Bringing me out the other side of an extended period of studio downtime/avoidance, here’s a four part irrigation exploration with modulars E-mu, Serge and Bugbrand joined by Continuum, Monomachine, Pipe and Deformer.
No idea if anyone’s into this sort of vaguely minimal noisebient meandering - I seem to be. Thanks if you have a listen, and let me know what you think…
this is really nice. i like the tone and space of it all. moody stuff. sparse but not boring. wishlisted on bandcamp. will have to grab it asap.
Ah, glad you enjoyed, thanks very much, and pleased you’ve picked out what I kind of aimed at - trying to get that blend of just enough (interspersed with odd bits of too much) is always the challenge, and never something I’m convinced I’ve managed.
Also, in the spirit of the season I’ve just knocked the price down to nothing for a couple of days - grab it!
I will listen to this tomorrow during work. I was at your bandcamp-page earlier this week and really enjoyed a lot of your stuff. I forget the name of the album, but there was one created only on a AE modular that was especially good. Thanks for creating
Thanks very much, especially appreciated after a period of time where I was considering my future with it all. Hope you like it when you get to it…
Amazing stuff - sounds 3d, a trip, there’s a lot of space for those evolving sounds.
How did you pull it all together?
Thanks, it’s the same old method - patch up and perform it live on the fly, with a couple of cuts and fades in/out between the nine or ten different takes in DAW.
Part of the reason for my break is that I often consider whether I’ve taken that approach as far as I can, and whether I’m ultimately just reproducing variations on a theme if I continue to work that way? (As well as a much broader wonder around wether I’m just using creating music in general as a way to control my environment as opposed to it being a valid output - that’s probably a bit deeper though!).
But yeah, all live - at one point I think I was running/taming three modulars without even a shared clock signal while trying to play a melody in one hand and operate the very two handed Soma pipe in the other. Gets a bit chaotic up there!
Thanks for the detailed response, tib. I was just taking a look at the Continuum and I will now dive into the soma pipe.
I gather the Continuum allows for very delicate velocity and subtle playing…
Yeah, think expressive playing and freedom of pitch - there’s quite a bit of linnstrument in this too which is similar, albeit in a different layout. If you find melody it’s probably coming from one of those two.
Pipe is a weird one - it’s great at times with my approach, in that it gives me another source to bring in when needed, though can get sonically samey (unless you’re processing it to bits). I’ve used to put it through a looper or two which can be nice when something more repetitive is required.
Pleased you commented on sound btw - I really tried to ignore the intricacies I often zone in on there in order just to get it down. There’s no post processing on this either - one of those where I tried to trust the route going into the recorder without much work on it after the initial setup. Similar with the playing/melodic content - was very much a case of getting it down and hoping it hung together once done.
I really liked this. I usually enjoy your music, but this grabbed me more than usual. Might have to do with the fact that you brought in a bit more melodic content, which I thought suited the mix very well, in addition to creating more emotional tension.
It’s been partly said already, but I think your music is a very nice blend of elements, in various degrees of abstractness. Never boring, always going somewhere.
I also like the lush and “physical” sound of your music, it’s tactile in a way 
(if that makes sense)
Nice, very nice. A proper performance that 
Thank you very much, appreciated!
Aw Nils, you’re too kind! I think there might be just a little more hope in this one that comes through - it drifts in and out of what can sometimes/often be a bit of a cold output on my part.
The never boring, always going somewhere means a lot - I really battle with that given the fairly one dimensional approach in terms of composition; it’s hard to feel it’s going somewhere over what is often very static/underdeveloped compositionally.
That’s the fight with the approach really, and while the phrase ‘dawless jams’ has raised a few eyebrows of late, spending twenty years at that approach sometimes runs you into a brick wall in terms of inspiration and ability, so hearing that this stands up a little more than usual to your ears is lovely. And what good ears you have Nils!
I can identify with your doubts about your own approach, since I’m guessing it’s very intuitive and not at all formulaic. It’s easy to feel doubt when all you have to go by is your own ear. There are no rules.
I’ve listened to it more since my last post, and I stand by my words It’s very nicely balanced in terms of composition and movement, and also with regards to the internal balance of the elements. Well done mate!
Engaging, inspiring, organic, and beautiful.
Yeah, that (regarding doubts) pretty much nails it - I’ve always been reasonably comfortable with the for better or worse nature of it, but recently it’s been a bit trickier and probably tying in to a couple of other broader things. I guess I’ve been questioning all of it - why I put so much time and energy into it and such.
I’m really pleased that you like it. That means something!
Thank you so much Scott, that’s very kind of you - delighted that you like it, and that’s four words that mean an awful lot me. Appreciated!
This is fantastic, some of the trippiest synthesis/sound design that I’ve heard in a while. Very inspiring.
Any idea why I don’t find this one in the Bandcamp app when looking at your releases?
Oh no idea actually - I didn’t do anything different when publishing as far as I know. I’ll look into it though…