Influences
Psychick Warriors ov Gaia, “The Challenge (Part One)”
303infinity, “Winter Rain” (I can’t hear the sequenced bass in this and not think of that song – I am absolutely a product of the mp3.com era.)
Leftfield, “Song of Life” (in that half-time breakdown, I’d say you can tell I’m a fan of the song at least – maybe it’s not an influence, but it’s close. There’s another Leftfield song also on point, as discussed in the Story section, which you’d be reading if I’d just let you get to it.)
Story
If you ask me the most underrated album, I’m first glad you asked me, and then I answer with Psychick Warriors ov Gaia’s Record of Breaks. I love the whole vibe, I love how it’s hypnotic but with tiny variations, I think “Truth” is one of the starkest creepy songs of all time…there are many superlatives. The album before it is interesting too. (I sent this track to members of the band, and they at least listened and appreciated that someone was still bearing their influence. I think the second-language English kept them from saying much more. That’s my theory anyway.)
This song was conceived as a Psychick Warriors ov Gaia homage, although it ended up going many places (Leftfield’s “Afro-Left” might be obvious, although I’m using a dulcimer rather than a berimbau). I set the primary tempo to 135 beats per minute because that’s how fast P.W.O.G.’s fastest song is. The title is structured as a nod to the Orb’s wonderful song “Star 6 & 7 8 9,” but it’s also a cryptic crossword clue: the first, sixth, seventh, and eighth letters of Polliwog = P.W.O.G. To tie things in better, the song starts with a frog chorus, and after the tempo slows down to half-speed at the end, I bring it up to 167.8 beats per minute (before reverting to 135).
This song’s got a funky eight-note scale that allows me to do weird things, like the ending’s bass of alternating minor and diminished arpeggios.
And to speak to that ending a little…I wasn’t finding a clear way to end the song, and I was tired of an A-B-A setup for instrumentals. It’s effective, but they can’t all be that. So with no obvious ending in sight, this odd 6/4 slow-down/speed-up thing came out. If you don’t see an obvious ending, make a nonobvious ending, I guess. It all goes a bit Juno Reactor, “Conquistador II”-y.
If you’re looking for the genre this would have been in back in the day, it’s tribal trance. Its present genre is !?!.
Some press about it
“But what Mosaic has achieved on this project is creating a setting in which listeners can expect the unexpected. In that sense, he delivers royally. Sometimes, like on “Polliwog 1 & 6 7 8” he does so by wildly exceeding expectations. Despite the title, no one would’ve really thought the track was going to open with the sounds of crickets chirping in the great outdoors. Pair that with what appears to be the noise heard from construction sites and, if there is a motif to this album, the grating, harshness of metallic sounding keyboards.
But he flips the four-on-the-floor drum pattern, then out the blue drops warm chords of synthesized voices that completely transform the track into something highly accessible, danceable, and a number you can even put your head into. The arrangement is the key to this deliberate buildup which only appeared desultory, and actually works well.” – Breaking and Entering
“‘Polliwog 1 & 6 7 8’ also employs the hammered dulcimer to great effect. The pairing with a low, spine-massaging arpeggiated synth is an inspired blending of the old and the new in the style of techno greats like Juno Reactor. The calm trance soon rushes to a full-on jungle pace.” – Jon Ireson, music-news.com
Next song: Gedenkwald
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