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simplified: tension
LC 12350
:
2017-11-01
:
2022-11-07
Smaller, simpler - but still smart. The fourth release in our sub-series SIMPLIFIED: features a variety of cuts ranging from tense and suspenseful to sinister. Good for trailers, investigations and dark drama.
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VH007001
1:56
The innate, creepy feeling that something's wrong. The musical equivalent of waking up covered in insects, teaching you never to stay at a Super 4 Motel again, although you'd think the raccoons living in your mattress would've eaten some of the bugs. Processed plucked string/guitar pizzicatos create an unnerving feeling of tense expectancy and dread, augmented by string scratches, cello-based sound design and kick drum. @:17 the mood intensifies with percussive hits, low synth bass/pads and more frequent cello stings. @:31 the mix returns to spare, percolating bug-like infestation, with a full, driving mix @1:09 that adds an analog synth arpeggio and hand clapping, giving the impression of forward motion and progress. Good for complex conflicts, technological Horror, the heebie jeebies, mysteries and investigations.
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VH007002
1:30
Creepy, scary fear in semi-musical form. Tooth-rattling, speaker-challenging and narwhal-attracting low frequency sound design rumbles, rhythms and swells contrast against a series of momentary atmospheric, desolate (and incongruous) musical snippets that combine to suggest scenes of devastation and Horror. A large, dark, end-of-the-world rise starts @:09 and piles on frequencies and sounds until it climaxes @:28. The second half introduces more technologically-inspired sound design, like filtered distortion and ground hum to bring to mind internet disasters, damaged video footage, crime scenes and the aftermaths of violent diaper blowouts.
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VH007003
2:17
Sad, elegiac and beautiful modern Folk/American Western-tinged piece that reminds us of loss, the pain of surviving and dropping your oldest child at college followed by the awkward explanation of why you dumped a five year old in the middle of Harvard and drove off. A busy but somber bed of finger-picked acoustic guitars and string pads is accented by dramatic low hits and claps, gradually growing bigger and more poignant as muted horns, swelling choir and plaintive woman's vocal build to a climax @:28. The cut then returns to the bed of galloping acoustic guitars, providing the same emotional metamorphosis into a sweeping and fuller-sounding sense of loss that works for ecological/environmental crises, imparting a profound sense of loss like heartbreak, heartache and heartstring-pulling, although last time I did that I unraveled a sweater.
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VH007004
1:32
The audio equivalent of misery. Work in a Gulag? Parents sell you to an animal testing facility as a child? Slow, grinding, machine-like drudgery and waves of foreboding, buzzy brass create a churning bed of horrific depression that gets more dismal and scary @:09 as tormented, distant, radio-like men's vocals bemoan their choice of footwear. @:52 the vocals are soloed, returning to the main mix, but this time adding large snare drum hits, intensifying the oppressiveness and harkening back to the good old days at the facility wearing fifteen pounds of eye makeup, being fed 14 pounds of red dye #79 and wondering why you salivate every time you hear a doorbell. This cut would work with Horror, Sci-Fi, being enslaved to an alien race or being overdramatic about how tough your job at Starbucks is.
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VH007005
1:59
Not since Disc 6's blank track "(Extremely) Silent Night" have we named a cut so perfectly. Various billowy, atmospheric pads of shimmering orchestral strings provide various emotional cues, from suspense/fear (at the top) to heavenly hopefulness (@:38) to a sense of nausea-inducing dread (@1:13) as low, grinding strings suggest something big, horrible and chaotic is coming, possibly worse than my son's elementary school orchestra (The Vanilli School for the Musically Non-Gifted). Various ethereal and sound-design elements appear throughout, heightening tension and building to climaxes. Works for introductions, slow focuses/dissolves, or gradually morphing from small and non-threatening to oppressive and fear-inducing.
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VH007006
1:57
Edgy tension in two useful sections: the pulsing, rising buildup and the resulting explosive action. Starting with a bed of fast, stopwatch-like muted electric guitar "ticking" that adds horn surges, rising string pads and percussive knocking that climbs in pitch and tenor until a fake-out climax @:28. Shortly after, electric bass, four-on-the-floor electronic kick and pitch-sliding distorted guitars/synths create a futuristic-sounding, driving, gritty, tour-de-force of aggressive propulsion and attitude. Crowd cheers (starting @:51) make it perfect for sports, competitive drama and testosterone-related egotism.
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VH007007
2:15
Beautiful, heart-breaking mystery. Haunting, laid-back Trip Hop-tinged orchestral remix that examines the unanswered questions of life, like "how do you throw away a garbage can" and "why isn't there an easy way to remember how to spell mnemonic?" This slow cut starts spare with Jazz-infused piano/prayer bowl-like chords and small, drum-machine-like percussion that @:09 adds a majestic, but simple, climbing orchestral string passage that suggests a growing discord or even a positive/proud vibe with the right footage. The cut becomes spare again @:33 as piano, atmospheric metals and whispered, reversed vocals create a ghost-like moment of sad intimacy and trust me: I know what sad intimacy feels like. Returns to a bigger, more expansive version of the main, string-led theme @1:15. Good for gunfights, slow revelations of painful truths, failed relationships, shots of desolate city streets, heartstring-pulling PSAs and subtle buildups to emotionally-charged confrontations.
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VH007008
3:15
A feeling of foreboding doom, stressful misery and stepping in (what you hope) is dog poop: now in a variety of musical forms! This meticulous, precise-sounding cut starts with a percolating bed of re-tuned autoharps, plucked pianos, and dulcimers then gets larger @:14 with low synth bass and string/synth pads. @:47 a series of hits and meandering, haunting piano melody and Industrial sound design suggest mystery and whodunit (not to be confused with "Whodini" who were never formally found guilty of murder). @1:37 an almost-hopeful, spare section featuring distant machine-like drums and piano slowly builds up to a full mix that combines both sections, adding shakers, autoharps-a-plenty and a busy, movement-filled sense of complex interpersonal conflict. Good for old musty houses with secrets, crime scenes, stately dignified ways of saying "shit is fucked up," and nightmares for the unimaginative.
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VH007009
2:10
There's going to be a fight. Predatory, lurking tension, like a shark circling its prey, a bullfighter squaring off against a bull or the unpleasant search for said bullfighter's kidney after he zigged when he should've stayed in dental school. Starting with swells of wavering orchestral strings/low synths and "the door is ajar" bell-like tones, this cut slowly grows in tenor and drive as it adds kick drum, acoustic guitar and claps through the first :30, suggesting a subtly Latin-tinged, Pasodoble/Flamenco-esque feel. After a climactic hit @:29 the cut gets more quiet and intimate, adding simple electric guitars, stamping percussion and a more aggressive feel, getting large and more insistent @1:28. Good for reporting the evils of Wall Street, ecological crises, internet stalkers or that someone is actually fighting a bull.
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VH007010
1:42
Busy but relaxed. Casual but intense. Intimate but also far-reaching. For those first-year psych students, the condition of being indecisive is called aboulomania. Or Indecisivotron if it were a Transformer. Forward-moving and insistent mid-tempo acoustic bass rhythm, electronic kick drum and watch-like ticking suggest a busy but manageably hectic day, getting slightly more intense @:09 with drums, electric bass, waves of atmospheric "ohh"ing voices and a distant piano (@1:05), giving the cut a dignified sense that things are happening on a greater scale, like ecological changes or the return of the McFlurry. This neutral-to-positive cut is good for procedurals, corporate advertising, how-to videos, espionage and planning bank robberies.
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VH007011
1:36
Political intrigue? Scientific breakthrough? Chess competition marred by steroid abuse? Complex, fast, and mathematically precise, this uptempo, propulsive and unrelenting bed of percussive synths and muted keyboards that grows more urgent with metallic/bell-like synths @:13 and pulsing synth bass. Good for suggesting dignified conflict, intelligent debate and problem-solving under a deadline. Distorted swells starting @:37 create edgy tension while ethereal women's voices @:57 increase the importance and urgency. Good for espionage, governmental conflicts, investigations, action/chases, timelapse footage and math murderers (very uncool to make fun of my lisp, people).
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VH007012
1:47
Internet intrigue. The evils of big business. Off-kilter, disturbing, and artificial, like one of those internet greeting cards that features dancing cartoon dogs while "sorry about your grandmother exploding" flashes onscreen. Computer/synthy tones create a tense, expectant rhythm against low synths and heartbeat-like electronic kick drum that gets more driving and intense @:14 as bigger drums, hi-hats, synth bass and atonal rising strings suggest suspense or a web virus that lets people know you're emailing them from the bathroom. @:29 the cut climaxes, becoming spare and mysterious as delayed vibraphone chords and atmospherics synths suggest 1) missing children, 2) unsolved murders, 3) espionage and 4) the frustration of trying to stop Microsoft Word from auto-numbering everything. Drums burst in @1:17, just like Grandma used to.
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VH007013
2:00
Time is passing. Like water dripping from a sink, this neutral percussive cut will inspire you to pay attention or do anything to make it stop. Tension-inducing and a great way of making people's headaches worse, this insistent and driving collection of tick-tocking, small, eardrum-shattering percussive instruments, including clave, rotating drum, drumsticks, electronic kick drum, and delayed "dripping" drums work for clock-like passages of time, intrigue, espionage, procedurals, time-lapse footage and inspiring woodpecker-targeted hate crimes. Low, synthetic and atmospheric "growls" throughout (starting @:11) give the cut a darker edge. Gets even more suspenseful @1:47 as the pitch of the percussion starts to rise to climax.
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VH007014
1:43
Whimsical, haunting creepiness. Like when someone asks "what do you want for dinner?" and you get answers like "baby," "George Washington Carver" or "OOHHH YEAH!" as the Kool Aid guy bursts through the wall, causing thousands in structural damage. A bed of barely-held-together plucked electric guitar and delayed "ticking" wooden percussion suggests a small-scale crisis, made more attention-getting by adding a driving kick drum/synth bass, synth stabs, soprano sax, deep synthetic vocal bass notes and ethereal vocal pads that all combine to sound like a modern, waltz-like, Willy Wonka-esque calliope. A wavy, indistinct synth bed with ticking @:31 progressively grows into a fuller mix, with a particularly cool guitar/vocal break @1:03. Weird off-kilter tension/mystery with a playful edge that's good for the mildly unexplained, crime scenes, investigations and clown-on-clown crimes.
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VH007015
1:30
Time passing while time itself has stopped, resulting in an odd unreal, sci-fiction/Horror-esque and artificial-souding hybrid of Industrial and World Music. Featuring ultra-slowed down/bit-dithered pads, "ticking" metallic/glass percussion, thudding synth bass and low, filtered drums, this piece is an alien-sounding and moderately tense/creepy clock-like bed that works for internet disasters, crime, and trying to watch Netflix on a 64k dial-up modem. A break @:34 provides isolated hits and spare section to make things even more awkward and uncomfortable.
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VH007016
1:46
Gritty, pulsing tension becomes grittier and more likely to kill an innocent person unless its demands are met. This Indie Rock cut starts with a simple, neutral rhythm on processed acoustic guitar above a bed of insistent percolating synths that suggest forward movement, at least until cavernous drum/piano and attention-grabbing distorted hits start @:13, suggesting negotiations have failed. Spiritual/Blues-tinged, wordless, disaffected, psychotic atmospheric male vocals enter amidst exploding hits, suggesting implied violence, evil and that we haven't completely beaten this genre to death. The vocals return @:51 after a brief instrumental bed. Good for revenge stories, scenes of violence, slow-motion sports highlights and when disaffected, cooler-than-thou vocalists get pushed too far.
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VH007017
1:38
Retro-80s synth thinking music with a dark edge and probably acid-washed jeans. Pulsing, dramatic SynthPop that is driven by a low synth bass as filter-swept pads and buzzy synth arpeggios climb and fall above it, suggesting progress, decisions being made or time passing. @:36 a series of smaller, loopable submixes are featured, returning to the main, full mix @1:14 with drum machines adding a skosh of toughness, which, by using the word "skosh" we all know that's not tough at all. Good for internet/computer pieces, retro video games, the ultra-brief popularity of the "Stranger Things" soundtrack and learning that "the only winning move is not to play."
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VH007018
1:37
What it sounds like to be hunted or stalked by someone who can only play two notes and most likely has a monobrow. This dark and dangerous cut is built around a midtempo, unwavering thudding kick drum and low synth bass pulse beneath a simple (read: low IQ) twangy electric guitar line all create a feeling of patient insistence, like something is calmly following you, knowing you'll get tired or stop to check email soon. It intensifies @:13 with distorted pads, pounding drum/tom hits and @:23 adds guttural percussive vocal accents. After a spare pulsing break with various permutations and combinations (including a dramatic, hit-filled one @:37) the main, threatening mix returns @1:11. Good for crime investigations, predators, implied violence and imminent death.
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VH007019
1:42
Anxious expectation. The plotting and planning of a complex operation. Developing a conspiracy (but not a group of lemurs, oddly called a "conspiracy" as well). Moderately tense, subdued Alt Rock build that starts with a rhythmic, edited acoustic bass figure that repeats throughout as kick drum, brushed snare, reversed elements, multiple (but simple) electric guitars and a climbing synth swell all progressively enter until they climax @:29. Various remixes follow, getting biggest @1:14 with acoustic guitar adding a bit of drive and movement. Combining thoughtful with suspenseful, this cut is appropriate for espionage, unraveling a crime or uncovering a conspiracy determined to overthrow the government, which is why I don't trust lemurs.
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VH007020
1:42
Technological impatience without an ounce of humanity. Expectant, tense and practically tapping its foot as it waits for you to decide on an ice cream flavor, coffee selection or which child is less important, if you're at "Sophie's Choice" daycare. The cut starts with a mid-tempo, stuttering synth bass figure that adds faster muted electric guitar and a morse-code-like hi synth rhythm @:04, utilizing various combinations of those three elements throughout, creating a movement-filled bed that suggests computer-like precision and unrelenting, laser-like determination. Pitch-climbing/reversed swells start @1:21 to build to a climax. Good for procedurals, internet tension, news and ultra-neutral informational pieces.