Arctan by Takla Makan
Two long form electronic music tracks from Takla Makan, the artist name of Tony Allgood.
Each piece is around 25 minutes long and each comprises of several shorter pieces woven together.
The idea behind this album was an imaginary live set. I haven't played live for a long time, and although it isn't something likely I will do in future, I wanted to create an hour or so of music that would give first time listeners an idea of what sort of music I make. There are few surprises within Arctan and followers of my music will recognise some themes that I have used before. 'Set 1', for example, finishes with a variation of the main anthem from uA726 the final track on my album Sorrowmere. Even the name Arctan harks back to the name of my 2002 album Arcsin.
Arctan was recorded using Ableton Live 12 with a mixture of hardware and software instruments. I don't have a lot of gear these days, preferring instead to use a small selection of equipment I know well.
The original idea behind Arctan Set 1 was 'two slightly distorted guitars', a reference to Tubular Bells. There are no guitars on this album - my playing is not good enough - but I wanted to use two overdriven lead synths playing off each other for part of the piece. The two synths in question are the Nord Lead A1, and Reason's Maelstrom going through their Scream 4 effects processor.
Distorted filtered sawtooths are also heard on Arctan Set 2 but of note is the rich, almost pan pipe like sound, of the Oakley Synth-P. This prototype synth is essentially a clone of the EMS Synthi but with a fixed architecture rather than a pin matrix. The Synth-P also did some of the low note drones throughout the album. Both tracks utilise Mellotron flute and brass samples; possibly a little too much, but I love the warbly old texture they impart.
Drums and percussion are almost all Behringer RD-8 and Moog DFAM.
Tracklist
| 1. | Arctan Set 1 | 26:12 |
| 2. | Arctan Set 2 | 25:31 |
Credits
Both tracks were composed, performed and produced by Tony Allgood.
