Below are few notes from my track Tomato Seeds off the Sampling EP on Pinecone Moonshine. Listen and read:
I think about this track when I see left over tomato seeds on the cutting board. Tomato Seeds was released on the 2015 Drum and Bass EP Sampling. It was the last track I started while I was living in New Orleans in the summer of 2014. We had a small kitchen in New Orleans where the counter only fit a cutting board. Cooking usually involved balancing pots and pans precariously on the edge of the sink. We used tomatoes often.
The inspiration for Tomato Seeds developed from another Pinecone Moonshine track: Macc’s remix of Da Sickness released a couple years prior. However it isn’t a direct take. Around two minutes into Da Sickness there are three to four layers of percussion: the main drums, additional rides or hats, a synthetic sounding snare, and extra percussive effects.
Once you notice these layers, you can track how they come and go in the progression.
That progression of varying combinations of percussion layers was the focus of Tomato Seeds. Different from my usual focus on one or two drum breaks, I built a number of percussion loops and alternated the combinations. Because there was no dominant drum break, there was space for the sub bass to be be in the foreground of the mix with a subtle droning timbre. The overall effect is a meandering and minimal progression: an ambient sketch more than Drumfunk.
More PCMS releases by: Nic TVG.
Artwork by Nic Taylor.
PCMS, Pinecone Moonshine (C) 2022.