StaticNomad

Hi. I'm not sure if you've commented on any of my tracks before. Apologies if you have but I've forgotten.

Soulfly and Sepultura I do know but never really liked their stuff as it's a bit too heavy for me. I have quite particular tastes when it comes to heavy stuff and don't like much that's too brutal. I prefer it to have some far out, psychedelic elements and also beauty and melody and cool grooves rather than just blastbeats. And no evil death, grunting vocals. They ruin it for me every time!

However, I will recommend one of the maddest, most bizarre and talented heavy groups ever called Genghis Tron. They make a unique type of cybergrind and most of the vocals are screaming. But I love it, especially for all the ridiculous changes and electronica. See here:

Genghis Tron - Board up The House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2DPKKrsJ_o

"atmospheric, dynamic and relaxing at the same time"

Yes, I know what you mean about the strange relaxing element. That's probably because I also do a lot of chillout music, pure electronica, deep blues and funk and so on. Cool, chillout, funky midtempo grooves are much more my natural instrument playing home than hard and heavy.

I think the middle portion of this track, even though it has some fat drumming, is also quite chilled. I think it's partly the use of the side guitar and other undistorted sounds.

5:29-5:50 even though it's starting to really race away, those guitars make it pretty chilled at the same time.

Static-X I've never really listened to so must check out more of their stuff.

Finally, I think the following track is also pretty heavy but chilled and much more beautiful than this one, with far more sounds and is much longer.

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/151799

Thanks for your thoughts.

Yes - I give extensive track descriptions, track reviews and replies. I have a lot to say about music and can type quite fast.

It annoys me when people give hardly any details in their track descriptions so I then have to ask and then comment again once they've replied and given me the info. But they don't always reply.

I didn't think of the Ozrics at all as regards this one but I guess maybe it's some of the slightly eastern guitar parts that remind you of them.

"pretty heavy but soft at the same time"

Not quite sure what to make of that. There are various clean and undistorted parts and I do give it peaks and troughs so that it's not just one heavy mindfuck. And breaking things down always give you the chance to build them back up again.

It's definitely much heavier in terms of guitar and drums than the Ozrics though their stuff is way heavier in terms of psychedelia. Not one of my more far out tracks. I've kind of focused on the heaviness and only stuck in a few far out elements.

Yes, I play everything myself. The main exception is drum loops. I used to use more of them but have no real need these days as I love my drum programming software (Superior).

While I have no need, I do still use drum loops for the particular flavour they give. But I tend to augment them with intricate programmed acoustic drums too.

Very, very few other samples in my music as I decided a long time ago that I was good enough to make it all myself and that way I'd come up with my own distinctive stuff and would have things in my tracks that no one else had.

"your work rate is pretty phenomenal"

Yes and no. I'm actually a slow worker, for a number of reasons. The 40 or so tracks I've uploaded here in the last 10 months have been made over many years though almost all significantly updated and improved in the last year or two.

Getting a much faster PC and that awesome drum software and just generally getting better with EQ has helped so much.

I'm certainly not knocking out these lengthy, intricate epics every few days. I wouldn't even want to as I like spending lots of time with tracks and just enjoying luxuriating in all the riffs as I explore some of the many possibilities each offers.

Thanks for your thoughts - honest and interesting perspectives are always appreciated.

Cool. It's easy to name a few genres that are present here (as I have) but there may be some other incidental ones that are a bit more difficult to exactly pin down ie some sort of electro funk.

Anyway, I'd say this is truly unique. I'll be very interested to ever hear another track that incorporates this sort of collection of sounds and mood swings.

Thanks for taking my advice and checking it out. You really have to when you see the term 'banj metal'.

I Googled that term and this is one thing I found:

http://www.nocleansinging.com/2010/09/21/banjo-metal/

No problem, I tend to give extensive replies. And extensive track reviews. I have a lot to say about music.

This one's not so long but that's because there isn't really much I can say in response to "thanks for the reply".

Yeah - it just keeps on moving. Maybe even a bit too much. However, there's actually a lot of repetition of basslines but they get covered up by all the other crazy changes and the strange guitar layers.

This is one of my shorter epics. It sort of feels a bit short and you could argue that I should make some sections longer. But I wanted it to be a very powerful blast that never really lets up - just gives the listener a break from time to time. I did have more of a chillout, comedown ending but got rid of that.

And no, I can't remember how to play most of the guitar parts here. Some are really chopped up and pieced back together - others are complete whole riffs. Some I played a few years ago as this used to be a 17 min track but I split it in two.

The other half is here and contains grunge, blues, rock and hip hop, all as a psychedelic long form, eastern journey:

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/149490

Take care.

Thanks. It's very rare that I get any comments from people such as yourself who don't also have any tracks uploaded. I don't know why but those people seem to mostly listen but not comment.

Anyway, hard to say if this is flawless. It's very busy and kind of rough and raw so not some smooth thing with no rough edges. But I take your point - you liked it and can't think of how to improve it.

"You have great skill but I'm sure you've got plenty of comments like this one"

Thanks. I do get some of those sort of comments from time to time.

Yes, it is a killer title but I didn't come up with the phrase. Here's the silly story of how I came up with it as a title. A few years ago, I asked my mother what sort of pastry she would like me to fetch from the kitchen as there were a few different options. Her answer? "The bigger, the fatter, the better".

I heard that and knew I had to use it as a track title. Then I just needed to come up with something massive and powerful that would do it justice. I was never going to use that title for one of my chillout tracks. I'm not sure if the track keeps building and getting bigger and fatter and better but it's hard to top some of the riffs in the first couple of minutes though I did try.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts. I have a great deal of other epic journeys on this site so check a few out.

This one used to be 17 min track, then I split it in two. The other half is here and contains grunge, blues, rock and hip hop, all as a psychedelic long form, eastern journey:

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/149490

And this is also an intense rocking trip but with much more beauty and way more sounds:

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/151799

Thanks. It was fun to do and quite a crazy journey through all those genres. But I've tried to mostly ease into each one so that the considerable changes aren't too harsh or abrupt. I could have packed them all into just a few minutes but I like to hear a decent amount of each one and return to previous themes and hear them presented in different ways. So, 7.5 minutes seems about the right length though I could have gone on far longer.

You get that sax coming in again in the second heavy (and fast) section but this time it's got different delay on it so is a lot more frenetic, which suits the uptempo metal behind it.

I move into any genre I feel like at any time in a track so tend to make different tracks within the same project ie on the same timeline. If you would like to hear the track that used to be joined with this one, check it out here:

Low Key Love

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/152913

It's a big exploration of different types of jazz but there's also rock and hip hop and more in there. It shares many of the same instruments with those in Way Beyond Wrong and is the same tempo. But no d'n'b - sorry!

Thanks again for taking up my suggestion and checking this out. I have loads more mad trips on the site. 28 levels Above Top Secret, Zero Per Cent Proof and Shapesmith are some other crazy journeys that are much longer.

"musically this is a new favourite from you"

It could easily be my best ever track so don't get your hopes up too high that you'll enjoy another more.

"anubian lights is incredibly intriguing stuff and to me there is definitley a influence of them in your creations."

Not really much influence. Only found out about them a few years ago when someone reviewed this track and let me know about them. Awesome, unique and pretty unknown stuff (check out as many albums as you can) but just something exists separate from me.

Ozric Tentacles are a way bigger influence, from the age of about 17. Seen them a few times and the first (aged 17) was perhaps the highlight of my musical life. I had no understanding of how they were able to do what they did. it was like magic! Sadly, it's not anymore as I know a hell of a lot more now But they're still awesome.

So much incredible music to recommend but I'll just suggest this, slightly different track from them:

Ozric Tentacles - Sploosh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSQNRZKkhVQ

and

Ozric Tentacles Ghedengi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW31HupvemY

They're about to become your favourite new band!

Yes, I used to love ADF too, especially Rafi's Revenge though they never did anything else as good as that.

"considering this is over 10 years old it's quite a feat"

More like about 13 now! I way surpassed my production abilities at the time when I made this but have since caught up, I feel.

"the final part with full blown layers"

Yes - I had to take it somewhere and make it much bigger though the drums don't get much bigger. If I made it now I'm sure I'd add some big acoustic kits. But I like it as it is so glad it stays on the same drums as the first half. Makes it all seem quite consistent.

Good to hear from you and hope you can make some musical progress. It comes and goes for me but I do it every day so it can't always be magic!

Ok - you're making slightly more sense now though I still don't get the bass talking to guitar thing.

Yes, I suppose that intro bass does have some vowel-like talking qualities to it. "Bow-a-wow" is what I hear now you mention it.

It's just a modified Reason patch I made in about 2001 (in making this track) and I still absolutely love it. Its the main feature of a mostly electronic track I made, called Into The Out There, that may well be your favourite track of mine:

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/146600

"musical creatures"

I have no idea why but I seem to feature creature-like sounds in a lot of my tracks over the years. I don't mean samples of animals or anything else but just making synths and sometimes guitar appear to make creature-like sounds.

I really don't get how this happens! Sometimes maybe it's a bit cute and cheesy but something I seem to have some entirely unintentional talent for.

Thanks for confirming your possible madness. You're certainly not too mad to regularly produce quality music...

Word up, Shatner. Yeah, the changes in this are pretty mad when you sit back at the end and think about how much has been thrown at you.

But I try to make them logical and make sense and ease into each one. So, I use repetition of one element as I change another so changes aren't too abrupt or harsh.

To be honest, and I'm not just saying this because you're a hip hop dude, my favourite part of the track is probably the last 20 or so seconds as it returns back to some minimalist hip hop. Just some of the little fills and variations really do it for me and that section is like a big comedown after the roller coaster, d'n'b, metal etc journey.

Like returning back to the hip hop home! That's a place I know you like to visit...

I like the bass and especially when it changes to the classic house bass synth sound on 2:06.

Good to hear from you.

Sorry for the late reply. I was just putting off dredging up the depressing Ratridge incident. I wondered if anyone might notice that and comment on it. Glad you found it hilarious - I didn't. What happened is that, last year, I gave my one and only 'thumbs-down' review on this site to a track of his, which was his guitar and vocal additions to an interesting electronic version of Sweet Home Alabama. I didn't insult his playing - just mostly said the addition of the guitar and vocals just made it another of thousands of covers of that famous song.

So, he proceeded to check out my music, leaving a bunch of straight insults/ intelligent constructive criticism on three or four of my tracks, including this gem of a track review:

"After your extremely demeaning comment you left on my track, I expected you to be some kind of musical prodigy. WTF?"

Since having to deal with his childish, spiteful insults (including speculation about the size of my head) I've decided to essentially never again give a 'bad' track review on here. If I don't like something, I don't comment, even though I might even have some useful suggestions. I just can't be bothered to deal with unpleasant losers who can't take even mild criticism.

However, I have since commented on some other Ratridge tracks but only said good things and made, for instance, no mention of not liking his vocals. I have indeed heard his backlog but it didn't make me zzzzzzzzzzzzz. My way of dealing with childish people is not to come down to their level (doesn't always work). I've had to deal with someone much more unpleasant on this site though he seems to have given up on insulting me.

It's ironic that Ratridge chose to leave his deep and insightful 'too repetitive' analysis on a track with so very many changes.

"an over-sized cranium"

Maybe. I'm just an odd guy who thinks a lot, especially about music, and is bored by so much conventional stuff so have to work out how to combine things that I like in ways I've never heard before. I have huge musical limitations so cannot combine anywhere near as many sounds and styles as I would like. I do what I can, which is still a fair bit.

"a hill-billy in a tornado"

That could work nicely for a music video to this track. Maybe the metal band are out in the open and kicking up a tornado with their playing. And the tornado drops a hillbilly with a banjo into their midst and then whisks him away after his 30 seconds are up. I like it but then it is partly my idea so no surprise there.

Yeah, I think the jazz comes from the acoustic drums and the keyboard that starts on 0:47. That keyboard also features in the d'n'b section and there are some interesting connections between jazz, hip hop and d'n'b.

Metal is taking things out a lot further, in terms of genres with things in common, so the keyboard doesn't feature in those sections.

6:32 there is jazz metal as the metal guitar keeps going for a bit and the jazz drums return.

If you'd like to check out another jazz epic of mine (much more jazz than this), try Low Key Love

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/152913

as it's also from the same project as this track so shares some of the same sounds and instruments etc and is the same tempo.

I haven't updated that in a couple of years and don't really care about it though maybe I should say a bit more, just in case anyone's interested (like you).

Thanks for the interest - the much better and more up to date answer is below.

I've used the same main, cheap electric guitar since 1996 and also use two electro-acoustic resonator guitars for all my slide guitar playing - something I do a lot (but not in this track).

" ill be looking forward to hearing more!!"

I'm always uploading new stuff and am preparing a new mega epic psychedelic rock dance track for possible upload today or tomorrow.

In the meantime, there's a hell of a lot of other very detailed and lengthy stuff for you to check out.

Hello. Most of my tracks are a fusion of quite a few genres, as you'll see if you check out pretty much any one of the many I have on this site.

I started off in Cubase in 1999 and then, in about 2001 got Reason, which I absolutely love. Since then I've run the two of them together, essentially as one sequencer, with most of my recorded audio (guitar, bass, banjo, vocals when I can get them) in Cubase and 90% of the synths coming from Reason. Reason is also used for drum loops and hits.

I have the excellent Superior Drummer for my quality acoustic drum kits, which runs in Cubase. And I have most of the EZ Drummer expansion packs so lots of different acoustic kits. I think I use about 3 of them in this track plus the hip hop hits that are in Reason.

My much older stuff contains Korg Z1 synth parts but I haven't recorded any new parts from that synth in many years but still have it and use it as my main controller keyboard.

Then I have a just a few other plugins in Cubase such as Effectrix by Sugar Bytes and I also like dbBlue's Glitch effects unit and use that quite a bit on banjo and guitars.

Oh, and I have quite a few sampled audio instruments that I use in Reason eg things like tambura, sitar, bano etc.

There's a bit more to say but that's really most of it so a fairly comprehensive answer.

Totally agree about lack of editing and second replies.

Extremely frustrating and means I have to carefully compose my reply (sometimes in my head when I'm walking about the house doing other stuff) so that I don't forget to answer a question (though I get very few of those) or mention my own point.

That's why I do such long replies but then I also do long reviews. And long tracks so that's just how I am: I have lots to play and lots to say.

I don't really like Mixposure as it's too complicated and awkward to use and you only get 5 tracks with a free account and there are no featured tracks (used not to be here but I think it's great and allows me to follow people and see their progress and not miss their new uploads).

"That octave effect is sooo damn unique"

Not sure what you mean. It's really just adding bass to any audio signal. A cool guitar riff may not need a separate bassline - perhaps just needs to have the low end added to it. That's why I sometimes use it. Gets messy if you add it to chord-based guitar playing but I don't play many chord-based riffs.

"I replayed this awesome track for 20 times(was hooked to it)"

When I upload my tracks, I usually listen to them quite a bit (out of the studio so different perspective) and I also get a bit hooked. Sometimes I just have to listen to the whole thing, even when it's a really long one. I often find each section joins onto the next in such a way that I don't want to press stop (which is exactly my intention).

"Its like no track is complete here until you give your genius feedback."

Glad you appreciate my comments. There have been just one or two people on this site who have not (one twice left insults on this track, see below, the other has been much more unpleasant) but it's best not to worry about them. Perhaps I'm slightly wasting my time giving extensive feedback when most people give very little. But there are a few people who do the same for me and make suggestions and get me thinking about things in a slightly different way.

"YOU HAVE AWESOME VISION FOR MUSIC."

Maybe but I'm really just a music obsessive so have lots to say about it. And, as I love music, make it every day and think about it much more, I don't find it hard to quite quickly say lots of things about a piece of music.

I will comment on the track you suggested as I like it and it has an interesting waveform!

You definitely get the kind of thing I'm into. Thanks for quite a few words about it.

"you really love to play with it and experiment with it"

That truly is all I do - in an admittedly self indulgent sort of way. It's just my belief that any good genre can be mixed with another. But I don't really think of them as genres. I just try out sounds I like that happen to fall in different genres and try to combine them in ways I have never heard before. I think I achieve that though that doesn't necessarily make it amazing music (but definitely interesting).

"Saxophone is awesome"

This is the only proper track I've ever made featuring another musician. Shame that he's not at all interested in the track, though that's something I can't really explain.

"Audio Effects are perfect."

While there are all sorts of effects, check out the guitar in the d'n'b section 2:28 to 3:04. It's very cut up and I very, very carefully automated different delays on the guitar which wasn't very good and I made loads of mistakes so had to piece together all the best bits. It's come out sounding pretty dark and weird so quite unusual.

An effect no one would ever notice is that, 3:36 to 4:27, the only bassline is the metal guitar riff. I just add an octave effect to the guitar part rather than adding another bassline. So, it's 100% tight. Not sure how many people do that but it can be cool.

Ye, I guess I add some Indian fusion. I don't acrually have a clue how to play Indian or Middle Eastern music but I manage to get some of those elements in quite often though I never do full Indian tracks (because I don't know how).

So, my Eastern sections often occur just briefly in my tracks. Would take too long to give you all the time references so will just recommend my following tracks that contain Eastern elements (either instruments or scales/playing or both):

Circular Motion (tambura), Lord Of Misrule, Right Place Wrong Century, An Early Morning Appointment With God, Shapesmith, Immemorialis (sitar), Zero Per Cent Proof (tabla), Fly Yes Land No (tabla), Things That Should Always Be, The Fatness(sitar), Thousand Ball Blues (harmonium), Three Miles Late, A Month Of Mondays (sitar).

I love Indian music and would like to get more of its great instruments into my stuff. But I have big limitations such as only playing a few instruments - mostly guitar, bass and banjo though I sometimes use a sitar sound on my Variax electric guitar eg on the track Immemorialis.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

Yo. You've confused me right from the start with

"That bass and guitar are talking to each other"

Or maybe you're confused. Without a time reference, I'm not sure which bit you're talking about and there's relatively little guitar in this, apart from the obvious big part on 4:00 though I'm guessing you're not talking about that section just yet.

1:27 there is some subtle autowah guitar which blends well with the bass. Maybe that's the bit you meant.

I think I always try to get instruments to appear to talk to each other and chatter back and forth.

Maybe this is partly because it's all me playing them so I just naturally connect with any part that I've already played - even when I can't remember how to play it (which is most of the time).

4:52 check how the psychedelic guitar merges with the lead synth. Hearing them as separate instruments is hard to do at times. They seem to come together to form one instrument though I have no idea if they're both playing the same thing. Must be quite similar, I guess.

"that distorted guitar just lifts the whole thing"

A couple of commenters had a problem with it and a couple loved it. I think it's unusual and definitely wouldn't get rid of it.

"a joy to listen to"

It may well be my finest ever track and I would expect most people into synths and far out, groove-based music to enjoy it.

Hi. I haven't seen that film so am struggling a little to make sense of the quote from it. Maybe this makes you think of far out, spacey ethnic groove stuff.

It's definitely right up your ethnic and world music street though the only two elements that push it in that direction are the didg and the djembes (perhaps the shaker a little as well). Otherwise, it's one of my few pure electronica tracks. Not sure I played a note on it (all programmed) and certainly didn't record any instruments.

I've still got a bit of a problem with the overall sound though I can't quite explain my problem. It's cool but there's still something slightly lacking.

"Don't really feel the "warfare" vibe myself"

I'm with you on that and did say in the description that I had real problems coming up with a suitable title (as I often do).

I was thinking of going with Sipi Tau - a type of war dance you'll see the Tongan rugby team perform before matches (similar to the New Zealand Haka, the most famous of these pre-match rituals and stirring stuff).

These pre-match, aggressive dances are well coordinated so I thought this track might be a good soundtrack for them. Maybe I'll just call the track Sipi Tau and be done with it.

I'll put this track on my mostly pure electronica album - one of 8 albums I've been composing, mixing and compiling for the last couple of years. Just need artwork and quality mastering and I have a whole load of stuff to release from 14 or so years of home music making.

Good to hear from you.

Yes, I like that too. And I like it coming after the guitar part you don't like as that is another surprising transition from one type of sound to another. Short harp solo but it doesn't need to be longer. And we get to hear the tambura drone behind it as well.

If you want to hear that harp sound used a lot more, check out my dancefloor 303 metal chill funk track called Lord Of Misrule. Lots of that harp sound in the chillout groove second half. First half is intense 303 metal with lots of synths driven by metal and hard rock acoustic drumming.

OK - no problem. Thanks for getting back to me. I guess you just don't like that guitar part at 4:00 featuring in a track like this. I like it coming in as a surprise and something you're not expecting. I don't see why it doesn't fit.

If you listen to other music by me, you will hear all sorts of surprising parts that come in and I generally have an unusual lineup of sounds and instruments. I try to create interesting and surprising combinations of sounds as I feel it's the best way to be original and distinctive.

Some people will always have a problem with some of those strange combinations such as me playing eastern scales on a banjo over hip hop beats. And then going into d'n'b or metal. Other people will enjoy how unusual it is. I just hear it all as different flavours of music as I believe you can make any types of sounds work together if you do it skilfully.

Greetings.

Yes, I love the intro and main bass. Same patch (originally from this track) that I've used in a few others eg your one favourite of mine Into The Out There (the main sound) and also hip hop epic The Fatness.

No percussion in intro (apart from rhythmic breathy thing) so I assume you mean ("nice clap percussion panned far right") the drum hits that come in on 0:40. No clap in there and no far right panning I can hear. But there is a big metallic clanging hit, which maybe you hear as a clap.

Bass is wider in some sections because I take two different synth basses and apply opposite panning to them. I guess one is based on a square wave.

I don't hear it as "arabic guitar" but I guess you mean part starting 1:27. It's subtle to the point of merging with the bassline though I doubt they're playing the same thing.

My vocoded fake didg (my voice modulating a Z1 clarinet through hardware vocoder in real time) arrives on 1:52 as the track opens up a bit. 2:28 another bit of more obviously voicey vocoding.

3:22 breakdown and transition features the lead Z1 synth sound that I thought would be the highlight of this for you. Plus that cool, programmd tambura drone. Must use that again!

"drums get more intense"

Pretty much just repetition of what we've already heard though there is a big new cymbal as the beat comes back in.

Must disagree about guitar at 4:00 "being a bit too much". I hear it as a refreshing surprise and I've already said quite a bit about it in other replies, having had to defend it previously as somehow being "not needed".

I guess you want me to remove it and do some of my resonator playing that you've become quite familiar with there instead. I won't (partly because I can't yet open up the relatively ancient Cubase project) but fear not - you'll hear more resonator playing in more tracks coming soon. It's one of my signature sounds and can crop up in ay type of genre that I do (though rarely in the pure electro stuff).

4:30 is a mystical synth harp sound just using the main polyphonic synth in Reason. That's layered over the tambura, which adds to the mystical quality. Another reason to have the 4:00 guitar is that following it with the harp is pretty strange and the type of strange I like.

No, no fretless bass after that but there is a bit of bass guitar doing a little bit of sliding so maybe that is reminiscent of fretless (I've never had one but still want one).

4:52 check how the psychedelic guitar merges with the lead synth. Actually, hearing them as separate is hard to do. They seem to come together to form one instrument though I have no idea if they're both playing the same thing. Must be quite similar, I guess.

I leave you with an outstanding Ozric Tentacles track. Bass and drums in this are some of the greatest I've ever heard. Everything else is also wonderful - including the time signature, which baffles me every time.

Ozric Tentacles Ghedengi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW31HupvemY

Thanks but I really don't know what you mean by this:

"This just goes to show you just how sometimes a little to none can go a long way"

Not sure if you're trying to say it's quite a minimal track ie not many instruments used. But there are quite a few synth sounds and drum loops and hits and small bits of guitar (and the big, obvious guitar part around 4:00) used in this so I guess that's not what you're trying to say.

I can't guess what you meant.

Hi. This does indeed have a spacey vibe, as do many of my other tracks. I incorporate a lot of genres into what I do (many often within the same track) but the top level - the sparkle, the vibe and mood - is generally pretty damn psychedelic and spacey. It's one of my favourite aspects of sound and music.

I'll probably put this track on my more hip hop-leaning album (not one 'proper' hip hop track on it!) so hopefully that album will be, as you desire, "a whole album of stuff like this".

I could recommend to you most of my tracks but will suggest a deep, dark chill groover with a strong hip hop vibe and lots of acoustic resonator guitar and banjo called Right Place Wrong Century (http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/146210) as well as a mad journey through multiple styles, including d'n'b, called Shapesmith (http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/149028)

Zero Per Cent Proof is a psychedelic blue grungehop epic with some fat beats and a hell of a lot of grunge and eastern guitar playing (http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/149028)

So search my track page for some of these titles and let me know if they inspired you to "build a phatty kick back and mellow out to some spacey vibes".

I've never really listened much to Gong but they were a big influence on Ed Wynne, the Ozrics guitarist (still is, 30 years later).

It's a bit of a shame that, in my opinion, the Ozrics haven't done anything too great since the late 1990s as their late 80s and 90s output is quite exceptional. They've been retreading the same ground for a long time now - something I fear doing in middle to old age. Gotta keep experimenting and diversifying, learning new instruments, getting new sounds etc to avoid that happening! I did see them (just Ed and his wife Brandi) do an awesome synth and drum machine-only set about 8 years ago and would like hear more of that beautiful, epic stuff.

Thanks for your thoughts. Now see if any of my other tracks are similarly good smoking music.

Hello.

I've already written quite a lot about your favourite electric guitar part in this song to MrWolf so please see that reply (so I don't have to write it again).
"your style is so special and unique"

I try hard to be unique. Part of the reason is that there is already so much music in this world so I feel I have to do something different and not just be an inferior version of my favourite artists across so many different genres. I can also imagine a lot of music I've never heard before so I try to make some of it, though I have lots of limitations and do not play enough instruments or have enough knowledge to make everything I can imagine. And I don't sing!

So, every single track I do is me experimenting with sounds and combinations of instruments rather than just trying to knock out a banging trance track or a traditional blues song. I don't make popular, commercial music in any one genre but instead make purely experimental stuff. But it has to also be enjoyable - not just strange experimenting to try out a new effect or plugin.

I get a good drum part or bassline or guitar riff going on then keep trying to add interesting sounds to it. And then I add more and more and so the track keeps growing and growing. I'm always doing things I did not plan to do and did not imagine!

When I have a good synth part, I always copy that part and try playing it on a new synth sound until I get an interesting combination with the original synth sound. And then I do that again and again.

Once I have recorded some guitar playing (that usually involves a lot of improvisation) I very carefully go through the recorded part listening for cool little bits I can chop up and put somewhere else in the track. Sometimes I make new, repeating riffs out of one small bit of playing that I can no longer remember how to play.

I hope that when I release some albums, each one will be seen as unique creations that don't really fit in any named genre. Except it's all progressive, groove-based and psychedelic (the main characteristics of my music).

Good to hear from you. I think you make almost every track I upload one of your favourites.

Hi. I made this a featured track for the first time because I don't have anything else in a good enough state to upload yet, though I am working on some spectacular new tracks. Not many had heard this one and it might be my best so I thought I'd "promote" it.

"it just works as a whole"

Yes, this might be more important than any single riff or cool sound or amazing solo - everything working perfectly together. Maybe that's what a masterpiece really is.

It seems CyberLiam disagrees and feels your and Danke's favourite guitar part should be removed (I suspect he just doesn't like that sort of guitar sound or playing). But I agree with you and also think that riff sounds much better because this track doesn't have much guitar in it so is a surprise. It's just me playing something like four simple chords but picking each note rather than strumming. But it's tight playing.

"Most people would have made a 4 minutes song just out of this single thing"

Yes, perhaps. I do lots of varied repetition in my tracks (so, the same or similar riff being played on different instruments at different times) but also like to include things that are only heard once or for a short section. Sometimes, there's no real reason (in terms of track structure) to hear a part again - even if it's really good.

That riff would probably be less disnctive or interesting in a rock song with lots of other guitar riffs and solos so is definitely more effective here.

I also like the harp solo after the killer guitar part. That's a strange combination!

Also, after a couple of minutes of the track, there is me making a fake didgeridoo sound (as the track chills out a bit) using my real-time voice through a vocoder that is modulating a synth clarinet sound. I still have that hardware vocoder but never use it. Maybe I should start again as that fake didg sound is pretty cool.

Good to hear from you again.