AKIRA [EP]

All instruments and samples were arranged and recorded by both members of THE FEAR. Notes provided by Stylo.

1998年6月12日 [1998-Nen 6 tsuki 12-nichi]
(June 12th, 1998)

Credits -
Sampling arranged by Stylo

Paul Michael Stephani was an American serial killer who, after murdering his victims, would call emergency services, anonymously reporting his own crimes in an eerily remorseful high pitched voice. I (Dom/Stylo) have had a somewhat slight obsession with sampling these calls throughout FEAR tracks. Thus, we chose to open the EP with one of these calls.

The title, 1998年6月12日, is the date Paul Michael Stephani died from cancer in prison.


テト [Teto]
(Tet)

Sampling arranged by Stylo
Spoken word provided by Yu

テト was the product of a very late night session of recording. After taking a previously generated text-to-speech clip, I manipulated and trimmed it until we simply had the syllable - 'tet' (the first syllable of Akira protagonist's name).
After stretching and altering the looped sample of 'tet', we got the skeleton of テト. Yu/Stuart then proceeded to let Wikipedia generate a random article, and read it out from the back of the room while I breathed into the microphone. We then cut up, stretched and pitch altered that recording to provide the other layers of the track.

アキラ I
(Akira I)

Sampling arranged by Stylo
Percussion arranged by Stylo & Yu


This is mainly built from a sample from the movie that provided the concept for this EP, Akira.

Within the movie, the protagonist, Tetsuo, who is involved with a biker gang, is chased by a rival gang. I sampled the soundtrack, along with the dialogue and sound fx to create the main loop of the track.

We then programmed multiple layers of percussion throughout the track and added an acapella I ripped off of some free audio website. After manipulating and warping the track here and there, the final product was complete.

アキラ II
(Akira II)

Sampling arranged by Stylo
Percussion arranged by Stylo

This track is actually something I made over half a year ago, Akira sample and everything. We decided to include this after realising how perfectly it fit into the previous track.

The main saxophone line is sampled from the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack with elements of the Akira OST sprinkled throughout.

やめ [Yame]
(Stop)

Sampling provided by Stylo
'Vocals' provided by Stylo
Drums arranged by Stylo & Yu
Guitar provided by Stylo

Ridiculous as it is, the glitchy melody from this track is a snippet of a song from the video game 'Fortnite', warped and pitched up over 48 semitones. We then added the beat and I screamed some ridiculous spoken word I had written previous, with the usual FEAR warping and maniplulating of the recording of course.

The outro is a short guitar piece I recorded almost 2 years ago titled 'Paris'.

神はいない [Kami wa inai]
(There Is No God)

Sampling arranged by Stylo

This is an entirely sample based track that I made after stumbling down the YouTube rabbit hole.
I was watching videos on mortality, god, fear of death, etc. and decided to sample a snippet from one that I was watching.
The outro arrangement that it fades into is actually just the instrumental intro from the video.

ネオ東京の余波 [Neo Tōkyō no yoha]
(Neo-Tokyo Aftermath)

Sampling provided by Stylo
Percussion arranged by Stylo & Yu
Spoken word provided by Stylo

This track began as a usual FEAR track does, rampant and random sampling with intense percussion (some examples from this track would be a Death Grips acapella and Sophie's PONYBOY 808). However, we proceeded to manipulate and extend the delay and reverb that we had sprinkled throughout the track, which provides the basis for the instrumental of most of the track. I then added a filtered and manipulated improvised spoken word. If you could understand what I am saying, you'd realise it is completely incoherent. An example would be a phrase which is repeated throughout the track; "There is no heaven or hell, only road". Maybe it's more profound than I realise. Oh well.