#056 Spirit Of Java by John Bartmann

The piece of music in this week's episode is called Spirit Of Java. It’s a slow and grooving psybient piece which is suitable for depictions of psychedelia and Burning Man scenarios. It uses a combination of flute sounds, a trap-influenced electronic beat and epic percussion instruments to convey a sense of both spectacle and spiritualism. Let’s break it down and explore the sound of jungle hedonism.

IN THIS EPISODE

I wrote Spirit Of Java as a way of channeling a few seemingly separate influences. On the one hand, I wanted to explore the power of woodwind instruments in conveying spiritualism. By using a trap-influenced beat, I offer a modernized take on the well-established “psybient” (psy + ambient) genre. Also included are clearly recognizable tropes from the genre such as gamelan bells, jungle ambiance, reversed samples, drone layers and a comfortably slow tempo.

How does it convey spiritualism?

02:38 Instrument: Flutes

Flute sounds have long been musical bedfellows with depictions of spiritualism. The Hindu god Krishna is often depicted with a flute. In storytelling, exotic flute sounds are a type of regional riff, instantly placing the listener in a certain part of the world, especially in Native American, Indian or Asian mysticism. I used two flutes, one a software instrument and another one which was a gift my wife brought back from Bali. It looks beautiful but is probably more of an ornament than an instrument. Some pitch correction was required!

04:17 Instrument: Drone strings

The sitar emulation in this song plucks along to a simple harmonium drone accompaniment. In soundtrack music, making drone sounds using string instruments is a quick and common way to convey Eastern mysticism. I layered these two uniquely Indian instruments with some good old open-string acoustic guitar parts to accentuate the drone effect.

05:52 Instrument: Hare Krishna cymbals and percussion

The devotional music of Hare Krishna is quite easily recognizable. Group singing is accompanied by finger cymbals. I used finger cymbal sounds along with a shaker and a tambourine to articulate the “Hare Krishna rhythm”. There’s also a cavernous gong sound every so often, the type you’d hear in temple. Finally, spiritual sounds are associated with the use of big percussion sounds like the epic floor tom drum rolls.

This piece was born out of a certain patch on my Korg RW-05 outboard synth module. It sounds like a gamelan bell. I used it with a simple straight rhythm to anchor the rest of the piece.

08:14 Method: Meditative, repetitive tempo

This piece of music is an 8-bar cycle that repeats without introducing any new harmonic progression. In other words, it simply cycles around without introducing much forward motion, the same way that much liturgical music does. The tempo of the piece is synchronized with the tempo of sustainably slow breathing. Pace and repetition convey a sense of meditation.

How does it convey outdoor festival psychedelia?

09:15 For the sake of modernizing the piece, I opted to use a trap-influenced beat instead of the standard four-to-the-floor kick drum pattern used by much electronic music. The key was to exercise the right amount of restraint in the hi-hat rushes because they’re so fun!

09:54 The title of the track references a jungle island. Besides the exotic choice of instrumentation, a few tricks went into creating the sense of being outdoors. One of the synthesizer parts resembles the sound of a flying insect. There’s also an occasional sound effect that resembles the sound of a condor.

10:46 Psybient music often uses LFOs to create a ‘wah-wah’ effect that’s in time with the beat. In this piece, I’ve applied an LFO to the guitar drone

DOWNLOAD & USE THIS MUSIC

Download ‘Spirit Of Java’ by John Bartmann https://gum.co/pWhGQ
Search for more music by John Bartmann https://johnbartmann.com/music

SHOW NOTES

The Magical Native American trope https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MagicalNativeAmerican
The flute as a Regional Riff https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RegionalRiff

SOUNDS & DEVICES USED

Native Instruments Kontakt 4 Persian Ney flute
Alan Vista Chau Gongs
Heavyocity Evolve
acoustic guitar, bamboo flute

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ABOUT THIS SHOW

How I Make Music is where behind-the-scenes musicians tell their own stories. Every Wednesday, we break apart a song, soundtrack or composition and investigate the insights into how it was made.

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