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Success II: The Orangutan Strikes Back
That's right, this one has lore.
I really really love making this stuff, and it comes pretty easy. I can sit and mull about prog stuff for a LONG time, but I can churn out
this kind of stuff fairly quickly still feel good about it. It's fun music that's fun to make, so I'll keep making it thankyouverymuch.
I honestly don't know if there's too much to say about this one, save for the lore-heavy parts. I definitely feel as though this one is a lot
darker or moodier than Success in the Modern Age even ignoring Whispers of the World. The idea in the liner notes is that the
Success in the Modern Age-timeline Sean hired on a literal Orangutan that proceeded to take over Gordie Records. There's also a nod to
Wild Laughter in the liner notes (it was a lost album from 1960 that was re-discovered and re-issued by Gordie Records).
Even without the liner notes, those with a KEEN EYE and SHARP EAR will notice that things get decidedly simian-coded with tracks like Banana Bucks,
and Bonzi Scheme, and of course Hostile Takeover, In this City Heat, Memory of the Old You & The Price of Success sort of outline the fall of
the discraced Gordie Records CEO.
I can't remember if it was my idea or my friend and collaborator James Glasco's idea to add the house section to the end of Motivation to Move but I
am certain he was involved in extrapolating on the idea. Both him and our other friend and collaborator Jade DelBen were instrumental in the final days of this
album by providing some much needed feedback (and Bonzi Buddy dialogue). A lot of their help was pretty to the point: "Make it longer." to which I would respond:
"huh that's actually not a bad idea, why didn't I think of that?"
I think with the heavy use of the KORG Wavestation and M1 and banana references on this album, I was really wearing my love for the Donkey Kong Country series and its music on my
sleeve. Hell, the working/demo tite for Memory of the Old You was "kong" because by the end I thought it sounded like a DKC level.
The closer, The Price of Success is sort of a mask off, no irony moment of reflection (both in and out of character). It's a genuine moment of vulnerability, I think.
It's a reflection of how this cheesy library stuff really does make me feel things I can't really describe. Nostalgia is the obvious and easy answer but I sometimes think its more than that.
To me, it's a way of bottling a specific time and a specific place that reminds me not only of my earliest memories (of course being in front of a computer) but also memories of lives
I've never lived. Phantom nostalgia. It's sort of sad to me that Library Music is looked down upon as lesser, when it can genuinely evoke these kind of feelings. But thats why I make this stuff;
to bottle that feeling and keep it with me for whenever I need it.
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