An interesting one. After the the Timpani get going and the other drums come in, it almost sounds as if it were recorded from deep inside a grandfather clock. I guess the clock in my imagined scenario, is located inside a haunted mansion. A very evocative work and one that will give each listener a different set of imagery depending on their personal mindset - great stuff.
jfw - yeah man, I like your description! I hadn't thought of the grandfather clock, but I was trying to impose something somewhat mechanical to distinguish the existence of hungry ghosts as no longer corporal or organic. The traces are there, but it's a different realm entirely. Now I'm really wondering what other imagery this invokes in the various listeners! Thanks for the listen and review!
....this is reminding me of some 70's Miles Davis on the serious future tip that only n0mad could envision,i must remix this one you know, you know, you know, you know...serious stuff bro..
Definitely a song that wasn't in my head, but was revealed through the playing with the components. I've wanted to play with DSK Darkness Theory for a while, and found the excuse!
yeah man, this is what i was waiting for, the commercial and melodic n0mad23 with big hooks and....wait a second....rewind, that was a different song i think man..lol...wow, thought i would check this b4 passing out...very different track from your oeuvre...i like the beginning i think the most, kind of Weather Report like, only for those who know early WR, the first album especially with Airto Moreira on traps and hand and other types of percussion..that's some heavy stuff, he's probably my all time fave dude for percs..i like this piece man, a little bit of a different tangent for you and it compliments and perhaps provides the counter weight to your equilibrium sot to speak, now my dear Watson,...help...wait, wait...is it the Hound of the Baskervilles by chance...oops...wrong dimension Sean..anyhows..i like i like...
Funny how stuff goes, isn't it? This actually began with an experiment importing a live kalimba track (the sounds at the end) and upon discovering that I could make my kalimba sound like Balinese gamelan set things off. One thing leading to another. Still, it was inspired and only took me a few days to arrange then a single sit down to a live recording. Glad you dig my Halloween weirdness!
this is different from your other work guy, the frog/nature samples work really well and don't seem to overpower the track..i like how u bring in the groove and the ethnic percussion..at some point the groove seems to change a little bit and go even more into the pocket, the levels seem good, i need to hear this a few more times though to be sure..the transition/break towards the end is perfect with the return of the live ambient sounds...like it so far!
v
It's kind of a pairing with "Bonobo challenges the Electric Storm" in its use of field recordings. Yeah, the groove shift is the result of live bamboo jew's harp recordings that everything else is woven around - but I think it does what I set out to do. I now actually enjoy that part, as it really gives it a live, immediate sense in terms of listening. Glad you like it!
Dude play this track and all these people that have commented we are all the frogs, and we are all applauding you with our croaking ribbits. So glad you're here with your spacious perspective, clarifying the peripherals for so many of us.
CalifKen - cheers on being a fellow fuzzy boundary artist. It's amazing what's now possible, and we've got to push those edges and see what's just on the other side. Maybe the periphery is attainable through some sort of electronic osmosis, and if so I'm betting there's all kinds of cool sounds there that we're all going to dig. What's nature? What's synthetic? Is biomimicry the way? Thanks for the review!
Everytime I think that "When Hippos sing with Frogs" is my most intense track, I remember this one. Definitely another one of my music "essence" pieces, my greatest worry was it going too far. Glad it worked for you. Cheers!
Wow, very interesting. I love those little froggies. Reminds me of where I grew up. Great tribal stuff going on, it speaks to my Mohawk side. Just listening to this track alone, you have made my 10 ten looperman list.
bcway - Thanks for the listen and kind words. I was looking toward the local Salish mythos for this one, but if you'll look closely at these cheekbones (and jaw) of mine, you'll see we're distant cousins! Maybe it was the Mohawk genes that compelled me to make this one! Coming by to check out your music presently. Cheers.
Thanks for the listen and review. Oddly no, this really wasn't a whole lot of work as it was my response to Slap Johnson's 10 minute challenge. Laying it out and editing it initially took a little less than 1/2 hour. However, going back and remastering it took quite a bit more time! I was jacked right into The Source of inspiration for this one. Maybe that's what an artist is - someone who can tune into the right Cosmic frequencies for inspiration. Funny enough, this was my musical reaction to my own "Awakening" remix attempt. You can't imagine how blocked that remix left me. Glad you enjoyed.
This is such an exciting track! The orchestration makes this song beyond reason, almost like mind control. Amazing tribal trance material here! Nice work! Faved!
"A cross section of some hot springs" and certainly a successful attempt at sonically identifying a personal archetype. It's a point of abstract personal fear now banished. Thanks for the fav!
Song of the frog... nice. That mouth-harp (is that what that is?) fits amazingly well. It feels like I'm stumbling lost through the jungle only to come upon a crazy rave.
I keep imagining people in feathers carrying some guy in a beige adventurer's outfit and an Indiana Jones hat tied to a tree, being carried by four locals in full tribal attire; painted faces and feathers every where. As I duck behind a tree, they continue their dance, eventually passing from my sight. I scale the try, coming out above the jungle canopy, suddenly to be greeted by the smell of sulfur and a smoking mountaintop in the distance the natives were marching.
If this had some hoots and hollers thrown in, it'd make the illusion complete.
Yes, there are two bamboo jew's harps in this one (on three tracks) and really that was the inspiration for this piece. Something swampy and primal about that bamboo instrument's sound (pics - http://www.looperman.com/users/detail/247253&pid=3225). I'm glad you had some visualizations behind this one, as I read that as a good sign. I usually compose/create my music through my own visual imaginings and if the audience experiences it as well then I must be doing something right. I really like your description of stumbling into a crazy rave. Welcome to MiddleMarch, where Frog has wicked and slightly dangerous dance parties! Thanks for the fav - this is a huge compliment!
Another cracking track. Erstwhile french president Jaques Chirac was once quoted as saying " When we build a road, do we consult the frogs"? In this case, it seems we do! I love the drum outro as the frogs hold conclave.
Thanks jfw! I'm always uncertain about trying to fuse field recordings with music, but the Frog Totem here really needed to be grounded in the physical. I'm in agreement re: the drum outro, and there's something rather satisfying about letting the voices from nature have the last "words". Cheers.
Thanks for the fav on this! This is such a strange piece and I more and more feel like I tuned the creative radio just right to pull this one from the aether. Donnie_Vyros' bass loops in conjunction with loopytunes reggae drum beat (the other drum loop isn't so evident) really make it all possible. I guess I got lucky and the saffron was fresh and the best possible when I gathered the ingredients. Cheers.
Wow, I don't know how I missed this one! I really enjoy the tribal feel to these drums. The whole mix is a bit creepy, in a good way of course. This song is extremely effective, and it shows in how many faves you've gotten. I'll have to add myself to that list. Great work on this one! Bummer I can't DL it though.
Amazing track!Maybe my favourite from you.It's so melodic and hypnotic and the production is high class.Just brilliant!
Thanks for the trip again
Cheers
French Kid
This is one of those special moments, captured and digitalized, like a butterfly frozen in liquid nitrogen. And still, it remains a beautiful thing. Glad you enjoyed the sonic trip!
man, that intro alone is worth the price of admission man...remember the byrne/eno we spoke about the other day, the intro sound coming back later on down the line reminds me of the way eno kept bringing this televangelist in and out of that crazy track on "my life in the bush of ghosts"...you definitely have come up with your own sound, a serious accomplishment my man...this is vying for first postion for me bro..."i'll be back..again!"
Yah know Eno's probably good to invoke here. You know I'm the obsolete tech guy, so I know my way around a bit. Ableton Live 7 LE is seriously crippled (but ultimately useful) you just have to think about things. What I finally figured out and then did this was to create the foundation of the song and export it, reimport it and add the necessary bit then. I love the MIDI mapping and triggering things live! Eno in the early days would dig my approach (imho). neoPrimitivism? Urban Tribal music? It's probably healthy than acting out my fantasy of shooting attack helicopters with my slingshot. Thanks for the fav!
Well sir you have your niche here in fusion fo sho. You've blended some interesting sounds together throughout your tracks, really quite atmospheric. I'd call your tunes very 'moody'.
Coming from a dubster, I can see where your love for ambience, world-beat and dub come together real nicely. If I were to give you 1 point of critique to bring these environments closer to dubbing, would be to look a phrasing in your tunes. Find those parts and stanzas that seem to create musical 'parts' and try and deconstruct some of your very rich sounds. In any one of these songs you've probably got 12 different individual instruments that could either be isolated and played out, or simply placed in either cut time or double time to create a larger more expansive sound.
There is so much happening in them that I almost want to slow the track down, or single out individual parts to hear seperately.
Now that's just an off the hip advive per Jah, that certainly doesn't mean I'd want to change wgat was here, moreover just guide you towards your next bassline groove and dub mix.
My little brother turned me on to The Orb when he came back from the UK in `88, and he's been telling me the same thing about the "bass line groove" since I started playing with this medium back in April and May.
In another track, someone said my music was what "maximalism" must sound like - and your critique emphasizes this. What's funny is I hated the Doobie Brothers because they had too much going on - I love classical chamber music but have never been so keen on symphonies. And here I am doing what?
The closest I've come to doing what you're suggesting is my latest track, "Totems from the Diaspora" and it's what I love the most about that song. When two of the drum tracks drop leaving only a single reggae loop of loopytunes and the North African fiddle drone comes sliding in. That's it!
Naturally it's exactly what your advocating as well. Stay tuned - I'm going to next do something specifically based on your review/advice. Thank you.
Wow. I could feel this like a wave that hits me on one side and then move through and back to do it all over again....Great work,
The only thing In my opinion it turn up the drums a tad... Other than that, great work..
Yeah I think I overcompensated with this one in some ways, as originally it had no bass anywhere including the drums. On the plus side, the drum intensity is a bit like having charging hippos coming from somewhere behind! Someday I may come back to this one and try to do something about pulling the drums back a little, but first I'm going to apply what I've learned into a new series of tracks.
Aahh cool!..when I hear frogs they always make me feel peaceful and at ease..excellent groove,it just rolls along and I love that Jew's harp sound....the percussion breakup happens at just the right moment and segues beautifully back into frogland...a sonic journey and communion with our amphibious neighbours...I'm going to gill out now,I'm a tad spent after that...super enjoyable! cheers Dave :)
Frogs are great, because you don't need to run the recordings through any sort of effects. They sound like their plugged into a stack already! The geng gong bit I originally did was done with me imagining frogs singing the blues, so the translation/interpretation into this track was meant to be. Glad you had pun with it.
What an amazing arrangement! I can just see the frogs collectively grooving to this. The loops flow nicely within this piece. I have used the water splash rythum once before in an older piece I did. The way you are using is much better and definitely retains meaning. I love the way it builds, grooves on and then gently fades out into nature. Absolutely brilliant work here, Nomad!
Thanks Apocalynium! It's funny how this one came together, and you'd think I'd have learned by now about consciously playing with Trickster archetypes. Still, the result is quite pleasing.
I like that mix mayne it sounds cool alltough I can just listen with ma laptop speakerz currently I luv how u implented them drumz in this one keeepup ! cheerz dusty
Cheers DustHill - I believe 3 or 4 or those drum loops are from you. I like that it all builds to a breaking point before fading back to the atmospheric stuff. Reminds me a bit of the African approach where the jam doesn't end until a drum head breaks.
Great track man. I don't really no what to say..After listening to one of your tracks I always seem to be at a loss of words. Or maybe words can't express how great your music is. I love how different your music is...I've always been more drawn to the artists that are experimenting and not just composing simple beats. Well done man..this track rocks!!!
Thanks Reverse1984! That fav gives a real vote of confidence. I love what I'm doing currently, and I finally feel like I have the license to do what I want, and not what's expected. I'm delighted to see that other people like it, too! I promise to keep doing something "different!"
This is a very exciting track, and so expressive! I like the frog atmospheres a lot. I feel unqualified to do a good review of this track, as I don't fully understand it's production. I do feel the psychedelia that you speak of though. Powerful track, I really like it!
Thanks Spivkurl - this track is in many ways the direction I'm planning on going, it that it's a combination of sampling (loops) and my own analog instruments. The original geng gong (bamboo jew's harps) were recorded on a mulitrack and then brought into Ableton Live 7 LE where I added the percussion tracks. Mixed that all down, and then reloaded the "master" track and brought in the water drums and 7 tracks of frog field recordings. Sprinkle gris-gris say an incantation or two and voila. "Frog Song." Thanks for the review.
Play 2 now...
Alright, I kinda see why the other was as long as it was given the length of this one. Though I'm not really picking up any major difference between the two, asides from maybe extra bits of percussion used on here and is that mid-tone synth new too (though admittedly I have been up for a while now). And I hate to carbon copy stuff I've said on reviews, but I also feel like this could use a bit more on the high end of things. Hmm, maybe some horns or strings I'm thinkin (prolly better with horns since this is dub).Give it a sort of latin "Lowrider" flair, ya know? What would that be Neo-mariachi funk? I dunno, but it's where my mind is at the mo'. I'm also thinking something paddy would be cool, but feel that a voice synth would be better suited (like choir or angel for example). At any rate, cool stuff mate. Later on!
Play 2 now...
I'll admit that I haven't heard the original mix yet (will do that after this one). Kind of odd for me (doing the remix first and then the original). Eh, sometimes it's cool to work in reverse order IMO.
Though this is short I really dig the Steel drums on this. And the growly nature of the bass (adds a nice bit of flavor to this). Could stand to have a bit more on the high end of things I'm thinkin. Maybe you could add some if ya ever go to remix this further. Keep bangin 'em out mate. Later on!
on Importing Hungry Ghosts by n0mad23
on Importing Hungry Ghosts by n0mad23
on Importing Hungry Ghosts by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
v
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Dancing in the Dreamtime by n0mad23
on Bonobo challenges the Electrical Storm by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Dancing in the Dreamtime by n0mad23
on When Hippos sing with Frogs by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
I keep imagining people in feathers carrying some guy in a beige adventurer's outfit and an Indiana Jones hat tied to a tree, being carried by four locals in full tribal attire; painted faces and feathers every where. As I duck behind a tree, they continue their dance, eventually passing from my sight. I scale the try, coming out above the jungle canopy, suddenly to be greeted by the smell of sulfur and a smoking mountaintop in the distance the natives were marching.
If this had some hoots and hollers thrown in, it'd make the illusion complete.
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Dancing in the Dreamtime by n0mad23
Also, the high pads at ~5:00 are awesome.
on Dancing in the Dreamtime by n0mad23
on Dancing in the Dreamtime by n0mad23
Thanks for the trip again
Cheers
French Kid
on Totems from the Diaspora by n0mad23
excellent work!!!
your east coast bredren...
victormusic01X
on Goosebump Landscape by n0mad23
Coming from a dubster, I can see where your love for ambience, world-beat and dub come together real nicely. If I were to give you 1 point of critique to bring these environments closer to dubbing, would be to look a phrasing in your tunes. Find those parts and stanzas that seem to create musical 'parts' and try and deconstruct some of your very rich sounds. In any one of these songs you've probably got 12 different individual instruments that could either be isolated and played out, or simply placed in either cut time or double time to create a larger more expansive sound.
There is so much happening in them that I almost want to slow the track down, or single out individual parts to hear seperately.
Now that's just an off the hip advive per Jah, that certainly doesn't mean I'd want to change wgat was here, moreover just guide you towards your next bassline groove and dub mix.
key words here: bass line groove ;)
In another track, someone said my music was what "maximalism" must sound like - and your critique emphasizes this. What's funny is I hated the Doobie Brothers because they had too much going on - I love classical chamber music but have never been so keen on symphonies. And here I am doing what?
The closest I've come to doing what you're suggesting is my latest track, "Totems from the Diaspora" and it's what I love the most about that song. When two of the drum tracks drop leaving only a single reggae loop of loopytunes and the North African fiddle drone comes sliding in. That's it!
Naturally it's exactly what your advocating as well. Stay tuned - I'm going to next do something specifically based on your review/advice. Thank you.
on When Hippos sing with Frogs by n0mad23
The only thing In my opinion it turn up the drums a tad... Other than that, great work..
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Cantus Ranocchio by n0mad23
on Jungulation Victor by n0mad23
Alright, I kinda see why the other was as long as it was given the length of this one. Though I'm not really picking up any major difference between the two, asides from maybe extra bits of percussion used on here and is that mid-tone synth new too (though admittedly I have been up for a while now). And I hate to carbon copy stuff I've said on reviews, but I also feel like this could use a bit more on the high end of things. Hmm, maybe some horns or strings I'm thinkin (prolly better with horns since this is dub).Give it a sort of latin "Lowrider" flair, ya know? What would that be Neo-mariachi funk? I dunno, but it's where my mind is at the mo'. I'm also thinking something paddy would be cool, but feel that a voice synth would be better suited (like choir or angel for example). At any rate, cool stuff mate. Later on!
on Jungulation by n0mad23
I'll admit that I haven't heard the original mix yet (will do that after this one). Kind of odd for me (doing the remix first and then the original). Eh, sometimes it's cool to work in reverse order IMO.
Though this is short I really dig the Steel drums on this. And the growly nature of the bass (adds a nice bit of flavor to this). Could stand to have a bit more on the high end of things I'm thinkin. Maybe you could add some if ya ever go to remix this further. Keep bangin 'em out mate. Later on!