Excursions

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Excursions

Excursions.jpg

Release date 2018-09-07
Genre Ambient, EDM (Electronic Dance Music), Electronica, House, Orchestral
Running time 1:41:41 (16-track digital edition)
1:19:10 (12-track edition)
44:04 (vinyl)
1:11:08 (CD)
Bandcamp $8 or more
Apple Music/iTunes $9.99
Spotify Ad-supported

Excursions is the eighth major full-length album by C418. It is also C418's first non-Minecraft album to receive significant press coverage across sites such as Billboard,Fact,and Variety.

Official descriptions

Excursions, before it was what it is now, was a 30 minute release that I created to, mostly make people know that I still exist. However, I didn’t stop creating until ultimately it became a release that is over 100 minutes in length.

I’ve created this release exclusively only with a 2014 MacBook Pro, which turned out to be a difficult process. Most of the songs use more than 50 individual channels. That’s part due to my creative workflow and part due to me working as fast and as messy as possible. Until recently MacBooks only came with 16 gigs of RAM, which is perfectly fine for most all people, except video editors and people like me. For example, the song Thunderbird, clocking in at 13 minutes, needs around 18 gigs of free RAM to open without a hitch. Shockingly, MacBooks can still open a song like that with 16, because of their weird compression technique. However… it’s also a lucky coin flip on whether the software crashes or not.

Technical problems aside, I’ve posed a few challenges to myself to make creating Excursions interesting.

1. I wanted to create the same piece over and over again in as many different places and mood sets as possible
2. I wanted to use recorded speakers as a means to record room acoustics as much as possible
3. Excursions is supposed to feel like a journey through the messiest parts of New York, yet still feel tranquil and relaxing

To achieve number 3, I’ve decided to bake in the sounds of nature with additional grimy spooky places. Surprisingly, it makes the whole record feel very calm even with the most intense songs.
—C418, C418.org
This new project, Excursions, has been a trip down my own memory lane before Minecraft, when I aspired to create music I could hear on a commute to dance to. I’ve tried a few weird tricks for the entire record. For one, I’ve recorded the entire finished product through speakers to give it a roomy feel. Or, the mindset I’ve tried to have making each song. I started with "Beton" as my first song, and then tried to recreate this very song over and over again, but in different locations and with wildly different mood sets. Angry, sad or happy. Turns out that creates completely different songs.
—C418, Billboard
All the big loud housey songs came from the idea of ‘I want to create the same song over and over again, except that I've created each one in a different location, or a different mindset. And just purely based on that, they all turned out unique in their own way.
—C418, 3PM

Tracks

Excursions

Excursions
Length 5:47
Bandcamp $1 or more
“Excursions” was originally a track for a very early prototype of a game concept, but I felt that it deserves a better place than my dropbox. After a bit of polishing, I think it’s a very lovely way to be an intro into the album.
—C418, C418.org

Cold Summer

Cold Summer
AKA six
Length 8:10
Bandcamp $1 or more
“Cold Summer” is probably familiar to some of. you, as it was the first song I created and put out on Soundcloud with no real goal in mind. Only later I decided that there needed to be more.
—C418, C418.org

"Cold Summer" begins with a slow-paced set of synthesizer chords accompanied by rhythmic jungle sounds featuring avians, eventually beginning to build up following a sparkling transition as a fuzzy synthesizer bass plays a sparse melody along with a sporadic percussive clicking, eventually leading into the sound of a rolling, deep set of filtered synthesizer drums, the synthesizer chords growing and the drums building to include hi-hats and extra clicking, eventually including an avian sound playing an intensive melody as a muffled sparkling, voice-like synthesizer echoes a sparse melody. Synthesizers continue build in another sparkling transition and the song eventually transitions to a bridge following the bass synthesizer intensifying. During the bridge, a slow-paced arpeggio continues along with a hectic arpeggio, eventually reintroducing the percussion besides the drums as a synthesizer bass plays underneath a smooth, choir-like synthesizer playing an improvised inquisitive melody, the smooth synthesizer succumbing to an echo as the synthesizer bass raises once more.

In the second section of the song, a consistent drum beat is played as various ambient synthesizers continue to play in the background, the drums building up in percussion as a cheerful melody played with a shrill synthesizer is introduced, the synthesizer bass eventually building to introduce further percussion and the return of the muffled sparkling, voice-like synthesizer sequence. The percussion builds to appear erratic and dance-like with an excess of hi-hats as the rhythmic avian sounds return, eventually leading to the song's conclusion. The drums and cheerful melody filter out along with the filtered synthesizer bass accompanied by minor percussion, eventually fading out as the song is reduced to the rhythmic jungle sounds as the fade out to transition into the next song.

Trivia

TXL

TXL
AKA six, Txl
Length 2:18
Bandcamp $1 or more

Trivia

Tingle

Tingle
Length 6:40
Additional artist(s) Kuabee
Bandcamp $1 or more
“Tingle” was created in a weird spot in my life. I just got broken up from a 2 year relationship that I thought was the most important thing in my life, but it really really wasn’t. I spent the summer traveling to close friends. One of them was my good and composer Jukio Kallio, aka Kuabee. I think he dragged me out to his studio mostly to cheer me up. We ended creating this piece and I’ve polished it until I left the country. It did help.
—C418, C418.org

Trivia

Beton

Beton
Release date 2018-07-19
Length 7:48
Bandcamp $1 or more
“Beton” was a piece created to distract myself from being sad, as it was the track I created the closest to my breakup. Making music, at least for me, is very much connected to emotions. If I feel awful, I have a very hard time even jotting down a single note. But somehow I managed to create this whole piece without stopping for a minute. This piece was also the creation of the idea of making this album with as many mood sets as I could muster.
—C418, C418.org
I started with "Beton" as my first song, and then tried to recreate this very song over and over again, but in different locations and with wildly different mood sets. Angry, sad or happy. Turns out that creates completely different songs.
—C418, Billboard

"Beton" begins with a smooth, echoing sparse melody from a square synthesizer, building up with a reversed layer to form a different, more assertive melody accompanied by a bass synthesizer. The sound of water flowing fades in along with a smooth, ambient analog synthesizer chord, introducing a clicking 8-bit style electronic drum sequence. The smooth synthesizer gradually builds and opens up as the square melody is emphasized, a repeating bass melody rising up as the drum sequence gains extra percussion. Eventually, the synthesizer crescendos and the section depletes in layers, transitioning via a deep bass synthesizer note.

For a short period, water continues flowing in the background and the drum beat continues with minimal percussion, a synthesizer bass begins rising up in aggression before opening, allowing there to be a steady electronic drum beat with smooth percussion and a hectic rhythm playing in coincidence with a sparkling arpeggio that occasionally flourishes. The sound gradually builds as phrases continue, eventually including the flourishing sounds of a shrill, shifting synthesizer string, a muffled square synthesizer arpeggio melody along with the sound of inquisitive bells, and an ambient synthesizer layered with a pulsing analog synthesizer and choir synthesizer. The song is reduced to including bass and square wave synthesizer layers only, winding down in a monotonous fashion as the introductory square synthesizer melody returns with a filter, transitioning into the second verse.

In the second section, the song repeats the initial verse melody exactly as the first verse aside from a bass note difference, buildup included, along with the resolution of the buildup being the same. However, following the first phrase of said resolution, what is included is presumably C418's voice within multiple planes singing an eerie choir in a somewhat broken fashion, and when the second section reaches its conclusion, the sounds of presumably C418's voice continue as the remaining bass and arpeggio elements wind down into an echo, eventually leading into the sound of a passing car transitioning into the next song.

Trivia

  • The song was released as a single on 2018-07-19. This was the first single ever released by C418 to promote an album.
  • The track is named after Bar Beton, a café in the Netherlands.

AMS

AMS
AKA Ams
Length 2:38
Bandcamp $1 or more

Trivia

Thunderbird

Thunderbird
Release date 2018-08-20
Length 13:27
Bandcamp $1 or more
SoundCloud Listen for free
YouTube Listen for free
“Thunderbird” is the longest piece. Created in its namesake coffee shop in Austin, I got obsessed for a week or more just creating and creating and creating more until it stopped making sense. I was so obsessed with creating this song that I’m not actually sure what this monster is that I’ve created. I think it’s a bit of a case of staring at something too closely for too long.
—C418, C418.org
Whenever I obsess over a piece of music, I am out of commission for weeks until I decide that I am done. That doesn’t happen very often, but it did with "Thunderbird." I created it in a coffee shop in Austin, called, well, Thunderbird. They have fiber wire internet and that’s really useful if you compose 13 minute songs and have to wait and test listen for long stretches of times.
—C418, Magnetic Magazine interview

"Thunderbird" begins with a slow arpeggio gradually rising up in volume accompanied by ambient nature sounds, eventually gaining bass and shifting pitches as well as being supported by ambient synthesizer chords. The arpeggio opens up to a false resolution per each phrase. The ambient synthesizer builds to include extra layers, such as chromatic percussion and a more shrill square synthesizer. After building to emphasis as a buildup, the arpeggio is layered with extra distorted synthesizers and echoing square synthesizers along with subtle clicking. Eventually, the arpeggio sequence gains a bass rhythm and the sequence is reduced following an echo, returning the arpeggio to a filtered version of its original form in accompaniment with a synthesizer string and the reintroduction of the ambient nature sounds. As the ambient nature sounds continue solo with various metallic squeaks and filtered voice, the sound of a growling bass note gradually distorts as what is seemingly a high-pitched snare emphasises and repeats along with an ostinato of a secondary bass arpeggio, eventually concluding the introduction as the secondary bass arpeggio abruptly opens.

A steady drum sequence plays with the accompaniment of an upbeat, rolling synthesizer bass, gradually building as the drums are smoothed out and the arpeggio gains a hectic delay. The arpeggio continues with the accompaniment of a more ambient synthesizer, playing different melodic sequences. A subtle, filtered version of the verse arpeggio begins playing as the percussive sequence increases in layers, eventually allowing an explicit version of the verse arpeggio to play in accompaniment with subtle synthesizer voices before the section crescendos, then proceeding to fade away with the bass arpeggio and the continuation of the subtle repeat of the verse arpeggio, transitioning to a bridge section. The bridge is introduced with the return of the ambient nature sounds, including distorted voices, playing with an orchestral version of the song on top of the main electronic version with piano chords and eventually a coinciding arpeggiatied melody being played sequentially along with synthesizer strings, including a subtle distorted version of the arpeggio as support for the section as well as choir synthesizer flourishes. As the orchestral section crescendos, a rhythmic bell-like sound can be heard repeating as the bass arpeggio ostinato returns along with the snare ostinato, this time being accompanied by distorted clashes and a noticeable pitch raise as the song transitions with a burst of white noise.

In the second resolution, the melody of the first two phrases shift from the first resolution with an alarm-like synthesizer accompanying it, eventually including ambient synthesizers as the melody begins shifting in pitch. Percussive sounds are introduced as the piano returns to play an inquisitive melodic sequence along with the bass arpeggio, eventually being accompanied by aggressive square waves and deep ambient synthesizers, eventually including in a rhythmic sensation to the percussion as the section concludes. In the conclusion, the percussive melodic sequence continues with various other synthesizers, with a brief phrase of triumphant synthesizer strings and a growling bass backing, eventually leading the ending phrase to also crescendo. The song reaching its final conclusion, the piano melody continues playing with subtle, distinct square synthesizer backing as the ambient sound of water and metallic objects clattering can be heard, eventually leaving the song at said ambient sounds to transition to the next song.

Trivia

Aviva

Aviva
Length 3:17
Bandcamp $1 or more
“Aviva” was originally a present for someone, but I didn’t want to hide it.
—C418, C418.org

Trivia

Figure 8

Figure 8
Length 8:57
Bandcamp $1 or more

Trivia

  • The title of this track may refer to Figure 8 Coffee Purveyors in Austin, fitting with how Beton and Thunderbird are also named after the cafés where they were made.

Fake Triplets

Fake Triplets
Length 8:02
Bandcamp $1 or more
I think the meaning originated from my attempt to make a song about purely using triplets, but then devolved into something that sounded like triplets until there were no triplets at all.
—C418, Reddit

Trivia

  • The Bandcamp version of this track is presumably unfinished, having different melodies and less ambient sound effects.

Nest

Nest
Length 8:22
Bandcamp $1 or more
“Nest” is a celebration of tracker music. I got fascinated with trying to transfer the feeling and sound of it into modern software, which is why it essentially is two songs in one. Most tracker music uses 8 bit sample files to save space, which gives them all this low bitrate feeling. The hum of old files. It felt very appropriate for Excursions.
—C418, C418.org

Trivia

  • The Bandcamp version of this track is presumably unfinished, as the bass is mixed slightly quieter.

Home

Home
Length 3:44
Bandcamp $1 or more

Trivia

  • Home was originally the ending of the album until the tracklist was expanded to sixteen on release day.
  • The Bandcamp version of this track is presumably unfinished, as it omits the strings.
  • Since this was intended to be the closing track, the field recordings heard continuously throughout the album fade out only to reappear on the next song.

ATX

ATX
AKA Atx
Length 3:31
Bandcamp $1 or more
Starting with “ATX” until “Hope”, these tracks were kept hidden until the official release date on September 7th. The reason for such an unorthodox release window was a technical leak from the music publisher that I’ve used for this specific release. The unfortunate leak led me to create four more tracks, which ultimately made me feel way happier about this album.
—C418, C418.org

Trivia

  • ATX is the code for Atbasar Airport, but it more likely refers to Austin, one of the cities where Excursions was made.
  • Along with Leak, The President is Dead, and Hope, this track was revealed on 2018-09-07, shortly before the album was released. These four tracks were not included in the accidental early release.

Leak

Leak
Length 7:50
Bandcamp $1 or more

Trivia

  • This track's title possibly refers to the version of the album that was accidentally released early. As Leak was not included in this version, it may be acknowledging that the extra four tracks are a bonus for those who waited for the official release.

The President is Dead

The President is Dead
AKA The President Is Dead
Length 7:48
Bandcamp $1 or more
SoundCloud Listen for free
"The President is dead” is a reference to an old movie soundtrack. Which one exactly I’ll let you figure out.
—C418, c418.org

"The President is Dead" begins with multi-beat beeping accompanied by ambient city sounds and the raising sound of an inquisitive but sparse arpeggio panned to each direction. A deep ambient synthesizer opens up and the arpeggio grows in mid frequencies, eventually culminating in the introduction of a smooth, fragile, steady and consistent synthesizer bass drum beat accompanied by a repeating bass arpeggio. The main arpeggio continues with ambient distorted synthesizer sounds sporadically moving around the atmosphere until a cymbal roll introduces a snare and hi-hat rhythm to the drum beat, allowing there to be an ambient filtered bell synthesizer that plays a consistent melody in accompaniment with the bass arpeggio as the beeping continues in the background, said beeping being layered with a layer of resonant distortion opening and closing filters. A slow, curious melody made with an ambient synthesizer accompanied by the sound of a subtle filtered choir is then introduced, eventually leading to the bass arpeggio surrounding the atmosphere and the drum beat to gain extra percussion along with a subtle shrill synthesizer string sequence until the bass arpeggio crescendos with a reversed choir voice. Introducing a bridge, the sound abruptly cuts out and turns into the sound of water dripping with an electric motor that introduces a slow, shrill, short square synthesizer arpeggio that is accompanied by the sound of a hectic bass synthesizer melody with random atmospheric bursts, being layered with a second higher-pitched layer and eventually being backed up with the sound of a panning voice choir presumably made with C418's voice until the sound crescendos.

In the second section, the bass arpeggio continues in one note along with the beeping and an on-beat synthesizer hi-hat, raising up with the subtle sound of a synthesizer rim shot to reintroduce the rhythmic chorus drum beat, hi-hats included, and bass arpeggio as the beeping continues, said beeping eventually rising upwards in pitch until the reintroduction of the melody with the filtered bell synthesizer and the ambient synthesizer, eventually leading the drums to build up as the resonant distortion with switching filter returns with an emphasis on buzzing, eventually leading the drum beat sequence to intensify as the ambient synthesizer gains an echo. The drum beat subsequently rises in volume along with the bass arpeggio as the buzzing continues, crescendoing and leading into the song's conclusion, the song reducing to a simple drum beat as the bass arpeggio and ambient synthesizer continues to the bass arpeggio also crescendoing as a secondary bass arpeggio filters out and in. Various ambient echoing continues as the drum beat returns to bass drum and the bass crescendos once again, culminating in the bass arpeggio filtering and fading out with a subtle echo completely, leading into distorted wind-like sounds eratically panning due the transition into the next song.

Trivia

  • C418 confirmed via Discord that the track name does not refer to any living or dead political leader.
  • C418 took inspiration to make "The President is Dead" from the OST "The President is Gone" found in the 1981 film "Escape From New York".

Hope

Hope
Length 3:22
Bandcamp $1 or more

Vinyl release

Side A tracks

  • Beton
  • Aviva
  • Figure 8
  • [Regennn]
    • Regennn is the only exclusive track appearing on vinyl, making it the 17th track on the album.

Side B tracks

Trivia

  • As the vinyl release was delayed, those who have pre-ordered the vinyl of Excursions, were entitled to an additional random vinyl.
  • There are currently two different versions of the vinyl - a swirly orange version released in 2018 limited to only a few hundred copies, and a smoke grey version that was released in 2021.
  • On March 26, 2021, leftover factory supply of the swirly orange vinyl was sold off with an estimated stock of 30. They sold out in less than five minutes.

CD release

Tracks

Trivia

  • Fake Triplets is excluded from the CD release.
  • The back of the CD release notes that Excursions was created in the following cities:
    • Berlin (Germany)
      • TXL was named after the Berlin Tegel Airport.
    • Chemnitz (Germany)
      • Daniel Rosenfeld was born in Chemnitz in 1989, when it was under the name Karl-Marx-Stadt.
    • Amsterdam (Netherlands)
      • Nest is possibly named after a bar in Amsterdam.
    • Utrecht (Netherlands)
      • Beton was named after Bar Beton at the station in Utrecht.
    • Schiphol (Netherlands)
      • AMS was named after the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
    • Vinnytsia (Ukraine)
      • The release of Beton as a single was first announced on Instagram while Daniel was visiting Vinnytsia for his brother's wedding. One of the buildings in the album artwork has also been identified as being from the city.
    • Valetta (Malta)
    • Lisbon (Portugal)
    • Helsinki (Finland)
    • Oslo (Norway)
    • Reykjavik (Iceland)
    • Austin (USA)
      • Figure 8 was named after Figure 8 Coffee Purveyors in Austin.
      • ATX was named after the city itself, which is commonly shortened from Austin, Texas to ATX.
    • New York (USA)
    • Los Angeles (USA)
    • San Francisco (USA)
    • Seattle (USA)

Album trivia

  • The album artwork for Excursions features a similar pale yellow border to the Dief album cover, but the border is slightly thinner than Dief's, and is also a solid colour instead of having the noise the Dief cover does.
  • According to C418 on Twitter, some of the buildings featured in the album cover are from Ukraine, and most of those buildings have been destroyed in the Russo-Ukrainian War. [1]

Prerelease

  • On 2018-07-12, an early version of the album was accidentally released to some platforms.
    • While C418 had previously teased Excursions on Twitter as an upcoming non-Minecraft album, the first knowledge of it was when it was accidentally made available for preorder on Google Play Music on 2018-06-04, with a scheduled release date of 2018-07-13. The preorder was not officially acknowledged, and was removed after a few days. On 2018-07-12 the album was released on the same platforms, as well as Spotify. Later that day, C418 came onto the C418 Discord server to confirm that the release was unintentional and that it would be removed shortly.
    • The album was officially announced on 2018-07-19 with the release of Beton, with Daniel confirming the album's title, cover art, and the original twelve-song tracklist. The final release date was revealed to be 2018-09-07.
  • On 2018-09-06, the day before Excursions released, C418 was interviewed on Bandcamp Daily for the first time.
  • On 2018-09-07, C418 revealed in a tweet that Excursions would be released with an additional four tracks, ATX, Leak, The President is Dead, and Hope. The Bandcamp listing was updated to sixteen tracks, and the album was released on most other platforms shortly afterwards. However, this release was listed separately to the original twelve-track version, which still displayed a release date of 2018-09-09.

Gallery

  • Image used for background on C418.org

  • Promo images of the Excursions CD physical release

  • Excursions CD 2.png
  • Excursions CD 3.png

  • Promo image of the Excursions LP physical release

References

  1. ↑ https://twitter.com/c418/status/1499443417708961793
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