StaticNomad

Warm, glowing greetings Mr Danke.

I really like the intro, which is based around harmonics on the cello. I hadn't really thought about blues but your're probably right.

"the final sections peak is more like a rock performance than a chill ending"

Yes - I do that sort of thing a lot - start out slow and then keep building and end up in something really heavy and intense. It would have been quite easy to bring in some heavy guitar towards the end and make the drums go really heavy but I thought that would be too predictable. So, instead I decided to just rock out a bit but in a funky style. And still no guitar, just cello.

"your weird but unique approach"

You know I try to be unique. And also a bit weird.

Thanks for your thoughts and praise!

Yo.

"i was wondering where you had gone"

I've not been using the site much and have been ill but still managed to complete this unusual piece.

"your latest cluster of cool chilled vibes"

All three tracks are from the same project so either you're really into my 80 BPM vibes or perhaps that tempo really inspires me to do good stuff.

"You have your own voice that is instantly recognised"

Cool. That's exactly what I aim for as I try to make music no one has made or heard before.

"Cool Cminor triad riff intro"

I don't know what triad/dominant/subdominant mean, in musical terms, but I'm sure you're right. That intro is based around cello harmonics and I love it.

"Nice riff that doesnt get monotonous."

I agree so much that I felt it needed to play a lot in the track, sitting underneath other layers.

After a break , from itwith cello and bass g doing other stuff, you can hear a nice return to that riff on 3:12.

"some percussive or string sounds outlining the minor7 chord(0:48 onwards)"

0:48 a trancey synth arp arrives panned left as well as a chimey lead VST guitar panned to the right.

"its hard for these ears to pickout exact tones"

I agree and I'm good at merging multiple sounds in such a way that it's hard to tell what's what.

"although they sound like a pop at 1:26?"

I did have some big problems in this track with pops but at 1:26 it's just a hip hop percussive hit. I don't hear a pop there.

"Some grooves can just repeat all day and this is one of them"

Yes - it was a fun to keep listening back on a hypnotic loop though, as always, I felt I had to take the track on an exciting journey and stop it from feeling too loopy.

"3:37 I like the introduction of the rasping synth"

Yes - I'm trying to make things start to go a bit "trance euphoric".

"The last section is very euphoric"

Yes - I wanted it to be uptempo and exciting but not too heavy.

"Whats the low buzz sound i thought my phone was about to kick off"

Just cello. At 9:12 the cello note is ending but very low in the mix under that chimey guitar.

Great to hear you enjoyed this. I enjoyed making it though I did get a bit bored with it in the end as I think I perhaps spent too long on it. But I was trying to complete it when ill, which is not easy.

Take care...

Yo.

I'd never heard of Adam Hurst but he's very good. Wish I could play like that but my bowing is still shit. It's so damn hard!

"I like the minimalistic approach"

There are some notable other instruments here but I've been focussing so much on the cello for the last 2 months, trying to use it over and above my other instruments as I explore its possibilities. You can make it go fully badass just by sticking it through some fat distortion. I have a very unfinished cellometallo track in which no one will believe they're not hearing distorted guitar.

Good to hear you liked this.

"Only suggestion, make more please"

I'm trying and I have a few more in the works, pretty much all of which are dance or dance-related tracks. This is easily the best major cello track I have. I guess as I improve, I'll be able to play more styles.

Thanks again.

Thanks very much.

It's great to be an inspiration to other musicians. So many have inspired me over the years that it feels appropriate that I can do the same thing for a few other people.

There's a lot to get into when you listen to pretty much any one of my tracks and that's because you're just hearing someone who loves music but gets bored easily so I'm always trying to find a new sound and combinations of instruments that perhaps no one has heard before.

I'm not really a proper composer but a looping jammer who does a huge amount of editing of his playing to try to make something that is interesting and exciting. If it's interesting and exciting to me, I like to think it also will be for other people who are into the styles of music I make.

I don't know if I am the best composer here but I am almost certainly the best composer who uses the name Static Nomad.

Thanks again.

Thanks very much but it's not entirely hats off.

In your picture, your hat is still on so you should have the picture taken again with your hat off. Or use Photoshop to edit it out...

Thanks very much.

I do like heavy music but I don't like it to be too aggressive or brutal. I always have to add lots of melody and groove whenever I make it. I find this one quite chilled out and melodic though it does have a pretty badass middle section.

Thanks for listening.

Hi.

"I like that slow-Metal-spaced-out-vibe"

Yes - I also like that sort of vibe and was planning for it to be chilled out throughout. However, I do also like to rock pretty damn hard so, when I tried out some heavy crashing drum patterns and got a change riff (1:17) I could not resist taking it all pretty heavy as a middle section.

"aloof ambient"

is an interesting, quite eloquent phrase I agree with.

"drums are kick ass"

Thanks. They really have to be if you want to do a decent hard rock/metal track. Then again, I think they need to be at least good if you're doing any groove-based music. And my music is almost always deeply groove-based so I always need quality drums, in differing styles.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Hi.

Yes, a decent heavy guitar sound. I'm not really sure about the feedback you mention. Maybe you mean the reverb on the guitar.

Thanks. I also like it.

Hi.

Yes, a nice mixture of chill and heavy here - two opposite moods I like to combine.

I think the first bit of slow attack lead guitar starts about 1:01, with a proper phrase a few seconds later. I like how that guitar sound also plays on top of the heavy riffs and crashing drums in the middle section.

Yes, a very spacious overall sound to the track.

"your mix really sounds much more 'airy'"

Yes because of the gaps between the main guitar/bass riff's notes. They allow me to bring things (eg pads) in between them.

"too bad you somehow leave that energy from the beginning quickly"

Not sure what you mean there. I only change from that initial guitar/bass guitar/synth bass riff (all three are playing pretty much the same pattern) on 1:17. It doesn't feel like I move off it quickly. But I had to have a change so I went into quite a few different heavy riffs starting 1:17. And then return to the initial pattern around 2:41, as you say.

"the actual solo playing on the top is quite relaxed"

Yes - it's heavily distorted guitar but played in quite slow, spacious, melodic blues style.

" I can hear some female choir sound at 0:41"

Yes, I think there's a small amount there, mixed in with the filtered strings and pads. But the first subtle female vocal enters around 0:05. It's not impossible to hear the vocal sounds but I said that people wouldn't notice them because they're very subtle and merge with the strings and pads.

"I will listen to the other track you recommended"

I don't know which one that is.

Thanks for the feedback. I enjoyed making this one and still think I can make a slightly better version.

OK, Cruminator, you crunch that grenouille and its little jambes.

I like the idea of a Crobocop.

Instead of a gun, he bashes criminals with a Crobar.

Word up, Midnight Sunbather.

Did you enjoy basking in the glory of my beautiful rays? If you listen for long enough, you can get a pretty bitchin' Nomad tan. That's the Nomadgic rubbing off, though it tends to fade after a few days. Keep topping up and you can have that tan all the time.

"thought you were done with them"

No, certainly not. I'm trying to be more intelligent all the time about my music making and will do a shorter track if that's what feels right. So many reasons for me doing lots of long ones. Above all it's because lengthy seems to suit my far out style. This one is nice and concise but could be so much longer though I'm glad it's not. Still might go back and extend it just a little.

"Great breathing room till 1:20"

Yes - lots of nice space to let that slow, simple guitar and bass groove flow, along with the slowly introduced strings and other ambient elements. Then it does get heavy as I switch to a new low end riff and fat, cymbal-led crashing drums.

"2:17 is simple but bad-fucking-ass!"

You have a chosen a very cool, simple, short and neat little solo. Good choice as I'm really happy with how brief and effective that is. It's all part of the new Concise Nomad. Must get better at that.

"Can hear a lot of fret-wiggle in the end section"

I guess you mean bends. I'm a big bender while we know that you are a straight note slave.

"I need to get on my wiggle"

Yes - just imagine your fretting finger is a synth's pitch bend wheel and move it about a bit. You will hear the sound change in a pleasing way, if you get it right.

"Was never a Sabbath fan"

For a while I have wondered if you actually listen to any stoner or doom. I suspect not. So, so much to choose from (and I know a lot about it) but try Sabbath's song Into The Void for starters. You will enjoy the riffage.

Yes, if Layne Staley were alive I would let him sing on this (I'm a huge AIC fan).

Maynard: I know you're reading this so feel free to have a go and send me whatever you come up with.

"since you have enough bass from me for now"

Not necessarily. I may well ask for more. But for now you are free to play Zippo riffs all day.

Nomad, letting the waters kiss and transmutate these leaden grudges into gold.

All hail The Grudge!

Yo. Mr Wayne.

Yes, a surprise to see you doing an 8 min song. No doubt because you just had to tell the whole story. I don't know how long the original Dylan song is.

I have been making a determined effort to do shorter stuff and have had some definite success, such as 3 tracks under 4 mins in the last month or so.

Yes, I certainly do hear the Sabbath in this though only realised it after everyone else pointed out. Something to do with the slower tempo and how I hit one big euphoric chord.

"The pad that slowly comes in is cool"

That's the sort of thing that Sabbath never did, as far as I'm aware. Big chill in this if you remove the guitar. Actually you can hear that in the last minute or so.

"Even though this probably worked well with the other track"

It was OK but a bit of an unnecessary ending. Far too good to be somewhat hidden away at the end of a long one.

"Good build ups and transitions throughout the track."

Yes, it has a very "musically healthy" waveform ie lots of dynamics and peaks and troughs. Not just copied and pasted, incessant stuff (even though I always do a lot of copying and pasting) but more like a live band.

BPM here is 100 throughout though I think the drum track is playing at half tempo so I guess it's 50.

"The slower songs bring out lots of emotion in guitar playing"

Yes, my instrument playing is best suited to slow and medium tempo stuff. I'm not a good fast player though I can sometimes knock out some short bursts of rapid badassery.

"kick drums at about 1:10 was cool as sh!t"

Glad you noticed as there's so method behind that. Previously, the drum groove has been open and sparse to allow big chords and some pads to flow. They are punctuated by particular drum fills for excitement. But, before it goes massive and heavy on 1:17 I know that I want to build up to that so that double kick work did the job very well. Putting them in before interfered with the groove but it makes sense when I then go into something heavier.

This is the skill of carefully arranging your drum movement and having a purpose behind each fill and cymbal hit and so on. You've go to remove drum work that interferes with top layers whilst also working out how you can use the drums to build up excitement in all the right places.

Thanks very much for the thoughts.

Regreetings, Oliver Crumwell.

Do you crumb well?

Do you cum well?

"the Cretaceous period in our evolutionary histoire"

Do you think you and your music may be seen as the key driver of evolutionary change in this current period of histoire? If so, it should indeed be named after you.

"Mea Culpa (as you love latin so much)"

Much better that than the shockingly incorrect and childish "my bad" that I'm always hearing in movies and on TV. My French cousin even says it, having picked it up from TV. It's so fantastically wrong and immature.

"I was asking for this specific song is a caution to the wind approach"

I guess the wind must have thrown it back to me. It can do that as it's very good at picking items up and returning them to you, provided you're standing in the right place.

I was just a little more conservative and concise on this one but may try to get more extreme sometime soon, just for you. Quite possibly on my latest dance/chill/metal track based around my electric cello playing. That's something you have not heard before from me. You'll like it.

"you will do well on the chat show circuit"

Probably not as this Nomad is unlikely to ever be on a single one. If I ever am, I will come armed with extensive plugs (and plugins) including possibly one for The Cru.

"making us fur trap and club baby seals"

I don't know if my cultural ancestors did actually make you do that.

"chocolate covered baby seal fur"

That's very nice in Cadbury biscuit form. They also do a very tasty Blubber Bar, which is seared baby seal blubber covered in chocolate and biscuit crumb.

Static SealMad

Hi. I like your avatar.

Yo, TinyP.

How do things be?

"I need rappers for my psychedelic chillout stoner/doom!"

You should totally start a forum thread requesting rappers for that exact genre. I believe I could make it work really well, even though I've never heard all those genres combined.

"Why dont we have more psychedelic chillout stoner/doom?"

There tends not to be that much chilling going on in the world of stoner and doom. If so, it's more on the dark, malevolent side of things. But my chill here is more like beautiful ambient music. No darkness at all.

"epic work here my friend"

That is generally what I go for. The difference this time is that it's a real short epic.

"I would definitely invest in EZ drummer if i had the the cash! Always sounds amazing!"

I love it and could not make the music I make without either it or similar drum software. I actually have Superior Drummer but mostly load EZ kits into it. You can hear that they have some excellent metal ones. Only two used here but I have more.

I've even got a really cool hip hop EZ kit, which I've used in loads of tracks. I don't mean hip hop drum loops - I mean a proper kit, with loads of classic hip hop drums kind of spanning the history of hip hop.

Thanks again.

Regreetings, Crumagnon Man.

It took me quite a while to work out what I think you might be suggesting.

So, instead of me making the track longer by adding in lots of extended craziness, you want me to not return to the chill stuff on 2:36 but instead extend the heavy middle madness.

But I like the return to the chill!

"keep making it chaotic and mayhem and massive walls of sound and energy as far as you can go"

I could fairly easily do that but I've done it loads of times before eg in

The Bigger The Fatter The Better
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/155188

The obvious thing to do here would be to also take the drums double time in the heavy middle and then see if I can manage some fast kind of widdling leads. Shredding, as some might say.

2:17 I do quite a nice, simple bluesy mostly two note short solo but I could probably manage more of that.

Overall, I quite like the track this length and structure and enjoy the ambient chill mixed with the balls out heaviness. Thanks anyway for the suggestion. I will bear it in mind, as I do with all (sensible) suggestions.

"I believe there is a certain restraint button you have deep in you that prevents you from doing that"

Yes and no. Of course you should always exercise restraint in music making otherwise things will get too extreme and ridiculous and lack finesse and skill. I have to use the restraint control to not make things too ridiculously long, heavy, layered, bizarre and so on.

"Crueactious period!"

No idea what that means.

Tastefully restrained, Concise Nomad.

Yo.

"This one is quite a surprise, particularly length wise"

Are you aware that I've put out three tracks under 4 mins in the last month? It's the new Concise Nomad. No, not really. The full length one is very much alive and making more tracks.

Here's one of those three:

Why The Hell Not

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/174454

"the sound is incredibly massive and profound"

I'm planning to make it a bit more massive. I do like the look of the waveform here (good peaks and troughs) but think the track could handle being a bit louder. Good to hear you find it profound as that's very important to me. You know by now that I don't make pop music.

"I would hardly compare it to anything 'heavy' uploaded here on Loopeman ever"

I'm not sure I've heard many proper stoner/doom tracks on here. I'm sure there must be some but I guess I haven't found them yet.

Thanks for the feedback.

Yo.

Everyone's saying Sabbath and I don't disagree but I really rarely listen to them. My stoner/doom references are more 90s and since then. But, yes, Sabbath did basically invent this sort of genre.

However, the big, big difference between this track and perhaps any of their stuff is the use of deep chill and ambient elements. Never heard that in one of their tracks but I'm no Sabbath expert so maybe later stuff has it.

"Felt a vocal vibe at 0:48"

I think that's just a guitar note and strings coming together though there are subtle vocal samples in this too (quite possibly also at that point).

" I do feel there should be a short switch up after the end, maybe something a little faster for 8 or 16 bars."

I hear what you're saying and, yes, it would have been so, so easy to take this double time and really pound away with more and more badass riffage.

However, I do double time/half time drum stuff so often that I'm trying to do less of it - just for variation in my body of musical work.

If you want to hear some pumping, mental riffs and switching between fast and mid tempo, try this beauty:

The Bigger The Fatter The Better
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/155188

and this one too

Valvedriven
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/163181

Thanks for your thoughts.

Big comment coming up on your latest track as I'm already a big fan of your stuff.

Greetings, Crumidnight.

Yes, I brought Iommi back. In the end, he mostly just sat at the back of the studio watching me riff it up. He was a bit in awe of my badass riffage and so is coming back next week for a lesson or two. Free of charge cos I'm a nice guy.

Just as well I had the sense to identify that this was much better suited to being its own interesting track rather than being only 2.5 mins long at the end of a 9 min chill/groove track. Neomorpheus suggested I do it but I'd already thought of it.

"boy does it have a groove to it."

It is indeed one groovy mothafucka. Very simple and sparse, with lots of space for extra drum fills and bits of riffage and strings and pads inbetween some guitar parts.

"just keep going as hard and heavy as you possibly can until our ears bleed."

I think you're saying you want it to be longer. Yes - there's loads of music in this genre that goes on and on, seemingly forever. I guess the idea is you get really stoned and headnod along for ages.

It's tempting and I could easily extend this considerably but I'm trying hard to operate as a more Concise Nomad when possible. However I've got a new mega shuffle blues coming up in the next 2 weeks. 8.5 mins so far and I feel it should be more like 12. So, Lengthy Overblown Nomad is still alive and kicking. He will probably never die.

""pad-downs"

Is that like a beat down but gentler and more soothing?

Some damn nice stringy stuff in here. Mostly the sort of patches I've used many times before but still effective in context.

Take care,

Static Doommad

Word up, Mr 4Fat.

This is right up your metallic street. You'd probably prefer it darker and weirder but I generally try to add more beauty than weirdness though it can be great to combine them.

"when I can play it LOUD!"

Do that right now. You need to for this track.

"wife already screamed at me this week for playing music too loud late at night"

I suggest either headphones or you could make your wife go out with some friends till the early hours. That leaves you with Midnight Sun playing on repeat.

"Was this recorded when you decided to make a guest appearance at their farewell tour?"

A little bit before but I never ended up making that appearance. The Sabbath boys heard some of my heavy music and wanted to book the band that made it to open for them on that tour. They were a bit surprised when they found out that it's all made by one guy at home who doesn't have a band to perform the material live.

So, they offered to be my backing band and we did a few rehearsals (no Ozzy) but it was taking up too much of their time so we quit. Instead, they just warm up the crowd at their gigs by playing some of my best heavy tracks over the PA. Tracks like:

The Bigger The Fatter The Better
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/155188

Valvedriven
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/163181

Chasm
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/172322

Debt Black Hole
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/146806

Roar Stone
http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/171907

Not sure if you've heard all those tracks so give some a go. Loud!

Take care.

Ooooh, Mr Danke!

Good to hear you enjoyed my little stoner/doom bit of fun.

"Faved from the first note"

Yes, it's a simple but very effective pattern. Just 3 slow, short hits on the open D string and then up to a big, powerful C chord. And then a bit of F and G.

"from 1.17 the groovy is like a ton of bricks"

Yes, very powerful drums driven by big cymbals. So much fun!

I've done lots of heavy music but this is probably my first proper stoner/doom track. I listen to a lot of that sort of music so I'm not sure why it has taken me so long to come up with my own track in that style.

If you really do think this is "one of the best 'heavy metal' track here or the most unique one" then you should add it to my forum thread that you probably remember:

http://www.looperman.com/forum/thread/182742/what-are-your-favourite-tracks-on-looperman

People have forgotten about that thread.

Let's get it going again!

Thanks and handshake.

Yo. Mr TheK

I don't actually hear this as being dark. I find a lot of beauty in the raw, kind of spiritual power of this massive guitar sound and huge riffage.

And, if you listen to the elements aside from the guitar and drums (ie strings and pads) there's a lot of beauty and chillout ambience.

In the title of this, the 'sun reflects the bright beauty and the 'midnight' the heavy, slightly darker riffage.

But I overall hear this as a beautiful piece, with some life-affirming heavy power.

"the ending took me a bit by surprise"

I'm not sure why or exactly where you mean. Maybe it comes to an end a bit too suddenly. It's one of my neatest endings in the last year.

Great to hear you liked it.

Thanks.

Thanks for once again checking out a suggested track.

Very few people do that.

When we were discussing blues and hip hop, I was sure I had some more obvious mergers of the two genres but I'm disappointed to say that I don't and that this is the most obvious one.

I mix blues into all sorts of other genres and elements of hip hop as well but I clearly need to do more of two together.

This track is rather a special one for me though it does have lots of faults but I don't think I can really improve them much more. It'll just have to stay as it is, with its faults perhaps adding some extra character.

Thanks again.

Sorry for the slow reply.

Always happy to teach people new English words. Even when I don't intend to.

"You had me after the first seconds"

Same here - I love listening to that very direct start and simple killer riff. The sparse, swung drum groove really helps bring the riff out.

""guitar signal interruption" (may I say a chasm?) @ 1:38"

Yes, a nice little pause. A double extension of the same thing from around 0:32. I love it.

"a Good slide guitar solo"

One of my best ever. Very melodic. At 1:48 there's another.

2:52 the track drops back down and there is some nice chillout bass g.

"nothing new from you, but interesting."

Lots of new stuff in this track, especially the unusual combination of a lead undistorted guitar part over a low, heavy riff. I also do that at 7:35.

All the timestretched guitar parts are a new technique I really enjoy. Some sound so much like vocals. 3:46 sounds just like a woman.

""mildly-wild" guitar solo (with some notes borrowed from an eastern scale?"

Yes, some is a crossover between dark and Eastern scales. But I only know two scales (major and minor) so I can't really tell you about them.

"@5:00 almost a reprise of the original riff"

Not really. That's where a distorted bass g part arrives on top of the sub bass (which is too loud throughout the track).

""complete stop" gives the listener time to breath"

Yes, it's supposed to be a dramatic shock. Then some haunting guitar voices and then I'm back with a new heavy riff.

"~7:05 ... double tempo"

Not exactly but I know what you mean. It's just a drummer's technique for making things more intense and busy.

"slow down and prepare for the ending"

I love the last minute and it really feels like a warm, beautiful conclusion to an epic journey. The timestretched guitar voices are really beautiful as things are slowing down.

Thanks again for the detail, even if you didn't like this one as much as I do.