Why do only superheroes get theme songs? Here is Super Evil Blues in the key of D, played in a Mountain Fortress Volcano of Doom. "Supervillain Blues."

All tracks done with the LinnStrument. Strawberry Guitar, Vacuum keyboards (2 bass patches layered together), and NI Studio Drummer.

"Supervillain Blues" (LinnStrument)
https://soundcloud.com/stephen-sink-1/supervillainblues


https://i.imgur.com/M7cpRzt.jpg

I like that! Thrills and chills, with the most kickass drums of your dreams (all skins too) and some exciting guitar like lead lines done on the Linnstrument.

The structure in innovative and exciting too, with pulse-wave bass descending in whole tones riding on 4x3s followed by 2x2s, all adding up to 16, an overriding 4/4 groove implied.

Well, there are four thematic bass notes accenting triplet downbeats but the last one may not exactly be a whole tone further down. First I hear root, b7th, b6th and 5th, but then the 5th waivers down a half step b5th and there you have it, four descending whole steps from the root. From what I've heard, that's original.

Too bad no Stick, because "Supervillain" is my favorite by SS so far.

Holy prog rocky Batman. That was pretty awesome. Reminds me of Tony Levins album with the walking stick guy on it. The album name eludes me. Nice stuff there Steve

Thanks so much, guys! I hear you Emmett on using the Stick next time. I was just finally giving the LinnStrument a test drive and out popped all of this the first take. I haven't played "regular" keys in about 6 months now and this is only my second real extended session on the LinnStrument. It's a lot of alternative-keyboard-interface fun. And tuned in fourths, so all licks are transferrable to the melody side of the Stick. And "best tune yet"? How awesome! Thanks so much for that!

And thanks, Rob! I wanted to write a proggy tune that I knew only I would like (and other like-minded Stickists with similar interests in stretching and rocking it out), and I completely indulged my inner Steve, who likes this kind of stuff. Thanks for also liking it!

I'm at work this morning between meetings, and a video got finished overnight for this. Here is the quick links to it:

https://youtu.be/7V2NYNZQ9FY


https://vimeo.com/296574745

Called "Fortress Lairs," with "Supervillain Blues." I'm just having fun again, doing things that I dig. Hope you all enjoy!

--Supervillain in training, Steve Sink

With all that planet wide cityscape, I found myself looking skyward but just caught glimpses of... Mandelbrot stars? A fractal galaxy?

SS, you found a great lead voice on the Linnstrument (among its Linnfinite possibilities). The wah effect seems repetitive and rhythmic, but it rocks hard.

There is a ton of great things going on here; really great piece of music, crazy visual, and some very creative tones. It's a fun concept, too!

Your stuff always stands out Steve, so keep it coming!

Thanks so much, guys! I really appreciate it!

I'm really in love with the auto-wah patch on the Strawberry guitar. I keep using it just as a placeholder for the guitar/lead lines, and then loving the sound and expressiveness of it. And that I can override and control the wah with up and down modulation of each note on the LinnStrument is just super awesome for control of the cutoff frequencies. And for someone who's never gotten in the habit of using a rocker pedal, I didn't miss not having one for the wah sound control. And like every new technique I discover or learn, I'm overusing the heck out of it!
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Pity Party Part, and Backstory
I really have been somewhat discouraged by "shouting into the void" with my artistic creations and not hearing much back except a loud "meh" from the universe--or at least the humans making up this universe. This latest musical piece and fractal video were entirely just to make myself happy with what I'm doing.

As I said to Scott at the mild response and reception that our last SINKERR collaboration tune, "Megacity," got from the world, "I know for a fact that you're super talented and awesome, and that this is a great and rocking Stick tune you've produced. If they don't like THIS one, then F 'em!"

And so I set out to create the World's Best Pop Tune, to Show Them All. But I'm a stubborn fool. And that led to me shouting this at the universe ignoring us:

"When life hands you lemons, turn those lemons into god-damned Molotov Cocktails and burn this mf'er down!"

And so I decided if no one was digging this stuff anyway, then I should just do whatever the hell I wanted (not that I wasn't really already doing that), and just enjoy the Universe ignoring me. "Oh, yeah? You want 'Brown-Eyed Girl'? Well, here's the furthest thing possible from that!"

So this was my "F U, Universe!" piece, and making it made me very happy.

So somewhat humorously to me, the inventor of Mandelbulber, Krzyzstof Marczak, thinks this is one of my best videos ever, and the inventor of the Chapman Stick, Emmett Chapman, thinks this is one of my best musical pieces. I'm not sure what deeper meta message I should take from this, but I'll take the praise and encouragements from anywhere that I can. And that two awesome geniuses and trailblazers in their field are both big fans of mine--when I'm huge fans of theirs--tickles me to no end.

That at least a couple of you guys also liked this makes me happy as well. And since I'm addicted to making these 3D Fractal Animation Music Videos, I'm not going to stop even if no one at all other than me likes this stuff, anyway.

I still don't understand the Stickist world where a posting gets 200 + views and only a couple of comments. And then a posting on pedals gets 4000 comments. Or a posting mocking the site spam threads gets more comments and engagement than any posting of original music. But I'm going to keep shouting into the void of the Universe, and I appreciate deeply every "Atta boy!" that the Universe echoes back.

"Be so good they can't ignore you" is still the best advice Steve Martin ever gave me. Well, not to me personally, but I've taken it personally. And so I'll keep Sticking with it, and Rocking Shit Out, Down In Fractal Rock, until they take the Sticks or the Fractals out of my cold, numb hands.

--Steve Sink

Great sound, playing and visuals! You are rocking the LinnStrument!

Thanks, Jeremy! You were the inspiration for me to finally get the LinnStrument. I've seen a great many videos of you rocking out on it, and finally got one after looking at them for a couple of years now.

It really goes well with the Sticking. I'd think that a lot of Stickists might find it a very cool way to leverage their string-playing knowledge, skills, and techniques into a keyboard interface.

I admit that I am not that comfortable on it yet. I need more precise control to not unintentionally bend notes. Looking at the MIDI info, I see a lot of microtuning bending adjustments happening, because all of the very subtle bending data that is being transmitted. I can't actually hear the effect, but all that extra MIDI data bothered me a bit. But I guess it also helps to emulate the sound of a real guitar, in that the intonation and tuning are often slightly sharp or flat depending on how you hit the note and the string. And I can always delete it all out or smooth the edges of the microtunings afterwards during production. There's probably a setting in the LinnStrument to smooth that out and not make the bending so sensitive. And playing more precisely of course would help.

But it's a very expressive--and if you know a guitar or Stick fretboard--intuitive interface for rocking it out.

I'll have to eventually do a LinnStrument performance video, when I get a little more fluent on it. Thanks again for the comments and for the LinnStrument recommendation and inspiration, Jeremy!

Stick players are an adventurous bunch - always willing to try new things. It is amazing to me that Stickists show up playing LinnStrument, Zendrum and other controllers. You have jumped in head first and are sounding great!

The unintentional pitch bending might be a by-product of the plug-in. I love the Orange Tree Sample libraries for their realism but pitch bending is not as precise as synth plugins. As I understand it, this is partly due to Kontakt. I am not sure if the latest updates to Kontakt will eventually allow for more nuanced playing. The most expressive plugins (and most expensive) I have found are the Sample Modeling Instruments but you can get great results from plugins like Equator from Roli and Synthmaster. If you have a Mac and Logic or Mainstage, there is a file you can download with presets set up by Roger. I have a version of this file I am constantly tweaking.

Roger is very responsive to questions - that is how I met him in the first place. He is a big fan of the Stick too.