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Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Like anything, you have to be in the right mood for it, whether it's punk, pop or Gregorian chanting etc... So, while Byzantine might not get heavy rotation on my listening regimen, I indeed very much enjoyed listening to it, will seek out some more of it, too.
SO, on to the vid you posted...Dagnabbit... YOU! With a Young Lookin' Monsieur Cline... and ... so ... what year was this snapshot of your band taken? Ahh 2010! Yes, I'm the kid pushing on the door that says pull. Fretless stealthily changed to fretted I blinked and thought I'd hallucinated, and ... got any shots of your pedalboard from that period?
Hmmm I'd just moved to Hong Kong when you formed that band...
[Folks... Royalty, we're hangin' with royalty here in this thread... ]
I had no idea, mind blown, need to ... readjust perspective...
Checking out your prepared-bass page now...
l stinkbug was formed in 1998 or so. we did a very-indie live disc that came out in around 2002 (Invalid Link Removed)
pedal board shots from that ear? dunno. maybe? (would have to find)
anyway, i met nels in 1975 and did a ton of playing with him (many jazz/improv things, rock band, he's on one album of mine) up until he went into heavy touring with wilco and then moved to nyc. (there are some interesting snippets of 80s nels on this page: Wayne Peet)
thanks for checking the video out. not great sounds quality, loud af in that room.
btw, his twin brother is an insane drummer (as seen here [he had a temp of 101 or so this evening]: )
Last edited:
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Wait a minute...when I was a kid in the early 80’s, I had a weird band called newcross. We did several gigs with a band called Rythm Plague. We also had songs released on a comp record. Would that happen to be you? Also, Bloc if I remember right...?
hahaha
small world. yes. rhythm plague and bloc.
you’re not in l.a. anymore, though, right?
small world. yes. rhythm plague and bloc.
you’re not in l.a. anymore, though, right?
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
I grew up there. Moved to Chicago around ‘92 then on to Nashville since ‘98-‘99.
You guys used to do some crazy stuff with a...909? I don’t trust my memory. I just found a vinyl copy of the C.O.M.A compilation record recently. I was in two of the bands on that comp.
I had seriously considered getting a 6 string bass because of you...briefly did, in fact. That’s when I realized 4 strings is really too many for me
That’s when I realized 4 strings is really too many for me
Is that why you sample one note and go from there?
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Also, you’re a fantastic player! I often mention you and Nels as huge early influences
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Is that why you sample one note and go from there?
I could go on about forced limitation leading to creative choices that might’ve never happened otherwise. I really could. Huge believer. The more obvious explanation is I’m not all that bright and need the simplicity
In other news, the girl had to work super late the other night so I went on a 3-4 hour Einsturzende Neubaten bender. They blew my mind in the early 80’s and still kinda do. Lots of so called industrial music from that time doesn’t really hold up all these years later, but I still can get off on EN.
I grew up there. Moved to Chicago around ‘92 then on to Nashville since ‘98-‘99.
You guys used to do some crazy stuff with a...909? I don’t trust my memory. I just found a vinyl copy of the C.O.M.A compilation record recently. I was in two of the bands on that comp.
I had seriously considered getting a 6 string bass because of you...briefly did, in fact. That’s when I realized 4 strings is really too many for me
yeah, i thought i saw nashville. you like it there? my son has been living there since june. if he stays, i may try to get down there. cool places to play weird stuff there?
rhythm plague was with drum machines. i started with a tr-808, then went to a 707 and 727. wayne had a tr-303 and the bass line thingie (tb-303?), and then went to an 808. i also used a yamaha rx-5 for a while. static grooves with us going nuts over them.
two bands on the coma comp! that's cool. i haven't heard most of that stuff forever. the rp thing (radio free dude) is excerpted on youtube.
jeez. thanks!
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
Thank you! I bought the Coma comp for sentimental reasons. Haven’t actually listened to it and am pretty sure the stuff I did was pretty crappy. Of the two bands, The Underpeople were too Captain Beefheart, as I recall. The main guys influences were just too obvious. Newcross was more ‘avant,’ and was a great education. Seriously difficult music to play and I’m sure even more difficult to listen to
I stumbled onto the RP cut on YouTube which is what led me to by the record again. Had kinda forgotten about all that stuff. Regarding drum machines...I love what you guys did with em. I had a Yamaha RX...something. By then I was doing more straight rock stuff and thought the Yamaha sounded more like ‘real’ drums than the Roland stuff and I was trying to make decent sounding rock demos at the time. Nowadays, I love old analog drum machines and the last thing I want is for them to sound like ‘real’ acoustic drums. I’m a slow learner!
Regarding Nashville- I like living here. It’s a good place if you’re trying to make a living as a musician. There are opportunities to play more ‘outside’ kinds of music, but it’s not a huge scene, honestly. Most of my income comes from playing pretty mainstream stuff. Country, rock, etc. I’m pretty good at the old timely slap upright thing, so I get a lot of work doing that
That's some cool stuff!
If you're angling towards a post-rock audience (yes - unsolicited advice
), I'd suggest having the drummer reign in his Jazz-Metal improv tendencies, and lay off the cymbals by about 80% of his current work rate.Even though there is a great overall God Speed... vibe, there is a disconnect between the drums, and everything else currently (it may be post-rock, but the rock aspect is still important).
Have the drummer listen to as many of the hundreds of bands John McEntire has drummed for, as well as bands like Dianogah, the Dylan Group, and of course Slint (that bludgeoning drum riff on "good morning captain" is the major motif, that everything else adorns).
That track you posted, could really slam, with a more spare drumming style, and the drums more down tempo (at his current tempo, a less improvisational style would take you in to Space-Rock territory, so he needs to play at a tempo that locks the drums with the rest of you, to bring it in to Post-Rock land).
Of course, I'm only making these suggestions on the pretext that you are striving to tailor your music towards the Post-Rock genre...
If on the other hand, you're simpy exposing your music to a Post-Rock audience : don't change a thing. What you're doing is great!
i'm just gonna say that the title of this thread seems more like a starting place or basic area than a real, set *thing* . . . most of the people here have posted stuff that's very far away from that. industrial, electronica, goth, etc.
So much cool stuff has been posted up in this thread.... I've been reading through it while in class right now and woooooow. Its awesome!
I have a couple of those pocket operators and they're a TOTALL blast. Really fun sync'd up to my Korg Volca drum machine too, and you can get some pretty trippy effects out of em.
It looks like I'm joining a thrashy sort metal band but I've been messing around with a lot of heavy sort of ambient doomy and drone stuff in my free time which has been pretty cool to just play around with these dark heavy soundscapes. I'm very interested in following more of the adventures of y'all in this thread!
I have a couple of those pocket operators and they're a TOTALL blast. Really fun sync'd up to my Korg Volca drum machine too, and you can get some pretty trippy effects out of em.
It looks like I'm joining a thrashy sort metal band but I've been messing around with a lot of heavy sort of ambient doomy and drone stuff in my free time which has been pretty cool to just play around with these dark heavy soundscapes. I'm very interested in following more of the adventures of y'all in this thread!
That's some cool stuff!
If you're angling towards a post-rock audience (yes - unsolicited advice
Even though there is a great overall God Speed... vibe, there is a disconnect between the drums, and everything else currently (it may be post-rock, but the rock aspect is still important).
Have the drummer listen to as many of the hundreds of bands John McEntire has drummed for, as well as bands like Dianogah, the Dylan Group, and of course Slint (that bludgeoning drum riff on "good morning captain" is the major motif, that everything else adorns).
That track you posted, could really slam, with a more spare drumming style, and the drums more down tempo (at his current tempo, a less improvisational style would take you in to Space-Rock territory, so he needs to play at a tempo that locks the drums with the rest of you, to bring it in to Post-Rock land).
Of course, I'm only making these suggestions on the pretext that you are striving to tailor your music towards the Post-Rock genre...
If on the other hand, you're simpy exposing your music to a Post-Rock audience : don't change a thing. What you're doing is great!
Thanks for listening and thanks for the words - they're very much appreciated.
I like to think we're more in the area of crossing into post-rock territory. Matt is a really incredible jazz drummer and I love playing this kind of material with him because it's a quite a bit different to the norm. Minus Pilots is just the two of us and because of our backgrounds there is a lot of improvisation that happens during our sets - we played a show in the Netherlands last week and I dropped on him in the middle of the set that he should do a drum solo - it was super fun to move the set around and react on the spur of the moment like that.
Last edited:
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
That’s what I figured when I found this thread. I just enjoy a group of folks who like doing something ‘different.’ Interesting and unique effects and ways of seeing music. Most of my Snipecatcher stuff is about manipulating a ‘single source’ into something resembling a full song. I figured that could have some application here, despite the the fact that it’s rarely ambient. Post Rock is just an outdated term, though it does have a nice ring to it
No disrespect to anyone, but I tend to check out when someone tries to explain the rules of a genre to me. My favorite bands when I was starting out were always the toughest to describe and I like that.
Because of this thread I got a PO 33 amd my mind is blown by these little buggers!
Pitch tracking EQ!!!
You can have the EQ follow the harmonic of your choice.
I’ve wanted this for clean blends. I think this will do that.
