Phoenix Bay is a prototype. Recorded in the mid 00s and mixed in 2008, it's a 100% original Nik Furious track. But due to its unfinished nature, I feel it makes a better mixtape beat than a final album cut.

Phoenix Bay by Nik Furious [ 2:56 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

When I first created this song, I thought it was complete. But upon spending some time with it, I decided that it needed more components. And that's how it evolved into Remix the Phoenix, a song from my album Brilliant Shower.

The name Phoenix Bay is inspired by Jean Grey's rebirth. A character from Marvel's X-Men comics, Jean connects with a cosmic entity known as the Phoenix Force in X-Men #100-101. When it happens, the team's Blackbird jet crashes into Jamaica Bay, an inlet of water touching the edge of New York City.

Following a turn as Dark Phoenix, Jean Grey died in X-Men #137 and that was that. Or was it??? A few years later, she was revived in a storyline involving the Avengers and the Fantastic Four. It's been collected in the Phoenix Rising graphic novel.

Turns out that Jean was never dead -- the Phoenix Force took her place while it left her cocooned in Jamaica Bay until some other superheroes came around and pulled her up from the depths.

Ironically, I've never read this storyline. I just know about the events from years of reading other superhero comic books. The basic plot has been recapped over and over so many times that it was pretty damn easy for me to piece things together without reading the original material.

So why'd I tell you all that? Because there isn't much to say about Phoenix Bay. I already detailed its creation in my spotlight on Remix the Phoenix. While I like this track, I think it's more of a blueprint than a fully developed instrumental song.

Though the forceful vocal runs of Bobby Kimball dominate this beat, I think the drums are the true star of the song. The percussion here is a stew of Jeff Porcaro's punchy drum kit and the knock of my digital drums.

Ooo Ahh by Nik Furious [ 2:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This track is culled from Hold the Line by Toto, which is a fun late 70s rock song performed by fantastic musicians. I was drawn to the song by its chord progression and I had a great time breaking it down into the loops that form Ooo Ahh.

This beat was made in late 2005, which was an odd time for me as a solo musician. I'd been in constant, obsessive beat creation mode from late 2004 to early 2005. But when I moved back to Pittsburgh in the summer of 2005, I all but stopped creating new instrumentals. Instead, I played music with my friends and tried to find rappers to rhyme over the beats I'd already produced.

Ooo Ahh was one of the rare new beats I produced during that time. Personally, when I listen to it I can hear passionate repression bundled up into this one track, as if I took enough energy to produce five beats but funneled it into a single song.

I abhor beginning a song with a fade in. But for Numb Brrr Won, it just felt right.

Numb Brrr Won by Nik Furious [ 3:54 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This song is an instrumental remix of Your Love Is On The One by Lakeside. It's a 1980 funk song that has this fantastic, squeaky synth melody and growling bass line.

I was fortunate enough to catch Lakeside live in concert last year in Phoenix, AZ at the Masters of Funk tour. They tore it up. In my opinion, they were the best act on stage. And that's saying a lot because they had tons of competition! 

Anyway, back to this remix. The sampling here is pretty simple. I pulled together a few different sections of the non-vocal beat that lined up well and I mashed them together. Then I had some fun cutting up the samples and turning them into shorter, punchier loops. Then I slapped some effects on top and that was that!