StaticNomad

Double post...

Thanks for checking it out. Looks like I was wrong to think people would be put off by jazz.

Check my reply to midisparks regarding the importance of an interesting blend of instruments. I like to think I have an interesting blend in pretty much all my tracks. I see it as an area of endless creativity and quite possibly more important than just a good riff. A good guitar riff in a track that sounds like so mnay others I've heard before doesn't necessarily interest me a great deal.

"The tension and build up is nice."

I'm tempted to turn the last few minutes into a separate track. But I like how the whole things progresses and goes heavy around 8.5 mins so don't really want to lose that (as would happen if I removed those end few minutes).

Thanks. You know I've got high standards so tend not to upload things until they're in a really good, perhaps even complete state.

I really enjoyed doing the jazz drums in this. I have a particular love of jazz drumming though I guess I love all sorts of drums. Metal drummers are another level in terms of intensity. And sometimes complexity too though not necessarily subtlety! Danny Carey (from Tool) is definitely one of the very best heavy drummers.

This track actually uses the EZ Drummer kit from the drummer from heavy Swedish band Meshuggah (for the rock change sections).

I think my three favourite acoustic drum styles are jazz, funk and metal and I like to combine all of them. Rock is just what happens inbetween funk and metal. I'm also into some dub/reggae playing (see track Things That Should Always Be for that) as well country trainbeats and uptempo swinging jazz. Then there's shuffle grooves, which I've been using quite a bit recently.

Hip hop is a big influence too and I also manage to get a little of that into this one. I also love Asian percussion, particularly tablas so I guess I'm just into "good grooves" in general.

"Those 11 minutes were over ia a flash..."

Good to hear as I always worry about things dragging and being boring (as we've discussed before). But a good few people have said the same sort of thing about other tracks and them not seeming to last as long as they actually do.

Thanks for checking it out.

Hi. Leave comments as short or as long as you like. Or, as is often the case, leave no comment at all (yes, I know that's mostly from all the many users with no profile and no tracks).

I of course prefer longer commnents as it's interesting to hear the details of what people did or didn't like.When I like a track, I try to point out bits I didn't like or think can be improved. Then maybe the track will become even better.

I've got to know a few people on here in terms of their tastes and preferences so it's often fun to see which bits they choose as their track highlights.

Anyway, good to hear you found that some of these slightly disparate elements came together nicely.

All the best to you.

Hello. I said in my last reply to you that I had another jazz track you might prefer and it seems you do.

I don't think this has much less drumming than normal. There's quite a bit of jazz complexity though I kick into some simpler grooves at certain points eg during your "personal highlight" section, around 6:30.

That was fun guitar to play and it hopefully sounds a bit different from my usual range of playing.

I do a mixture of fingerstyle and pick playing (slide playing is almost always just with fingers). This was with fingers to get that close control and short, muted notes. I also really like the piano parts behind that clean playing. I had to edit the guitar parts quite closely to make sure they didn't collide with the piano. That section is a particular type of cool, swinging jazz but I don't know who it sounds like. Simple drum groove really drives it and inspired the guitar.

I thought you might be particularly interested in the bass in this one. The main bass drives the whole track and plays all the time, except for the two rock guitar/drum sections and then the end couple of minutes. That bass (detuned slide guitar) is not very bassy, which really helps allow other parts to be heard.

I don't know if you're a Mark Sandman/Morphine fan (Danke is) but I guess this slide bass playing is closest to the amazing 2-string slide bass playing he did in his band Morphine.

I see bass as a concept - not necessarily something that has to be played by bass guitar or synth bass. If you want more space in a track - go for more of a mid-range bass.

There are five different techniques for creating bass used in this one: bass guitar, guitar through octave pedal, synth bass, slide guitar detuned one octave in the computer and bass guitar chopped up, sampled and played back in from the keyboard.

Yes, this track will be on my jazz/funk album. There's always some electro in my stuff but that album will have quite an acoustic sound. I don't think this track sounds like it's very electronic. Maybe it even sounds a bit like a live band (I'm not sure). The album has some unfinished tracks you haven't heard. One track that will also be on there is An Early Monring Appointment With God.

Glad you liked the beauty in this one as jazz is not my natural playing style and I know nothing about jazz chords or theory!

"Well u have a customer here"

Well I'm not selling anything yet. I'm planning to give a bunch of albums away for free through a site such as Bandcamp once I've got mastering and artwork done. I guess I could charge for them but this is real niche music so probably not worth trying to make any money off it.

Anyway, - I like all sorts of grooves, including slow, spacious, ponderous (good word, not used very often) jazz ones.

Yes, I think my unusual choice of instruments is one of the key defining aspects of my music. There's so much uninteresting music out there and I kind of think everything's been done before in terms of notes or chords or sonic extremes. However, the way in which you combine sounds has loads and loads more possibilities.

It's not as though I have a regular band lineup so I just choose instrument combinations that I've not used before for every single track. I try to give them all their own character. I think inventive instrument combinations is the real way to create unique music. I have no idea how I could combine notes in a way that no one has done before. But with sounds there are many more possibilities.

I like to be patient with the development. You may be able to hear that most of the track is based around the main bassline. So, everything that follows is just me developing other parts to accompany that bassline. Different drum grooves and keyboard parts and also complete changes (such as the two rock drums and guitar sections) as a break before returning to that main theme.

"Very musical"
I think when you get jazz right it tends to sound very rich and musical. More so than a lot of electronic music or metal. I don't know why that is or if I'm even explaining myself properly.

Thanks for stopping by.

Yo, Shatner. Interesting ride is what I like to take myself and then anyone else listening on. I think the two sections you chose as your favourites are the ones with a little hip hop in them. No surprise there!

Obviously, it's mostly jazz, with rock breaks but I had a leftover hip hop hit kit (from another track) sitting on the timeline so used it to get really grooving around 3.5 mins behind the fluid lead guitar lines.

The bass there is pretty interesting. It's my bass guitar playing cut up as one REX file, which is then laid out across the keys. So, each key has a very short phrase of playing - like 0.2 to 1 sec. Fun to jam along with as you're not quite sure what you're going to get when you press a key. Some sort of little bass run. Which then gets edited afterwards as it's real hard to remember which key does what.

Actually, there's quite a bit of sample/cut up stuff in this track though the only person sampled is me. Most of my stuff is a big collage in which I shift about the best bits of my quite loose instrument playing.

This track also has a sister track with a whole lot more hip hop in it so think you might like it. It's much shorter but a much crazier trip through hip hop, d'n'b, jazz, funk and metal. It's got similar bass and drums in it as in your first favourite section and is called Way Beyond Wrong.

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/145971

Your second favourite section was a big funk ending that should really be at least a minute longer. I can play guitar over that sort of thing all day. It's even got two simultaneous basslines there.

Thanks for checking this out.

P.S. Oh and here's another crazy, alternative hip hop trip with a hell of a lot of guitar.

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/145971

Thanks. I take great pride in all my drum programming, which is pretty much a highlight in most of my tracks these days. It's improved a lot in the last two years, since getting Superior Drummer and various EZ Drummer expansion packs. The improvement in software has helped a great deal, though I guess I put in a lot of groundwork in how to program drums over a number of years before then.

Almost all of my music is very groove-based so it's essential the drums work really, really well so I spend ages trimming little bits out that interfere with the groove, after experimenting with all sorts of fills and changes in feel and groove.

I like a lot of drum styles, from jazz to metal. If you'd like to hear some other good acoustic drumming tracks, check out Debt Black Hole and Into The Out There. For more electronic/loop-based drums, try Think Big Feel Small, Tiny Little Pieces or Evolution Of An Echo.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Yo. See my reply to MrWolf regarding bassline, which is the heartbeat of it all. The track only keeps extending cos I found other ways to work that resonator guitar bassline. Must try detuning and recycling more of my guitar playing like that.

Maybe a little like a Dixie jazz funeral though not as funereal - a bit more chilled and beautiful.

Eerie synth same as in Think Big Feel Small (last upload), Knee Deep In The Cosmic Overwhelm and others.

3:52 snare is switch to hip hop kit. That section is partly lifted from Way Beyond Wrong - possibly first track of mine you reviewed. This and that used to be the same track so share lots of instruments.

4:56 is my little dub organ. Also can be heard at 1:19.

5:15 second rock section. Had to bring that guitar playing and accented hat drum groove back as they break up the jazz nicely.

5:50 guitar starting to get jazzier and bluesier.

Yes, quite subtle piano here. Some is played, other little snippets are copied from the main synth that plays a sort of Rhodes role.

Yeah, don't think this sounds like it was made on a computer - sounds very acoustic and kind of like a live band.

7:38 though you might like the rapid dulcimer in this. Reminiscent of a particular, automatic hammering instrument (marxophone) used on a Portishead track (Orbital one too).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7gutsi1uT4

That dulcimer continues during the heavy section plus some big effects to create a strange, psychedelic bed.

Yes, 7:50 I guess it moves to major scale with the bass guitar. And we get a bit of violin to carry things over down over the drop back to that essential sitting jazz groove on 8:00.

I knew you'd pick out those short acid synth blasts. Instrument was just sitting on timeline but I like to put that sort of incongruity in a jazz track.

In the last couple of minutes it sort of is morphing into another song and I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I cut the end cool jam short just so I could fit whole thing on Looperman. I should probably extend it. Am tempted to make last 3 mins their own track. But I like the build from jazz to heavyish so don't want to remove that from the jazz track

Tough call to be made there.

Thanks for the thoughts, as always. See you for the next upload...

Greetings, good sir.

My tracks are definitely valuable to me. And I try hard to make everything in the track high quality. If something is annoying me, I just have to fix it!

Yes, jazz can be a scary thing to some people. I have a real love-hate relationship with it and there's so much of it that I find boring, or weird or discordant. But, as with every genre, I'm influenced by certain aspects of jazz and take those things and put them into my music. Jazz drumming is definitely my favourite thing in jazz. I don't really care too much about brass instruments (even though I'm a huge fan of Morphine).

Ethereal guitar that you liked is a sample-based instrument that I have used in quite a few tracks. See my last track that I don't think you heard (also quite jazzy) called Thing Big Feel Small to hear more of that beautiful sound. I add lots of delay and lower the attack so that it doesn't sound much like guitar.

7.10 piano is pretty good. I'm not a big fan of piano and only use it a little bit in my music.

The heavy end here (yes, I know it's not really heavy) was fun to make. You know I like to build a track and then make it explode. I've used a mix of jazz and metal drum kits in this one, though it's definitely not a jazz-metal track.

Good to hear your thoughts, as always.

Things are OK in my lab though builders will soon be working on the house for quite a long time, which will make it harder to do music.

Well, well - it seems you managed to survive my jazz odyssey.

That main bass was just some slide resonator I had left over from some other track so I tried detuning it an octave and loved the sound. A cool not-very-bassy bass.

I have no idea why there is panning on it! I haven't applied it whilst making this track but it also wouldn't have been recorded on the original signal so I don't really understand it. But it sounds good so I've left it.

"that piano chord a 1:00 is a real tease"

That's really well put and I know what you mean. Not a big piano fan but like to use it sometimes.

The edgy/rock guitar in that first section is all about playing along to the accented hi hat drum groove. Nice, accented 4/4 change from the gentle, swinging jazz to provide variety. Fun guitar to play.

I have no idea what genre you could give to all my stuff except 'far out'. Hopefully my different albums will sort of be seen as different genres (that's for other people to say).

Yes, could have used touches of brass but my VST brass stuff isn't great and I didn't really experiment much with it in this. Maybe not having any brass here is more interesting.

7:15 bigger, more obvious piano riff. Notice how that detuned slide bass is still going underneath (and even in the rocking section later on).

8:44 short acid synth break was one of the last bits of playing I put in. Had that instrument sitting unused on the timeline. Just twiddled a few keys and it was done.

Good to hear from you again.

Good to hear from you - it's been a while.

Slide is a wonderful thing but tricky to control. Doing it is so sensual and you really get so close to the instrument and have such control of all the microtones as you move it just a tiny bit along a string.

I realised how sensual and sexual it can be a few years ago when playing on stage with a hot female who was singing. I was quite stoned and really felt like my slide was sort of caressing her as it is a bit like stroking a body, except you actually use a lot of pressure and control and intensity, though you can be gentler too.

Slide is one of my signature sounds though I've only been doing it since 2005. Watched a Black Keys DVD and decided I must play slide!

5:32 synth: you're the second to notice that. It's just some synth that I've used in a bunch of other tracks. No clever morphing done there - the synth part just pops up. Must be how I've mixed it that makes it seem like morphing -neomorphing, even.

Yes, more might have been good but I kept this track relatively sparse whereas I have a lot more synth work in other blues tracks.

The most obvious contender for that is the much jazzier and funkier one called Pre-Birth Blues http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/103958

which has loads of guitar and a lot of very varied synth sounds.

Probably the heaviest track I've heard with loads of slide in it is this: Debt Black Hole

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/146806

You know I love my grooves and I like to think I've kicked this one off with the best one. They key part is the little snatch of incidental guitar I've chopped out and looped up in that intro.

I like to make cool things happen in Nomad land. Hope I don't ever make boring, washed up, safe middle aged or old man's music. Or just end up really repeating myself. Gotta keep it fresh and interesting.

Hope you and your music are well and thanks for your thoughts.

Cool. I also love alternative sorts of blues and good drum rolls.

See my recommendations below in other replies to hear some of the other quite alternative blues tracks I have on this site. They're all merged with varying degrees of electronica and synths and stuff. Plus loads of guitar, of course.

Blues, blues, blues it definitely is.

Plus a little electronica and soundscapes to add some weirdness and make it something different.

"Boom boom boom. Everybody say 'wayo'. Wayo!"

Outhere Brothers - Boom Boom Boom Official Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqHQ_wWbG9Y

Yes, this is probably my favourite slide playing ever (by me).

No banjo here because I made this in 2007 and I only got my banjo 2 years ago as a Christmas present. I improved it a bit recently but there was no need to add any banjo.

I will upload some other banjo tracks soon as I know you want to hear more.

Thanks for checking it out though I think you almost always listen to each track I upload.

Thanks. Apart from more clarity in the guitars (don't think I can change them much now) I'm not really sure what else is needed here.

This will be the first track on my blues album. Second is much more rocking (but still chilled, until the second half)and can be heard here:

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/148075

Most of the other tracks from that still unreleased album are also on this site in the 'blues' category.

"No problems from this deaf guy."

Are you really deaf or just a bit hard of hearing?

Well, if you are deaf, you do a remarkable job at making good music.

Glad you liked my psyched up grooves.

Good answer and you are right, without ever having met me, that I make the music I make largely to please myself.

Actually, it's not even that. It's more like an explorer (not so many about these days as most of the world has been 'discovered') who goes looking for new places just to see what's there, not in order to necessarily have a good time or gain renown as an intrepid traveller.

So, I'm just constantly exploring the musical and sonic soundscape and every track your hear of mine is just that. There's no specific 'here's me doing this genre' track though obviously I have to explore some recognisable genres. I'm hardly good even to invent completely unheard of music. It's all based on stuff that's already been done but I like to think I combine things in unique ways.

I've heard so much music over the years and there's so much that bores me so I have to make something I haven't really heard. Not make a half decent version of a genre just so I can say "Hey, here I am doing ___".

I'm oddly inspired by boring unadventurous music as well as
stuff that is good but could have been so much better. I analyse the ways I would have done it differently and then eventually introduce those improvements and innovations into what I do.

I believe I have good taste in music (ie appreciation of other people's stuff). If I like one of my tracks, I feel confident at leas some others will. So, please myself as much as I can and then I'll probably end up with something good and different. Always room for improvement and I'm my own harshest critic.

I'm always curious to hear what people make of my stuff and that's why I value your intelligent and interesting feedback. Far too little of that on this site - real disappointment for me.

I had a good track on Mixposure a couple of years ago that about 5-10 people really loved. Not one word of criticism! But I've since found so many errors and corrected most of them and produced such a better end product. But if I'd just sat around thinking "Oh yeah, this is so great and everyone else is telling me just that. I rule!" I would never have made those crucial improvements.

The main reason I like my stuff to be liked is so that I can eventually somehow attract decent collaborators (in person, not online) and bandmembers and take what I do to the next few levels.

Take care.

Thanks. I've enjoyed it for the past 6 years and am pleased I recently managed to improve the overall mix and little awkward bits here and there.

Yes, there are some fun sounds in this.

I don't do a lot of pure electro, preferring instead to use lots of guitars and acoustic drums with my synth work, but I do a few pure electro tracks. Others to check are: Tiny Little Pieces and Headlong Into The Irreversible Orbit.

Yes, synth at 2:43 is awesome and then gets brought back later on.

This has a sister track utilising many of the same sounds though I'm nowhere near finishing it.

Thanks for checking this out. This seems to be pretty much my most popular track on here.

Good point about the cowboy movies. Hadn't thought of that.

The intro does have a bit of a country swing to it.

Also country sort of vibe in second half, after that breakdown.

The intro is one of my very favourite parts that I'm very proud of.

I tend to do a great deal of highly precise and detailed guitar editing and layering. Listen to that intro again and you'll hear it's a tiny little piece of incidental guitar playing (my own) that I looped up and then varied a bit with another chopped out piece.

This is a very special piece to me.

Check out some of the other alternative blues recommendations I've already made in other replies. I have quite a few on this site.

Take care.

Thanks. I admit to also having been completely blown away by this over the years. I made this in about 2007 (recently updated it quite a bit but kept the same structure) and used to sit in the garden or wherever having fun listening to the movement of the guitars and the general easy flow.

I can sort of sing along with all the lead playing. There's no real verse, chorus or solo here though it's not just a bunch of riffs. More like some sort of guitar soundscape. Very special thing to make and I hope I'll be able to do something as good in the future.

I have a bunch of other, very alternative blues tracks on here, as already mentioned in other replies. So, check out: Thousand Ball Blues, Pre-Birth Blues, Six Of One, Mango Frisbee and a Shackle For The Free. They're all quite different but also deep, unusual blues trips. All will be on my forthcoming blues album.

Thanks for clicking play and leaving some words.

This was actually made specifically for madeira drinkers currently residing in Canada.

Thanks for your very kind words and I'd be interested to hear how you think my music has made you a better musician. I feel it's sufficiently interesting, diverse, unusual and creative stuff to inspire quite a few people. If only they get the chance to hear it! It's predominantly Loopermen/ladies/hermaphrodites who currently do that though I hope that will change when I get round to releasing some actual proper albums.

Yes, guitar had better be cool as there's a lot of it here. The playing's fine but there are some problems with the sound (the effects were recorded with the parts so can't be altered later) which has resulted in a slightly muddy mix. I agree but there's maybe not much I can do to fix that. But I bet a better 'mix-rescue' type of engineer could.

Guess it does move from minor to major though hadn't consciously thought about it before but I think I know where you mean (roughly as the drums change from acoustic to electronic).

Background dissonance adds a real weird vibe to this that I like. Strange sort of evolving synth sound there that's not easy to control. Also used in jazz to d'n'b track you have heard called Think Big, Feel Small (bass too as one track came out of the other). Non-grooving bass sits nicely in this. Must use more legato, grooveless bass!

The pads are sampled slide guitar stuff with slow attack and loads of delay. Heavenly sound I have used in many tracks.

Not sure what you mean about my evolving composing ability. I made this in 2007, just tarted it up this year. I agree that I have improved a lot in the last few years (getting Superior/EZ Drummer, faster computer, using EQ etc) though not necessarily in terms of ideas - just in how to get them out better and present them in a tidyish format. Also not improved instrument playing.

Maybe there are birdlike echoes in this - possibly from the spectral delay plugin used on some guitar parts (which also muddies up the mix). You know I have used actual birdsong (from my garden) in about 5 tracks?

I would like to do more tracks like this - fewer instruments, shorter length, not such big changes. But I also like the crazy journeys.

Thanks again, see you for the next one.

Thanks. I used to pretty much also feel like that though maybe listening to it so many times of the years means that the magic has worn off a bit.

Definitely an unusual sound.

I have others from the same project so share some of the same sounds.

Try: Pre-Birth Blues, Six Of One or Thousand Ball Blues. All very different but all deep, alternative blues.

Cool. I try to make every second of it entertaining!