Hey Dad! listen on headphones because I know you don't own a subwoofer (sad face) or something that has some decent bass. probably not your car though. driving to ambient music is kind of weird. I consider it a meditative piece, but use it as you'd like. also just as a warning, this is nearly 20 minutes long.

a cadence in music is a succession of (at least) two chords (a melodic or harmonic configuration) that conclude a section, phrase, or piece of music. the intention of a cadence is to create a sense of resolution or a pause -- a feeling of finality. I basically plagiarized the last two sentences, because hey, this ain't for a grade, because I graduated from your school 15 years ago.

a plagal cadence is known as the "amen" cadence because in most hymns it's that part where people sing "Aaaaaamen", which is basically just a major chord with a 4-3 suspension. only the finest of the dissonances. I calculate what I consider to be the climax of this track to be around the 2:3 Golden Ratio moment in the track's timeline.

the only discernible melody in the piece occurs at the very end after the bass tone exits, and it is the melody from the ancient Gregorian chant "Gloria in excelsis Deo" which translates from Latin to "Glory to God in the highest".

the word "amen" is a declaration of affirmation, and is the concluding response to prayer. my dad, the pastor, prays a lot. he spends a chunk of his morning doing it. me? I do sometimes, but it's not to someone I call God, nor to my knowledge is it even a deity or god of any kind. I just pray to whoever is listening, because I know from watching my dad pray as I grew up that there's something about it that actually works. sometimes it doesn't, and any atheist out there would tell me I'm making a false equivalency (I know because I used to be one) but the truth is that I know it, and it doesn't matter to me if anyone else does, so I'm going to keep cracking at it.

when I was a kid growing up in Sacramento, CA, my dad and I used to listen to this radio program called Hearts of Space on public radio after our traditional Saturday night homemade pizza dinner with my family. the program featured all kinds of specials like ambient soundscapes by Brian Eno (et al), cosmic meditations, ethereal drones, sacred chants from around the world, and other kinds of spiritual/mystical music. sometimes there was just a straight up downtempo set. I was way too young to understand genres but I remember it being enticing for me, and my dad loved it because of its tranquility but also that it has a certain type of "other plane" quality to it that even for me now is kind of hard to explain. my dad is a very meditative person who appreciates music that helps your brain move. I mean, I was probably playing with power rangers toys or my game boy while it was on, but it definitely planted some seeds in my tiny child sponge brain. little did either of us know that this tradition of sorts would lay a foundation for me to one day becoming an electronic music producer. weird how things work out right? HoS can still be found on the web here: www.hos.com and that makes me really happy!

LIFE... what is life? life is just one big Beethoven-esque and drawn-out cadence. so here is the slowest IV-I cadence anyone has ever heard.

the picture on the cover is from when I broke my arm when I was two years old (my earliest visual memory -- 1987!) and my dad was watching over me in the hospital, along with my stuffed animals. he still rocks the 'stache.

this track will be available everywhere, but first exclusively on Soundcloud Sunday, June 17th, 2018.

this is for you, dad. hope you have a wonderful father's day.