R.I.P.1.0.3.

Oh, I'm sorry, did you think you were getting JUST another Christmas album this year? Well, I suppose I can't blame you for coming to that assumption. I regret to inform you that this is not the case, however. Things are... different, this year. Something has changed.

Listen. Can't you hear it? Something cruel and callous has infected the airwaves. The vibrations erupting from your speakers bring no joy or mirth; rather, something sinister and unsettling. Evil has made it's home in sound this Samhain Season, dear listeners, and I would highly advice those of a nervous disposition to make quick haste to safety. For those of braver constitutions, however, it is my esteemed and perverse pleasure to welcome you to...

R.I.P.1.0.3. + XMAS 2018

Track 1 was written a little in advance of the project- about a full two weeks ahead, really- and was born from elements of an A Just Endeavor track that didn't make it passed the concept stage. It's a long overdue musical gift for mushroomminded (aka Em), a lovely lass on tumblr that I struck up a friendship with last year and haven't regretted since, on account of her being an extremely funny human being, an incredibly talented artist and storyteller, and most importantly a lovely person with a heart of platinum. Once it had begun to evolve beyond it's AJE origins, the track took it's inspiration directly from one of Em's ongoing projects, the Micoverse: a story largely centring around two teenage boys, Milo and Cody, and the crazy adventures they find themselves on (usually of a supernatural nature, often with a tragic element, occasionally darkly comedic). The two friends run a YouTube channel that focuses on two types of content; Milo doing ridiculous and frankly dangerous stunts for views, and expeditions to supposedly haunted locations with the aim of capturing said haunts on film. The idea behind this track is that, were there a Micoverse video game or animated series, this is the song that would play during the information gathering stage of the pair's latest investigation- scouring the internet and news for leads, interviewing and chatting with locals, scoping out the location in the daytime, etc. The general feel I was shooting for was something that feels like it could fit in a visual novel or adventure game, and that had a more subtle spook-factor to it rather then being out and out horror fuel. The Extremely 90s vibe of the track sort of grew out of it's origins as an AJE piece, but it also came from two musical sources of inspiration: the track Zombie Spray by The Hustlers Concept., and the track The Hunter Association by Ryota Koduka.

***

TRACK 2

Beneathness (Theme for the Creepy Subway Network)

Warp vs Skint

"Have y'ever checked out the abandoned Subway?"

"What? No way; that place seems shella spooky."

"No kiddin'. Y'know, they say there's monsters down there."

"Dude, shut up!"

"No, no, for real; if you go up to entrance and listen real hard, you can hear 'em moaning and groaning, hutnin' for prey in the dark."

"Ugh, c'mon, leave off; you're creepin' me out!"

---

So uh, sorry for the delay! I did not intend for there to be such a big gap between songs for this project, but October has wound up to be as busy- if not busier- then I expected it to be. I also ran into a spot of music block that held me back a few days, which didn't help any. Nevermind; got a second track out in the end, and that's all that matters!

The concept for this one's a bit of a doozy, so try and stick with me; y'know the abandoned Subway entrance that grants you access to the Deepsea Metro in Splatoon 2? We know what the deal with all of that is, having the benefit of being able to play through and experience the events of Octo Expansion, but your everyday citizens of Inkopolis was totally clueless of that whole affair. Given that some weird noises and sounds must have escaped from the old entrance from time to time, I posit that it (and the ruined subway network beneath it) have become a local urban legend in the city. Residents of the city tell stories about it to each other: there's grizzly monsters down there that crave the flesh of innocent sea critters; the system still operates perfectly despite no passengers or staff; the evolved descendants of the last human beings have a fully functioning society down there that the world at large doesn't know about. So on and so forth. Such tall tales have abound for a while now, but with the big Splatoween Splatfest coming up rumours about it are beginning to pick up traction in a major way. There's even talk of some brave souls planning to venture past the blockade and explore it, see if the legends are true.

This song, then, is intended to be made "in-universe" by a couple of my Inkling characters- good natured social butterfly and big beat producer Skint, and quiet, reserved, stone faced but polite and philosophical IDM musician Warp- directly inspired by the many tales they've heard about Inkopolis' haunted subway network. More then that, it's inspired by their proximity to the stories or the place themselves; Skint is a streetwise fellow who mingles with any and all folk, so he's been hearing stories about the place for a long time. Warp, meanwhile, is big into urban exploring (she finds it relaxing and a good means to get musical inspiration), so naturally taking an actual trip into the network has been on her radar for a while. Neither of them wholly believe in the tales- well, Warp disregards them outright- but Skint isn't entirely sure and, having volunteered to go along on Warp's trip down there, is a little nervous. The process of writing this song with her was supposed to be a means of exercising some of that anxiety and channelling it into something creative.

The song also serves as a dry-run of what some of the story mode background music for my long term Splatoon project is intended to sound like; experimental 90s flavoured breakbeat type fare with a spooky and/or depressing atmosphere. Hence, the shift from more contemplative and low key stuff to heavier breaks and a greater emphasis on action. The song's evolutionary nature and lack of reliance on repeating refrains wasn't wholly intended, but it kinda came out that way as the composition process went on. The song basically shifted into all the different directions you hear it go in as I worked on it; it makes for an interesting listening experience, I admit.

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TRACK 3

Knock 'em Back & Knock 'em Out (Theme of Creepy & Crawley)

Arcade Child vs The Twisted Kerchiefs

So, a bit back, Dio put a request in for a R.I.P.1.0.3. track: she wanted me to do a short, 30-second long "eyecatch" jingle/loop inspired by one of her ongoing projects, Creepy & Crawley.

Me being me, I said "nah fuck that, you're getting a 1-minute-ish ending theme inspired by it instead". Me also being me, the 'ending' bit got changed to 'opening' because the melodies that came to me were much bouncier then I initially planned.

For contexts sake; Creepy & Crawley is a series that centres around a team of Paranormal Investigators made up of perpetually down-on-their-luck misfits. The team in question is made up of the following individuals: Alestor , a sharp dressed gent and trickster archetype who would feel all his at-least-two-millennia of age were he not permanently drunk; Yoko, a mysterious who's incredible power, waning by the day though it is, is outmatched only by her beauty; Leo Griffin, lone survivor of a military unit who (sort of) makes up for his not-so-bright nature by being reasonably competent with firearms and explosives; Henri Bitner, the most mature member of the group, and a a 13 year old boy serving as the conduit for an all-power demon hive mind called the Legion; and finally Mei Asakawa, a way-out-of-her depth young lady with an incredible sixth sense. The stories revolve around the various escapades the team finds themselves in- ranging from 'pedestrian haunting' to 'world ending cataclysm'- that they inevitably have to solve using a dash of wit, a smidge of cunning, and about 10 metric tons of luck. Which is a bit of a shame, as to paraphrase their creator herself; so astronomically bad is their luck that, if given access to a weapon that would always hit its target and could never break, it would invariably jam before they got a shot off, or they'd somehow manage to miss with it anyway. They're all still alive, though, so they must be doing SOMETHING right.

Pretty much from the word "go", I wanted to do something with a pretty strong Jazz flavour to it. In my head, the world of Creepy & Crawley has always had a bit of a jazzy, sleazy funk groove rife with upright bass and bouncing bongo beats running in the background- probably because, whilst the series is absolutely entrenched in horror and a touch of genuine tragedy, there are strong elements of both action and comedy that run through its veins as well, so something that managed to capture that blend of emotions and moods was definitely in order. Besides, R.I.P.1.0.3. is technically this years "12 Tracks" project, and we can't very well have a 12 Tracks release without The Twisted Kerchiefs making an appearance of some kind (it's about the only time the alias turns up, something for which I am eternally sorry for). A bit of rock grit snuck in there too, something I put down to listening to Yasushi Ishii's work on the Hellsing TV series way, way too much.

Getting the 'Jazz' part of the brief came fairly naturally- the upright bass in particular came together very quickly and cleanly, as did most of the percussion- but when it came to defining melody lines and integrating some Spook Factor, I had to experiment with a few different ideas before things began to click. Having to work on this in short increments for a couple of days due to family events and such several days on the trot only spaced out the work more, natch. There's still an annoying little voice in the back of my head screaming 'THE MELODIES ARE DULL DWEEB' because, well, Certified Perfectionist™ over here, but what I really notice listening to this song back is that my ability to write out- and my willingness to write out- more complex arrangements is definitely increasing. It's something I'd noticed in a lot of my more recent work from this year, but with this track in particular (which, barring the Manos soundbyte and the thunder cracks, is sample-free and 100% written in Music 2000 using only in-program sounds and no premade riffs) I think it really comes across that I'm getting a lot bolder with my compositions. Is there still a lot of room for improvement? Absolutely- I'm nowhere near where I want to be, yet- but I'm on the right path, and that's a good sign.

Incidentally, I find it both extremely funny and very telling that the track sounds less like an anime opener, and more like the attract mode from an 90s arcade game. Perhaps it's the theme song for the officially licensed Creepy & Crawley Beat 'em Up released by Nincom? (nahhhh, probably not; Gonkaka didn't write it)

***

TRACK 4

Poem for the Uninvited (First Floor) [from "Misfit Manor"]

Gonkaka

I can only apologise for the delay on R.I.P.1.0.3. tracks, folks; real life has been extremely hectic and all over the shop these last few months. However, I intend not only to continue the project through the rest of November, but into December as well; that's right, this is now a Halloween AND Christmas album! Because I haven't put out a long form release in a while, and because with how crazy things have been I figured stretching it out was the only way to ensure it... happens.

One of Dio's other two requests for the project where that her two favourite aliases of mine- Piston Quints and Gonkaka- make an appearance. I am only too happy to oblige, as I enjoy working with both- and because, as far as Gonkaka goes, it gave me an excuse to revisit "Misfit Manor" again!

"Misfit Manor" is a Gonkaka project based on one of Dio's ideas, Misfit Demons, a shonen-style work featuring two human teens, Akiva and Skylar, taking charge of a group of various monsters, spirits, demons etc. (plus moving into a big spooky house with them, hence the name) and getting involved in Wacky Adventures with them. "Misfit Manor" is, essentially, a fictional horror-RPG based on the initial beginning of the series' story, involving Akiva and Skylar's first meeting with the monsters they'd come to know as friends, the house they'd know as home, and the kind of Supernatural Doohickery they'd have to foil with said new friends. One of the ideas tossed around for it, as I recall, was a dialogue/recruitment system vaguely similar to what you might find in an Shin Megami Tensei game, though the actual game as it appears in my head is closer to something like Sweet Home. Which, as far as this song intended for the first floor 'overworld' of the sprawling mansion goes, is pretty significant; I dunno how obvious it is, but the primary source of inspiration here is the song used for the same context in Sweet Home, "Wandering Visitors". It's mostly the bassline I pulled from, and even then I pulled more from the arrange album version of the song (which isn't uploaded anywhere, grumble grumble) and fairly loosely at that. Tone wise, it's more on the 'tragic' side almost then the super spooky one- I have a self-confessed fondness for melancholic songs used in horror contexts. Though there is that atmospheric breakdown in the middle that's a bit more leftfield, so it's got that going for it. The elements I'm proudest of here are easily the little pipe organ section starting 46 seconds in, my use of the infamous "Guiro Girl" sample in the atmospheric breakdown that actually kinda works with the off kilter vibe I was going for, and finally being bold enough to try some proper intricate piano stuff utilizing the lower, middle, and upper portions of the piano- I used to have a lot of trouble integrating the lower octaves into my piano sections in a way that was satisfactory. The hardest part, though? Finding the right samples to use in post- the 'style' I have set in mind for Misfit Manor tracks is one that makes use of vocal/SFX clips from old movies, tv shows, games etc. Not exclusively horror ones, but at least ones that add to the atmosphere. The idea to use the sample from the Doctor Who serial "Survival" at the end came quick, but I struggled for ages to fill the gaps at the start with ones I liked, cycling through The Thing, Ghost Watch, and Night of the Living Dead 1990 before landing on that sample of Krauser from Fatal Fury 2 in the end. The speech synth at the start is a sample pack one, mind you. Although not entirely intended, the use of Uninvited in the title does count as a reference to the Horror Adventure Game of the same name by proxy (I go with the NES version due to it being the one I’m most familiar with).

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TRACK 5

No Grave Can Contain Me (The Hardcore Sustains Me)

J-MACHine

Two consecutive power cuts nearly clipped this song before it got off the ground; usually, that's grounds for some pretty miserable composing sessions full of tension and stress.

Not entirely true this time; whilst there was a bit of worry about whether M2K would crash or buckle under the weight of what I was putting it through, putting this song together was some of the most fun I've ever had writing a song, honestly. And I really think it shows in the end result.

This is one of those rare cases where the song title came before I had any real concrete musical ideas in mind, and as a result everything that followed just kinda sprung from the jumble of words in question. This worked out pretty well in my favour- I had a need to write a sort of "halloween anthem" track, and I've long been of the opinion that oldskool rave music can compliment a horror atmosphere (both serious and cheesy) really well, when written in a minor key. I doubled down pretty hard on that angle in several ways- building a section around an edited loop of Brian Schmidt's Grab It (the 4th level music from Crüe Ball), sticking in appropriately spooky vocal samples, and most significantly recording original dialogue. I don't get to do that sort of thing either as often as I'd like or as bombastically as I'd like; thankfully, now I've got the house to myself more regularly, I get to do big, boisterous, shouty and dramatic monologues like the one 43 seconds in more often.

As far as the actual music itself goes, I could very easily have subtitled this track "A Tribute to SPEEDKING (and also JAKAZiD)", based on how obviously influenced it is by the "J-Death Techno" compilations put out by the SPEEDKING PRODUCTIONS doujin label (and, well, JAKAZiD also- specifically his nu rave/rave breaks stuff). It's a direction I'd intended exploring with the J-MACHine alias for a while but never really had the confidence to tackle- and I didn't really have it here either, it just kind of happened naturally without me consciously thinking about it. It was a good excuse to rinse a few classic rave-y samples- stabs, chords, synths, breaks and other noises made famous by several oldskool (and oldskool style) tracks show up here, and were very deliberately picked to capture the spirit of that type of music. On that note, the dialogue I recorded myself is something of a throwback to the kind of MCing the resident DJ's at the legendary Juliana's Tokyo nightclub would do over sections of their sets. This was good enough grounds to throw in a reference to a compilation I put together with a couple of other musicians also influenced by the compilations Avex Trax put out based around the club, JIMINY'S TADCASTER.

For the curious (and to give credit where it's due); thought there are several songs that inspired this cut in some way, the ones that inspired it the most are Total XTC with U by JAKAZiD, Kontakte by Tetsuto Yoshida, and Seven Force by DJイオ and ツージー.

Also, was it worth staining my hand (and my PS1) with fake blood to take that photo? Yes. Yes it was.

Also, if you're curious (or if you’re having trouble discerning them), the two dialog snippets read as follows:

Dialog 1:

Boils, Ghouls, all Creatures between and besides, we welcome you to an evening of toe-curling terror here, at JIMINY’S TADCASTER! Please, gather ‘round the Bassbin and put your claws together for Hardcore’s deadliest producer; back from beyond the rave, it’s J-MACHine!

Dialog 2:

JIMINY’S TADCASTER would like to thank you for attending the arcade ritual this evening; we ask that you retrieve any and all body parts that you may have lost in the mayhem, and that you leave with intent to cause significant harm and disorder. Have a grisly night~ *chuckle*

***

Well, well, well; it looks like you survived the macabre madness, intrepid listener. You braved some of the most diabolical decibels I had in my arsenal and came out the other side unscathed and intact; I am very pleased.

Ahhh; it seems that whilst you were away, winter has begun to settle in. The air is cool and the skies are misty once again. Come inside and rest your bones by the fire, listeners; you've earned the rest. And you need to be ready for what comes next.

***

TRACK 6

Supermarket Sweep

MIGHTY-MACHine vs Waltzer Jam

***

TRACK 7

Muestreo Paraíso

Denji Koshiro

***

TRACK 8

Dheu Bhel

Piston Quints

Another request for Dio, this one, and one that came together extremely quickly. Like, about a days worth of work spread over two, I think? Shortest turnover rate of any of the songs on the album, I'm pretty sure.

Dio's request was that I revisit the melody from one of the songs I wrote for Battlemania four years ago, Perfect Blæwaz, but take it in a more sombre and contemplative direction, with some particularly minimal portions. So, quite a bit different then most of the stuff on the album thus far- even Poem for the Uninvited was a tad more upbeat, by all accounts.

Tracks like this are an interesting challenge for me, due to the whole "god this sounds so BORING I'm BINNING IT" mentality I rub up against when working on tracks from time to time; I either wind up wanting to fill in as much of the space as possible, or I get stuck for ideas on how to make the simple interesting. I did briefly struggle in the same vein here, but not as much as I typically do, which made for a refreshing change of pace. I did settle on having the song gradually build into a fuller arrangement as it went along, though, hence the progression from ambient noise to electric orchestral to trip hop.

One of the core ideas that fuelled this piece from the get go was tying it in to the same source material as Perfect Blæwaz; Dio's heavily anime inspired project Boulevard of Distance (of which the stage that song was written for was related to). One of BoD's main characters, JP, appears in a few Winter/Christmas related stories that explore some personal demons and baggage of a fairly heavy nature, so my aim was to write a version of the song that could, potentially, be used to underscore moments from those stories. The choice to feature SFX loops that incorporated public crowds having a good time and timing bells (taken from a public domain recording of Notre Dame's bells signalling the start of Christmas Mass, bee tee dubs) were incorporated to further push this angle; they sound distant, warped, far away and unattainable. At least, that was the semi-pretentious idea. Dio definitely picked up on that during her initial listens, so I'm taking that as a Job Well Done on my part.

The base songpic, which also relates to JP by way of object association, was taken by Dio and was largely her idea; I just suggested the "stick a backpack and some guff in it" bit and did the wanky image editing to make it look all Bad Photo Of A VHS Screen-y.

Fun facts;

• • The song's title roughly translates to "Dim Light", as the words used to make it are ancient words that can roughly be translated as "dust", "smoke", and "vapor" (Dheu) and "to shine", "to flash", "to burn", and "shinning light" (Bhel). These root words, through several stages of evolution through various languages, would become "dull" and "blue", among others (Bhel in particular evolved into Blæwaz, hence it's use here).

  • The example song Dio gave me to give me a rough idea of how to tackle the song was Freesia op.2 by Gackt, from their album MARS. Funnily enough, it wound up inspiring the use of trip hop breaks in the final third more then the slow-burn of the first two.

  • The vocal clips come from a spoken word performance of Bridge Over Troubled Water by Tom Clay, an American Radio personality who had a lot of balls titling his album that (and recording a song about acceptance and quality) considering he was, by all accounts, an enormous prick that scammed people out of money. Seriously, look him up, it's fuckin' wild. Today, this performance is most known for being the source of a few samples in Hideki Naganuma's The Concept of Love.

And once more, the season passes and fades into memory; it will be another ten months before it comes around again. To close it out, the album is now available for download at the 103 Records bandcamp, linked above.

Released today in honour of the tenth anniversary of mine and Dio's first meeting, R.I.P.1.0.3. + XMAS 2018 is a gift from us to all of you; for those that worked to better themselves, for those that needed a helping hand, and for those that survived the weird year that was 2018. May it serve you well over the opening months of 2019, brothers sisters and others; keep the beats big.

Special Thanks go out to the following individuals: Dio, Sam, Dayle, Lauren, Aaron, Liam, Em, Jeff, Shad, Graham, Gill, Leslie, Mum & Dad, and any and all heads that supported 103 over the last year!

project co-directed by Decon Theed and Dio Maxwelle

Tracks 1-8 and 10-12 composed and arranged by Decon Theed

Track 9 composed by Joshua Harvey and arranged by Decon Theed

cover art designed and produced by Dio Maxwelle

songpics 1-7 + promo photo taken and manipulated by Decon Theed

songpic 8 & alternates taken by Dio Maxwelle and manipulated by Decon Theed

\m/

~ Decon Theed (03/01/19)