Wooden Beast — I am not a producer

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I AM NOT A PRODUCER

(image: Sina Schulz)

WOODEN BEAST
The EP

Wooden Beast is named after the synth it was made with, a modular in a big wooden case. Clearly inspired by deep techno artists like Donato Dozzy, Polygonia or Luigi Tozzi, a simple meditative groove supports a textural journey unfold. Music that is made to “hold ceremonies”, how Felix Fleer from voltage labs puts it. You can see Fleer’s deep dive about this style of Techno here: https://youtu.be/ri9lZVR_eRA?si=6YL9tgGh9TOa8lwz

Nowadays, a lot of club music is very fast, impactful and focused on big drops. Accumulated energy from covid times and the explosion of electronic music through streaming and social media might play a role here. However, I am convinced that the meditative potential of club music is far superior. It takes courage on the artist’s side to prioritize slow evolution and endless rise over instant gratification and release. The listener must be patient, must get involved, must take their time. But it can lead to a unique state of trance.

The center of the track is a recording of a sampler module, sequenced by multiple LFOs. Every now and then, another LFO Pulse turns around the sample direction, which is especially impactful on drum samples. A droning wavetable oscillator gives it an unpleasant but hypnotic feel. Harsh samples from other recording sessions enrich the sound. Kick and Bells were recorded with the drum machine.

Pictures:

1) The “Wooden Beast” Case

2) “Deep Tech” Patch, one example of a playable patch on the Wooden Beast

Tobias Hausen

(image: Sina Schulz)

“Not as with the instrument, which the worker animates and makes into his organ with his skill and strength, and whose handling therefore depends on his virtuosity. Rather, it is the machine which possesses skill and
strength in place of the worker, is itself the virtuoso, with a soul of its own in the mechanical laws acting through it [...]”

Karl Marx - The Fragment on Machines