----------
David Sawchak
das4yc
MICE analysis 2
Will Dayble, better known as Bankai, may have singlehandedly put Australia on the map of electro music. His unique sound, accessible, collaborative nature, and the fact that essentially all of his music is available for free have catapulted him into internet fame, enough so that Canadian fans financed a tour for him to play Vancouver through 'crowdsourcing'.
Quarter Circle Punch is his first EP, still defining his sound, which comes with the disclaimer:
"This EP and everything that comes with is free. Free for you to play, share, remix and mess with it as you feel fit. Consider this EP as an experiment in music distribution."
“Everything that comes with” is an understatement; waveforms for DJs, cover art, even stem files with each instrument on a separate track, plus notes on each track.
The first track, “Money Magic” is a remixed version of an old television show theme (by the same name). By that token, it's quite sample-heavy, being that it's technically a remix. It does have Bankai's signature driving synth sound (quick attack and decay), as well as some pitch-bending swells and that cliché 'woo' sample that repeatedly crops up in 1980s music. In the notes file he reveals that this was the last track created and the simplest ; compared to his other work, it's nothing remarkable.
Next is “The Epic, Part III.” Part II was released on his next album; I've found no record of any Part I. It starts with some shimmery-hard edged tones over an airy swell that leads into the track itself (and aids the transition between tracks). There's a heavy drumbeat underneath an equally heavy synth line that get chopped slightly, adding some edge to the track. There's an indeciperable (non-English?) vocal sample at some point. Then the track shift into a melodic sliding synth, the vocal sample comes back underneath that. Then a chunky synth arpeggio plays over a high-pitched swell, the a cutoff and breakdown into a (synth?) guitar solo, ending with piano and a swell that shifts into a very chunky synth. The guitar comes back to end the track with the piano. Notes reveal that this was Bankai's first electro track (impressive by any measure; he had already found his signature sound), and that Part II never quite made the cut (it was to be the first track on the album); the original masters were lost and it was apparently only played once at a club in Finland, but that Part IV would hopefully come out soon. Now in reality, Part II came out on his next album and I haven't heard of any Part IV so either this was a typo or he changed his mind.
The next track, “Another Sinking Ship”, starts with a quick, bright shimmer leading into some high BPM, extremely choppy synth stabs over vocals (which sound like Dayble himself) and over a track labeled 'FX' which includes even choppier sounds that lend a very glitchy feel to the already choppy track, and the choppy feel is maintained through the track, as the beat repeats over what sounds like a car alarm sample, and then shifts into a subtler tone (which sounds like synth vocals, listening to the source track). An 8-bit style stab punctuates the shift into the second half of the track, where the vocals come in louder. The choppy feel of the whole track and the fast attack-fast decay synth hits are remeniscent of sequencer music studied in class; this would be impossible to play live on a keyboard for all but the most virtuosic of keyboardists. However, looking into the notes reveals that my initial impressions were wrong, and that the track is in fact a chopped version of a death metal track by Sikth (meaning that the vocals are also not Dayble's). In fairness, the remix holds up better than the original, and I would not have guessed it was a remix from listening to it.
“Eve of the War/Stress” is a mix of two tracks (one by Justice, whom we studied in class), and the other of which is a curious track with an orchestra and several synth keyboardists (by Jeff Wayne, with sort of a 1980s muzak style). The remixed track takes most inspiration from Eve of the War in terms of melody and structure, but samples from Stress as well. All things considered, it would be difficult to preserve the melodic structure of Stress, since the track is so chaotic (sometimes atonal) and noise-driven to begin with. On the whole, the Bankai track is much, much more rough and hard-edged than “Eve of the War”; the 'feel' is that of “Stress.” One interesting choice is the addition of a monotonic (heavy) synth track over the main melodic line, putting it half way between a percussive rhythm track and part of the melody. The ultimate effect is (as I suggested above) as if “Eve of the War” had been performed by Justice, though it is evident where the samples shift from Wayne to Justice if you've heard both source tracks; the transition is quite smooth though. It ends with voice samples from 'Eve' over some high pitched synth squeals.
“Faun” is a track that made Bankai famous; one of the most popular tracks on his sites. It starts with a heavily modulated swell into a very quiet (possibly acoustic) piano segment over a single high, harsh (quiet) tone, as well as some radio static, all of which gradually builds into a crescendo which starts the track. He released an alternative mix which truncated that first minute into almost nothing (called something like the 'Impatient Myspace Mix'. It breaks into signature Bankai sawtoothy driving synth bassline and high pitched line over an almost inaudible midrange track (and a few of those 'woo' samples, which call back to the first track); eventually this dissolves into a sort of break where the piano returns over a more toned-down synth beat and some melody which sounds like stereotypical 'synth' versions of instruments (the track is labeled 'horny' and contains both sawtooth synth swells and goofy phasered synth horns), instead of his usual hard-edged sound which is unashamedly synthesized. That sounds returns soon, and breaks down into a staccato, choppy section with rapid-fire samples of synth beeps and modulated vocal samples. The track inexplicably ends with a vintage lo-fi sample of “Tequila”, that sounds like it's been sampled from some real-world source (those plastic singing fish placards come to mind). The notes don't reveal much except that it was inspired after watching Pan's Labyrinth.
His first EP, this album is representative of Bankai, but is really only a starting point. Remixes feel over-represented (he's certainly produced brilliant original work as well), but when listening to one of his remixes, they are all identifiably his (in terms of sound and feel) and some of them I would not even have suspected. And he's certainly not guilty of the common infraction of remixing popular music to capitalize on interest in the original. He's more of a person to generate interest in an original from people who discovered it through him. But remixing is part of Dayble's ideal; all of his work is licensed under Creative Commons Noncommercial Sharealike, and taking things a step further than licensing openly, he published all his sources; remixing a Bankai track, or even sampling one seriously could not be easier. Reworking a track to fit a film soundtrack (which I've also done) is also much easier and offers much more control.
Everything I have referenced above can be found for free at http://bankai.fm/qcp
