(256 kbps mp3 files; Rt-Clk or Ctrl-Clk on each button and choose "Save Target As" or "Save Link As")

I want you to have this. It's an album I made during the month of February 2008 as part of the RPM challenge, the annual event based out of Portsmouth, NH that challenges people around the world to complete a full album - writing, recording, mixing, artwork - all in just one month. I really hope you like it and that you'll give it away to your friends if you are that type of person, inclined to do such things. In fact, this album is issued under a CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE. Click that link and learn about how cool that really is (especially for you creative types)!

This is my second year taking part in the event. Last year, I put together one long track with a bunch of different sections called And Now the Truth. (If I still owe you a copy of that album, let me know and I will gladly send it to you.) This time, however, I had some realizations about what it is that I am doing, my place in the world, and so on. These realizations had a significant effect on the final album I came up with. Thankfully, they also made it much more fun to make.

It's an interesting thing that happens when an album that you have been working on finally comes together. All the ideas and possibilities and outtakes, and even some parts that ended up on the actual recordings, they all seem to flake away until you are left with something that feels really quite small, despite your best attempts to flex your every creative muscle during the process to make your album as big and bold and wild as possible. With this experience under my belt, I went into this record with a better idea of the pacing, of how I was going to spend the month. I could have done more (more layers, more structure) and done it maybe sort of badly, or I could do less and really try to get it right. Hopefully it's obvious which path I followed. "Less is more" was the operative slogan here.

That "less" also applies to the amount of mixing I did on Patterns. On past efforts, the first objective of mixing has been to make every instrument as loud (or at least audible) as possible at all times, and then to make the entire mix of each song as loud as possible. This time, I found myself turning a lot of things down, and just letting the loudest thing be the loudest thing. So my new album is considerably quieter than most other albums that you own. I'm sorry if my songs are too quiet for your iTunes playlists. They will sound good in other places, I think. I did not have this album mastered, but you should know that just because I am against excessive loudness, I am NOT against mastering at all. I think mastering engineers are the closest thing to spirit warriors that we have in this consumer culture of ours. When used for good, they can make good music sound totally incredible. Sadly and strangely, there is no role for this type of person in most art.

On the topic of sounds, here's a fun thing I did with this record: I bought ten cassette tapes, and I mixed each track live to cassette, and then back into the computer. To accomplish this, I used an eight track tape recorder that I literally pulled out of someone's garbage last year. One of the faders is a little dirty and the counter reset button doesn't work, but other than that it's in perfect working condition. I went to all this trouble with the tapes because a lot of snobby musicians insist that music sounds better recorded to tape; that it adds that magical imperfection, not to mention analog "warmth." Never one to turn down an afternoon in front of the fireplace, I decided to see how this "warmth" really felt. Not bad, I'd say!

I'd like to say thank-you to Maren and all of my friends and family for being patient with me, and supportive of the music I make. This album is dedicated to anyone who enjoys it enough to make him or herself part of it. For more on my fascinating theory of how ordinary songs are transformed into classics by way of a societal and communal democratic process, to vent with me over the "loudness war" currently happening in music, to celebrate the greatness of the Creative Commons License, or just to say hello, feel free to send me an e-mail anytime at mahoney dot michael at gmail dot com. And don't forget to enjoy the music. I made it for you!

Best,
Mike