|v/a| "Drum & Bliss, Vol. 1" [Marijuana Color Vinyl]

Ah! Sea Life was released for Darla Records first Drum & Bliss compilation in 1999, which also featured solid tracks by our labelmates Junior Varsity KM, Color Filter, and Technicolor. Ah! Sea Life was recorded shortly after Alura and was a bit of a progression for us, as we got more familiar with our Atari computer and the samplers we had gathered between Halica and up to that point.

That track is completely sample based. Synths were used but were sampled to have more control over things (the main organ may have been the PercOrgan patch in our TX81Z). We remember spending hours on the internet (and that was dialup, btw) searching for the always omnipresent Amen break in order to add it at the end of the track. Since we were still a bit green with samplers, that Amen break wasn't cut properly, so you can hear a bit of timing issues, lol. Oh well, we were excited about the track, and excited to have a song that features the iconic Amen break - we felt kinda legit, haha.

It also felt good to branch out a little bit out of the "shoegaze" sound to embrace some of our other influences like funk and soul, especially with the bassline and maybe even the strings during the "should I return now" section.

Anyway, Ah! Sea Life means a lot to us, not only because we love the track, but it also gave us a boost of confidence that we could expand further and further.

PS, the artwork for this compilation rules. -- Roberto Burgos, May 2021