Liner Notes by Thes One

In 1994, during a holiday visit to some family members in Minnesota, I came across my first Herb Pilhofer record. I was immediately struck by the unique nature of the record, a compilation of commercials that defied the traditional format of the “jingle” by incorporating, amongst other things, unusual electronic instrumentation and broad, emotive soundscapes. Each commercial seemed to evoke feelings in me beyond the ad itself; the music felt like a relic from an outpost of a forgotten America, a broadcast from the edge of a decaying expanse of empty highways and ghostly freight trains traveling slowly through the night. Years later I found my second Music That Works record and was again struck by the feeling of the music. It conjured up images of the hulking, rusty abandoned factories that dot highways leading in no particular direction. Failing mid-western main streets where the asphalt stops and the dusty plains begin their deserted western journey. The ads make promises the music doesn’t believe. In that tension, the remixes were birthed.

In 2003, after returning from the OST world tours, I began remixing certain portions as an experiment. Without access to the masters, I had only what was on the records and decided to keep it as such. Aside from the drums, I wanted to force myself to use only the elements on the original records, which were often times no longer than 15 seconds. The other limitation I put on myself was that the remix should still accomplish its original duty in that the original ad and tag line shouldn’t be lost in the new creation. As I became more involved in the project, these self-imposed limitations actually pushed my creativity to new levels. I was forced to re-think how I constructed beats. In an effort to extract more from the very little I had to work with, I developed and built a filtering device which could be played from a variety of sources, including a DJ style cross fader. This effect is first heard on the second track as the “get on the phone” tag line becomes filtered. With this device I could then “play” a rhythm across a filter and add a live element to a musical loop.

With ample amounts of effects, time-stretching, chopping and re ?constructing, I finally finished the core of the album by the end of 2004. Around this time I also got in touch with Herb Pilhofer, the original composer of the music and was fortunate enough to interview him and talk about the context in which a lot of the music was made. Also During this time Ethan Parsonage stopped by and over the course of a 6 pack he laid down numerous bass and guitar tracks that were later reconstructed into the final sequences. Unfortunately, as tracking was completed, I moved houses and the following year was spent breaking down and rebuilding my studio from scratch in a new location.

As soon as the studio was up and running Double K and I began work on Stepfather, and again Lifestyle Marketing was put to the side. As time progressed I became more anxious about finishing (mixing) the project, worried that it would not become what I had hoped it would while I was making it. Eventually I just went at it, and it was mixed in the new PL70 studio over the course of two weeks across the analogue board. With that finished I decided to master it as well, ensuring that I was the only person between the listener and my MPC 3000. When the dust settled, I accepted that I was very happy with my portion of this project, I set out to create something within limitations and I feel this was done without compromising my vision or the integrity of the original music. For better or for worse, I hope the end result makes you feel a certain way.

Thes One
November 30th, 2006

>> Thes One Interview with Herb Pilhofer