Enter the Man-Cave

After living in various basements, tents, and dormitories for the last two years, it's finally happened.

I am writing this blog post at my kitchen table.

My kitchen table. Let that sink in.

What I'm saying right now is that I am sitting in a kitchen that I have claimed for my own, at a table that belongs to me (and that no, I haven't finally taken over the upstairs of my girlfriend's parents' house). I HAVE A MAN-CAVE.

It's actually pretty nice, believe it or not. I got an extremely good deal on a nice little one-bedroom apartment, and I now proudly call it my home. Yeah, I'm sleeping on an air mattress, and yes, I have a ridiculous-looking floral-patterned sofa (which, by the way, is the most comfortable sofa on which I've ever sat or slept), but it's ALL MINE and NOBODY CAN MAKE ME WEAR PANTS WHEN I DON'T WANT TO.

It's almost intoxicating. I'll be brushing my teeth in the morning, when all of a sudden, it dawns on me - THIS IS MY HOUSE. Finally, after TWO YEARS, not only do I have my own room again, I have the entire house that it's in, too!

The apartment's just great. I'm in a dog-friendly building, so that means that the apartment complex had to put brand-new carpet in before I moved in. The faucets and sink all look new and shiny, and there's a fresh coat of paint on the walls. It's got a ton of closet space, and it came with a refrigerator, a stove / oven, and a dishwasher! It's absolutely perfect, and for the price, I plan to be here for a good long while.

I don't have all my music gear set up yet, unfortunately - I managed to blow the power supply on one of my M-Audio BX5a near-field monitors while working on my last track (which has not been released yet, by the way... stay tuned!) and I've not yet been able to tear it apart to see if I can fix it. Honestly, though, with work and such, I've not really had much time to work on music lately anyway. Maybe later on this summer I'll bite the bullet and spring for a new pair of BX8a's, or perhaps some KRK Rokkits (I've heard great things about those).

I did get a chance to work on some music stuff last night, though. I don't think I ever mentioned this, but I "discovered" techno and minimal last summer, and I'd have to say that it's changed my life. I still enjoy trance, and I love indie dance / blog house / electro / whateveryawannacallit to death, but there's something refreshing about being able to enjoy something that's so raw, stripped-back, and atonal as minimal. I guess it gives me some sort of false sense of sophistication or something; all that I know is that I've gradually adopted a personal philosophy of minimalism - doing only what I need with as little (and as simply) as possible. It's a little hard to explain, and it's a bit out of the scope of this blog (as I don't really feel comfortable discussing my personal beliefs and philosophies on here), but it's changed me somewhat - for the better, I'd like to think. It's helped me to think a little more abstractly (at least with regard to art, anyway) - and that's never a bad thing.

Here's a solid minimal track that I've been listening to a lot lately:

Digital Mess - Miss the Reason

... anyway! I totally got sidetracked there. As I was saying, I got the chance to work on some music last night. I just picked up a MacBook (secondhand, from a friend, and for work, so no judging), and I've been trying to learn to use a native DAW. (I miss FL terribly, but this thing's infinitely faster and more stable than my Windows machine.) I've shifted my attention back towards Ableton Live, specifically because I like the idea of playing my stuff live. As part of the creative process, I hooked my iPod Touch up to my MacBook via S1 MIDI Trigger and custom-designed a controller layout:


I used it to make an extremely simple tune, and I just jammed with it for awhile, tweaking the S1 layout as I went. It was a whole lot of fun, and I'd eventually like to incorporate some of my other MIDI controllers with the setup soon. (Free plug for S1: It's an AWESOME iOS app. I wish I had an iPad because of apps such as this. I can create a MIDI controller with as many knobs, sliders, x-y controllers, and trigger pads as I wish, and I can link ANYTHING to ANY note-on, sysex, or MIDI-CC event on any channel. It's a thing of beauty. The editor's a little fiddly (as are the knobs, at least on such a small screen), but it's more than worth it.)

Maybe I'll have to record a minimal jam and throw it up here. I do a lot of cool things that I should better document... I feel like I have the means to make some of my memories more indelible, but that I never take advantage of it (for time's sake, or just because of laziness/indifference).

Well, I need to minimal-jam my way off to bed. I've got work in the morning, and I need to get up in time to make myself a lunch... from the food that's in MY fridge. My life is way more awesome than I deserve for it to be.

-K