Portrait (feat. Luca Cartner)

from Journal by Machado Mijiga

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price
Buy the Full Digital Album

about

I met Luca last year on a double bill with his band SmackTalk, and I was just floored by how fluid and energetic his playing is. I'm just watching him absolutely shred over these complex fusion tunes with this aura of absolute calmness about him.

Gig's over, I follow him on social media, goodbyes are said. Then, a few months later, we're on ANOTHER double bill together. Same bands, too. SmackTalk stopped through Portland to start off their West Coast tour, then we played the same bill AGAIN on their way back up to Seattle.

Anyways, I just admire Luca's musicianship, so I wanted to give him something that would compliment his playing, so I took this 14-beat loop that I made at a live lo-fi show and turned it into this long guitar etude for him to play over.

"Portrait" still retains the 14-beat structure, and the rhythms remain mostly the same, but I wanted to write something neo-classical that still incorporated modern sound design. I bounced the "final" track as this kinda post-rock'ish thing with some strings and pads under it, but right as I was going to bed (literally 6 hours ago), I listened back to the preview for this video, and realized that it really just needed some whiny incoherent lyrics, a-la Thom Yorke (and maybe a little Serj Tankian). So, here's a song with lyrics that *kinda* makes sense, if you want it to. (P.S., I scrapped the strings and pads)

I tried to get creative with gating and phasing by creating some conflicting stereo spreads and then compressing and re-expanding them. It creates this effect that the song is coming from several old radios at once towards the end, and I tried to emulate that visually in the opening and closing transitions.

lyrics

I've seen my own portrait...

(Hello, hello)

A picture's worth a thousand words,

And all I can see are reflections.

(Misdirection)

Confined within myself,
Staring into my life.

I feel the waves,
I'm not afraid

Where are you taking me...?

(Hello, hello)

Unfurling.

Unwinding.

Uncurling.

So blinding.

credits

from Journal, released June 5, 2020

license

about

Machado Mijiga Portland, Oregon

A Portand native, Machado Mijiga is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, audio engineer, and music educator.

Mijiga's largest current projects consist of:

Leader/Drummer for Djungol Jim, Tour de Force, DoubleDash, and Dingus.

Lo-fi hip-hop production under the alias "Gohan Blanco"

Rap Alias: "Thom Nook"

-Freelance multi-instrumentalist in Portland Metropolitan area. ... more