If you'd like to jump right at Hopkirk's own great blurb, go to "HERE" below in the text.

We already released one album on which Hopkirk covers my music: Tipentap & Chill.

That album took my breath away because Hopkirk did something unthinkable: He took the debut Uncle Fido album, Tipentap, and magically blended it with the music of a few of my biggest idols.

That album is much more amazing than it has any right to be, and I will probably never understand HOW someone can combine pre-existing music from different periods in such a brilliant, innovative and dope way.

However, our loyal fans might remember from the liner notes of "Tipentap & Chill" that I originally wanted Hopkirk to remake my *Binaural Space* work as his signature lo-fi beats, not Uncle Fido. Allow me to let Hopkirk himself explain everything to you:

...HERE...

"I think we first talked about the Friends Covering Friends concept last summer [summer 2022]. [Jan] wanted me to make some beats from his Binaural Space music but I felt it would be much easier to use the Uncle Fido stuff as those songs are basically lo-fi beats without drums already.

It took me a few months to cover the whole first album, but just because I had lots of other work, otherwise it went smoothly and for most of the tracks I had the idea about what to chop and what to add immediately when listening to the album with the purpose of chopping it up and flipping its music.

"Space" loved the result and so did the few listeners who heard it. But a little part of me felt I'd chosen the easy path. I should have covered some Binaural Space music – but from an unknown reason I dreaded it.

During the spring break of 2023 I went through the impressive Binaural Space catalogue with the purpose to choose something that would speak to me as a beatmaker. And I found it: The Spacetudes stuff hadn't existed before, and was exactly what I needed. Short, simple tracks. Or at least I thought.

I began working on those tracks systematically, from the first one on. I made the mistake of letting [Jan] know I was doing so quite early.

The thing is... The first few tracks on the first Spacetudes album are in 4/4. The very first one, Little Joys, is even quite regular. Played live and without metronome, obviously, but still practically rigid. However, with the second one already, Inner Belief, complications begin. It pretends to be another simple 4/4 track. But it's not.

Not only its tempo fluctuates a bit, but its individual phrases get shifted on purpose, the main motive beginning earlier every now and then, and getting back at the 6th eighth afterwards, etc. It's damn cool but one doesn't necessarily have to notice this during a casual listen of the original. However, when your task is to supply beats for it, you realize it immediately as it complicates the work a bit.

Not until I went on working on the tracks I realized the whole album was a trap. Its face value is treacherous. Let me mention a few time signatures of the tracks on Spacetudes to understand what I'm talking about (you'll be probably as surprised as I was):

A few are in the obligatory 4/4. But some are in 7/8, one combines 7/8 with 4/4, and there's 9/8 there, too, 6/8, and 9/8, plus 6/4, but also 5/4, or 9/4... There are two good words to describe it. Nightmare is one of them. And Challenge is the other one.

One important remark: To make a full album of tracks that sound easy and natural enough, while they often use irregular time signatures, is quite masterful. It is a special gift. Many musicians try hard to use unusual time signatures (and we all remember doing so from our school years), but only a few chosen ones succeed in making such compositions sound effortless. Well done, Binaural Space, you damn talented [censored].

The easiest would have been just to chop the tracks up and make 23 regular 4/4 beats. 99 % of beatmakers would probably choose this solution, and believe me, I considered it, too. But I wanted to subjugate the tracks if it makes any sense.

I got an idea that a graphical representation would help. With one track I tried copying it to my DAW and finger drumming my way through it following the visual cues. The result was absolutely horrible.

I tried transcribing a track to the standard notation, too, and adding little symbols for where to slow down a bit, make a tiny rest, or add a stroke or two... That didn't work either. It lacked the relaxed and cool feeling.

After a bit of experimenting I found out the best way was to learn every track and its nuances by heart. I would stubbornly practice finger drumming with each original track for up to two hours while recording the session. Usually I would stop recording somewhere during the process because it lacked the good feeling. I wouldn't leave it off before I was satisfied.

I gradually grappled with all the tracks, and although the resulting beats often can't be compared to machinely precise "chemical" beats made with sequencers, quantizations, and arps – because they sway, pendulate, and dither – they comply with the aesthetics with lo-fi beats, which was my goal.

I have no idea whether they're any good – but they're authentic, and as such they suit the philosophy of Binaural Space well."

(translated and edited by Binaural Space)

...

OK, so that was "Spacetudes My Way" in Hopkirk's own words. Let me add: I, for one, DO have an idea "whether they're any good". Hint: If we had any doubts about any of the 23 tracks on this album, we would never release it; the fact that we just have is self-explanatory.

Hats off to Hopkirk for literally beating the original tracks, and a huge thanks for having persisted in doing so. I love how lo-fi this whole album sounds – and mind you, the original was already pretty lo-fi – I adore how musical these new beats are, and I cherish the idea that my hero Hopkirk remade some Binaural Space music at last.

I hope you'll love this album, too. Thank you very much for your support, we appreciate it, and we're grateful that you've discovered our music and that you keep discovering our new beloved creations.

Binaural Space with a big help of Hopkirk, October 2023