I couldn’t get my phone to turn on this morning, so I had to bring it in for repairs, and it’s going to take 2 days. I really hope the Russian guy over at the shop can fix it. I don’t know what I’m going to do if he can’t, but let’s think positively. I depend on that thing for literally everything. My screen time is excessive. People criticize me for being so online, but I’m by myself here in NYC, and I need to stay connected to my loved ones. I feel very uncomfortable leaving my room without any music playing through my headphones; it’s causing me anxiety.
At least I still have this computer, so let me see if I can start typing something. I’m self-diagnosing my weekend as a hypomanic episode. I didn’t sleep much, and I sang too many songs on the internet. I checked what I posted, though, and it sounds good. Much worse things have come out of my manic episodes than passable Macy Gray covers, like methamphetamine habits.
Speaking of music, I’ve been creating a lot of original music as well, and I’ve learned a few new tricks. Am I a musician? No. Do I use loops and samples? Absolutely. Can you make music without knowing how to play instruments? Absolutely, it’s 2023. It’s still music, it’s still me expressing myself musically, and I think I’m getting pretty good at it, I like what’s coming out, it’s music that I’d want to listen to, even if i hadn’t made it.
When you have music in you, you figure out how to get it out using what you have to work with. Look at the entire creation of hip-hop as a genre. The music programs in New York’s poorer neighborhoods were underfunded in the late 1970s, without access to musical instruments. They did have turntables, though, and they invented an entire cultural movement with them.
I started making music with an MTV Music Generator PlayStation 1 disc. I’d sequence out the samples, beats, and loops with my controller, then record the television into Windows XP Sound Recorder, which only recorded 30 seconds at a time. So, I’d have to press pause and hope to line it up with the next 30 seconds. I’d share the tracks on Myspace Music, even though I’m sure they were awful. I eventually got a Mac and taught myself Garageband. In 2011, I joined SoundCloud, and there are still tracks from that time on there today. i have music in me, and i’m getting it out.
There hasn’t been an electronic device since the PlayStation that I haven’t tried to make music on. These days, I use Fruity Loops and BandLab for Android, yet another reason why I need my phone. Prayers up for its safe return.
here are the 5 songs i’ve come up with since october began (one is a cover, though) :
Listen: everything is in the trash right now, and i have no money, if you ever considered clicking on the donation link that i insist on putting at the bottom of my blog posts, please do it today: https://ko-fi.com/evr0ck17
