Nuance Is Futile - StaticNomad

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

Yo.

Good to hear from you.

Yes, it's pretty good fun when those fat drums kick in.

"That vocal sample is on point."

It totally isn't as there are no vocal samples in the track. If there were, I probably would have mentioned it in my description. Give me a time reference and I'll tell you exactly what you're hearing. Probably a cello sound. I hope you've read that all this riffage is distorted cello. I still think most of it sounds exactly like guitar.

"My headphones are screwed so I cannot comment on the mix.."

That is a shame but it seems you've at least heard something worthwhile.

"@4:14 a great switch, evolving, then back to that southern/nola feeling riffage.. "

Yes, I get funky, with the distorted Rhodes part (plus some clean cello bowing underneath) and then it's back to the badass riffage. But, for the third and final heavy movement, I introduce some different synth arps and melodies.

Great to hear you'll have some new music soon. I still haven't got round to hearing all your current Looperman tracks. Must start changing that.

Thanks again.

Yo, Dennel.

Great to hear you really liked this one. I've become more of a fan of it since finishing it and find quite a few sections and melodies quite memorable and catchy.

"Could you be the world's first Rock & Roll Cellist?"

No, definitely not. I don't know much about the world of the cello (ie outside classical music) but there are definitely people who can really play (unlike me) who are rocking it up a lot. The metal group Apocalyptica have been around for years and they play cellos hard and heavy. I've even seen them live. There's also a female cellist called Wendy Guo who specialises in live metal cello and a whole bunch of rocking cellists I guess I don't yet know about.

From my experiments in cello playing in the three months that I've been playing, I have concluded that you could pretty much entirely replace a guitarist in a rock/metal band with a cello player. I'm interested to see if anyone has done just that. Yes, there are certain guitar techniques that I guess you can't do on cello (tapping, tremolo arm, strumming, slide etc) but bowing really adds an extra dimension to the sound. Basically, just whack that cello through some fat distortion (as in this track) and you can seriously rock it up.

Look out for a new track from me in the next few days with a whole load of interesting rocking cello in it. It's not metal but it's not supposed to be. Instead there's hip hop, saxophone and big piano basslines plus loads of cello, which is meant to do everything the guitar would normally do.

Anyway, yes there are keys in this track - Fender Rhodes. I don't think there are any cello harmonics but there is a load of pizzicato playing (ie cello played with fingers, like a double bass) entering at different points in the first half.

If you want to hear some cello harmonics, check out this cellout track from a few weeks ago. Drums are mostly hip hop:

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/176476

"constant, relentless, pounding-groove"

Yes, that relentless groove is for one simple reason: every heavy section has the same dance drum loop sitting underneath the other hard metal/rock kits. it provides some real low end and makes this also a dance track. There are various other drum loops as well but I think that particular one is there pretty much all the time during the heavy sections.

"this track works on so many levels, innovatively and sonically"

Thanks. That's what I go for with every track I make. It has to be very interesting otherwise I'm not interested in making it. I have to merge genres and try out new sounds in every new piece.

Thanks again.

Hi.

It sure did dip a bit in the middle, but hopefully not in quality.

I needed to join these different sections together and legato, ambient chill was what I decided seemed to work. I guess you preferred the hard and heavy stuff but I had to find a way to transition smoothly and chillout is easy to go into and come out of.

Yes, it came back very strong for the final heavy movement. I like the addition of the synth arps to set that heavy section apart from the earlier ones.

No, don't really need any lyrics here but, as always, the right sort of vocalist could certainly make some work.

Thanks for listening.

Sure - go get one. Or both.

I warn you now that bowing is extremely complicated and fraught with error and bad sounds. At least it is for me. And I've been playing stringed instruments for well over 20 years (2 months on the cello).

Yes, I like the heavy sound here and I think it's unusual. It's still a surprise to me that all that heavy riffage comes from a cello.

You seem to be basically saying the same thing again. And I think I understood it the first time.

So I'll have to say the same thing again: there is pretty much a clean acoustic cello sound in there. Well, technically it's an electric cello as that's all I have. And it does have some reverb and chorus on it but that's just to fit my far out vibe. Listen at 4:23 and you'll hear it come in underneath the distorted Rhodes.

Sorry if that's not what you wanted. I'm doing my best though I still real struggle with the bowing.

Yo.

Congratulations on not telling me a musical joke.

"I find it fantastic what you did with the cello"

That is excellent to hear, however this is much more of a problem:

"Maybe would have been nice to have some sort of real Cello in there somewhere"

All the cello is real!

It really is all real, electric cello really played by me. For real.

I go to some trouble to include as much useful info as I can in my track descriptions so people have some understanding of what they're hearing and how it was made. It annoys me how many people on this site put up almost no info so you have to ask things like "Hey, is this all samples?", "Are you playing the guitar here?", "Whose vocals are these?" and so on.

Yes, I only briefly referred to me playing the cello in my track description but if you go down and read some of my replies, I talk about it quite a bit.

Perhaps I've confused you because I accept that the cello does sound unusual here. I would never guess that all that heavy, distorted riffage is cello. Perhaps you're just asking for some more obvious, traditional bowed cello sounds. You can hear some of those sitting underneath the distorted Rhodes as things get funky just before it goes heavy again for the third and final movement. The bowed cello there just has reverb on it so there's no processing to fool you.

"the second part that is some sort of progrock"

Yes - I hadn't really considered that but I agree. The introduction of Fender Rhodes and strings (sample-based violins) merges nicely with the distorted riffage and is quite progressive.

"Did you plan this to begin with or did it happen naturally?"

I do not plan any of my tracks out, which is one of my great musical weaknesses though I also turn it into a strength. I have no real idea where something is going and am not able to really work out what the structure is going to be before starting. I just keep jamming and editing those jams and adding synths and moving whole sections around as I try to make something unusual and interesting (at least to me). When I'm successful, I get things that are quite different from other people's music as well as strange relationships between instruments and odd mergers of genres.

"Smooth transition between the styles"

That's great to hear as I have to work really hard at that. The track structure is often dictated by how smooth I can get the transitions. If I can't get a smooth transition, I have to go for a different structure.

If you'd like to hear a recent track with much more obvious real cello sounds, try this one. No distorted riffage but loads of layers of cello, employing various playing techniques:

The Warm Glow of Yesterday

http://www.looperman.com/tracks/detail/176476

Thanks for your thoughts.

Hi again.

"the strings muddle the line between guitar and bass"

Yes they do. I'm still surprised that one cello riff through guitar distortion can sound big and fat like a guitar and bass playing the same riff together.

"The digital, I like it, didn't mean it in a bad way."

That's OK. All my stuff is very processed and "digital". But I use real, recorded, played instruments (played by me) as well as sample-based instruments that sound quite real to my ears.

"You ever release some of this songs to the public?"

No, not yet. Most of my online tracks are on Looperman, some others on Soundcloud and some older ones on a website I never use called Mixposure (kind of like Looperman but so much worse).

Nothing on Youtube but my albums will most probably be released through Bandcamp.

Thanks for the extra thoughts.

Yo.

"those violins just sound awesome"

The only violin parts in the track last for about 20 seconds, from about 3:20 onwards. They're my filtered, soaring string sounds (one that I have used in so, so many tracks).

"a litte mix of industrial chill out stoner with distorted violins."

So, when you say violins I think you must mean cello as that's the main instrument in the track. All the heavy riffage is distorted cello parts though there are also quite a few undistorted cello parts - you just have to listen out for them.

"it sounds really digital"

Yes, I think that might be because every time you hear the heavy acoustic drum kits, there's always the same dance drum loop underneath. As there are no bass instruments in the track (something which still surprises me) I think that fat kick helps add bass to the track. I know a kick drum is not the same as a bassline but it seems to work here.

And then towards the end you get some proper digital electronic stuff with the synth arps I use.

"industrial chill out stoner"

is a pretty good description.

It seems I cannot make a track that doesn't contain at least some chillout elements. All my heaviest tracks still have not only chillout elements but also chillout sections.

Great to hear you really enjoyed it.

Thanks.

Hi Danke.

Good to hear you liked this one as I think it has an unusual sound.

"there aren't much groovy kings as you"

Yes - you know I love a great groove. I'm also quite a slave to the groove as I'm not really able to play anything good on my instruments if I don't have a good groove to play along to.

"the main riff is like a dump...tones of bricks"

Yes - that's me putting the cello through the main heavy setting I use for guitar and then using the bow in a grooving, bouncing sort of way. That cello playing technique is called 'spiccato'.

"rock, metal, chill, fusion, electro"

Yes - lots of genres here. I can't help having a bit of chill, even when it's a heavy track. I use the chill sections as a break from the heavy stuff.

Thanks again.

In word.

Thanks. I am a doing real kind of man.

And sometimes unreal, just for balance.

Thanks. I am a doing right kind of man.

And sometimes wrong, just for balance.