Halif

Just checked it out then.... very nice work! Could have been a track off Disco Volante Are you on the drums for this one? I think I remember you being a drummer (but my memory isn't the best, so sorry if I'm wrong

And.... here's another https://soundcloud.com/tepalom/living-in-the-past-rough After I made the above track I got some Dali (Concept 2) bookshelf speakers because I had just about burned out my last pair of small but fantastic Onkyo speakers. I'd been using those little guys for around 8 or 9 years and they were starting to sound like they had gravel and sand inside. So for the last couple of days I have been enjoying discovering new nuances in my old favourite albums while simultaneously trying to justify the purchase of the speakers to my lovely, understanding, frustrated girlfriend. I only have a small space in which to make or listen to music, so the Dalis are plenty powerful enough. What's been really nice though, is the way they can express a lot of subtleties (especially in the mid-range frequencies) without needing to be cranked up loud. The downside to that of course is I can now also hear how badly mixed virtually all of my tunes have been so far!

I quite enjoy Donald Fagen's funky/defiant/melancholy take on death-musings. This track uses the story of an older dude dating a young beauty to express appreciation of life and the reluctance to let it go... Love the "more light, more light, more light, more liiiiiiigggghhhht" part....

Bogfrog: you've made some great points in this thread. Very well expressed (just thought I'd type that out, as sometimes only clicking a "like" button feels a bit automated and insubstantial)

Harsh but true

I put one of my old tracks back on my Soundcloud page if anyone is interested. It's one of my personal favourites and I'm much happier now with the current mix, which has a greater clarity. Structurally it's the same composition as before, but I spent some time applying high/low pass filters and compressors to get the lead oscillator bass line to come out loud and strong without too much resonance muddying up the track. I do love my chunky bass lines

I very much agree with that. Also, I've wondered the same, but I think Middle Earth would just become a really boring place. It's the very presence of both the bad dudes and the good dudes at the same time that make it so interesting.

I like the bass line which opens the track. It immediately grabs my attention because it's dynamic, and signals to the listener that something lively is going to unfold. And then, sure enough, something lively does unfold! I think I mentioned to you, Psylo, before somewhere that sections in Baltimore remind me of Weather Report, which is one of my favourite fusion groups of all time. If we could just convince Wayne Shorter to get into the track with his sax, then it'd be perfect.

Thanks! I use a tracker called Renoise. Great flexibility but quite different interface compared to more common software like Fruityloops or any of the piano roll ones. Here's a video if you're interested. But the video was taken with my phone, so it's shaky and the sound quality is not good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrOI0y1trJA

A Fun Mental Exercise Why? Why not? ( aha! See what I did there?! ) Imagine that someone shows up at your door and gives you a present. You know the person, but not really well, and the gift comes as a wonderful surprise. It's a great gift and obviously a lot of care and effort has gone into its acquisition and presentation. You love it and you love the gesture. In fact, as well as feeling a natural euphoria, you actually feel kind of humbled by it all. I mean, this person has taken time and effort to do something really amazing for you, and the only reason is because they really like you. They don't expect anything in return - not to spend more time with you or even your gratitude. They just really, really like and respect you. They say that your existence is inspiring to them and its the least they could do to say 'thanks'. Then they quietly leave you to your privacy and enjoyment of that gift. Things are great, and the funny thing is, the next day a different person shows up with a unique but equally impressive gift which you love as much as the first. The same thing happens the next day, and the day after. You are so happy about all this that you actually feel kind of overwhelmed. You ask what you can do for people in return, but they reply 'just keep doing what you're doing. That's enough for me'. It feels very amazing and overwhelmingly good. That feeling seems to grow and you realise that it is unlimited. The feeling opens up new realms of possibility in your understanding of the way the universe works. Enjoy

That would be fantastic. I'll keep my eyes/ears peeled! In terms of 'leisure listening' I'm not nearly as adventurous as I used to be and am presently stuck in late 70s, early 80s jazz/rock (I'm an insufferable mega-fan of anything by Walter Becker and/or Donald Fagen), but there are some very interesting artists putting out music on Soundcloud which keeps my ears fresh. People such as yourself, the above poster (Psylo), Howling Cloud, and PsiPhi have been very inspirational. I haven't listened to any radio stations for years - probably my fault for not looking around hard enough for the good ones - because there seems to be a dearth of meaningful output in the mainstream music field. It's a shame that for me 'mainstream' automatically means crap these days, but seriously a lot of the music that I hear in public places offends my ears. Superficially, it seems to be a lot of emotive outpouring without much substance.

Hey PsillyBean!! I like everything you put on Soundcloud - but this has to be my personal favourite! It's very rare that the first few seconds of a track grab my attention, but that's what happened with this track. It's so atmospheric. It's transporting. There's a fairly obscure album called 'Through the Hill' by Andy Partridge (of XTC fame) and Harold Budd which is the closest thing that my internal music library can draw a comparison to (not that your track sounds like this album, rather that album has the same kind of dream state atmosphere). Have you heard it? Well done with that track. And once again, any plans for an album or set of tunes? I'd buy it.

Don't cha hate it when... -you're taking laundry off the clothesline and you accidentally bring in your mother's underwear thinking it's your girlfriend's even though your girl's like three sizes smaller than yo mamma and then your girlfriend sees those underwear there and says 'what the fuck?! what are these doing here?!' and ... uhhh... yeah... (that never happened to me, I'm just saying wouldn't you hate it if that happened to you or someone you know) ((and yeah wouldn't you hate it if you were in your mid-thirties and still living with yo mamma?! I mean, she lives with me dammit!))

Haha! Yeah, sorry, I forgot that. All heil the Australian Godvernment!

EDIT: I read this on The Age website but it comes from the Sydney Morning Herald http://www.smh.com.au/national/health/behaviour-study-aims-to-discover-children-at-risk-of-drug-and-alcohol-problems-20130130-2dl6h.html Does anyone else find this disturbing?

I think the way this is phrased is exactly the reason I don't like this idea. Specifically, the bit where it says that 'children would be targeted with four traits'. I assume they mean that children who already have those four traits would be focused on for the study, but the wording suggests to me that they are in fact implanting ideas into children before they even have a chance to develop their personalities. What I don't like about this is the idea that by creating studies and programs which say that certain children are going to be substance abusers, they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Who has the authority and wisdom to foretell what any person may or may not do?

That is awesome. I can only imagine you had vivid dreams. The power in those plants (datura, brugmansia) is intense. Said it before, but I'll say it again: Me thinks d.metel are the most beautiful plants and flowers of all time. So hypnotic to look at. Thanks to everyone who posted amazing photos in this thread. I should dig out some of my pics from years back. I had some lovely plants.

Thanks for the positive comments! I'm working on a set of tunes with a kind of similar vibe, and have been processing some very helpful feedback from people on Soundcloud and this forum - especially Psylo! There are so many super slick and hi-tech sounding electronic tracks on Soundcloud and elsewhere, and heaps of talented people out there making all kinds of weird and awesome tunes. It's a great time to be getting into (or back into) music of all genres. I feel like there's a bit of a deficit of melody in the electronic genre, though. Guess it's a personal taste thing, but I would love to hear more emotion and harmony in electronic music. I'm sure there's loads of great stuff out there that I haven't discovered yet, and in the meantime I'm more than happy to keep myself busy following the talent on Soundcloud. But I'm greedy and want more! Anyone want to share any melodic electronic acts they've been listening to and enjoying? Especially ones that incorporate instruments in their compositions?

I've been having a look at the music made by some forum members here and I've really liked what i've heard. I thought I'd post some stuff I'm playing with at the moment because people here are open minded and might like it more than the friends I've played it to! My friends (and girlfriend) have been pretty brutal with their criticism. I've been told it's "wanky", "wallpaper", and lacking sonic density. But hey, I make tunes because I really enjoy listening to and playing with music, so I can accept those comments! Here you go: http://soundcloud.com/tepalom/fun-beat http://soundcloud.com/tepalom/in-the-lobby

I posted a work in progress to Soundcloud. Any feedback would be appreciated! https://soundcloud.com/tepalom/my-green-world-rough-preview

Cool, thanks for explaining that. Music is always evolving, isn't it?

oh, cool. Actually it was the drumming that caught my attention more than anything else. The sound is pretty muddy so I couldn't get a complete impression of the vibe of the tune. What is 'techmetal', exactly?

Were you on stage there, Mr Bullit?

Woah... yeah look at that forecast! Nothing can stop me playing frisbee, though. Rain, hail, sun, snow... all these elements just make the frisbee's journey more exciting and unpredictable. Ever see one of those samurai movies where they stand resolute, knee-deep in the ocean swell, katana in hand, cutting at the waves, being knocked down over and over, in some kind of zen character building exercise? No? Me neither. But it'd make a cool movie. And in any case, that's me with the frisbee. If the wind is gail force, I just throw that thing into the wind and then try and catch it when it comes back. The Zen of Frisbee. That's the title of the movie I'm going to make. Possibly on Saturday in the botanical gardens if someone can film me with my phone...

That's cool! Did you give him 12 clocks which were all set to 12 o'clock? Actually, that would've been overly symbolic. Sometimes symbolism gives me a headache