Yo, PJB.

Thanks for checking my rather alternative blues out. Yes, it is is some very soulful guitar playing and I find I can essentially sing along with most of it, especially the most obviously lead type of parts.

"there's just so much crap blues being played under the blues banner as simple 12 bar regurgitated slush"

Yes. I never play 12 bar and have really only ever played it in live band situations. It's a great chord sequence but I also find it very limiting. I bet I could do something interesting with it but I don't currently feel the urge to try.

I'm not a big Tom Waits fan. I wonder if this sounds a bit too beautiful for his kind of vibe though now you say it, I can hear him doing something over this as there's a darker, moodier vibe present behind the guitar. All the same, I feel he might spoil it so I think I prefer it as it is.

Thanks again.

Thanks, man.

It's important for me to suck people in, so to speak, on the first note of every track. A hard thing to always manage but I do try.

"Your spin on the blues is quite awesome"

I do love blues but a lot bores the shit out of me so I've always wanted to do some very alternative takes on the genre. I think this qualifies and I can't really think of another blues track like it. Also, if you take away the slide guitar, I don't think it's a blues track at all.

Thanks again.

Thanks for listening. This was a pretty deep track to make.

Lots of beauty and an interesting electronic soundscape behind that slide guitar playing.

Hi.

I think the liquid thing maybe has something to do with some of those smooth slide notes. I love deep chillout and have always wanted to do some very alternative blues in that style so I think this is it.

I'd say it's a short epic, something I'd like to do more of rather than my usual lengthy epics.

"Writing is never my strong point,so please forgive me.!"

You're very much forgiven, even though there's nothing to forgive.

Thanks for the continued encouragement and high praise for my playing and production work. I just try to make music that is both deep and interesting to me.

I hardly expect to be properly popular and think I what I do is just for people into the deeper side of music and musical soundscapes. So, people who listen in the same sort of way as I do. It's nice to find them!

Yeah, you should get into slide. I did in about 2005 after watching a Black Keys DVD (back when it was just the two of them and they were really good) and have never looked back.

I really haven't. I changed my tuning to DADFsharpAD and that has remained my tuning ever since. I'm a bit lost if I play in regular tuning these days. So, I use that tuning now for all guitar playing, not just slide.

Slide would really suit a lot of what you do and it's an extremely sensual way of playing. Opens up all those microtones. I recommend a glass slide on the little finger. Can't understand people who put it on the third as that screws up your fretting hand whereas if you don't want to use it, you've still got three fairly unhampered fingers so can do all your usual shapes.

When I'm playing with the slide, I try not to overdo it so that when I add the slide, you really notice it. Some passages are pure slide (quite a few in this one) but it's a killer physical acoustic effect to hit from time to time.

Yes, this is a shorter one in which I don't switch into a whole bunch of other styles. It's a lot more consistent. Like a few ideas rather than my usual 10,000 in one track.

I've done slide playing across so many different styles (jazz, funk, electro, metal, grunge, blues, rock, d'n'b, reggae etc and more to probably come) but this is one of the more consistent blues ones, even though it's no regular blues.

"You said you trimmed some guitar bits"

Damn right I did! I do that all the time in every single track as I'm one of the laziest players out there. I'm the king of "fix it in the mix" though with me it's more "write the composition after jamming away for a while" as it is fixing bad notes and general errors/average and not especially interesting playing. I don't know if there's anyone else who has the same working method as me but I guess I'd only find out if I actually worked closely with someone on playing, recording, editing etc
"not knowing when to stop adding to the composition"

Yeah, you do that a bit and it could be said that I do it a lot. However, I try to make all that layering my special sort of unique sound. Complex and constantly changing but hopefully nothing interfering too much with anything else. So hard to know if I always (ever?) get it right. And that's partly down to the editing and mixing skills.

Anyway, I liked it, you liked it and that's the main thing, even if it is a bit rough around the edges in places. A bit like a lot of my work, I guess.

Good to hear from you on a pretty old track. Hopefully it's kind of timeless!

Yo. I have a bunch of tracks listed as 'blues' on here, such as this one, which will probably be the opening track on my still unreleased blues album.

The Swedish house loops joke is still a good one. They're really needed here to liven up what is a pretty damn chilled track. Still haven't found out what Swedish house loops actually are and doubt I ever will. Try making the joke on random people's tracks. Might confuse them a bit. Hey - it could become the new "Nice track, bro" type of pathetic track comment: "Not bad but needs some Swedish house loops".

"guitar has a nice slide effect"

Slide effect? That's me playing slide! This might be my greatest slide track, though I've got a few and in different genres too, not just blues (and certainly not country). Some of the playing is quite exquisite, in my totally unbiased opinion.

Shame there's a bit of a problem with the delay/reverb on some of the guitars as it makes for a bit of a muddy mix, though still pretty damn good.

Pretty short track for me, eh?

I made it at least about 6 years ago but made improvements this year so updated it.

Thanks for your thoughts.

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.

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.

Thanks. If you think there's even a little brilliance please have a listen to some others. Pre-Birth Blues for a related blues vibe for some classic, psychedelic, powerful electronic pumping chillout. Also go to the following pages for my much longer, more recent stuff that's too long for Looperman:

http://www2.mixposure.com/Static_Nomad/music.php

http://www2.mixposure.com/Endless_Rotary/music.php

Leave comments if you have the time to spare as I'm always fascinated to know what music lovers and musicians think of each track and the various elements that they conist of.

Thanks, man. Sorry for taking a while to reply. I agree with everything you wrote and it's similar to all the comments below. It's good that other people feel the same way I do about this track - that's not any particular praise for me, just praise for the result.

If you would like to do some better, more detailed drum programming, just say and I can give you some, good simple advice. It's not that hard and it's something I've gradually built up, partly because when I'm working with inspirational sounds and riifs, I don't mind spending ages and ages with them and very carefully adding and removing sections. In fact, completing a track is a bit sad for, which is why I spend ages on each one and they tend to end up being very long. Keep listening as I'm sure I have more blues you'd like (not that any of it is at all typical of the various blues genres).

Thanks for listening, I know what you mean as regards the warm ear feeling. How did you come across this track - just by randomly browsing the blues section?

There's no real mastering on this or pretty much any of my tracks - something I really should get round to learning. I don't even EQ or compress the separate channels, just process the sounds a bit and, obviously, automate their volumes.

I see from your page that you like hip hop so would suggest that you check out my recent 'psychedelic grungehop' epic called The Bigger The Fatter The Better. It's got some good response from people but I'd be interested to hear what people particularly into hip hop make of it.

Here it is: http://www2.mixposure.com/Static_Nomad/song_focus_24434.php

Thanks. I love this one, as does pretty much everyone who hears it, in my experience. There's a real depth to it and I will be happy to listen to it when I'm 100 as there's that much depth and emotion and enough going on in the ambient bed that makes it all so compelling.

I know of no other track quite like it and I have listened to quite a bit of alternative blues and some of the artists who combine blues with interesting technology eg Little Axe, Tangle Eye, Jeff Beck and others.

Yes, this is a rare piece of music (made about 3 years ago) that I worked so hard on. Result is I think it's almost perfect. Listen closely to that lead, slide resonator guitar and you'll find you can pretty much sing along to everything it does, not that I played it all in one go like that. You can indeed get lost in headphones to this one and I think you never know where it's going because there's no obvious structure or purpose to it - it just keeps moving but never getting boring or too repetitive.

I love the ethereal beds of sounds and the warm, anchoring bass. One and only one synth bass instrument on this track, which is rare for me - I usually use a good few and quite often switch between keyboard bass and (played) bass guitar.

As regards making this available to you or anyone else - that's a tough question I'm mulling over but no plans to just yet. I should probably make up a few albums of the material I have from the last ten years but I'm busy starting new stuff, continuing old stuff so need to find the time.

This track comes from a much larger project, from which I've produced a good few tracks so far (more to come too). They share lots of the same instruments and probably even identical guitar parts. Examples you will find on http://soundcloud.com/endlessrotary/sets are: Deaf To The Metaphor (needs just a little more work, guitar a bit loud and screechy at times) and A Shackle For The Free (major recycling of older parts, some odd bass parts made by 1 octave detune of resonator guitar playing. Also has killer, 3-piece grunge band ending).

Thanks very much John - I do appreciate it. Congratulations on being the second reviewer of my tracks. I'm new to the site so how did you come across it? Was it the title that attracted you (comes from Carl Sagan)? I might make this stuff available for download but should really get together some proper albums, mastered and with artwork etc. I have enough music currently to make about 4 - 5 or 6 if I worked harder and completed lots of unfinished work. If I get enough positive reviews of my stuff, that might encourage me to bother to officially release stuff as I'm not altogether sure if there are enough people sufficiently interested to actually sit down and listen to my stuff. Please listen to and review others and I'll check out what you've done too. Thanks again!