I present the Nëw Agé Groüppe –
This project was born out of the ambition to express new ideas musically, and to evoke something nostalgic; something tied deeply to the world I inhabited in my youth – a world of real time strategy games, a world of graphics redolant of the late 90s into the 21st century. I wanted to step away from the aesthetic traditions that relate to my other music and design work, and I wanted something uniquely mine in its expression.
This project was born out of the ambition to express new ideas musically, and to evoke something nostalgic; something tied deeply to the world I inhabited in my youth – a world of real time strategy games, a world of graphics redolant of the late 90s into the 21st century. I wanted to step away from the aesthetic traditions that relate to my other music and design work, and I wanted something uniquely mine in its expression.
I turned to the themes that line the insides of my brain. Real Time Stratgy, high contrast parables like Conan The Barbarian, the bray of trumpets, the belting of tympani, the haunting ring of the Gamelan. This record and its accompanying film express these longrunning themes. I hope that the release of this record strikes a kind of aesthetic touchstone; a mileau shared by a wide audience of nerds who grew up in that decade straddling the end of the 20th century into the 21st.
How it’s made:
I created my world form within the confines of the open source game 0.A.D’s scenario editor. All elements, the terrain textures, characters and buildings come from the games wide array of assets. I needed an existing model library to execute this project as designing all of this from within a 3D program, like Cinema4D, would be out of scope for this project, within my modest means.
I got covid for the umpteenth time at the end of 2023. I found myself in bed again, suffering with a fever, and a burning urge to move this projet along. While postrate in bed, I wrote a story. It was a story about the foundational effect of telling stories.
The only feasible means by which I could bring this story to live visually involved using assets from an open source library to build the story’s world.
I also drew upon my past. I reached for higher stakes, for pain, and I recalled a long, bitter rivalry.
After the story-writing phase I set about breaking down the script into a shot list, from which I could plan my shots, captured form within the world created from 0.A.D’s open source world building tool.
The Music was tracked and sampled at my studio in New York, then the rest was composed and mixed in Ableton. I chose to mix recordings of my suite of 1980’s Tama Granstar toms, sizes 8”, 10”, 12”, 13”, 14” and 16”, with a massive 28” Ludwig acrylic bass drum.I also tracked bass drum parts on a vintage slingerland 18” bass drum. In addition to that, I included parts recorded on a Sonor Champion Acrylic 13”, 16”, 22” drumset. You will also hear extensive use of roto toms, and a range of snares, which I tracked in studio as well. The rest, the melodic elements, the tympani, the gamelan, tubular bells, bag pipes and synths come from a wide array of samples brought into Ableton and converted into pitched instruments. This process will come to define my future musical direction.
This is the Nëw Agé Groüppe.
This is the Nëw Agé Groüppe.
I needed to create a percussion-based album.
I needed a story to support this musical ambition.
I reached into my past for a narrative. I looked for an unresolved quarrel.
Dominic shanahan wronged me. First, he wagered the challenge of being oneanother’s nemesis in 2003. Second, he commissioned artwork form me for his band the New Age Group. I created scintilating art. Uniquely Canberran art. Powerful art. This artwork was rejected in favor of some Nickelodeon looking, goofy looking art. In response I vowed to take his band name, take their valor and present something unique and visionary in Dom’s stead. This is culture. This is Canberra.
I needed a story to support this musical ambition.
I reached into my past for a narrative. I looked for an unresolved quarrel.
Dominic shanahan wronged me. First, he wagered the challenge of being oneanother’s nemesis in 2003. Second, he commissioned artwork form me for his band the New Age Group. I created scintilating art. Uniquely Canberran art. Powerful art. This artwork was rejected in favor of some Nickelodeon looking, goofy looking art. In response I vowed to take his band name, take their valor and present something unique and visionary in Dom’s stead. This is culture. This is Canberra.
Client: Destiny