Ballyhoo!’s Howi Spangler showcases beautiful musical ‘stream of consciousness’ in instrumental album Aberrations

Photo courtesy of Howi Spangler.

Ballyhoo!’s Howi Spangler released a beautiful new instrumental album titled Aberrations. Dailyreggae.com caught up with Howi to learn about the creative process behind the 13 track album, and how the production of Aberrations differed from his work with Ballyhoo! and other artists.

We are absolutely loving Aberrations! Tell us about how you created the album!

This was a little side project I wanted to do for fun. I always have these little riffs and beat ideas rattling around in my head. There are a lot of ideas that I know Ballyhoo! will never use but I still want to see them come out at some point.

So I sat down and busted out 4 or 5 over a weekend. It was a lot of fun. All these little pieces of songs I have been thinking of were finally coming together. I kept it pretty simple. I didn’t stress too much over arrangement. I tend to stick to the verse/chorus/verse structure when I write for Ballyhoo! or other artists. This was sort of a stream of consciousness. The music tells me where it wants to go.

How does bringing an instrumental album to life differ than your process making songs with lyrics?

As far as going instrumental, it did take off a lot of pressure. I had melodies for these but I let the guitars stand in for the vocals. I tend to get stuck writing lyrics a lot of the time because I always want it to be this perfect, iconic line.

I learned a lot during the process. Things I’ll want to try or even do better next time. I’m actually eager to get started on the next one.

I also made the whole album DMCA Free for creators and streamers. There’s not a lot of “great” music out there for that community. I wanted to help fill the space. I encourage any and all video creators, podcasters and streamers out there to use the tunes. You won’t get a copyright claim (although YouTube Content ID and Twitch’s music scanner aren’t perfect) you’ll never get a takedown notice from me. I have the album available for download for free with a sync license if you need it.

We cannot wait! We have been playing Aberrations non-stop!

Ghost Tour by Howi Spangler is the Daily Reggae Song of the Day.