Neomorpheus

Thanks for your awesome words! I totally encourage you to come back into the Electronic world. Its missed you, my friend. Haha. This track came out really nice though, and I love the support!

~GO

Greetings, Neocellobro.

"You certainly wield a wicked Cello" is a cool phrase.

You know I've been concentrating on the cello for the last 4 months or so and trying to get it to do as much as I can in each track it appears in. I'm not really big on practice on any instrument so this is my way of finding a reason to play and try out new techniques and stuff as I learn this somewhat difficult instrument.

So, so much cello in this, including a few slightly different playing techniques. As regards time signature and tempo, yes I keep the drums moving through different styles. If I hadn't done that, I'm sure the track would feel long and samey and boring and as if it hadn't really gone anywhere.

"movie score to like a Quentin Tarantino version of Lawrence of Arabia."

That's an interesting idea and I know what you mean and it could work really well. I recently rewatched Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds and I thought a lot more of it than I did on first viewing (I now really like it). I bring the film up because it had some cool, odd musical choices in it that gave things a really interesting feel. There's even a David Bowie song in it!

"harem girl sequence as 1:22 to 2:43 with some nice belly dancing nubiles"

Yes - I get that sort of feel from it as well. Sorry that section wasn't longer but I knew I had loads more sections to get to so I thought I wouldn't hang around and just get right on with the next one (which has some really powerful cello riffage).

"Love the effects on the cello, sounds like some overdrive/distortion in spots."

I was pretty sure that I hadn't used any overdrive on the cello in this but there might be in some of the darker swing jazz sections in the middle. Otherwise the effects are just delay, reverb and chorus plus some amp modelling from my guitar floor effects unit.

"you would have been a God to the hippies with this if you were around in the late 60's early 70's man"

Quite possibly. Maybe I can still be a god to them 40/50 years later (and beyond).

"You need to find a time machine!"

That may well be possible:

"The DeLorean Motor Company has announced its intention to manufacture the iconic DMC-12 sports car again..."

http://www.dezeen.com/2016/02/01/delorean-reproduce-dmc-12-car-back-to-the-future-gull-wing-doors/

Thanks for the thoughts and good to hear you're still firmly stuck in the Nomad groove.

Thanks Neo. Quite a few relaxed ones I've done now and I'm discovering .... fast and furious and you can get away with more mistakes but slow and gentle not so much so.
Lot more attention to detail needed.
Thanks for listening mate.

Thank you Neomorpheus, I greatly do appreciate it tremendously. I will be posting new tracks soon..

Thanks For That Man. I'll Send You The Link Personally When I Post The Official Song.

- Billion

Yo.

Swanky Static here.

Yes, jazzy intro sounds a lot like one of my favourite bands ever - Morphine. The cello seems to work as a replacement for Mark Sandman's bass parts there. And then we're into my big hip hop piano bassline, which really dominates as one of the main basslines for the rest of the track.

Special secret: that piano bassline was originally a drum part! I just copied a drum part to the piano track, moved some notes about and it worked (must try that again). There are also various rapid piano fills that were originally drum fills (others are played by hand) at various points in the track.

"underlying moog sounding thing I'm hearing there at :45"

is some sort of synth bass, with me carefully controlling the cutoff frequency. This isn't much of a synth track but that part there does make a difference and meshes quite nicely with the piano (an instrument I don't use often).

" little piano twinkles amid the sax and guitar serenade"

Yes, I use a second piano sound which is much lighter (and with a longer release time) than the main (bassline) piano. It's good for the tinkles and is really a lovely sound. There's not much of a guitar serenade there. When the sax returns in that chilled, funky section, there's none. That distorted stuff is all cello.

"6:40 you go into what sounds like a whale mating call groove... are the higher pitched tones straight or enhanced"

I like watching whales getting it on so thought I should make some background music for them to do it to. The distorted cello in this (which dominates proceedings after a few mins) also has loads of delay and reverb on it. It's my main heavy guitar setting on my floor effects unit, but with the distortion turned down a bit here as this isn't a heavy track.

Doing shimmering bowing with all that delay on the cello is cool fun and those whale sounds are not due to any other effects. That's just some of what you can do with bowing and the weird tones that can be used. There is a specific, strange tonal delay effect used a little a bit later but most of those weird tones are really just generated by the bow.

At 6:48 I'm really pleased with the high, lead cello playing and melody there. I'm employing a technique called spiccato, which is a word I've known for years but without actually knowing what it was. Basically, it's using the bow to hit/bounce off the strings rather than pulling it across them. So, a lot like the thumb in slap bass playing.

Thanks for dropping by to check out my new merger of sounds and bowing progress.

Static Cellmad, celling it up.

Very kind words from you my friend! I have just been forcing myself to move into new experimentations, and it is so pleasing that people are still enjoying the results! I appreciate you always being there with support!

Hey I forgot to mention that's not too bad a joke.

I get it but also don't get it.

It seems it would make more sense if it were banjo players or accordionists as those are maligned instruments. But I'm not at all aware of the cello having any such status.

Here's my favourite banjo joke, from one of my absolute favourite musicans in the world, Harry Manx, who I've met twice at his gigs. He tells it on stage before playing banjo. Something like:

"I did a gig the other night and left one of my banjos in my car. I came back to the car to find it had been broken into. My banjo hadn't been taken and there were six others alongside it."

You've really gotta check this guy out as he's excellent on guitar, banjo, mohan veena (a very special slide instrument), harmonica and vocals.

Nice guy as well.

Harry Manx plays "Can't Be Satisfied"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO73Fczq9IM

Harry Manx - Spoonful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn17wun1FEc

It's cool I'm glad you like this tracks.

wow thank you , I have known Mike Tramp for a long time. He also lives in Dallas.I have a few pictures with Vito. Amazing guitar player.I will download a song I cc-wrote with Steve Stevens he even played on the track. It's had to miss the Ray #####....lol Singing is not my choice I am a bass player first.I would rather someone else handle vocals.I am humbled by your kind words,it makes me want to write even more songs. I have about 75 songs now and I'm not quite done building my home studio here in Garland Tx Dragon Fly Studio coming soon...

Thanks, appreciate your comments.You should try doing something Hiphopy, I saw on your profile that you do a wide range of songs and styles, should be interesting to see!

You are sort of correct in that this is a post disco song. What I love about Ferry and Jagger and Richards and Bowie, they all spent time at studio 54 and absorbed the hedonism of Disco which erupted from the gay underground and added it to their rock and R&B sensibilities and came up with some amazing sounds and songs that go beyond disco. outside of the 4 to the floor beat the intricate rhythm guitars and bass lines set them apart. This is an ode to that style.
I am glad U enjoyed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hic-dnps6MU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYP6F3gX68Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6QGP0OUaV4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tWyIug2qP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA27aQZCQMk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ib4-Lyxxyw0

All those songs contributed to the synthesis of this one. Thomas Dolby.. love his work. Hyperactive, and Close but no cigar are two of my fav songs from him.
nice comment my friend.
Crugracious

I didn't name it "Bun" Because I thought this song had a deeper meaning (for some reason).

Thanks dude!Yes miles is the man,as a guitar player I have learned so much from his recordings and jazz in general it has opened up my ear to so much. Glad you took time to comment.HNY.

Wow ty Neo,
I stewed over the vocals for a while....what to do, what to do.
I appreciate the compliments my friend. Definitely the biggest cover song I have done yet....and far more difficult than when I covered Stairway To Heaven.
This was more about personal accomplishment for me and I really feel good about it.
Mark.

Neo, What's happnin' brother?

If your new material is the doom metal track I just listened to, I'm glad you were working on it! I left a comment for ya.

" Its also cool to notice that remnants of the Valvedriver still lurks in the shadow of this new persona."

I don't think that ValveDriver part of me will ever really die. It's like I told somebody in my reply to their comment on "...And Life Went On" I don't think the music is really going to sound that different to you guys, but for me, it's coming from a place that's far more pure and natural. With Valve, it was kind of a forced darkness with the intent to disturb. Now it's just a love for the darker sounds and making them fit together with a good natural flow. But, I guess that's pretty much all any musician does, right?

Thanks for havin' a listen and for the kindness, man. I truly appreciate it.

Take care, man.
Aaron.

Thanks mate for the kind words. I was a couple of months since I recorded anything but hopefully it will happen again soon. Again, thank you for listening and commenting.

Thanks man! I truly appreciate the welcomes from everyone! I'm very humbled actually how kewl everyone is here. I look forward to checking everyone's material out as well.

Very appreciative to hear so much talent on here! It lifts my spirits to no end!