This release along with the rest of my entire catalog is free / pay what you want. If you like what I do and want to help support my music, consider these two options:

Bandcamp Subscription - $25 a year - My full discography added to your Bandcamp collection, plus early access to new releases and some extra goodies
timerival.bandcamp.com/subscribe

Patreon - $2 a month
Listen to what I'm currently working on before everyone else, plus Bandcamp codes for new releases
patreon.com/TimeRival
______________________________

Instrumental Hip Hop is the flavour of the new Time Rival release. If your name is Michael Southard, pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, like some mad Brian Eno challenge is par for the course. It follows then, that Southard couldn't content himself in making literal scores of excellent ambient or IDM albums and EP's without exploring this neglected facet of his musical DNA. Get on this

~~~

Inspired by Hip-Hop and built on a foundation of ambient Textures, "Reaction" is a complete reworking of music from Time Rival's 8 hour meditation and sleep project "Inaction"

Check out "Inaction" only on Bandcamp
timerival.bandcamp.com/album/inaction


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George Ernst, Triplicate Records: The inspiration for this fun detour, may we have it?

Michael Southard aka Time Rival: Growing up in a mostly rural area in the outskirts of Chicagoland, I stumbled upon hip-hop music around 1996 from a friend's older brother. I didn't know what it was but I thought it was awesome, and I think more importantly, nobody else I knew listened to it. My parents didn't outwardly approve of hip-hop at first, which solidified my love of it. Every artist is an amalgamation of their influences. Hip-Hop has been a major part of my personal music history even if it's mostly unnoticeable with the majority of the music I create. I thought reworking music from my meditation project "Inaction" would be a great place to showcase my hip-hop influences in a more noticeable way.

GE: What's... well I could ask what half of these track titles are but I'll narrow it down. What's a Reagent?

MS: In chemistry, a reagent is something you add to cause a chemical reaction. To tell you the truth, I always struggle with titles. Since these tracks are all seeded from other tracks with titles like "Inaction B9" I didn't leave much room for inspiration for track titles. "Reaction" seemed like a great place to start though, so I went googling and found a bunch of cool words that were related to chemical reactions.

GE: How many swans would you kill to save me?

MS: I think about nine. Swans can be pretty big. If I saw a dozen of them working together to inflict harm on you I'd probably try to distract them and then call the authorities.

GE: This is such a beat-heavy collection of tracks, how about you tell us a little bit about what you've been doing to put said beats together, in terms of technique, software etc.

MS: I would start with the original track from Inaction and I'd raise the tempo considerably, usually somewhere in the 90's. Most of them started out in the teens and twenties. I would then adjust the envelope of the instruments to work at a faster tempo. I used a free sampler called Sitala for all of the beats, and triggered it using a built in step sequencer in my DAW (Reaper). I have a pretty big library of drum samples that I've built up over the years, some of which I've created and some I've received from colleagues. After programming beats, I would add any more layers that are necessary to get the vibe I was going for, usually using Aalto from Madrona Labs. Then I'd work on the arrangement to fit into 2-3 minutes, which seems like a good amount for beats.

GE: Tell us a little about some of the art you've been arting.

MS: I've designed the majority of the album covers in my catalog, some of them better than others. I don't have any formal training in photography or photo editing. In fact, up until recently most of my album artwork was done in MS Paint. I would also use the basic color balance options on my phone and on Microsoft Photos, but nothing fancy. A goal of mine this year was to learn more about photo editing, specifically using GIMP, which is free and has similar capabilities to Photoshop without feeding the Adobe machine. So I try to make new artwork every day, post it on Instagram, and put it up for sale on Art Grab. I've made a few sales which is cool. I can tell I'm getting better. For this album though, I wanted to go with Bryan Kraft as a cover art designer because I knew I couldn't pull off what I had in my head.

GE: What's next?

MS: Reaction Vol. 2 & 3 are mostly done and will come out early '24. I'm in the middle of a field recording project called "Outside" that is becoming quite large and has some of my favorite music I've ever made. It's currently only on Bandcamp but I plan on breaking it up into sections and releasing it to a wider audience little bits at a time. This year (2023) has been very fruitful in regards to creativity and experimenting, so everything I've learned I'm going to build off of going forward. Who knows where it will take me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
REVIEW
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beats. Lots of Beats. Get them while they're fresh. Time Rival, you may have heard, is the CEO of a largely electronica-driven record label. His first love however is and always has been Hip-Hop. If you're anything like Chicago-Catchment-Area producer Mike Southard, you can't simply sit still and celebrate that you've managed to make a certain set of sounds sound sweet. Pushing yourself outside your comfort zone, like some mad Brian Eno challenge is par for the course. It follows then, that Southard couldn't content himself in making literal scores of excellent ambient or IDM albums and EP's without exploring this neglected facet of his musical DNA.

The defining characteristic of every single track on this record is space. Space to breath, space to soak it all in, space for someone to spit fire. Whether it's the slick, snappyness of the one-two opening punch of 'Kinetics'& Catalyst, or the slow, meditative funk of Electronegative, head-bobbing's going to happen, you can't avoid it.

The thing is, though, you're not listening to a throwaway beat tape. Perhaps that was it's original conception, but Southard has fussed and polished these fifteen tracks as lovingly as ever, and sequenced them into an extremely likeable project. The pristine bottle bells of 'Alchemy' ring out longingly and with restraint, but the beat bops along dutifully, allowing it, and other tracks like the sublime skitter-beat-laden 'Colorimetry' to function in a beautiful duality of 'Ooh this is nice to listen to' and 'Ooh this'd be good to rap over'.

There's a lot here to love, and even more to appreciate Southard's beat-crafting. There've been percussive excursions, but for the most part, the Time Rival project tends towards the more ambient side of electronica. Here you've got Southard once again extrapolating his ambient sensibilities and fusing them with the eccentricity of the faded Supply Fi years, and an all new punchy attitude to percussion. You hear the bountiful results on tracks like the shambling 'Redox' and its bouncier brother 'Phlogiston', as you're served a funk-soaked trippy Southard sandwich. Actually I'm gonna go ahead and ask you at home to come up with a better metaphor.

With such a generous helping of tracks, picking a standout is tricky. The slow-paced trap stylings of 'Substrate' make it a worthy candidate. Similarly, the chill rolling hi-hat frenzy of 'Activate', with its glorious arpeggios, or maybe the bombastic electroclash of 'Exotherm' will grace your playlists. Choosing an overall winner may in fact be counterproductive. There's certainly no losers, and every track seems to, not exactly fit any mood, but contains within the capacity to say 'screw your mood, vibe with this'. That being said, it's hard to deny the power of 'Reagent'. Casual as you like, but bursting with life. Exciting, but taking things at its own pace. If you listen to one track on this album... You're weird, listen to all of it. But lets say you're a busy person and you've only got three minutes, this is the one.

You won't have a hard time finding a beat to fall in love with. They're all short and sweet and fit perfectly onto any mix. Whether it's the bell-shaker / heavenly synth combo of 'Valence', the pop-pop-crash straightforward dopeness of 'Polymer', or the new-flavour manifesto that is the spectacular 'Vitalism', (appropriate title, this track will give you life), you're guaranteed to come away with something cool.