Q: Why do you create such creepy music?

A: Well, first and foremost, "creepy" is an interpretation. I'm not sure if people from wildly different cultures would characterize my "sound paintings" as creepy -- although they might. I am drawn to creating and combining sounds that are a bit off somehow. In the same way an asymmetrical image can create a certain interesting tension in the viewer, sounds not generally associated with music combined in musical ways, and altered forms of familiar tunes seems to me to create some effect that "real music" just doesn't.

I love having the hairs on the back of my neck raise up when I listen to my work. Some of that is interpretive, associative -- would someone who'd never seen or heard a raven get a little thrill when it caws in the background behind slow-singing children? In my layered word pieces, would they have the same effect if some of the buried text weren't available on a semiconscious level?

I don't know. I suspect somewhere between Jung and Skinner lies a commonality, especially in the realms of fear.

See, that same effect is possible through joy, love, sorrow, lust, pretty much any emotional state. It's just more accessible when it approached via the doorway of fear.

I'd like to think my music is not safe. That it somehow has keys to the lizard brain, accessing parts of us that existed before our life's programming.

I think frequent visits to those parts of ourselves can be beneficial, or at least interesting. Or perhaps I am mad, pontificating on my madness.

But for me, I like visiting the pre-rational, and my music, my writing, my paintings, even my mime, in some small way, allow me that. I hope listeners have some small taste of that.

For I feel that this is the territory where magic happens. It's a territory of symbols, memories, sensory input without labels, it's a territory of play.

And make no mistake, play isn't safe, either. If you'll remember, "pretending" you were fighting evil was not simply a matter of going through the motions. It was BEING the hero, brave in the face of fear and the terrible unknown.

Children deprived of that sort of play, or whose play is wattered down by frequent visits from well-meaning parents reminding them that it is "only" pretend, I feel, leaves a child very safe, very rational, and entirly disconnected from their own spiritual self.

It's tough to regain as an adult.

It's a large part of my life's work.

New Works

01 - Ode to Silent Hill.mp3 (1:02) 982 KB
Sound effects assembled from FindSounds.com -- none from Silent Hill itself, as far as I know.

02 - A Dark Sunbeam.mp3 (1:42) 1,600 KB
"Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" from 101 Bible Songs, disk two, picked up at a dollar store. Sound effects from FindSounds.com.

03 - Dark Gospel in the Rain.mp3 (2:34) 2,419 KB
"Gospel Train" from 101 Bible Songs, disk two, picked up at a dollar store. "Singin' in the Rain" from the soundtrack from A Clockwork Orange. Sound effects from FindSounds.com, except the carousel, which is from an episode of The Critic where Franklin Sherman invents the "Fish-mo-Baby-Whirl-a-ma-gig."

04 - Something in the Rye.mp3 (5:08) 12,060 KB
Lyrics and vocals original to me. Sound effects from FindSounds.com, except the carousel, which is from an episode of The Critic where Franklin Sherman invents the "Fish-mo-Baby-Whirl-a-ma-gig." Chant from Chant by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos (I don't recall which track, sorry).

05 - Rest In Pieces.mp3 (3:23) 3,178 KB
"Rest in Peace" from the "Once More With Feeling" episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sound effects from FindSounds.com, except the carousel, which is from an episode of The Critic where Franklin Sherman invents the "Fish-mo-Baby-Whirl-a-ma-gig." Chant from Chant by the Benedictine Monks of Santo Domingo de Silos (I don't recall which track, sorry).

2003

06 - RFKorp - I Invoke a New God.mp3 (5:44) 5,388 KB
Lyrics by Scix Maddix. Performed by RFKorp and the Sheepasaurus Rex. Arranged for spoken word, vocals/FX, trumpet/FX, broken turntable, pitched feedback, guitar, percussion, and pre-recorded samples and sound effects. Guitar recorded prior by Ben Greenberg. All other instruments, Richard Kamerman.

2005

07 - Magic is Afoot.mp3 (4:29) 4,208 KB
Lyrics by Leonard Cohen. It's all my voice plus a little whalesong I found at FindSounds.com.

08 - Love Trip.mp3 (4:06) 3,846 KB
Spoken Word (layered). All text is my own, except for some Bible passages.

09 - Paternoster.mp3 (0:56) 910 KB
Spoken Word (layered).

10 - Pan Pipes.mp3 (02:06) 4,046 KB
Spoken Word (layered).

11 - Isis Astarte.mp3 (04:54) 11,488 KB
Isis Astarte Diana Hecate Demeter Kali Inanna
Hoof and Horn, Hoof and Horn, All that Dies Shall Be Reborn/
Corn and Grain, Corn and Grain, All That Falls Shall Rise Again
We All Come From The Goddess, And to Her We Shall Return/
Like a Drop of Rain Flowing To The Ocean

12 - He Sees the Ghosts.mp3 (02:25) 5,701 KB
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts,
with stoutest wrists and loudest boasts,
he thrusts his fists against the posts
and still insists he sees the ghosts.

2006

13 - Magic, Cigam.mp3 (03:12) 3,086 KB
"Magic, Magic" from Carnival plus various samples (layered).

14 - Sumoobafoow.mp3 (03:01) 2,907 KB
All sounds and voices self-generated (layered).

15 - Bibble's Crows.mp3 (04:31) 4,344 KB
"Yum Ticky" from Carnival plus Bibble's Crows and other sounds and effects. (layered).

16 - Charlie.mp3 (03:35) 3,444 KB
(layered) |

Video

17 - Boom Baby Boom.mp3 (05:21) 5,140 KB
(layered).

18 - Bonus - Radio Noise (03:17) 3,010 KB
(layered).

Tracks 1-18 also available as a CD from Lulu.com, USD$6.99

New tracks:

2007

19 - Where There's a Fire Whip-it (05:26) 4,970 KB
(Mashup: "Where There's a Whip There's a Way" from the Ralph Bakshi's animated The Hobbit, "Whip It" by Devo, and "Firestarter" by Prodigy).

20 - Wuvwy (Wepwise) (02:23) 2,180 KB
(layered; Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Voices parodying those of Mel Blanc).

21 - Ray (04:21) 3,980 KB
(layered).

22 - Beat and Button (05:00) 4,580 KB
(layered).

23 - Air Pop (02:31) 2,310 KB
(layered).

24 - Mockingbird Hiss (04:33) 4,278 KB
(layered).

25 - Wilhelm (04:07) 3,868 KB
Layered variations on the "Wilhelm" scream.

R - 26 - RayRay - Building the Bible of Dreams (03:15) 2,980 KB
By RayRay, layered mashup..

R - 27 - RayRay - Rhythmism (02:06) 1,981 KB
By RayRay, layered mashup..

28 - lpp[s (05:22) 5,044 KB
28 layered loops ... tee hee.

R - 29 - RayRay - The Banjo of Madness (04:29) 4,218 KB
By RayRay ...

30 - Shout at Your Mother (02:31) 2,310 KB
Mashup of "Shout", "Shout at the Devil" and two different songs titled "Mother".

R - 31 - RayRay - Like Swimming In Jello (02:13) 2,087 KB
By RayRay ...

32 - sea of remember (03:19) 3,124 KB
Mashup of "Sea of Love", "Try to Remember" and others.

33 - Ubiquitous Gangbang (06:17) 5,896 KB
Assorted samples from pornography, both "real" and parody.

R - 34 - RayRay - Merry Christmix (03:30) 3,295 KB
By RayRay ...

2008

35 - Frenchy Loves It (02:51) 2,685 KB
He really does. Layered.

36 - Klabber Ration (03:42) 3,390 KB
A collaberation between RayRay and Scix

37 - Special Needs (Nomad Strut) (03:45) 3,440 KB
Layered

38 - Soothe (05:24) 4,950 KB
Layered atmospherics

39 - Keep On Keepin' On (03:52) 3,540 KB
Layered

Creepy Sounds II now available from Lulu.com, USD$7.99

All Licensed Creative Commons 2004-2008 Scott "Scix" Maddix. Please download responsibly.

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