Pogo - Wishery

It's no secret that I love music.  I wouldn't have my own blog devoted to it if I didn't.  Music is magic.  It can evoke feelings from the entire spectrum of human emotions in a matter of minutes.  Of all the senses, only hearing has this power.  Yes, happiness and pleasure can be derived from any type of sensation, but it's a bit harder to eat or touch something that stirs real melancholy.  In addition, I would argue that our reactions to stimuli for sight and smell are regulated by the individual.  We will react how we have been conditioned to react to certain things.  Sounds seem to transcend these constraints, however, especially when arranged into music.  It can operate and influence one's feelings at the subconscious level.  Music can be invigorating or calming, angst-filled or cathartic.  It's wonderful.

I think what truly amazes me is the creative process that goes into making music.  All music evolves out of simple, and intangible thoughts by an artist.  To think that there are people who can imagine random melodies and then turn them into wildly popular or meaningful works of aural art is incredible.

With the ease of access to media and media editing tools these days, it's no surprise that a mass emergence of new musicians is occurring.  Consequently, there also come many critics.  The boundaries of originality inevitably enter the conversation whenever someone samples another artist's work.  Most people are okay with artists using small portions of other songs in their music, but issues arise when a large part of the instrumental are seemingly copied.  It is a gray area, with no definite answer, but I believe any true musician should be able to effectively take a sample and make it their own.

My case in point is Pogo.  He is a young man from Perth, named Nick Bertke, that has taken sampling to a place it's never been before.  He uses sound bits from movies to create unique pieces of music.  Have a listen.

Download.

The video can only depict a small portion of what is going on here.  Nearly every sound that this track is comprised of originated in the Snow White movie.  All the 'drum hits' and 'instruments' are individual sounds from the film's audio that Pogo hand-picked to construct his song.

Read on for some more examples and explanations.

Pogo's music has an organic feel that is at the same time very surreal.  The vocal clips appear to be saying something in particular, but aren't.  The floating melodies carry the listener along at a slightly frantic pace, but never overwhelm.  Pogo has remixed many different movies and shows, including Harry Potter, Dexter, Toy Story, Alice In Wonderland, Winnie The Pooh, Up, The Wizard of Oz, and more.  Check out his interpretation of Disney's Hook.

Impressive, right?

Here is Pogo himself giving a narration of his actual production process.  If it seems overly complicated, that's because it is.  I've used that program before, and I had a hard time keeping up with him.  I'm sure he could talk for hours about that single track and everything that was going through his mind as he composed it.  This video doesn't even take into account the time spent watching Hook for the perfect samples, and the editing done to recover individual tones.  It is very refreshing to hear an artist who can so seamlessly take something old and craft it into something different and entirely new.  That ability is commendable, and I hope his efforts can inspire others to redraw the boundaries of music.

For more videos and plenty of free music, visit Pogo's site here.

As readers of this blog, see if this track rings any bells...