Learning Curve ( 2007 )

by nick maynard

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1.	A NEW MASH 02:13	buy track
2.	THE MASH STRIKES BACK 02:45	buy track
3.	RETURN OF THE MASH 02:10	buy track
4.	THE PHANTOM MASH 02:00	buy track
5.	ATTACK OF THE MASH 02:06	buy track
6.	REVENGE OF THE MASH 02:01	buy track
7.	2001 : A MASH ODYSSEY 04:48	buy track
8.	BACK TO THE MASH 02:40	buy track
9.	THE MOTION MASH 03:36	buy track
10.	THE WRATH OF MASH 02:13	buy track
11.	THE SEARCH FOR MASH 02:42	buy track
12.	THE VOYAGE MASH 03:00	buy track
13.	THE FINAL MASH 01:45	buy track
14.	THE UNDISCOVERED MASH 03:12	buy track
15.	MASH 02:06	buy track
16.	MASHS 01:45	buy track
17.	MASH CUBED 01:31	buy track
18.	MASH RESURRECTION 01:33	buy track
19.	MASH ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND 02:00	buy track
20.	THE DAY THE MASH STOOD STILL 02:08	buy track

about

It was late 2006 and I found myself listening to NIGHT RIPPER by Girl Talk constantly. I began to imagine and write down the mashups I'd like to hear. The margins of my college notebooks were filled with ideas like "the opening drums of Beat It + the guitar part from Stairway to Heaven + the vocals of Fergalicious". Most of these ideas were horrible but they were a fun distraction.

In 2007, I began to use Ableton Live and instantly saw how easy it would be to create mashups using its tempo / beat detection features. For the next two weeks, this is all I did.

"Learning Curve" is the first (and only) 20 mashups I would ever make. It was intended to be listened to as one seamless piece of music that would get technically more proficient as it progressed. The earlier songs are extremely simple and contain a smaller number of samples while the later songs become much more complex and hopefully reflect a greater degree of craft.

Ultimately, it was fun to make and contains a few decent parts but was much more of an experiment than an actual album. I released it via Myspace and Rapidshare in early 2007.

The band name, FOX PARTY, was some kind of reference to an in-joke I had with my band at the time, DASHA, but I've long forgotten the story.

The album art was created by Eileen Ruberto and is much better than the album deserves. I remember thinking that I could write a serious album and then use the same band name / album name just so I could use the album art for something legitimate.

All of the song titles were arbitrary and reference different science fiction film franchises.