Available only on Band Camp
https://audus.bandcamp.com/album/adolescent
I used to release and perform under the moniker of OSCAR …. and I can’t remember why!
This Digital Audio Tape (DAT) has sat untouched and unplayed since 1998. No one owns a DAT player no more, but I recently found a company to make the audio transfer for me. Over 20 years ago, I used to write tunes on an Amiga 1200, using a lovely obsolete piece of software called Music-X. 8-bit samples and restricted to only 4 stereo sounds at time, I really had to push it to get anywhere near sounds I wanted. I have gently remastered the tunes, resisted the urge to do any re-writing or editing, so these are proper oldskool tracker beats. Many played out live!
I used to pack my kit into a box and ‘gig’ ; an Amiga, a tiny CRT monitor, SPX Mixer, Midi Keyboard and Digitech Delay pedal…. I had no way to mix between tracks, so the delay pedal was essential for capturing loop and manipulating it while the next tune loaded. At my 1st live session at the ‘Oldskool’ at the Music Factory, a lass kindly asked if I could speed it up? I smiled and nodded, and looked like I changed something…. but I couldn’t… if I changed tempo the loops would go out of time, or out of tune, or both….!!
I continued to write for the dancefloor, drowning in the virgining Drum ‘n’ Bass scene in Sheffield, but always loved the slower tempo too. I promoted my music in different routes, live sessions at the NY Sushi and The Leadmill, mixes for Hallam FM and Student Uni Radio stations. A track got played on by Radio 1 by Paul Oakenfold, a tune appeared on a Red Tape Studio local talent charity CD. In 1998 Wildstylz Records offered to release the tune “Adolescent” as a single…
Click into each track to dig into the album and find out more.
https://audus.bandcamp.com/album/adolescent
Thank you for taking the time to listen to my old music….
- Little Bald Doctors
This pulsating slow bass driven track was one of first solo tunes, I wrote after Cuscus disbanded. Long lonely nights in my little room, generated some dark tunes.
This was picked up and played out on Radio 1 by Paul Oakenfold, searching of new talent… I’m sure I’ve got it on cassette somewhere.
The title comes from the superior beings that appear in Stephen King’s novel ‘Insomnia’
There were three bald doctors in total. Two served The Purpose (Clotho and Lachesis) while the other served The Random (Atropos). It is their job to cut any being’s lifeline (or streamer) when it is time for them to pass on.
- Zero Point Energy
I could cut up a beat sample for days. Beginning to understand how to create Drum ‘n’ Bass / Jungle, and enjoying the process. Limited by technology i’d often develop beats, piece by piece with snares, kicks and hats from different sources… and sometimes failing to reach the magic 165bpm.
Zero Point Energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. I don’t understand it, look it up.
- Lack of Understanding
Long drawn out slowed down 8bit samples had a certain sound, that I used to love. The mixture of samples used on this track are often jarring, and a little overused, but I still dig the beat.
The “Lack of Understanding” is all mine.
- Urban Summer
Sample clearance is something that we would spend hours discussing and agonising over… but never did!
The vocal sample is taken from “Howling in Ojai” by Eddi Reader.
A sample also appeared on a tune, the BBC Worldwide Show many years afterwards, and I was so excited to inform Gilles Peterson of the source.
I am such a geek.
The guitar sample is all me, and very me…
- West World
A never got a nice piano sample. The tune is all mine.
imagine the automatic player piano in the bar in West World, after its been shot up….
I believe the spoken sample is from an Emergency Broadcast announcement… the fear of this filled our young lives during the 80’s.
- Flirting Glimpses
Loved a filtered chord sample, but with the limitations of Music-X, I could speed it up with altering the speed… so the track was stuck at 145BPM!
Liquid DnB years before the phrase was coined by Fabio….
- iWelsh
Everyone remembers Born Slippy by Underworld from Trainspotting.
I was well into the book and film, and still a fan of the dark and funny writer Irvine Welsh. That’s the sample, voicing my biggest fear of just forgetting something I have created… I still think it’s a tune. Maybe not Born Slippy god, but still good right?
- Strange 26
A fine example of how to program echos without any plugins. Overly intricate beats, a classic 90’s sax sample and a voice from Milli Vanilli “Baby Don’t Forget My Number”…. I don’t think I knew that at the time.
- Adolescent
In 1998 local legendary club night NY Sushi set up “Wildstylz Recordings” and kindly offered to release the tune “Adolescent” as a single…….. it was re-recorded at Groove Studios, Mastered for vinyl in London, Test pressings were made, then real-world problems got in the way and it was never released…. or was it?
Neneh Cherry on vocals !
Never cleared, but I hope she doesn’t mind if she ever hears it…
- Lady
The vocal comes from a version of Lover Man by Billie Holiday, that never found again. I still love this track. It also appeared on a charity compilation album released by Red Tape Studio, if anyone finds that, please let me know.
- Adolescent (All Beat Up Mix)
Half-Speed…. but just as hard… never played out, never released, never heard before until this release….
https://audus.bandcamp.com/album/adolescent
Hope you enjoyed this dive into my past.
Please check out my latest album https://ffm.to/audus
Much love Oscar (NY Sushi) (Audus)
AUDUS 