The Exact Job I Asked For

In Daphne Falls, I’m on programmed drums and bass, with synths and other noises on top of it. As we lead up to late-summer and fall gigs, I’m both trying to simplify and standardize what I do back there. There’s a bit of pressure in that this is the exact job I asked for in music. I want to get it right. This means: Get it repeatable. I want to get it to where muscle memory takes over, where certain parts of the performance are effortless, but some things are left to chance so everything is a little different. Thus far, deciding on an MPC for the brain is easy. It’s basically purpose-built for this kind of thing. There are a hundred different ways to go, and just like the OS, there are a hundred different ways to do one thing. That’s why the whole system confuses people. I just want to find the best path for me, which is both the benefit and the curse of the entire MPC workflow. So I point to a French band from about 11 years ago called Cotton Claw. They had a performance at a…