyi), Aahz the Demon (Dave
  Fitches), Leviathan (Andrew Carlson), ChuckB, K. Koch, Malakai 
  (Malcolm Ramsay), Mick Rippon, Mental Floss (Andrew M), Travolta, 
  Mosaic, Bobby (Ryan Vettesse), Jugi, Bert (D.R.Vandervelden),
  Daedalus (Brian Bennetts), Jester (Volker Tripp), Picman (Jason
  Loeppky), Basehead (Dan Grandpre).

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                     S p e c i a l  M e n t i o n                       
 

  Isabel - Without your love and support, I just may not have ever
    finished this silly thing.

  Darren Freeman - A real life musician, whose honesty never failed
    to both encourage and discourage me at the same time.  

  Andrew Crabtree - Your friendship and understanding goes a long
     way: thanks for tolerating listening to music on the phone.

  Todd Andlar - Your comments about mystery world gave me the little
     boost of confidence I needed to start working on this again.

  Voters in the First Toronto Tracking Compo - Likewise, it is
     good to know that people appreciate your music.

  Members of Moss - Jason and Mike particularly, thanks for taking
     the time to offer some feedback...

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                 C o n t a c t  I n f o r m a t i o n                   
 

    Email:  as566@torfree.net (preferably) OR 96freema@scar.utoronto.ca

             WWW:    http://sdc.wtm.tudelft.nl/aim-higher

          Snailmail:  25 Tulloch Dr, Ajax, ON, Canada, L1S 2S3

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                       C l o s i n g  W o r d s                         
 

   If you didn't enjoy the music:  Write me a note in email, let me know
  why.  I'm interested in improvement and process, I'm not out to dazzle
  anyone.  I'd like to know what worked for you and what didn't.  I'm
  no stranger to constructive criticism, so don't worry in the least about
  offending me in any way.

   If you enjoyed the music: Write me a note in email letting me know.
  I don't write music to gain respect for others, but at the same time
  it's very nice to know that people appreciate your work.

   Thanks for your support.

  - B.A.Freeman, April 13th, 1997.

