Textbook Maneuver On the Making Of ‘Adrenaline Slip’
How did you come up with the theme?
I was making music based on piano and synthesizer themes I had improvised, really just enjoying the flow. The music I composed for this album was inspired by my desire to take a break away from everyday life and all the strains that come with it. During playback I would figure out chord progressions tied to emotions I was feeling at the time. A few started to really feel spacey, as in the cosmos. I was also hearing and reading about the NASA astronauts stuck in space so four of the songs started to come together as a suite.
Can you talk about the recording and production process for 'Adrenaline Slip?'
I used my home studio which is bare bones, a piano, a Roland RS-70, an acoustic guitar, and a Yamaha beginner’s bass I have had since high school. Everything was recorded onto a laptop. I was taking electronic music courses and really dove into plugins, mixing, mastering and just kept at it until everything sounded good, testing on several different speakers, my car stereo, and headphones. All in, it took about 4 to 5 months, working on something nearly everyday, in the evening or weekends when not at my full-time job.
Which piece(s) from the album do you think best represent your artistic vision?
My long-term vision is to end up writing music for film, TV, or video games so I am really trying to focus on themes, tapping into emotions and creating visual cues through sound. Therefore, I think the unofficial “Space Trip” suite which is made up of “Tell Them I’m Not Here (Still in Outerspace),” “Spacewalks,” “Re-Entry” and “Controlled Landing” taken as a whole shows my attempt at taken themes/ motifs and using them in different ways. I was trying to provide my best guess of the feelings our astronauts were feeling while being away from home longer than planned but doing the work they loved at the same time. “Birds” and “Murmur 3 Home” also contain elements of those aspects/ goal , so can act as bookends to the “suite”. The title track “Adrenaline Slip” is my other artistic vision, to create energetic music, by the end of it, the fast tempo is closer to the hardcore punk I love. I even named the song and album after two of my favorite albums “Slip” by Quicksand and “Adrenaline” by the Deftones. Listening to my album, I doubt anyone would think I was a fan of either of those bands.
Can you tell us more about you as an artist?
I grew up in the Bronx, really got into metal and hardcore punk, after being exposed to classic rock by my older brother. I also took classical piano lessons for most of my childhood, paused them during my teen years but then took up lessons again as a young adult. I really enjoy learning new chord progressions. I am obsessed with any music that has a DIY component, could be punk, alternative, jazz, old school bluegrass, you name it. If the artist’s heart is in it and you can feel the sweat/ effort and understand the back story of how they got to the outcome, I enjoy that and think about that process while listening to their music. So as an artist, that is my goal, roll up my sleeves, convert these themes I have into fully constructed songs and do it with effort and passion. I also listen to a ton of jazz and recently, starting to get more into the history of electronic music. So summing that up, my daily listening is very intense, sometimes extreme music which is kind of opposite of what I have been writing as Textbook Maneuver. But the main thing I am taking from the harder music in my collection is that DIY attitude. For this album, from start to the end, it has been 100% my effort with advice taken from experts along the way. I work at things until it has a theme I enjoy, tones that sound unique but fit the mood/ vibe I am going for. Early in, a song title evolves and then I change the song to fit the title. I will be taking video and animation courses later this year as I have thoughts of visual pieces that will be created for each of my songs. I want this music to be a 360-degree experience. All 12 tracks may end up as a full animation movie if things work out as I learn how to work in that medium.
How do you balance your desire for originality with the recognition that your music is part of a larger tradition?
Ultimately, I want music to be enjoyed. I want it to land for those who want to listen intently but also work well in a group setting, during a party or whatever. The project Textbook Maneuver has embraced electronic music but my other projects will be other genres. I am finding it a fun challenge to compose and record a song that can be cerebral but not end up as background music. I think I achieved that artistic goal, though I also understand this is not going to be for everyone. I find in order not to go full on artistic, it does require using some common musical tones and structures, though sometimes I do want to go full on trippy, but I pull back. I ahem some demo versions that would have an audience of one, me. So, too extreme either way, would not work for me or my goal for the output to be enjoyed by others. When the response is, “that song sounded really good, sounds unique, not sure where it fits but solid none the less”, I am happy. If the listener says, “you helped me take a break from my day to forget about life for a while”, that is the juice that keeps me going.
