Lots of older pieces from the Youtube stream on Tuesday April 18, 2023. Sometimes I’m not feeling as creative and so it’s nice to just jam out some of my older pieces. Sometimes I’ll think I’m writing something new, but it’ll just be an iteration of an older piece. That’s kind of what happened at about 10 minutes in when I realized I was just playing Fight to Make it Up. After that is a piece originally conceived in a stream a while ago that I’ve been working on over time called “Kicking Rocks” which is yet to be released. Then some Light the Flame, followed by a little creative burst, and then Nobody Said and to finish things off Reversing.
Episode 5 Rainy Day Tango
This episode comes from the live twitch stream on Thursday, April 13 2023. Once again things got a bit ambient about halfway through, turning a bit dark even at about the 30 minute mark. I’d just been joking with the live viewers about how Spotify wouldn’t allow my all music podcast on their platform, as they require any music in a podcast to be channeled through their music tool so they can extract all its monetary value, and more efficiently crush independent artistic spirit. I suppose that some of my misgivings about the ever-presence of algorithms and the control they exert in our daily lives can be felt around this moment. About 39 minutes in after some meandering I played Exposition from the album of the same name. This is followed by the piece that the episode get its name from, which viewers commented had a “rainy day tango” kind of feel to it. I finished things up with Toki Doki from the album Conclusion. Thank you to all who have listened and subscribed thus far, I truly appreciate your 5 star ratings!!
Episode 4 Youtubesdays
This episode comes from my Youtube livestream on April 11, 2023. I think things started off pretty nicely here with a lively jam. There’s a nice meandering ambient piece that happens at about 23 minutes in. I achieve some of these sounds by effectively sampling myself, and only recording snippets of the bowed note, which results in an almost synth like sound. This combined with the sort of echoey arrhythmic layered pizzicato and low sub bass creates a cool experimental soundscape. I end things with my piece Fishin’ from my first album Introduction. Please let me know what you think in the comment section below, hopefully these are enjoyable!
Episode 3 Mello Cellotron
This instrumental jam comes from the Twitch stream on Thursday April 6, 2023. I was feeling in a bit of a funk to start things off, but I found my groove at around the 50 minute mark with a fun harmonic progression that allowed for a nice build. Listening back I think there were some other nice improvs in here too, with a dark and mysterious one at 43 minutes in. I also threw in some older songs of mine, including Bamboo 2 at 26:30, an instrumental version of Traveling Light at 34:30 and to finish everything off Voyage Home from Momotaro at 57 minutes.
It’s funny how at the time of doing these I sometimes feel like I’ve missed the mark, but when I listen back I’m able to hear more things that I like than I expected to. It’s kind of a nice musical journal in that way for me, since I can reflect on things in a new light and find something more positive about it all than at the time of the compositional experience. It reinforces something I’ve long felt about the whole artistic process too, which is that it’s most important to just consistently show up rather than sitting around waiting for inspiration to strike. In other words if you’re already in place chipping away at something, you’ll be perfectly poised to take advantage when inspiration does strike, as opposed to only then picking up the tools to begin the process.
Episode 2 String Theories
This episode comes from the Twitch stream on Tuesday April 4, 2023. I felt like it took me a little while to get in the groove, but listening back I think there are some nice moments interspersed throughout, and things start to get going in the second half. The live audience especially liked the piece composed at 43 minutes, calling it a “Wistful” one, and it’s an example of a live composed piece that I’ll probably revisit later and trim down to a song format.
Episode 1 For Relaxing Times April 3, 2023
I have been livestreaming my music for about a year now on Twitch, and have more or less gotten the hang of making things up on the fly for an hour or so. I haven’t been quite sure what to do with the content, since only a limited number of people are available to watch the livestreams, and not all of the content is suitable to be released as trimmed down standalone songs.
Thus I have arrived at making the audio available as a podcast that anyone who is interested can listen to at their leisure. Most of the music is improvised and what you’re hearing is being made up on the spot. As a result there are parts that are more interesting than others, but almost every piece eventually coalesces into something that works and has its special moments. Things take time to build though, and I invite you to give the music a chance to unfold and come along for the journey with me.
I have edited out the talking that often comes between the songs, in which I respond to viewers who are commenting live. I’m going to be experimenting with this format, and if it turns out some talking is actually enjoyable for people I may opt to keep it in at times. If the consensus is that music alone is preferable for relaxation or study/concentration purposes, I totally get that too.
If there are any pieces that stand out in particular I’d love to hear your feedback below! Just please try to include the timestamp of the audio for my reference. The final song is “Dreams” from my album “Reversal,” everything else is improvised live and has no title as of yet. Enjoy!
Mellow Cello Podcast Trailer
Hello! This is Nick, aka Takénobu, and for the past year I’ve been livestreaming, and getting the hang of making up songs as I go along using my cello and loop effects pedals. Sometimes I get a percussive groove going, and sometimes it's more of a dreamy soundscape. I just really enjoy the free-form live compositional environment of a livestream. Not everyone can tune in live of course, so I’ve decided to start posting the recorded audio from my livestreams as a podcast. The most frequent comment I get from livestream viewers is about the “chill vibe” of the music, and so in keeping with that I’ve decided to call this the Mellow Cello Podcast. The music you’re hearing behind my voice is from the last livestream I did, and as you can tell things eventually get fairly full, although it can take a little while to build and develop. Somehow things always seem to work out though, more or less. I invite you to take a listen and come along for the journey with me as I build things up and add and take away parts, all the while experimenting and finding the music in my own little well of the ether. I’d love to hear feedback, and each new episode will be posted with a comment section on my website takenobumusic.com. For now this trailer will be the only time I talk over the music, and in the full episodes to come you’ll get about an hour of just straight up instrumental cello grooves and soundscapes. That may eventually change of course, as I do interact with the live audience and may leave some of that in, but for now just music is what you can expect. Hope you enjoy!