'Victory Abroad' Released

In this week's news, Koopa Komrades has just released their first CD, 'Victory Abroad'. This CD consists of 10 songs: 7 of the songs previously posted here on the blog and 3 new ones. During my month home, I finished up one song that required some live trumpet samples, and took some time to "re-master" many of the previous tracks. I did not do any extensive overhauling of the tracks (I did not touch the vocals...as I knew I would've worked on them for another 3 years, and they would still be awful), just touched some things up.

The CD has been uploaded HERE to Jamendo, a free music site where everything is released under the Creative Commons license. You can download the whole CD there in one package, as well as listen to songs individually and view their lyrics (just click on the track title in the list).

Below is a brief description of each song:

1. Foray - A Friendly Frog's Tale: my first bit of experimenting, more of a proof of concept for me really, that ended up becoming something of a song. It's compromised of just a couple simple upbeat melodies.

2. Today Is Not - this is a song of defiance and a refusal to lay down and die, both literally and figuratively

3. Chasing Bags - a song for my best friends and brothers, whom I know were going through some tough and lonely times while I was away. It hurt me that I could not be there for them.

4. Passage - This is probably the most laid-back song on the CD. It's about the rantings and musings of an immortal character on Earth. This song's backbone is a simple piano chord line.

5. Trifechno - Like many people,I love Zelda (a classic video game franchise), and I love the music in Zelda. Like many other people, I love taking Zelda and mixing it up. Unlike many other people, my remix probably destroys it. This is a mix of Zelda's theme, particularly the N64 version. It begins with some simple 8-bit sounds and eventually moves into some more complex sounds.

6. Train - For this song, my mission was simply to attempt to channel as much of the energy that one needs and gains from training. I did a lot of training in Taiwan (particularly parkour), and I wanted to share this desire via song.

7. Epic Song - a more light and comic song, spoofing a live performance of a fictional band. Actually, this is probably my least favorite song on the CD for some reason.

8. Minor Discovery - At some point during the trip, I was having a particularly dark week. So, I decided it would be a good idea to channel this into some dark synthetic music. Originally, it was supposed to 'Minor Discovery With a Major Conclusion" ...meaning that I would tack on a happier and 'majorer' (hah) ending during happier days. Well, that took a while and I just decided to leave it as is. This song was kind of an experiment to mess around with conflicting leads and basslines.

9. Energy Crisis - I keep hearing all this talk about the 'energy crisis' and how our lives are doomed because of it. However, I often see and feel so much energy around me everday. I feel that we need to look within ourselves and bring this energy more to the forefront of our lives. Energy doesn't come from caffeine, wake up and apply your spirit to your life.

10. Home - Before leaving, my itinerary made it quite clear that I had a long time to sit around and do nothing while in the LA airport. So, I figured that would be a good time to do the last song..So, during my 8 hours of sitting in a chair in the airport (I couldn't even check my bags till the end), I whipped this up...my goal was to use only synth for everything (drumbeat excluded), which helped keep the workflow simple and flowing. It's a simple upbeat song...a reflection of my trip that has past, and a tribute to coming home.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun making the album, and I know my knowledge of digital music has increased tenfold (which isn't too difficult, seeing as how I had no knowledge previously). If you decide to give it a go, I hope you can enjoy it. Comments and feedback always appreciated.

Ta ta.