Description : A collaboration between Evisma (bass guitar), Valvedriver (synths+ guitar VST) and everyone's favourite Nomad (synths, programmed drums, electric cello, production, mixing, mastering). A heavy, groovy, electronic, mystical, Eastern track made by three guys who've known each other for years but never met in person. Interesting comments appreciated.
Description : Far out epic featuring sine waves, programmed violin parts, played electric cello, various synths, drum loops and programmed acoustic drums. Mystical and a bit Eastern. A three min drumless intro and then some fat grooves and darker sounds. Not as good as I was hoping it would be. Interesting comments appreciated...
Description : 180 BPM ambient drum n cell. Melodic electric cello playing over dnb drums (all fast except for one 30 sec section). Drums are all manipulated loops. No acoustic drums so also no cymbals, just for a change. Various synths, plus some interesting sample-based sitar parts in the second half. A fun, far out track that feels like it should be deeper and better. Let me know what you think, good or bad.
Description : I tried to make a 'doom cello' track but failed as the chillout vibes really took over but there is still some heaviness as well as a few minutes of dance music in the final sections. It's very moody and atmospheric and dominated by strings and drums. 120BPM but most of it is half that tempo. Lots of my electric cello playing though there are also sample-based string parts, especially the foreboding, drone bass - the only bass instrument in the track. Other pad sounds add some mystical, spacey beauty while an arpeggiated VST guitar instrument adds a progressive band feel in the first half. Drums are two programmed kits and mostly one hard rock/metal kit. Also one drum loop plus two music loops towards the end. I very rarely use music loops but they seem to work here. Let me know what you think of this progressive epic. Sorry it's so long but hopefully it justifies its length. It's definitely far out and difficult to place in any particular, obvious genre.
Description : Far out, cello-based, deep grooving, progressive, powerful and sometimes aggressive sci fi epic with lots of electronic elements and some dubstep craziness towards the end. Electric cello, slow attack guitar, resonator guitar, a little bit of bass guitar, 5 synths, lots of effects and drum loops and a few programmed drum kits. It all began with the first couple of cello riffs (one pizzicato bassline, one bowed main riff) and the hip hop beats and then grew and grew as I added more synths and drums and worked in some old, leftover guitar parts. It's very detailed and complex and the mix and sculpting of the sounds are as important as the composition. Have a good listen then come back and let me know what you thought of this twisting, turning journey into outer space. Feel free to criticise and/or tell me your favourite parts...
Description : 85 BPM deep groove track made up of lots of acoustic sounds, especially leftover resonator guitar parts from older tracks. Very busy layering of mostly piano, guitar and cello. Also one trippy, reversed synth sound. Electric guitar, resonator guitar, three pianos, cello, timestretched guitar parts, bass guitar, synth bass, drum loops and a few programmed acoustic kits. One detuned slide guitar part sounds more like dirty bass. Far out, dark and mystical, with a hip hop drum vibe and lots of textural ambience. Maybe this is trip hop - I'm not sure as I think it's pretty hard to categorise. A lot of work went into it so let me know what you think. Interesting feedback appreciated...
Description : 80BPM deep grooving cellout. A somewhat minimal track dominated by my layered, delayed electric cello playing. Also: two synth basses, some mystical synth pads and mostly just one programmed acoustic drumkit. No drum loops. No guitar. Not a great track but a pleasant chillout trip to a distant land. Interesting, lucid feedback appreciated.
Description : Chillout and uptempo cello-based track. A mixture of 160BPM ambient drum 'n' bass (drum 'n' cell) and 80 BPM deep groove sections. The main lead instrument is electric cello, supported by a load of far out synths. VSTs include: a lyre, a glissando harp, a plucked harp, a choir synth, two synth basses and a few synth pads. Drums are a merger of drum loops and programmed acoustic kits. Quite a few cello techniques used: bowing, pizzicato, spiccato and harmonics (both plucked and bowed). This took many hours to make, over a couple of months, hence the title. It's not a great track but it has a positive, uplifting, summery vibe so should be fairly enjoyable. Or at least some inoffensive background music. Have a listen and let me know what you think. Interesting and/or intelligent feedback is always appreciated...
Description : 170 BPM drum 'n' cell epic. That's drum 'n' bass with lots of my layered, lead cello playing. It's both banging and chilled out, with intricate basslines and soaring, melodic cello parts. Instruments: electric cello, piano, three synth basses, two synth pads. Drums are loads of drum loops supported by a few programmed acoustic drum kits. It's fast and powerful stuff but there are also two deep grooving half tempo sections. No guitar so anything that sounds like it might be is, unsurprisingly, cello. This was fairly hard to make and required a lot of hard work. It's still far from perfect, especially the rather abrupt, unimaginative ending (I couldn't think of anything better). Have a good listen and then consider leaving me some fascinating feedback. Not much drum 'n' cell about so I like to think this is worth checking out...
Description : Psychedelic Eastern cellhop progressing into a heavy and not at all hip hop ending. Lots of cool basslines and killer beats, all at 80 BPM. Cello is the main instrument and it also covers all the bass parts (no other bass instruments used). I didn't have to add any octave lowering effects to those cello basslines. A few synths, including a dark, trippy pad that gets very psychedelic and swirling when delay and distortion are added. Also a lyre to occasionally add an Eastern drone sound and an 8bit lead sine synth in one section. Drums are mixture of programmed acoustic kits and drum loops. You can really bounce to this shit while firing your guns in the air. So, do that and then come back and let me know if you enjoyed it. Criticism, praise, suggestions etc all welcome. Now get ready to bounce...
Description : Deep grooving, slightly psychedelic cello grunge. There's no guitar but there is loads of electric cello, all played by me. The only other instruments are a violin VST, 5 seconds of Rhodes, a fat organ, a few programmed acoustic drum kits and no drum loops. No bass instruments but I do sometimes use an octave effect on cello parts to give a fatter low end. Starts off with some cool, smooth basslines and a funky little beat and then gets a lot more badass. End section is a real dirty rockin' surprise but it's only one distorted cello part plus heavy drums (very minimal). Have a good listen and then consider leaving me your fascinating feedback. Get ready to rock!
Description : My heaviest and most extreme track. Also the first with no synths. Crashing and smashing programmed drums and dirty layers of electric guitar (with a psychedelic, Eastern feel at times). Bass guitar plus a slide resonator guitar solo. No drum loops. Don't play this at your grandmother's funeral. Not unless she was a real headbanger.
Description : A psychedelic techno cello epic. It's not really techno as it's only 110 BPM but something like that (eg breakbeat), with lots of banging beats and arpeggiated acid synths, plus a whole load of my layered cello playing techniques. There aren't that many synths used but they do a lot of work and are carefully automated. No guitar. Drums are mostly a lot of drum loops, supported by a few programmed acoustic drumkits. Very busy and complicated with loads of different sections (funky, chilled, fast, heavy) that make up a constantly progressing trip. I don't know if there's any other cello music like this so let me know if you think there is. Interesting feedback appreciated - criticism, praise, ideas etc. Enjoy...
Description : Psychedelic, Eastern, dark dance/jazz/fusion based around my cello playing plus minimal other instrumentation. Two sections of electric guitar, one of Fender Rhodes, one synth pad, some swirling female vocal samples and one sub synth bass. Apart from multiple drum loops and programmed acoustic drumkits, everything else is cello, including most of the weird sounds.
Description : Cosmic Eastern chillout atmospheric shuffle blues with loads of bluesy/Eastern electric guitar playing and warm sub bass (the same synth patch I've used in about 20 tracks). No drum loops and just two programmed acoustic kits - probably the simplest drum setup I've ever used. One day I hope to make a track containing only one drum kit. Also: a few female vocal samples (including a heavily timestretched one), one section of bass guitar, a few sample-based string instruments, a few notes of organ and two synth pad instruments. So, quite a minimal instrument lineup for me. It goes uptempo around 4:31 into a grooving, stomping bit of shuffle blues and I wonder if I should have brought this section back at the end for a triumphant finale. But I'm trying hard these days not to make things too long and this is already a decent length. Also contains some darker, Eastern sections but nothing too dark. Have a listen and leave me some interesting feedback - the more detail, the better.
Description : A fat groove journey incorporating hip hop, jazz, rock and more. Chilled out and rocking, with some big riffs and basslines. The main instruments are saxophone, piano and cello plus some resonator guitar and banjo. Sax is the only instrument not played by me as the parts here were contributed a few years ago by a guy I know. Anything that sounds like distorted guitar is actually distorted cello. Loads of that, including solos, in the second half. No electric guitar or bass guitar. Not much synth work but there are two synth basses and an organ. Otherwise, it's quite an acoustic "played instruments" kind of sound. Lots of drums, including loops, multiple programmed acoustic kits and drum hits. I know Radiohead have an excellent song called Everything In Its Right Place but I still like my title and there's a story behind it (nothing to do with music). Interesting feedback appreciated. Do you have any favourite or least favourite sections? Details are appreciated...
Description : Here is my new genre and I call it 'electrocellometallo', or just 'cellometallo' though this is also a dance track. My aim was to make some dirty groove metal without using any guitar. Instead, all of what sounds like heavy guitar is actually distorted, bowed cello (yes, it's my cello playing). There are also no bass instruments (eg bass guitar, synth bass) as that's cello, yet again. I only played one proper cello bassline - the rest of the bass is incorporated within the dirty cello riffage. Other instruments: Fender Rhodes (clean and then distorted) a few synth arps, a synth pad and soaring, sample-based strings. Lots of fat beat drum loops and two programmed hard rock kits. I enjoyed making this but let me know what you think. Interesting and intelligent analysis appreciated. Humour is also permitted...
Description : An 80BPM psychedelic, chillout, deep groove electric cello spectacular. It mostly consists of multiple layers of my heavily edited cello playing techniques (harmonics, pizzicato, bowing, tremoloing and a little spiccato) plus drums. Other instruments: bass guitar, 8 bars of electric guitar, Fender Rhodes, a trancey synth, one occasional bass synth and a processed chimey guitar synth. It's fairly minimal instrumentation for me as this is all about my cello explorations as I learn how to play the instrument and what sort of sounds I can get out of it. Drums are programmed hip hop and hard rock kits (2 of each), plus some fun glitch processing on one kit in a middle section. No drum loops. This was quite difficult to make and I've had to show real restraint in not making it longer and not adding any guitar in the rocking last 2 minutes. That just seemed too predictable so I chose not to do it at all. Shimmering, high, bowed, funky cello all the way instead! Have a listen and leave me some interesting thoughts and/or suggestions.
Description : Psychedelic chillout stoner/doom epic. Badass heavy riffage and drumming plus big chillout vibes. Heavy electric guitar plus slow attack lead parts. Other beauty and ambience from filter swept violins, two synth pads and some subtle female vocal samples. Also bass guitar and sub bass. Two programmed, heavy drum kits and one lighter one, to fatten up the sound.
Description : One of my greatest heavy tracks. What I find unusual is the amount of melodic and deep ambient guitar that sits on top of low, distorted riffs and fat, heavy drums. Very little synth work here apart from the sub bass, which plays almost throughout. Bass guitar in two sections and a couple of slide resonator guitar solos. Drums are a few programmed metal/rock kits, no drum loops. What I still have trouble believing and understanding is that all of the many vocal sounds in this are actually timestretched guitar parts (8x or 800% slower). I don't know why the timestretching adds such a clear vocal component to the sound. Gets darker and more intense in the middle (and towards the end) but this is otherwise quite melodic - perhaps in a way that might put off some metallers. Shitloads of guitar playing, some fairly badass, and lots of heavy, crashing drums so press play if you want to rock hard but also in a deep ambient, psychedelic way. Interesting thoughts and reflections are, as always, greatly appreciated. Detailed comments preferred...
Description : Hard rocking, euphoric and triumphant stoner/slide blues rock with dance and deep ambient elements and some tight grooves. Most of the guitar playing is old recycled slide resonator guitar parts of mine put through some fat distortion. Also features some ethereal, ambient timestretched resonator guitar parts (in the middle breakdown section and at the end) plus some electric guitar and a little bit of bass guitar. This has probably the least synth work of any track I've ever made - just a sub bass and a bass arp patch. A few repetitive dance drum hits and the rest is multiple programmed acoustic drum kits, with the main two being a metal kit and a reggae kit (though there's no reggae in the track) and then other rock kits and a "trash kit". No drum loops. Some serious rocking out here so if you like that sort of thing, you might like this. Let me know what was interesting to you and which were your favourite and least favourite sections. Title is an anagram of 'resonator'. I hope the track isn't too painfully loud but it is supposed to be pretty damn loud. Enjoy...
Description : Dark, slow, ambient, cinematic jazz with funereal piano turning into something much funkier, psychedelic and beautiful in the second half. Out of the darkness and into the light, you could say. Instruments: electric guitar + bass, lots of synth sounds, including a horn, double bass, another big legato bass, pizzicato strings, two types of piano, a heavily delayed slide guitar instrument, zither, synth arp, one brushy drum loop, kettle drum rolls and 4 programmed acoustic drum kits. This is quite a special track for me and is only the second I've put in the cinematic genre. The more you listen, the more it changes (it even has key changes) and the last three minutes are really quite far out and should probably be longer. Best track I've made for a few months. Interesting thoughts and reflections appreciated. Free sex for the best reviews...
Description : This started out as hip hop but quickly turned into something much more beautiful, psychedelic and epic though I've still kept the hip hop drums plus added many others. There is a quite a lot of lead bass guitar, sometimes layered, which is partly why I'm dedicating it to Evisma as he loves a good bit of bass layering and has influenced me. Also: electric guitar, resonator guitar for the obligatory slide solo (you've got to have it - it's the law in NomadLand), big pads plus haunting granular synth choir voices, two very different types of programmed VST guitar, fat synth basses, a few drum loops and various programmed acoustic drum kits. There's some deep chill and funky grooves in this constantly changing journey of unravelling sonic mysteries though it gets much more uptempo and rocking in the second half. Interesting thoughts, reflections and ideas are always welcome in NomadLand. Warning: fat beats and deep psychedelic sounds ahead...
Description : "Oh no - not jazz metal! You're not supposed to mix those genres together." Yes, but someone's got to and the musical gods have chosen me for the difficult task. 9 mins of instrumental jazz metal - damn I sure know how to write a hit song - US No 1 here I come. Anyway - there's some dark, swinging groovy jazz, with Rhodes and guitar as the main instruments, for a few minutes and then some haunting, thumping evil breaks loose. Look out for the powerful synth horn sound. And then it just gets heavier and heavier before returning to some nice chillgroove funky mystery jazz. Instruments played and/or programmed: electric guitar, bass guitar, electric cello, multiple programmed acoustic drumkits, filtered strings, Rhodes, big synth bass, evil synth horn and a few other assorted synths. I assume this has too much jazz for metallers and too much metal for jazzers. So, only for weirdoes like me who enjoy both. This will surely be too odd for most people but I like to think it's pretty interesting and powerful. Let me know how its weirdness worked for you...
Description : A powerful piece of epic chillout dance music that's something a little different for me. Rhodes and filter swept, bowed strings are heard a lot but there's also one section of rocking guitar, one slide resonator guitar solo, fat basses, various far out pads and other synths and 10-15 drumloops supported by 6 or 7 programmed acoustic drumkits. Look out for the funk section in the middle (3:02) with some delicate grooving from bass and guitar. Lots of beauty here so I really enjoyed making this. My favourite section is the last 90 seconds with some bowed string melodies I find highly memorable and could listen to for hours. Let me know if you have a favourite section/moment as well as any you don't like or think could be improved (that's always possible). Now press play and sample some of what never really ends in my mind but has to in track form so that people will at least attempt to listen to it. It's only a little bit of infinity as infinity is much larger than 10MB so won't fit on Looperman...
