I’ve been listening to the new songs over the last week or so. As a whole, the new album has a full skeleton. I hope to begin working on lyrics/vocals this week.
In terms of how it sounds–as mentioned before, it will be a step up sonically. I think that there are aspects of it reminiscent of the self-titled. Most of it, however fringes on an entirely different genre that I don’t want to reveal quite yet. There are three symphonic metal/fusion/gothic Visual Kei tracks. There are four other songs that are a fusion of Gothic Visual Kei, and a final lengthy instrumental of a completely different genre that also retains aspects from everything else on the album.
I had a ninth song written but it doesn’t gel with the rest of the album. In total it clocks in at about 40 minutes, but it may increase slightly in length depending on my desire to add an intro to one of the songs. I may also add some interludes as well–we’ll just have to see.
I did want to note that if you want to get a copy of the self-titled album on vinyl, now is the time. I am moving out of the country in the next couple of months and will be unable to fulfill orders for that item for an indeterminate amount of time.
Another song in the bag. This one is much more metal. I figured I needed another metal sounding song to fill the otherwise electronic vibe of the album out. That makes three straight up metal songs, a dancey instrumental and three dancey vocal based tracks done. I endeavor to do one more. I am thinking a ballad.
I have been trying all week to get a song going that I can feel in my veins. I even went so far as to fully commit to a false start (about 8 hours of work) before I decided to move on. The vibe that’s working for me this time is straight up metal. Heavier than anything on the self-titled but still fully in line with the vibe of this one. I felt the album needed another metal song! Anyway it’s certainly going. And I am pushing. Oh am I pushing. I really want at least nine tracks on this next album. And good golly molly I am going to make the attempt.
I got another track in the bag today. I have seven tracks completed for the next LP. The music can be best described as uplifting, energetic, electronic, and different than my previous output. There are two metal tracks on the album but they may get dancified. We’ll see.
From a sonic point of view this stuff goes into another direction. I am always looking at improving my formula and I think definitely goes above and beyond what I have produced before. There will be guitars, but it wont be full on metal per se like the debut LP from 2022. There’s a lot more to listen to, and more variation, as well as beat dropping.
Vocals will probably be completely different than my previous two albums. There are a couple of reasons for this but the primary one being that I have a very specific concept to this album and the vocals need to accommodate that. This is by far my favorite phase when it comes to producing a new album. The keys are less MIDI and more played ideas captured via MPE and the Linnstrument.
I am going to continue writing tracks for this until I feel I have enough to keep me busy for the rest of the year.
And hopefully by year’s end Lacrimorta 2: Electric Boogaloo will rear her very good bad girl head.
Worked on a sixteen bar groove today and yesterday. Very spacey. My main focus for the next Lacrimorta album is to have it sound, well, on the level. I was thinking about doing singles for this round, but hey maybe not, who knows.
I read about one hundred and fifty pages in Dust of Dreams and did way too much driving. Tomorrow, I do it again.
I want to start posting here more regularly about the stuff happening on my end. Truthfully, life has been a crush lately but I am managing after a flurry of unexpected change. I left a snake cult, I moved our large apartment in the city by myself, and I am moving out of the country in the next couple of months. Easy stuff!
I have still managed to keep up with my daily Japanese studies through all of the drama. I also have managed to keep reading everyday. I am also currently on book nine, Dust of Dreams in the Malazan series. Everything else has suffered, but hey, at least I am consistent in something.
I have finally been able to start working on music again after a couple of months off, and I have to say it feels splendid. I have six songs written for my next outing, and I plan to continue writing more as I continue through the year.
I plan on being more open and sharing my creative output more this year as there are more positives to me not sharing at all.
I am exploring Dreamtonic’s Synth V application. I am also fooling around with Vtubing which feels nice. I feel more like myself when I don’t have to focus on the camera.
Today’s work included getting song x2x for the next studio album to the bridge. Starting tomorrow, I will get that out of the way. I will also get the intro settled. In my mind this sound is undoubtedly Gothic Visual Kei. Overall, the sound is less metal.
Yesterday I started working on my live set as well. So far the songs I have down include “Nocturnal Lucidity,” “Yet Love Will Dream,” and “Nyx.” Playing bass whilst singing is fun. I am hoping to record a short set soon and polish it up for a broadcast. If I’m being honest though, that is still a ways off. Presentation wise I am not quite there.
Last week a completely drafted a new song which successfully takes on the Gothic Visual Kei vibe. I am quite happy with it.
For me, crying is a physical response to mundane frustration, momentary sadness, and temporary pain. Weeping is different than crying. Weeping is the physical response my body expresses after a prolonged, stressful experience, as a way to let out feelings of intense grief, and also as catharsis in times when things just aren’t optimal.
This morning I finished Steven Erikson’s fantasy masterpiece “Deadhouse Gates.” The ending to this book made me weep. Profusely. Twice. Never in my life have I experienced something like this from a book. Sure–I’ve felt strongly about things I’ve read in the past, but can’t honestly remember any book that’s affected me with such grief and sorrow as the end of “Deadhouse Gates.”
Experiencing The Chain of Dogs over the last month has been a profound and spiritual experience for me.
Considering all of the things happening in my life at the moment, I desperately needed the release that Erikson helped me arrive to. The endless ordeal of having to maintain decorum in my work life has been pushing me over the edge for sometime now. I yearn to do the right thing, for myself, for others. Concepts of honor and integrity shouldn’t feel like they are subjective things. It feels like the world has made them like that in many ways. Are there too many shades of grey?
I want to be free and I want to allow others around me to have the same privilege. This is always easier said than accomplished. Our world is one that keeps us in a prison of notifications and impulsive behavior if we let it. Program or be programmed. Some of us have patience. While some have been placed on this planet to learn it. We have always lived in times where the self-centered push back against the selfless.
The world is always ending. Change is the only constant. The apocalypse is and always has been now. The 1980s were shit. The 1990s were shit. The 1340s? Shit. The world is always shit, for someone. Humans are funny.
I digress.
“Deadhouse Gates” was a thought provoking and emotional read. I wholeheartedly recommend seeking out controlled experiences (like reading, or creating) that cause intense emotional catharsis when it feels like the world around you is bleak and without necessary release. It’ll make you feel better, even if it’s just for a little while.
Today we have received a shipment of vinyl record copies of Lacrimorta’s self-titled debut from Bohemia. These are available right now worldwide for $30 USD plus shipping.
Side A includes: “Let There Be Night,” “Moondark Exile,” and “Yet Love Will Dream.”
Side B includes: “Nocturnal Lucidity,” “Deathbed Companion,” and the stellar “Nyx.”
You also get a digital copy of the album with each purchase which includes a seventh, digital only track “Eternal.”
Keep in mind, these are all independently produced by yours truly, so you have confidence that your support goes directly back into my ability to bring you Art. These took a lot of resources and energy to bring into being, but I am so happy that they have finally seen the light of day. Plus they sound amazing thanks to XENNON Studios hard work!
If you happen to be a Tucson local you can check these gorgeous vinyls out in person at Wooden Tooth Records here in glorious downtown on 7th street.
I have completed an objective of mine over the last thirty-one days in my committed participation in a challenge called “Beatober.” The rules were simple enough—create a piece of music or “beat” everyday for the entirety of October.
After the release of Lacrimorta’s first album in August I wasn’t sure what my next move was going to be. Considering the sheer amount of “serious” work that went into the album I wanted something unofficial and simple to pursue. I joked throughout the month of September that I was going to do Beatober. I kept finding an array of excuses to not do it:
1. It wasn’t my style
2. I was worried about putting unpolished work out
3. All around worried about the negative impact it could have on Lacrimorta’s primary objective.
There were an innumerable amount of other excuses I won’t list, but in the end they all had the same exact effect, they kept me from seeing the positives of doing it. In the end, I decided to commit to Beatober despite my negativity.
Things I learned from this exercise:
I learned to effectively utilize the Elektron Octatrack, a device known for its arcane and fussy nature. In using it almost exclusively for Beatober I became very good at using it. My early sessions with the device took 4-5 hours to create a single song on it. By the end of October I was making songs in 1-2 hours depending on how ambitious I wanted to get. I used to be scared of it, but not anymore.
I learned how to create music on the Yamaha QY-70, a robust and portable hardware alternative from the late 90s. This is the same series of device that Bjork used for “Post” (she used a QY-20). It’s even better when you plug a midi keyboard into it.
I became more aware of the economy of my time spent on songs.
In using the Octatrack, I became aware of zeroing in on minute step-by-step detail. It’s incredible to think how much detail you can put into a period of ten seconds.
I accumulated a variety of seemingly unambitious, but cool, sounding songs that I can now use in a live setting.
I explored genres and styles I’ve been apprehensive to dip my toes into, including trap, hip-hop, drum and bass, retro, as well as, sample based comedy genres.
I am very pleased that I was able to create something every day. The idea of creating art during different periods of “mood” including during moods that were less optimal was something I kept in mind throughout the process. Looking back at the days I was not feeling too great is quite eye-opening, because some good stuff came out of it.
I read both the manual for the QY-70 and the Octatrack during my free time to give me new things to try when I was ready to start making music.
I learned that I was able to effectively stay engaged on social media by doing work rather than participating in the endless mud wrestling match.
I learned that it’s okay to use opportunities like this to learn new tech.
Some of the struggles I had:
On day 3 of the challenge my Octatrack’s Compact Flash card corrupted and I lost the first two days of work completely. I almost gave up the challenge that day if it hadn’t been for my Digitakt. Granted, I had to do some really quick learning on the Digitakt to make it through the third challenge. This gave me a day grace period to find another compact flash card on the other side of the city to continue using the Octatrack.
Managing time. This project required me to not only create a song everyday, but I had to practice and record each song via video, and with decent quality. This wasn’t always easy. It wasn’t until much later on in the process that I nailed this by learning to couple the creative process with the actual recording in order to capture once instead of having to redo perfect takes.
My day-to-day schedule is jam packed with various responsibility. There were several days that I got home at 8pm and had to push a video out before midnight. I always managed to do it, but these were the most difficult days. Something that helped these days the most was to sample in the morning and use the samples to create songs in the evenings. When I switched over to the QY-70 that no longer became a problem but it did take me several days of going through the manual for it to get the hang of that machine.
Traveling. Towards the end of the month I went to a music retreat. I ended up only taking the QY-70 with me for convenience and ending up making an actual song with a drummer and myself on drums for the finale for Beatober. This trip ended up being a boon, but it was trying both before and after traveling to get myself together mentally to self-start my process in a different place, and a different circumstance.
Getting the right volume levels for video. I figured it out towards the end. The beginning was messy, and the middle was too low. I should’ve paid closer attention to the levels on OBS rather than just my DAC.
Sample slicing could’ve been optimized a bit more if I had chosen all of my samples up-front in September before the challenge began. In other words, if I had to do it again I would do more prep rather than “doing it live.”
The daily process of naming songs wasn’t always easy. I usually named a track based on my mood.
Conclusions:
I have a new found respect for those musician types who crank tunes out. I did it everyday for a month straight. It isn’t easy. I still think that my preferred method of writing is a bit slower than this, but it’s good to know that I have what it takes to fuck shit up when needed.
I can use periods like this to sketch out ideas and fully form them at a later date.
Always back up your work.
Conditional triggers on Elektron machines are underrated.
Using one drum loop on a single track and slicing it up into various parts is a tremendous way to save space on an already limited Octatrack format.
The QY-70 has a unique character to it that shouldn’t be understated. It is a powerhouse despite being 25 years young.
If I want to get serious I don’t need to open up Ableton Live and sit at my computer for hours on end. DAWless is effective, fun, and less stressful when I’m not in the mood be at the computer.
In any case, I had a lot of fun. Beatober was worth it. I highly recommend giving it a shot next year if you’re looking to level some aspect of your music making skills.
Darkest Regards,
Nikoletta Winters
Here are some of my favorite highlights from the project:
“Unintended Cultic Patterns,” a black metal jam.
“Mireille” a jazzy, cinematic sonicscape created via the QY-70.
“The Neon Skyline Burns” a darksynth bass focused song created on the Octatrack.
“TRAHOR FATIS” an atmospheric track made up of nature based samples and some unsettling vocals.
“Haru” a hyperpoppish, light-hearted, hip-hop inspired song.
“Nymphoid Barbarian,” a pretty good exercise song.
“High Fashion (GUTS)” is vaporwave track made for professional walking.
“Anima Mundi” a gothic odyssey via the QY-70.
“WHERE THE SERPENTS COME FROM” a darksynth sample based epic.
“TCHAM” is a comedy track that I like for taking a hard left turn into some polka vibes.
Lacrimorta 
