ABOUT THE ARCHIVE

High school was a fruitful time creatively for D4Disgruntled. Despite not having  more advanced resources, he made the best of a 61-key Casio synthesizer from Circuit City (or was it Best Buy?). This was when he first became a fan of film music, was a percussionist in the school symphonic bands, and was studying music theory & composition in addition to learning music by “ear”. Those familiar with film music may hear some references in his music to thematic material from other composers he was becoming acquainted with stylistically.

D4Disgrunted classifies these recordings as “streams of consciousness” playing combined with some improvisation. Meaning, he practiced out his initial ideas then when ready, he pressed the record button and went at it. What you hear is the raw uninterrupted music pouring out in the first and only take of each track. These were intended to be “musical doodles or sketches” that would one day be revisited and hopefully finalized in a modern era.

His earlier stuff suffers from the “room audio” bleed through as all he knew how to do at that time was set the recorder next to the keyboard or piano and hit record. The piano you will hear in some tracks is a “detuned” piano that he would play and record on while babysitting at the same house. He mostly did this after the kids were put to bed. Also, the tracks labeled “Early Casio Works”  were done on a 32-key Casio keyboard with short stubby keys. The music has a bunch of “clicks” heard in each track. These are the sounds made by the Casio synthesizer when an instrument is changed or the volume is being adjusted. This is only for the “Early Casio Works”.

The listener will also notice an advancement in technical ability and compositional complexity, transitioning from a John Carpenter-esque drone type style to more complex chord progressions and harmonizing melodies. While he could only use one instrument at a time, his three “go-to” sounds were a string / choral combo, a piano / string combo, and an 80s styled synth string. However, he would explore various other individual instruments such as the glockenspiel, acoustic guitars, solo piano, strings (no merged choral), chimes, and marimba. On a few occasions, he would use the built in rhythm section presets and would play a string instrument over the preset loops.

Now sit back, open your ears, and prepare to be AMAZED!!!
(or laugh hysterically)