Letter To Myself

[Intro]
Hi, this is Keith Rankin of death's dynamic shroud
And you are listening to the top ten countdown for Wednesday drive time on The Sound Alternative RTRFM 92.1

[TV recording, Keith Rankin beatboxing]

[Dialogue]
[?]
No arrests, not even a traffic ticket
Only thing is, she's in deep with the credit card company

[Voice Memo]

[Dialogue: Keith Rankin, Ellen Thomas]
Damn it, fuck
Are you recording that?
*Laughter*
Oh my god!

[Keith Rankin beatboxing]

[Guitar song sketch]

[Unknown concert recording]
It's me
See you in the ground
[?]

[Synth bass demo]

[TV recording]

[Dialogue]
You can make the circles as big or as small as you like
Look at that one
And going down, look at these
This is a very delicate configuration
So we don't know, we know the ans-

[TV recording of Dirge Of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII]

[Dialogue]
Let me ask you
Does the wind sound likе a thousand wailing souls?
Listen
Can't you hear them?
Thе cries?
No

[Piano: 7:43 - 8:08]

[Podcast interview: Keith Rankin, [?]]
Oh yeah, let's... can we just talk about Tekken 7 for a second?
[?] Tekken 7 [?]
Well the s- yeah; I mean, I haven't really played the modern Tekkens either
But I've been keeping up with music, because the, uh, the soundtracks are bonkers
Like, the Tekken 7 soundtrack is one of the most insane, like, pieces of music I've heard
It's like, uh, it's just like this, uh, really bizarre combination of like, EDM, like stadium EDM
And like, old school video game, like, composition
And just like, kinda brostep, like
It's uh... it's just intense, it's like, really out of control
Um, and it's like, yeah, just play some of the ones I've linked to there
[?]
Yeah
[?]
Uh huh
[?]
Right it does
[?]
Absolutely
[?]
Yeah
[?]
*laughter*
I mean, it's really, it's hard as shit, like it's
[?]
Right, and the- the soundtrack's like 5 discs or something, it's just
It's like a masterpiece
Yeah yeah yeah [?]
For sure, yeah
Those are also, I also really liked those new Doom soundtracks as well
[?]
Yeah
[?]
Right
[?]
Yeah, those- the Doom stuff leans, I mean
It's clearly electronic but leaning, the like more into the intense metal side
Which Tekken does that for sure, but there's also more like
More of that like J-pop style like ascending
Like beautiful melodic stuff, um
Honestly like, the- there's um a lot of Final Fantasy VII Remake, um, music
Does that vibe as well, like the
[?]
Yeah, like the "Smash 'em, Rip 'em" track, um
It's yeah, maybe just play some of that
It's just, it's kind of a similar vibe, but just... just beautiful
Beautiful EDM

[Keith Rankin beatboxing, fart noises]

[Voice memo]

[Dialogue: Keith Rankin, Ellen Thomas]
What?
For some reason, the way you, there was suddenly a [?] there
It was like, so intense
I wasn't prepared for you to get that close, that fast
Do you want me to do it again?
*laughter*
Ok
*bong rip*
That's good
That was good?
Uh huh

[Piano and flute duet]

[Spoken word: Keith Rankin, Ellen Thomas]
Play that- I wanna hear that part again, [?] those chords with the melody
Ok
Here we go 1, 2, 3, 4

[Duet resumes]

[Spoken word: Keith Rankin, Ellen Thomas]
Should I change those notes, should there be a different variation of it?
Probably

[Instrumental]

[Keith Rankin beatboxing]

[Guitar song sketch]

[Field recording]

[Piano demo]

[Verse 1: Keith Rankin]
Stay with me until it's over
I'm losing track of days again
Through a fog, I caught the memory
For a second felt again, again

[Verse 2: Keith Rankin]
Help me get back, get back
Help me get back, get back
Help me see clear, the past
Help me get back, get back

[Podcast interview]

[Interview: Keith Rankin, [?]]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
I mean, you can hear that in
I mean yeah, the Xenogears- Xenogears- I've always said Xenogears
Like that sound track is-
[?]
Okay
I've heard people say "zehnogears", but I say "zeeno"
[?]
Yeah what you're saying is like, pretty abundant, I mean
On many soundtracks
But like that specifically, um, I mean there's like, there's a strong, like Celtic influence
[?]
Yeah - Well it's the same composer, um
[?]I feel it's a place where you can, explore these like, idiosyncratic thing that like[?]
The song that's- the song that's playing right now is probably my favorite
I love this track [?] ordinary
It is; I don't know if it's
[?] bread and butter
For sure
[?]
Yeah this was um
[?]
Yeah this was kinda my introduction to that
[?]
Yeah, play the, yeah you should play this whole- because the second half of this is really beautiful, man
I mean it's like everything at once in a way
I'm pretty- I think the people who like, wrote the scenario
It was like, a husband and wife duo who kind of like
Fell in love during the whole, the process leading up to, like making the game, i think
Like they inserted their own love story into it, but also like
The whole game is just a culmination of like, every idea that they thought was cool
Like, like I've read they just you know they fell in love
They're just exchanging these ideas about what they liked in philosophy, like religion, like Freud, like Carl Jeung, like all that stuff
And you know, they put it all into the game
And it's just like, very unfiltered, like very present in the game
These like, they're just- their like creativity or something
I just love seeing that like, unrestrained, like creativity really in anything
I mean with Evangelion, um, it was
I feel like I heard the director say that
After that he was kind of in crisis
Because it was like, "I've put all my ideas into this, into this show and you know what do I- where do i go next"
"It's like everything I wanted to say has been said, in a way"
Yeah for sure, that's like generally how[?]
Yeah really
Yeah I can relate to that for sure
Oh, I was just gonna comment on that song, the beginning and the end song
Yeah, that plays like the pretty much the climax of the game
Where it's just like, the uh, like the protagonist and the antagonist are just like, having a very civil conversation
As the like, climax of the game, um
And the antag-
[?]
Well there's a little bit of that, but uh, yeah and just hearing that
And the music is from like, it's a Bulgarian choir, i'm not sure if it's the same as
[?]
Yeah, it's- I mean it's the same feel, uh
The same compositional feel, um
[?] have you ever heard the uh Bulgarian State uh television female choir album?
[?]
It was, uh- there was like, a series of compilations
I think, i'm not sure if they were compilations of like, original
But regardless there was a series of albums that um
Kind of like, yeah I think 4AD like spearheaded recording this uh Bulgarian uh choir
And they kind of like achieved this cult status
But they're just some of like the most beautiful music I have ever heard
Um, and yeah and this song, the Xenogears song
Like I just have a very specific memory of like hearing that and just being like
"This like, the greatest- the greatest music I've ever heard" basically
And kind of following that uh, path, uh
So that's how I discovered the bulgarian choir, the 4AD album and
Yeah, have always loved-

[Guitar song sketch]