Mystified Music

General

What kind of music does mystified make? It has varied over the years, but recently ambient and especially drone genres have been represented. Mystified is a fan of Brian Eno’s and has enjoyed his writings about ambient music (and his music, too, for sure). The idea of a music that can be listened to indirectly appeals to Thomas. He has found that those who have understood this quality of mystified, that is is to be experienced as a part of ones’ day, not as a main focal point (generally), are those who also have most appreciated the music and have been the most positive in reviews.

Media Saturation And Its Effects

Sometimes in his mental ramblings, Thomas has wondered if there might not be too much media in this world– perhaps especially, in his own home culture of the U.S.A.. This may sound strange from a prolific artist who is often creating original music. But mystified music plays a particular role, ideally, where a quiet hum or subtle stream replaces the jarring pulse of pop music. Not to be misunderstood– really all art is creative, according to mystified, and those who have a taste for jarring rhythms and harsh walls of noise should by all means explore these sounds. Mystified, however, is often for quieter urges, and more minimal needs. Sometimes listeners don’t need music to shake them up or to tell them, as some songs do, how and what to feel. Certainly where there is a rule there are exceptions. In the early 2000’s Thomas explored techno beats and even harsh E.B.M. style music. It was a lot of fun, though he realized as he aged that a general creative trend was leading him towards ambient, drone and other minimal musics.

Sample Use

Mystified has an interesting history in regards to sample use. For many years, Thomas used sounds he purchased in his recordings. Primarily, these were samples created by professional musicians and sold in sample collections. At first, it was thrilling to use such sounds in compositions. This was especially the case when the samples were created by such incredible artists as Nigel Ayers (”Nocturnal Emissions”) and Robin Storey (”Zoviet France”, “Rapoon”). However, after several years of composing in this way, Thomas began to feel that the professional samples were actually limiting his creativity. In fact, when a sample library is released in any large scale, the sounds represented become familiar at once to many artists, and hence in a strange way become unusable. Thomas respects those who choose to use legal samples in their music, and in fact offers many of mystified’s releases on a Creative Commons license, for use if needed in compositions. He eventually chose, however, to obtain recording equipment and to begin harvesting his own samples from his environment and from a shortwave radio and other home sources. Some of mystified’s most successful pieces of music have used sound sources such as refrigerators, microwaves and drops of water dripping from a sink.

Writing Prolifically, Availablility

One of Thomas’ traits is that he is a very prolific writer. Thomas enjoys composing music. It has taken the place of reading as his favorite hobby. There are artists who succeed very well only writing on occasion. Thomas respects this but does not feel he could create this way. Writing often gives him a sense of progress. Writing for different purposes helps him to perfect his methods and expand his mind. Many compilations and collaborative projects feature music by mystified. Thomas has found repeatedly that challenges made by other artists, to expand his genre or alter his sound, have helped him to avoid falling into a creative rut. Mystified, incidentally, isn’t only interested in reworking other artists’ material, but also in being reworked, or remixed. Thomas is often fascinated by the work other artists have done with sounds culled from his studio.

Because of the prolific nature of mystified, and his willingness to collaborate, it is not hard to find mystified music. Much is available online for free streaming and downloading. Thomas is glad that he can offer some of his material for free, as not everyone has the resources to pay fees for good music. Also, cds and cassettes are available. A third option involves paid downloading– mystified material is featured on several online distribution services. Thomas hopes that fans of his music will consider investing in physical copies or paid downloads if they are able. This helps mystified to continue creating, and also provides a great deal of material that is comparable or (often) superior to the material offered for free.

Goals

Most if not all musicians have goals. It may be true that many aspire to be famous. However, in this world, and involving the specific genres explored by mystified, international pop acclaim is really out of the question. Thomas has a nice fan base and evidence suggests that it is growing steadily. Although he has appeared in “Spin” Magazine for some of his early works, he does not anticipate being part of, for example, televised pop music phenomenae, international music video culture, or pop radio. In fact, Thomas can not really imagine “signing” to a large record label. Though such a thing has often been a dream for aspiring musicians, the world has become less willing and / or able to provide financially for most “big name” artists, and therefore the notion of signing with a major label seems to Thomas to be somewhat far-fetched. Thomas also enjoys working with smaller, DIY and underground labels, and is often impressed with and entertained by the people he meets in this capacity.

Processes And New Ideas

Thomas tries to write in unusual ways, and has dabbled with various unusual creative processes. His early works explored the use of mathematical or natural number sequences as the roots for note and chord progressions in songs. During this phase, and at other times, Thomas has used fractal music programs to create either entire pieces or parts of pieces. Mystified has been involved with the fractal music phenomenon, and believes that generative music has a role in the future of art. For some time, Thomas used astronomical data to create generative ambient pieces. These pieces appeared on an internet radio station, and eventually got Thomas a small feature in “Spin” Magazine. Mystified’s use of professionally-created samples may not have been particularly innovative, but it did allow Thomas to explore various rhythmic and melodic alternatives, and led him to his contacting Robin Storey of Rapoon. Mr. Storey agreed to remix a collection of sounds chosen by Thomas, and the experience as a whole was both exciting and fruitful. Thomas began his work as “mystified” at the time of this collaboration, and his music became increasingly ambient and drone in genre, due in part to Mr. Storey’s influence.

Thomas has created works especially with traits of minimalism and texture. Texture in music is a definite interest of Thomas’. He frequently blends sounds that are rough with smoother sounds, in order to explore textural complexity. Some pieces can be extremely smooth or polished sounding, while many have a rough, even industrial quality, in spite of being ambient. In addition to textured sounds, Thomas has created a distinctive use of split channels. One reviewer thought what he was hearing was a sort of “flange” effect in Thomas’ pieces, but it actually was a very conscious juxtaposing of more than one track.

Thomas invented a type of piece called a “Constant”. “Constant” was an ambient piece comprised mainly of a drone so hypnotic that Thomas felt that he could listen to it constantly. When the piece was made available to the public, Thomas was surprised and pleased to find that several artists began creating their own versions of “Constant”, reworking the idea of composing very minimal drones in creative and exciting ways. Now there are many “Constants”, and Thomas is proud to have started the trend. Though these pieces were not hugely popular, Thomas still hears from an occasional fan insisting that the pieces are addictive and that they can’t stop listening.

Thomas also is interested in ideas of chaos. Many mystified pieces display elements of controlled chaos. Thomas personally believes that there is a sort of order, if not beauty, in apparent randomness, and has been very interested in using chaotic or random elements in songs. In fact, some mystified pieces seem to be a form of chaos and that is all– with no or very little obvious order. This type of piece hearkens back to Thomas’ early beliefs, that things like trees, the sky, and other natural phenomenae are inherently musical, and that, in fact, humans are surrounded with music of many kinds, thanks largely to nature. Fractal music, of course, makes use of chaotic forms and progressions. Thomas has also used phonographic recordings, shortwave, AM, and FM radio signals (including static), and generative or transformative effects to create sounds that resemble chaos or are chaotic. One idea that appeals to Thomas is that it is possible to create songs that have no repetitive patterns and continue to evolve or to oscillate throughout their duration.

Live Performance

Thomas is a fan of bands and artists who perform live. It has been said that live performance is one of the best means of promotion and artist can find. Thomas knows of several artists who have had much success with live performance, and has enjoyed live shows himself, on many occasions. To this day, however, mystified has not performed a traditional live ’set’. Thomas feels that a live show needs to be of a certain quality, and he does not yet have the hardware to create a valid scenario for live audio. Thomas is apologetic about this, as many interested parties have expressed interest in hearing mystified play live. It is true, though, that Thomas has created a few special installation pieces, using, for the most part, random sounds such as water drops and wind chimes. One of these installation pieces was “performed” live on a radio station. So you might say that mystified has indeed performed live, just not in a traditional manner.

Criticism

Mystified has, in general, received positive press. Many dozens of labels have released music by mystified, and the band has a large and growing fan base. Critically, mystified usually does well. A number of online journals and review sites have positively assessed Thomas’ music, recognizing the traits of ambience, restrained noise, minimalism, and other characteristics. However, praise has not been universal. Common criticisms include that music by mystified is simply “wallpaper”, or has no development. Thomas recognizes comments such as these as valid and productive, rather than detrimental. He feels that musical “wallpaper” is perfectly legitimate, in spite of any negative connotations, and feels that redefining “development” as “subtle changes” resolves that complaint easily. Mystified is for mature listeners ready for a soundtrack to their daily efforts.

When it comes to criticism in general, Thomas feels that, though some criticism can be helpful, sometimes critics are too negative or attack artists personally. In these cases, criticism no longer helps the artist and his or her efforts, and simply spreads bad feelings. Because art is essentially good and creative, criticism should be constructive, as well. Otherwise, the artist is making helpful gestures and the critic is not.

(More Later)