Since yesterday was Day 1 for the new Hypefactor material, I've decided to keep an ongoing journal about this record so a year from now I can look back and see what this album eventually started as and how much it either changed or stayed on course. Plus I want to see how scattered my brain really is when it comes to doing what I love the most, which is making music.

Day 1 was very productive. Surprisingly actually. It was very casual and the ideas were flowing. The first Hypefactor record started from songs that either Brandt or myself had already written and we would play over what already existed. This time it was starting totally from scratch usually from a simple 4 measure drum or synth loop. Already the sound is different. We've got four tracks in embryonic form and they seem darker, a little depressing, though the last song we started working on was a rocker. I'm interested in seeing that one come together.

Having not written on my own (i.e. not in a band atmosphere or with a producer riding me) in quite some time, it was a pleasure to just sit and play bass. I had spent the last year or so either just doing remixes, writing for Chemlab, or writing with the aggression in the rehearsal space (where Ocionic and Wedding Song were born), so I wasn't sure if I could immediately get back into the swing of writing for myself. However, I was more than ready and never really stopped for a second (other than the customary Wendy's break. thats when you KNOW I'm in the zone). I think it was the same thing for Brandt, who is a lot quicker of an engineer these days. I was jumping from bass to keyboards like a kid who needs ritalin and he kept up withour losing a beat.

Today is day two. I'd like to think we can pump out maybe 2 more. Once we have about 6 ideas down, I want to start bringing people in to add over this stuff. I hear things and I'll say "this needs (insert name here)" Last time, we didn't do the guest star thing till later in the process. This time, I want people to be in the early stages to help shape the songs. At the same time, I would like to have different people come in trigger a few new ideas. For example, Robin has guitar piece I want to lay down and Ash has an ambient piece I fell in love in when I accidentally downloaded it off his hotline account. I hope to bring in some non Mogpackers as well some OLD schoolers. We shall see.

The other benefit to this is that the studio is down in my old seaport neighborhood, so I am looking forward to my reuniting with the greatest Chinese take out of all time, Great Wall. A wonderful thing indeed.

More after day 2!

F