I don’t understand why technology has to be such an asshole sometimes. Here I am, all excited to start working on music production with my Maschine and my computer decides to not read the hardware.

Jerk.

Now I’m reinstalling the entire software in the hopes that I can get it to read again. It sucks though, I was on a creative high and the technological world decides to put a damper in my plans.

Mind over matter, jo, remember that. Yes, sometimes I refer to myself in the third person when I’m in a particularly trying situation.

Update: Spent three hours re-installing Maschine software and fixing plug-ins and finally got my hardware to work. Excited to try my hand at beat making.

The other night, one of my favorite up and coming producers (in the same world as Mister Lies, Different Sleep, and Soleman) dropped a stunner called “slow.” This has been on repeat for the last few days much to the dismay of my neighbors.

From the get go it’s a gorgeous medley of breaks, R&B samples, luscious bass lines, and lovely synths. The distorted vocals creates an atmosphere of playing in fallen leaves and long walks in chilly weather. I especially enjoy the middle portion of the song when we leave the first major breakdown and enter into a realm of vocals and an intense buildup. Svengali proves himself to be a well-versed producer based on this release and his compilation of artists, including himself, on Svengali Vol. 2. He’s really quite apt with dream pop and electronica in general, sampling from a wide range of places to create dynamic sounds.

I’m obsessed with this song and feel I may be in an eternal honeymoon phase with it.

-jo.