I am an audio engineer and producer, and I work with a percussionist who was in Weather Report and Parliament-Funkadelic, and also played with Jerry Garcia, Bob Dylan and many others. He is also known for his shamanistic new age trance drumming, and we tossed this concept around for awhile, and finally made it a reality awhile ago. With his trance drumming it has been noticed that he was able to transfer some of his consciousness to the listener, who would meditate and focus on the music, and would eventually end up in the same relaxed state as the drummer, if they allowed themselves to. Our concept was that we would do a Cd that had songs that were inspired by indica and songs that were inspired by sativa, so the entire process of writing and recording and mixing each of the songs was done while under the influence of specific strains of marijuana. The CD starts off with long and highly energized sativa song, and then gets less energized and shorter with each song and type of strain, until about halfway through the CD when it slips in to indica mode, and then slows down to a very stoned out longer vibe by the last song. The progress is meant to be incremental and gradual. It is best to smoke some sativa at the beginning of the sativa songs, and then smoke some indica when it switches over to indica mode. We also did a hybrid CD, and are working on a CD of concentrates. You can listen to them for free on bandcamp. Check them out here:
I am interested in any feedback or ideas from people after listening to the music - what you think of the concept, the music, and how it made you feel. Keep in mind that this is shamanistic drumming and not typical âsongsâ in the traditional sense
I canât say itâs my particular type of music, but as a musician and audio engineer myself, hopefully I can give some advice.
I didnât get a real good listen, will check it out later. First thoughts though, definitely dig the drum rhythm on the Sativa, thatâs your heartbeat. And the hazy chords, perfect.
Indica⌠it was ok. I felt it needed a little something else. Maybe instead of the reggae beat more of a âdrunkenâ swing. If you know of the YouTuber Adam Neely, he uses this in his band a lot.
Iâll give it a listen when things calm down in a few hours and give you the brutal version if you want, lol, I never give it unsolicited.
I like what youâre doing man, I desperately wish I could write. Something like this transcends music though, youâre making music on the best subject: shared experience. If you get it right, everyone who has ever smoke pot will vibe at least a little with it. Percussion is such a good center piece for this as well; for me at least. The fast heartbeat tempo just instantly connected.
I appreciate your feedback, but honestly I posted this 10 minutes ago and it is a 70 something minute CD, and it isnât the type of music that can be fast-forwarded through - that kills the concept completely.
As I said, it is shamanistic music, and not songs in a typical form or structure. You are supposed to listen to this as you meditate and allow your mind to go free - it is a tool to allow you to let your mind go to other dimensions and spaces, not songs or hooks.
The drummer was one of the musicians who practically invented new age music with paul winter consort, and also released a CD with babatundi Olatunji called âcircle of drumsâ and a CD called âjourney of the Drumâ that was a top-selling shaman drumming CD.
I understand that shamanistic drumming may not be everyoneâs cup of tea, and may bore some people. I am not looking for only positive feedback, but I think it is important to understand what the music is trying to convey while listening to it. Also, you need to be in the proper headspace for this type of music, so to quickly switch from bits of each song and then go from sativa to indica etc. just wonât work as intended. We had the concept of maybe selling these in dispensaries and including an 1/8th of some strong strains of indica and sativa for each song, with the instructions included about how to smoke them and listen to each song.
No worries man, I didnât mean to put you down on it or anything, nor did I mean to give my full evaluation. Sitting on the shitter while youâre getting ready for the day isnât the ideal setting. Like I said, if you wanted my opinion Iâd be happy to devote to time to it. Otherwise itâs not my style of music, I couldnât offer you much insight and I wouldnât really enjoy it. I myself prefer harmonies over rhythms, but I do agree with what youâre trying to do rhythm is key. Trance music is just that; you need to be in the headspace. Iâm the kind of guy that general would rather hear the songs I know and love to sing or play along with. To each their own, but music is universal. I find beauty in good music I donât like.
No, I didnât give a very thorough description, but not did I claim to.
Also, you know, when it comes to music or art; sometimes no one else likes what you made. Actually happens a lot, but did you make it for people to enjoy or did you make it because itâs what you wanted to say? If you said what you wanted, no one elseâs opinion matters.
thanks man, I appreciate anyone giving it any type of listen, no matter where they are or what they are doing, and I appreciate your ideas and first impressions,and didnât mean to come off as a snob or ass, I just wanted people to understand that this isnât your dadâs rock and roll lol. I know it is also asking a lot for most people to listen to a 20 minute high speed conga solo with added electronic ear candy, followed by an entire cd of additional drum solos.
I actually thought long about posting this here, because I know that this will probably not be appreciated by a majority of the population here, but I finally decided to post it in hopes of reaching the small percentage of the people that this would appeal to. I have always loved drumming recordings and solos, and I generally hate those typical rock and roll âblow-outâ solos where the object is to hit as many drums as they can with seemingly total disregard for the flow or groove of the songs.
No worries man, you just came off defensive. Itâs your hard work, normal to react that way.
I donât have any indica until maybe this weekend, but Iâll give your Sativa a good listen, let you know what I come back with.
I struggle with confidence in my creativity to the point I canât even start writing a song, happy every time I see someone who can express themselves freely. Least I can do is listen, eh? But a listen is no good if you donât enjoy it and your feedback is unwanted lol.
yeah sorry, I didnât even mean to come off as defensive, I am just passionate sometimes lol. Itâs hard to communicate here fully, also. As I said, I totally understand that drum solos, especially long ones, are not everyoneâs cup of tea. We are so accustomed to harmony being the driving force of our music in western cultures, and we are also focused on quick results and we grow impatient with music where the object is to groove mostly, without any seeming melody or normal structure. We tried to focus on the melody that is implied in the tones of the drums as well as the rhythm of the drums.
It was actually not an easy project to complete due to the large amounts of marijuana that needed to be consumed to do them properly lol, which is why the concentrate CD is still in the works since itâs harder to focus and create and actually complete something while doing dabs.
