Hey, I’ve finally found a bit of time to put my #novembeat tracks on Bandcamp. I did a bit of mastering, and came up with quick and dirty aesthetics I still rather like. I also had fun naming the tracks using a blend of bad translations, bad search engine suggestions and heavy text glitching.
I’m glad I did it, it was a great experiment and a motivating starting point for more musical exploration in the future.
Giving these a listen now. Lovely stuff. Reminds me a bit of Hang drum.
@RussSharek Thanks! Long story short: the steel tongue drum was invented as a cheap alternative to the Hang. I fell in love instantly with its sound when I first heard it and decided to give it a try. I've made a bit of progress since I recorded this, but I lack time to compose actual tunes, which I'd really like to do at some point. I'm still amazed by my own journey to learn a physical instrument after decades of using only computers.
I *think* I've seen these before. Do you have a picture?
(I find it interesting that people who really seem to dive into toki pona have a lot of interest in simple things outside of language too.)
@RussSharek Here's my rather outdated mini-wiki on the topic: https://steel.lectronice.com
There's a picture of my drum at the bottom (it's probably the smallest possible layout, most steel tongue drums have at least 8 notes, but I was looking for quality, not quantity) My profile banner and album cover are also made after pictures I took of my drum, with colored light reflections from my keyboard LEDs.
Yes! I have seen these before. I knew someone who had one locally, which was made out of a fuel can by some metalworker in Austin, TX.
I was really into the sound, and wanted to see about incorporating it into my contact juggling performances.
I ended up going another direction, but I've always enjoyed the sound.
We used Hang drum music as the intro to a show in 2017. I loved the atmosphere it created.
@RussSharek Yes, originally steel tongue drums were made with gas tanks, and a variety of other techniques have appeared since. Mine was built with a handmade kind of steel, it can vary a lot depending on the maker.
I've discovered this instrument during a group activity for young children, they were totally hooked by the sound, and so was I :)
I've been enjoying your music on and off all night. It's good and soothing stuff.
@RussSharek Glad you like it! I have various older albums scattered all over the web, mostly ambient and down-tempo experiments, I can send you a few links if you want.
Thank you. I've added them to my "listen" queue.
@RussSharek I have a couple of old ambient albums here: https://streamsofeurope.bandcamp.com/album/meanders (and there's more on the website, but my crappy old WordPress install has been hacked recently and it's a pain to fix, it's half-broken at the moment.)
There's also some slightly less old stuff here: https://lectronice.bandcamp.com/
And some darker/harsher vibes here: https://methodsformourning.bandcamp.com