New Tracks by Lucas Vigor

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/lights-on-the-water

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/the-dark-continent-bones-of

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/the-dark-continent-congo-the

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/the-dark-continent-limpopo

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/straight-no-chaser

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/ucayali

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/garota-de-ipanema

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/the-joy-spring

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/brazil

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/so-rare

http://soundcloud.com/lucas-vigor/take-me-to-aruanda

Enjoy! (originals are copywritten, but go ahead and download them!)

I'm really diggin the "Dark Continent" stuff.

It's a soundtrack looking for a movie. :)

I'm through the first 4 tracks but where's the "Play All" button ??

Agreed with John-O. The dark continent stuff was really enjoyable and especially loved the description. Didn't understand how to download the music (maybe I have to be a member on that website first?) but I don't mind going to the page multiple times and hitting the play button.

Thanks for sharing.

Brilliant stuff, which I would be more than happy to pay for.

Once again, I am astounded by the level of creativity and talent displayed by a member of this community.

Amazing stuff, Lucas! Really mood evoking! This stuff is as good as any modern exotica that I've heard from any 'band' out there. I can't believe you played EVERYTHING yourself too! ...actually I can... Lucas Vigor, a true musical genius!

Thanks guys! All the positive comments sure mean a lot!

This stuff I record is a labor of love for me….I don’t intend to ever sell or make a CD of it, because the stuff is too raw, too unpolished…not worthy of sale.

My problem has always been a lack of funds. If you saw what type of equipment I was forced to use to record my stuff, you would be shocked. Analog, tape, only 4 tracks, etc….

While most of my peers have extensive home recording equipment, which is computer based and of studio quality, I have always done my stuff the really old fashioned way: Real instruments (for the most part) recorded on the cheapest of recording devices. There is no sequencer, no computer, no computer samples….if I wanted the sound of a bass drum or finger cymbal, well, I get my mic and record it. Sure, I do use keyboards, but I try as much as possible to add in real instruments. If you are hearing strings, rest assured there is a violin and/or viola overdubbed in there over the synth strings. The percussion sounds are real instruments..snare, cymbals, talking drum, dumbek, congas, bongos., shakers, etc.. some things I also have used are bamboo flutes (bansuri) and other exotic string instruments such as a king david’s harp or an Oud I borrowed.

The disclaimer is that my stuff is recorded super lo-fi. That has it’s plusses and minuses, of course..if I had all the deluxe computer based software, it would be no problem to download some exotic drum sample that I did not create myself, and layer it in my music….but that’s not how I roll….! This stuff was just examples of me recording in the quite part of the night some type of real instrument, and hoping it comes out all right!

Once I am done, there are no redos, no fixing mistakes…I have to go with first takes pretty much…and so this stuff is not perfect, and hopefully this explains why I am not selling my stuff. In order to record this way, I have to have the entire song already completed, in my mind. I have to know what I want, and find the shortcuts to get there based on the limitations of my equipment. In some cases, I actually write the music out as an orchestral score ahead of time )Like on “The Dark Continent Suite”…

So that’s my story and I am sticking to it! I sincerely hope you enjoy the sounds of Lucas Vigor!

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2011-02-23 09:55 ]

Ole! Ole! y Ole! What a threat! I will listen to them RIGHT NOW and will come back with my honest critique...

Right on Lucas! Are famous and rich?! How you do it? Did you studied music?
Very cool, music man!
Oh boy... I'm listening to #1 ... WOW! WOW! GOOD STUFF I WOULD SAY! LOVE IT! I NEED A MAI TAI!!!

will listen tonight when I get home,
need to get to work soon.

looking forward to it.

Jeff(btd)

On 2011-02-22 11:48, Zeta wrote:
Ole! Ole! y Ole! What a threat! I will listen to them RIGHT NOW and will come back with my honest critique...

Right on Lucas! Are famous and rich?! How you do it? Did you studied music?
Very cool, music man!
Oh boy... I'm listening to #1 ... WOW! WOW! GOOD STUFF I WOULD SAY! LOVE IT! I NEED A MAI TAI!!!

Muchas gracias, Don Zeta!

No, not rich or famous (yet!) but fully trained in music! (classical/orchestra)...I look forward to your critique!

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2011-02-22 12:06 ]

Ucayali!

What's the meaning of that word? It's a cover, right? Who did the original?
Sounds like TIKI TECHNO. Hipnotic, rich in leyers... Fun stuff! The flute!
I like it mucho! I can see myself go primitive with music like that...

Lucas, you should listen to "El Guincho"... a young guy from Islas Canarias... I would descrive him as Aphex Twin a la Tropical. Quite succesfull too!

Back to your music...

lucas rules.....
he is a genteelman and a musical scholar....
liking what i'm hearing!

Why, thank you Ken! I tried to go a little darker with this sound...to me, it is exotic...maybe not exotica...because exotica, while at times has some dark themes, is generally pretty light hearted! (After all, we all know they have hammond organs in the jungles!) but my stuff is perhaps a little scarier...I guess more from the hollywood tarzan side of exotica then anything else!

And not to give you a swelled head, but I take my inspiration from many sources...and there were several of your paintings that came to mind while creating "The Dark Continent"....(paintings I wish I could afford to take off your hands! ha ha!)Most notably, there was one I believe you called "the drummer" (maybe not sure of that title?)

Glad you are enjoying it, bro!

This stuff is fantastic.
Just release it already, dammit.

I'm working on it, Jim!

Straight,No Chaser!
love that song....

A-1 Sauce,lucas!

Your "Dark continent saga" is so ambitious! love it!!! Love the descriptions too! I want more info on the songs! Such luxury to have you here, Lucas, to explain more!

I do not like the covers so much, I mean, I do, but I've heard them too many times already... I like the not common covers better... I want to learn! No Brazil, No Garota De Ipanema! c'mon! Covers, ok, but make them more obscure please!

Lights on the water... Love it. Love the name too... I really feel in a tiki bar in the 60's when I listen to it! Fun fun stuff! Ready for print if you ask me!

Well, I have always been into "exotic" themes, and never knew what "Tiki" was until I found this forum. Of course I had been a huge fan of Les Baxter, Martin Denny and Arthur Lyman going way back to my childhood. I just didn't know what that style of music was called for many years. In my mind, there was never any real difference between the exotic sounds of 1950's hollywood Africa, or polynesia...so when I created "the Dark Continent" it is an homage to many things, Disney's jungle cruise, movies like "African Queen" and books such as "heart of Darkness".

But it could just as well be about the Amazon, or Borneo and Sumatra...did you know that out of all the "lands" in Disneyland, "adventureland" was always my favorite?(with Tomorrowland" being a close second!) so I tried to put that in my music. That particular set of three pieces, to me, also has a lot of roman influences, mixed with the type of low-brass chords that Gil Evans used. There are also elements of my favorite composers like Charles Ives and Copland. It's dischordant and raw sounding....and quite scary...because even though we listen to exotica in the comfort of our own homes, sipping cocktails with no care in the world...there is a dangerous place out there, where a man can die very quickly if he is not careful. The Jungle is not just in Africa, but right here in our cities as well. This may be why I am such a fan of 80's period King Crimson, and just about everything Jon Hassell has ever created.

You asked about the song "Ucayali". It's an original, in so much that it's just a one chord jam song...and Ucayali is one of the main tributary rivers of the Amazon river, ( place I have on my bucket list to go to!)

As to covers, well, I spent years as mainly an avante garde musician. I have stuff in my archives so strange and "out there" that is is not for human consumption. But every so often, I feel like coming down from where I was, and doing a cover of some typical standard jazz or bossa tune...something to keep me grounded. If you go to my soundcloud pages and look at some of the other songs, you will see a mixture of both standards and some more obscure covers.

In all, I feel I am doing something different here. Whether it is liked or scorned remains to be seen. It has no elements of surf or garage rock, and I know that those are the two most popular styles on this forum...but the classically influenced, exotic styled Safari music is my own thing...and you heard it here first, Zeta! Hopefully, other artists will keep doing what they do, and leave me to do what I do....!

You mentioned the song, Lights on the Water....this is actually a tune I came up with years ago, while stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I would walk by myself, sit, sometimes have a cocktail at the Navy Yacht club overlooking the water...and just dream. At night, Pearl Harbor can be a very beautiful place!

And PS, I LOVE Aphex Twin, as well as Squarepusher......

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2011-02-24 07:27 ]

Straight, no chaser

A favorite of mine... sounds like a Jim Flora drawing.

Tell me more about it! You played everything, right? Are you using a saw in there? Cool cat music.

That one is:

Upright bass (walking bass part, panned left)

Upright bass (Bowed, lead part plus solo, panned right)

Snare drum with brushes

Bongos

That's it!

I am a huge fan of Jim Flora and love even the flora-dora font......I am glad you "get" where I am coming from....it is all about tone and feeling for me....I wanted "straight no chaser" to be almost a line drawing, like the black and white graphics on so many great old albums! (where is that album thread??)

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2011-02-24 10:51 ]

on Track 4 now,
so far, Amazing!!!

and not in a Blowin smoke up yer ass way.

throw some tiki art on the cover and you'll sell thousands.
maybe even get an award.
:wink:

Jeff(btd)

Great stuff!!
Ok what movie was the song roly poly in?
You did not copy this song as it was in the movie.
I would buy a cd of your work.

Here's the answer.
I love this movie!!
And Mrs. DD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj0oXqu36nk&feature=related
Lifted from you tube "The black woman is my Granny Perri Blackwell She rocks!"

[ Edited by: tikiskip 2011-02-26 19:59 ]

Great stuphph Lucas! I love that you play all the tracks yourself and merge it into a song. In the "Creating Tikis" forum, artists will often post a step-by-step of how they have created something. I really enjoy those. I know absolutely nothing about music except that it makes my heart happy and I have no idea how you make songs like these. How do you decide which track you record first? Then you listen to the first while you play and record the second? Inquiring minds want to know. And not to oppose Zeta, but I like the Ipanema cover. Songs like that are classics for a reason, it's good to hear a new interpretation of them.

My favorites were... so rare, the joy of spring and lights on the water. Any music that makes me want to have a martini is good music. Also liked the crazy Ucayali, this one just made me want to jump outside into the jungle and do some crazy dancing. :)

Well, it might be a boring technical discussion! But suffice it to say, I either start with a melody or start with a rythm, whatever comes to mind first....then gradually layer on parts until I get what I have in my head out. The bass is almost always last, since that is my main instrument and the one sound I want to be better then the others!

Great stuff Lucas!
I understand your desire to have your material perfect before you release it (if and when you do), but man!! I'd buy your stuff in a heartbeat. I love it! The thing that makes music so beautiful IS the human error that sometimes gets incorporated into it. As a musician myself, I do understand that you want it to be the best it can be, but PLEASE consider releasing some of these tracks.....even if just a "TC exclusive". I'm sure there are plenty of people on here that would support your efforts!
Either way, keep making that great music!!
Luke

I totally agree with Lukulele! The people neeeed this stuff, Lucas.

And even though I pretty much already know your process, I'd like to hear how you went about laying down a particular song. Maybe you can go through "Lights on the Water" and explain that one? Did you actually catch a kookaburra and record it?? In all seriousness, I'd love to hear the process. I think it would make for some interesting reading....

That kookaburra is very famous, also appearing on the Hula Girl’s album! It's the same one we caught outside the recording studio, next to the Cherry Pit bar where Dominic Tucci made us drink Patron' silver shots!

I love the kookaburra….nothing says “Hollywood Jungle movie from the 50’s “ quite like it, and considering the Kookaburra is from Australia, and not even from the Jungle…I find it totally hilarious!

For that song, “light on the water”, like everything it begins with an inspiration. In this case, sitting alone at the Navy Yacht club sipping a Mai-Tai that was surprisingly accurate. The Yacht club was cool, in that a lot of retired navy sailors and officers hung out there. This was not a “hip” place that other guys my age (I was 19) liked to go to, so often I had the place almost to myself and got to hear interesting stories about the way Pearl Harbor was back in the day. The lights of nearby Aiea and pearl city made a cool reflection over the dark waters of Pearl at night, and that combined with all the bamboo décor and nautical stuff in the bar made for the basis of this song, which started in my head and which I brought back to the mainland with me!

There was a warrant officer, and older guy who was working with us and had been called back from retirement due to a rare skill he had. This guy was someone I talked to a lot about Honolulu back during the 50s and 60s. He was a major fan of Lyman and Denny, and was surprised that I knew who they were…REAL surprised, considering that this was the “metal years” and everyone my age was into either metal or the first rap music.

So, he is in the song as well!

Technically, I already knew how the melody went so I started with the piano chords, using the (soon to be copied-now that I am revealing how to do it) “spread piano” effect, which is one chord played two octaves apart. That gives it the “cocktail” sound. I recorded these chords along with a metronome, which I later erased. If there are strings in there, that would be a synth string section with me layering a real violin (probably 2 or 3 tracks bounced) over the top so that it sounds more realistic. Then I started adding in percussion…Djembe, talking drum, congas, bongos, shakers, finger cymbals, Guiro, then the bird calls (I won’t reveal my source, ha ha!) and last but not least, bass…recorded with one microphone only. Unfortunately, (Or fortunately) I have to “bounce” many parts, due to the limitations of my equipment, and that results in reduced clarity, but overall, makes it sound “old” which I actually like! The vibes in this case are indeed fake…but I do actually play real vibes…having played them in the JC stage band for two years, and having played Marimba in concert band in high school…funny side story, but a few years back I was lucky to go to the NAMM show, and I am sitting in a corner taking a break and who should I run into but Lucky Designs! Weird, since the place is so freaking huge what are the odds? Anyway, we spent the rest of the day together checking out equipment, and I surprised him by playing “yellow bird” on the vibraphone (the messner booth) so he can probably vouch for the fact that I can play them…and would if I had 4000 bucks!

Anyway, stay tuned for more stuff to be released soon…..I have some very evil ideas brewing in me!

On 2011-02-28 11:24, lucas vigor wrote:
That kookaburra is very famous, ....

I love the kookaburra….nothing says “Hollywood Jungle movie from the 50’s “ quite like it, and considering the Kookaburra is from Australia, and not even from the Jungle…I find it totally hilarious!

Is the kookaburra the sound that Mr. Johanssen is trying to imitate at the beginning of this song?

YouTube: New York Dolls on Don Krishners Rock Concert

I think he starts with the kooka, then morphs into a howler monkey....and then goes into a vocal chant that adam and the ants stole for the song "picasso"!

Either way, gotta love them New York Dolls!

See, now that was a super interesting read. Thank you, chief.

I do strange things sometimes....

The vast, soon to be filled Segerstrom Hall. Those seats up top are so high that if you fell, you would surely die!

Preparing to play:

What is better then 1 bass? Well, 5 basses, especially if one of them is Shawn Graham, from the Shawn Graham jazz quintet (guy on the left)..

I still think the Fonz is the coolest!

Aaaaaay!

Great stuff Lucas!

I love the churning tribal percussion on Ucayali! And as mentioned, the Dark Continent recordings are begging for a film accompaniment.

excellent work again...we need an album baby...will play some on the upcoming Cocktail Nation show! KK

I would like to do the art for your album if you want!
GRATIS!!!

On 2011-03-13 22:29, koopkooper wrote:
excellent work again...we need an album baby...will play some on the upcoming Cocktail Nation show! KK

Thanx Koop! Let me know if you are unable to lift them off the soundcloud site. If you can't download them, I can try and send whatever tracks you like via email...though I am having massive computer problems right now (malware, spyware..uggghhhh!!)

On 2011-03-14 12:14, Zeta wrote:
I would like to do the art for your album if you want!
GRATIS!!!

I'll keep that in mind, Don Zeta! And you might be the only artist here who has ever wanted to work with me, so it's very much appreciated!

Thanx Koop! Let me know if you are unable to lift them off the soundcloud site. If you can't download them, I can try and send whatever tracks you like via email...though I am having massive computer problems right now (malware, spyware..uggghhhh!!)

Lucas, I love your stuff! Can't wait for more. Many of us would like to download your songs. I went to Soundcloud and found that apparently your songs can't be downloaded unless you make them downloadable. I found the instructions for how to do that in this link: http://soundcloud.com/help/search?query=download under the question, "Can people download my tracks?" Here is what it says: "(Tracks can't be downloaded) Not unless you checked the optional 'Downloads enabled' box in the edit mode/upload page of the track. Tracks are by default not downloadable unless you explicitly make them so. To make your track downloadable after uploading, click the pen icon above the waveform and check the box that says "Downloads disabled" to make it display "Downloads enabled".

Thanks.

Done! Enjoy!

....and done. But no Straight, no Chaser. :)

I noticed that...there must be something wrong with soundcloud...when you click on a "set", they all play but then it stops when it gets to that song....if you go out of the sets and click on tracks you should be able to get it.

I wish I could of seen you play at Segerstrom Hall, Lucas!

You're stuff is always great! We need to get that duet recorded soon...

What up man!

yeah, we should get together soon...mix up some cocktails, let the music flow!

I will make sure I post the Symphony's last concert for the season, which will be May 14th (a saturday)...we are doing some super-rad stuff this time. Stuff so hard that my brain feels like it has been smashed with a mallet. Stravinsky's Firebird...which is noteable because it features drop-tuned bass and pretty much every hard, crazy bass technique there is: Advanced harmonics, slides, col legno (using the wood part of the bow). At our rehearsal last night, it was "bass torture" night! They really focused in on us! Also, Saint-Saenz violin "introduction and carpaccio" and a cello concerto by Cano (never heard of it either).

This concert will be at memorial hall, at Chapman university in old town orange. People should come just to hear the Stravinsky. Stravinsky wrote music that is about as dark and forbidding in places, as any I have ever encountered this side of Bartok. It's scary stuff....so of course I absolutely love it!

[ Edited by: lucas vigor 2011-03-31 11:01 ]

These tracks by Lucas Vigor were found yesterday, so they are probably his newest tracks.

On 2011-03-31 10:56, lucas vigor wrote:

This concert will be at memorial hall, at Chapman university in old town orange. People should come just to hear the Stravinsky. Stravinsky wrote music that is about as dark and forbidding in places, as any I have ever encountered this side of Bartok. It's scary stuff....so of course I absolutely love it!

Lucas,
please remind us as it gets closer.
I want to go.

Jeff(btd)

great photoshop work Grog!

Oh My Hell!