Mastodawn

This week's composition, kind of a grab-bag of time signatures on an alternatively tuned cheap guitar. There's kind of a cubist insistence to this. https://weeklybeats.com/onezero/music/curlew

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Curlew

It's been a few weeks since I used the $60 Univox for a track, so here's an arpeggio-heavy one. The first part I recorded (the arpeggiated theme at the beginning) turned out to be in 5/4, so I went with that where I could. As a rock-marinated person from small times, I kept falling into 4/4 and 6/4 in places, but I liked the interplay with the 5/4. Also inevitably, I ended up tracking a couple parts in 11/4. Is there a time signature I didn't use? (Yes, there are time signatures I didn't use here.) Three tracks of Univox Coily hollowbody in Bb F Bb F Bb C tuning, no effect pedals. (I did try using my Montreal Assembly Count to Five here, but there's already so much going on, it didn't work in the ensemble. It would work as a solo guitar thing, though.) There's the usual convolution reverb send and the eq/compression/limiting on the stereo mix. The title comes from the 646-ft. prominence of the Curlew Mountains.

Maurice Rickard 3d ago

Monday night's #slow #ambient #pedalSteel #soundBath performance is now available. Reed and vocal timbres, space, reverb, #microtones. $0/name-your-price at Subvert: https://www.subvert.fm/snwv/music-at-a-distance-307

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Maurice Rickard May 11

This week's composition, still of a piece with the recent three-guitar stuff. Peaceful low-key vibe in a busy weekend. https://weeklybeats.com/onezero/music/alander

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Alander

In a very busy weekend, I managed a late Friday tracking session for the first theme and the middle section, and then another late Saturday for the rest, with what energy I'd had left. If I'd had a bit more time, I probably could have made this one shorter, with a few stronger themes, but here's what we have. Nearly everything I tracked ended up in here, with very little waste. Three tracks of PureSalem Mendiola into the UA Volt, bit of convolution reverb send and compression/eq/limiter on the stereo mix. The title comes from Alander Mountain in Massachusetts, which has a higher peak elevation than 645m, but the part of the west slope that crosses the Taconic Trail does so at 645m, and I ran out of time on the title.

Maurice Rickard May 8

Monday's #ambient #pedalSteel #improv is now up, sounding a bit like distant oboe or singing bowl, but with plenty of pedal steel gestures. This music seems close somehow. It's patient and hopeful. $0/name-your-price at https://snwv.bandcamp.com/album/music-at-a-distance-306

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music at a distance 306, by snwv

7 track album

snwv

Maurice Rickard May 6

This past Friday I did an hour-long #ambient #microtonal #guitar #improv #livestream for the full moon. This one sounds like a small wind and vocal ensemble at the other end of a tunnel. There's a play of placidity and activity. $0/name-your-price at https://snwv.bandcamp.com/album/flower-moon-train-may-1-2026

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Flower Moon Train, May 1 2026, by snwv

1 track album

snwv

Maurice Rickard May 4

This week's track, bashed out quickly on a 60-year-old guitar in open tuning. Kinda peppy, and I'm happy with how those open chords worked out. (Maybe less "rocking" than the title suggests.)

https://weeklybeats.com/onezero/music/overrocker-2

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Overrocker

This week included (as usual) an hour and a half of ambient improvisation, finalizing a collection of this year's Weekly Beats pieces so far, a Friday-evening ambient improvisation (not yet released), and (today) a rehearsal for a show in a couple weeks. That seems like a lot when I type it out. So I had one tracking session Saturday evening for this, and on a whim selected the Kalamazoo KG-2, tuned D F# C# E F# A. (I still have to level those frets and swap out the too-level bridge, so I can approximate that 7 1/4" fretboard radius.) Apart from having to avoid certain parts of the fretboard, it worked reasonably well, after I tightened down the pickguard again. This guitar lends itself to thrashing around, which leads to that channel of droning on open strings while I slide around a cluster of fretted notes. (I did, after all, use this guitar for a few Glenn Branca sessions back in the day, so thrashing is in its history.) Some of these rhythm parts got pretty long in tracking; I wasn't inclined to stop at the end of a measure. There are three tracks of Kalamazoo: neck pickup on the left, bridge pickup on the right, both pickups in the center. I felt too lazy to patch in the Colourbox, so it's direct into the UA Volt, with the "vintage" tone circuit on. I didn't worry too much about overloading, since this A/D clips nicely. (I also used the usual send to a convolution reverb, and the usual compression/eq/limiting arrangement on the stereo mix.) The results...seem pretty decent. I'm fond of that one section in the middle (~ 1:36), so let it go on a bit longer than some of the others. After uploading, I found a few places where before-the-bar note attacks were cut off in editing, and restored them. While I was at it, I boosted everything a dB, and mixed up the reverb send a bit. So now it's more correct. This really does have a stronger rock feeling than I've used in the last few weeks. Maybe I'm overselling it here with this title, but Mount Overrocker's highest point is 644 m.

Maurice Rickard May 1

For Bandcamp Friday, I've collected some of my recent instrumental electric #guitar pieces. How much atmosphere can I build with a few tracks of guitar and few (or no) effects? What sounds can we make with our instruments and fingers? I'll be honest: this one's pretty good. $0/name-your-price at https://mauricerickard.bandcamp.com/album/dovenest

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Dovenest, by Maurice Rickard

10 track album

Maurice Rickard

Maurice Rickard Apr 30

Monday's #ambient #improv on a $60 #guitar is now up. This one turned out particularly beautiful. It sounds a bit like singing bowl, reed, and brass instruments in a large, reverberant space. $0/name-your-price at https://snwv.bandcamp.com/album/music-at-a-distance-305

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music at a distance 305, by snwv

6 track album

snwv

Maurice Rickard Apr 27

This week's piece answers the question "what can I record between episodes of allergic sneezing and coughing?" Three tracks of guitar, some saturation, a fingerpicking theme with gravitational attraction. https://weeklybeats.com/onezero/music/our-river-2

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Our River

This one started with the fingerpicking theme you hear first, and...that became a center of gravity that everything else responded to. It was kind of a challenge to find variations that didn't fall into it. While tracking Saturday night, I suddenly had an allergic reaction to some kind of pollen in the air. Kind of difficult to improvise while sneezing and coughing, so I found myself a bit short on material. In a Sunday editing session, I had what felt like a complete version of the piece, but listening back to it a bit later...the last third of it dragged a bit. I ended up shortening the piece by 30 seconds, which seems a bit better. Three tracks of PureSalem Mendiola through the JHS Colourbox 10. Convolution reverb send for air, and then some compression/eq/limiting on the stereo mix. The title comes from (the) Our river, which has an elevation of 643m.

Maurice Rickard Apr 24

Monday's harmonically-rich #ambient #guitar #improv is now up on Bandcamp. The timbres are a bit more nebulous now, maybe a bit of distant brass or singing bowls, and the tempos seem slower. $0/name-your-price at https://snwv.bandcamp.com/album/music-at-a-distance-304

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music at a distance 304, by snwv

7 track album

snwv