Track-by-Track / Shakysuperfly – Yellowcake

Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Shakysuperfly, maker of instrumental, 100% sample based hip-hop based from Ohio. His latest album is Yellowcake.

Idea Man – This was the first track made for Yellowcake. In January 2021 I was stuck at home with COVID. Isolated, bored and very frustrated with the fact that I had contracted the virus, I wanted to take my frustrations out on music. Typically when I make music my process is exceedingly slow and needlessly ponderous. I did not want this to be the case for this song. I for once wanted to make something where the creation felt less like math homework and instead make something visceral and cathartic. I knocked this one out in a quick afternoon session while watching reruns of The Sopranos.

Happy with the result I decided to model the rest of the project with this approach. If I couldn’t finish the song in a (relatively) short time frame I would scrap the song and move on. I also modeled the sound of the project based on this track. Lots of pretty, buzzy, irradiated sounding synths and drums reminiscent of breaks.

Old Silk – Following suit with the first track I made this song the next morning. I was most likely watching something violent and nostalgic. I like this one because I feel like the main synth melody really washes over you like a buzzy old wave.

The remaining tracks were all made after I was COVID negative.

Hubba Hubba Brushfire – I initially just wanted to name this one “Brushfire.” The track sounded a bit harsh and urgent, but I also didn’t want to have the title be too self serious so I added “Hubba Hubba” to the beginning of it. You know… for fun.

Deepend – This was the last song I made for the project. I felt like it needed something to take away from the constant drums that were currently on it. I called it Deepend because I wanted it to feel like your head was slowly being pushed deeper and deeper into a synthy pool of water.

Dutchman – I liked that the one synth melody felt loose and flighty. The original track title was Flying Dutchman, which got shortened down just to Dutchman. I sometimes like the idea of layering something a bit clean and pretty over some more crunchy sounds.

Little to no Asbestos – I was really having fun with the almost punk like propulsive energy of this one. It felt like a fun choice for a closer. Going out on a high energy with just a moment of calm towards the end.