My Personal History with Electronic Music with Darryl Thomas
Ahh, I remember it well. A wet spring morning. I was among a throng of computer geeks when I spotted it: a 20 GB hard drive that I proudly paid $100 at a computer fair in Columbus, Ohio in the year, 2002. I had just quit my band (again) and it seemed as if the music gods were never going to allow me to play in a band where I could get along with everyone without them hating me. So, I had my ear in electronic music for a short time, heavily getting into Fortran 5, Kraftwerk, Gary Numan and much later, St. Etienne, Morcheeba and Portishead. and I thought with the power of modern computing, creating music in the space of a spare bedroom seemed very appealing and quite doable! I was a competent bassist specializing in reggae, rock and rock-steady. I wasn’t very good on keyboards or guitar, but I have a great ear for melody and experienced enough to deep-fake a good musician, up to a point. Anyway, I had a ridiculously huge computer tower, which held in all its glory the aforementioned 20 GB hard drive and God knows what was running the creaky, Windows Millennium back then. I did have a fire wire connection. Never used it. And there was the proverbial Sound Blaster sound card (you absolutely had to have one of those, according to the magazines).
So it’s 2002, and I went over to Guitar Center and took home a box labeled, Sonar XL. Immediately I was struck with how this was going to be a difficult process to get any good musical ideas going with my set-up, as I was totally broke and only had a Casio keyboard and a cheap acoustic guitar. Eventually, I wrangled up some loops and samples and began to learn about sequencing through a DAW. Using the limitations as a creative, personal challenge, I taught myself how to navigate the control panels and interface. I knew nothing about the dynamic or properties or the science of mixing music on a computer. I also tried the first versions of Fruity Loops. I was planted in the basement of our apartment, my desktop, monitors and speakers sitting next to the always-too-noisy furnace that churned and burbled day and night. Versions of those recordings are gone, lost cassettes and hard drives in moves vanished in past moves. But I still have a fond memory on those primitive conditions I toiled in.
Through the 2000’s I worked mainly on Logic until I changed from Apple to PC and switched to Ableton 4, which I found the easiest DAW to create in at that point. I could only afford the Lite versions that would come bundled with a musical component or another, so I was aware I could get more out of it if I knew what the hell I was doing. I knew I needed to bone up on my product knowledge not only of the software, but of the principles of song design within the confines of electronica, as I began my music career as a songwriting, performing vocalist and bass player. I read up on the mixing magazines, the electronic music magazines trade magazines religiously. I struggled to understand compressors and equalization and mastering principles, but I plugged away and had a few ‘AHA’ moments in creating music. Oh, and the great thing about those electronic music magazines was when they hit on the idea of supplying CDs with their issues, trial-ware and freeware of loops, samples, and programs. As time crept by, my abilities and confidence grew.
In 2007, I found myself exercising a life-altering change of scenery by moving to South Africa for a couple of years. There, on a remote farm nestled in the Msunduzi foothills and mountain views, I continued trying to get some reasonable music out of my limited computer set-up under the moniker of The Left Hand of Darkness, aided by vocalist Andrea Rossouw, but the sometimes frustrating experience with dealing with severe equipment limitations produced some interesting results. Then, the PowerMac blew up, and I lost all the original files. With my visa up, I had to reteurn to America, and once again putting the idea of creating electronic music on hold.
I set up shop in Houston, Texas for business reasons that in the end, didn’t pan out. I spent the next few years battling illness and crummy low-paying jobs in a new, strange, unfamiliar city with no local electronic music scene, for a city as big as Houston, is crazy, if compared to Space City’s historic hip hop legacy.
After fully recovering from an illness in 2015, I slowly began to get myself involved in the project of creating electronic music that I had begun during my stay in South Africa.
Eventually, things began to fall into place, if only by the sheer tyranny of will, by persistent hard work and maintaining a good attitude during hard times when it was really hard to do. It wouldn’t be until about 2017 that I was financially stable enough to begin to get serious about creating good electronic music again, and that meant finally for the first time, getting a hold of good, decent equipment.
I invested with consideration over the long haul: a future-proof desktop, a superb audio interface, an array of plug-ins and virtual instruments, a very good keyboard, a monophonic synth, a couple of very good electric guitars and a bass. Thus, I look around my studio and think to myself, hot damn! I’ve finally achieved a workspace that I am happy to create in. I’ve been using Mixcraft Pro 9 for about 3 years, and I find it as stable as Ableton. I have way too many soft synths, but I have limited myself to use no more than five: love my Mellotron, my Korg M1, Elka, Monolgue and a bass synth I use regularly.
I decided to call the project, the Nu Program. I wanted to incorporate elements of house, post-punk, various kinds of electronica, but I learn hard on triphop, motorik and disco. Having been in two reggae-ska bands that performed classic and original music, there was going to be heavy reggae output involved. And the post-punk is the deepest layer in my musical archaeology, with the Fall and Guided By Voices having their say.
In 2018 I began to quietly release singles on the N1M.com platform, not expecting to receive any response at all. I must say, it took a couple of years, but the response has been amazing!
Since I never did enjoy a direct connection with electronic music, I can only refer to my musical creations as “probable pop and disco.” I consider myself a dancefloor electronic folk artist dealing with post-existential themes of social collapse and the evaporation of human dignity and freedom. And dancing. Lots of dancing for all those who just couldn't get enough Post - house grooves that are musically novelistic in structure: catchy, melodic lines with post-existential cool and spoken-word element that will make you want to ask, "What the hell are you playing?" Just kidding. 2023 is looking up for me to make my best music yet.
Now hailed as "the only jam guaranteed to take you to the bridge!" by dozens of people worldwide, the Nu Program has been busy building a legacy of weird, probable pop and dance music for your enjoyment, and have only just begun.
"Thank you, because magic may not be real.. but your songs are truly magical!" - A Fan, via private email.
Currently, the band is working on a new album called The BIG SIX that they plan to launch in July, 2023. For updates, visit the band's website at https://www.n1m.com/darrylthomas or follow them on Facebook (the nu program), Instagram (thenuprogram) or Twitter https://twitter.com/program_nu
