Nigel Sifantus » Drum Solo

Progtronica presents: “Twisted Digits”

Nigel — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 23:13:41 +0000

I’ve never liked the modern emergence of “sub-genres”, the incessant need these days to boil down each kind of music into dozens of sub-categories. I have found that, although it provides a decent description of the sound of the music, rarely can music be so pigeonholed as to be put into a place that is so pre-defined. It also leads music fans to gravitate towards more music similar to what they already have heard rather than expanding their sonic horizons. I would never be the player I am today if I had this kind of mentality towards music “I like hard house but not deep house”. My approach through Progtronica is to take all of my influences and boil them into one succinct concept. Other than the basic forms of “electronic dance music” I have always has a secret love of progressive “math rock” and have played some form of that kind of music in many of my bands over the years. I had been looking for a way to do a tribute to this affinity in a Progtronica performance (mainly for my own self pleasure) since the beginning of the project. I can play a little guitar but mostly for making weird sonic feedback textures but then I found a secret weapon: the iPhone pocket guitar combined with Ableton Live 8’s new “Amp” and “Cabinet” effects. So I made this little ditty, switching from 7/8 to 6/8 with interweaving Don Caballero/King Crimson guitar lines all remixed live while playing the drums. This is a little bit different then my other recent videos but I like how it turned out and I’m sure you won’t find anyone using Ableton quite this way anywhere else.

Happy 2011 From Progtronica “Rumbling Sleep”

Nigel — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 19:00:04 +0000

2011 is upon us and I couldn’t be happier about it. Don’t get me wrong, 2010 was far from a bad year, but the challenges, distractions, and relentless work load has lead to a perfect time for a reboot. Despite this need, I am very proud of where things have gone for Progtronica in the past 12 months. Last January the concept was just beginning to take an initial form, but needed time and experimentation to find what shape the project would end up taking. I wish I had more time this past year but learned to make the absolute most of what I had and along with molding what has become the Progtronica project, I have also refined my theory of creativity through speedy production. All too often in my musical live I have found myself in great creative projects that ended up losing all their momentum by constant tinkering to the point where no one involved liked what they heard anymore and all perspective was lost. I have taken the opposite approach: focusing on bringing an idea to some sort of finished piece in as quick a time as I possibly can, almost like a game. This often leads to things being rough around the edges, but at least I have something to show for the original idea before it is lost in creative oblivion. Nearly all of the videos I produced this past year (around 20) have been done in a single day from tracking the individual sounds, to the final video editing. What I have found consistently is that I have much more perspective on the music after a couple of weeks have gone by, and I’m usually much happier with it than I was mid-process. The main lesson for me is that the first idea is usually best, and if it isn’t I won’t come up with a better one until some time has passed and I can look/listen back to it with fresh ears and eyes.

The other aspect of what I have been doing that has become more clear to me over this past year is exactly what kind of performance I am after. Sometimes I have been working towards full Ableton controlled laptop performance using just a computer and controllers to make all the music. There are lots of aspects to this approach I find appealing and challenging. For one thing, there is very little actual gear I need to bring with me to make an immense amount of live improvised sound. Also It brings me more into the realms of the digital DJ world opening my music up to a much different audience more interested in the dance floor than the performer. This gives me the opportunity to slip my own creative ideas into a setting that might not be used to it, but is ready to hear it nonetheless. After working hard at this for most of the year though, I started bringing the focus back to my main skill, playing the drums, and using Ableton to create something of a futuristic one man band. For live performance this would bring me into different sorts of venues being that much more equipment is necessary (I can’t really set up a kit in a DJ booth) but it also has proved to be one of the more unique musical statements I have made and has regularly been met with an “I’ve never seen anything quite like that before” response which I must say I like.

In the end what I have settled on is doing a little bit of both. My goal for 2011 is not only to bring the Progtronica show to a live stage/club but to be able to do a show that works in a House club, or a rock concert and anything in-between (I’m going to try to stay away from the state fair circuit). With the freshness of the new year passing, I hope that I will be doing just that in the near future.

Cheers and Happy New Year!

Lets Face The Music revisited (Novation Launchpad Edition)

Nigel — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:47:13 +0000

This is a Novation Launchpad remix in 20/8 time of my song “Lets Face The Music” (a tribute to Phillip Glass, The Cinematic Orchestra, and the MPC 2000) all of which were deep inspirations for this piece. I approached this one a little differently then my recent “remixes” incorporating some live drums (using Roland V-Drums) using the same sounds as the ones I used to chop up the original drum breaks. For this one I triggering all the individual parts of the music live and manipulated some of the sound effects. All music played by me using various triggers including the akai mpd 24, the Launchpad, keyboards, as well as all the drums parts being are cut and sliced from live V-Drum performances using Ableton Live 8.

"The Sounds Around Me"

Nigel — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:21:56 +0000

Originally inspired by the amazing racket my new washer/dryer unit was making. I set out to make a piece using samples from around my immediate surroundings. Featured here are: sink (with dirty dishes) coffee carafe, coffee cup, garage door opener, airplane advertising for the Long Beach Marathon, stairs, bottles, and the Be-Bot app on the iphone takes a solo. I also play the drums live on Roland V-drums, recorded all the film on a flip video camera, and edited it all using ableton live 8 and iMovie. Making music using ready made sounds is hardly an original idea but this is my own unique take, blazing live drum n. bass style.

electroconvulsive therapy part 1 (tribute to Luke Vibert, and the healthcare reform debate insanity)

Nigel — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:57:13 +0000

A video tribute to Luke Vibert, JoJo Mayer, KJ Sakwa, and the health care reform debate insanity. This is a
live drum n’ bass performance video from Nigel Sifantus’ upcoming solo ep. Like a line of dominos, The sounds are set up and then knocked down using digital V-drums, nobs, sliders and effects. Prepare to be transfixed!

30 Minutes or Less

Nigel — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:00:20 +0000

A few nights ago I found myself in a full fledged battle with me on one side, and my miscommunicating computer and new audio interface on the other. I had a simple project in mind for the evening: record few drum clips into Ableton Live from my v-drums so that I could cut them up and begin making a new piece out of them. However, nothing was working. As soon as I plugged my new m-audio interface into the computer there was devastating digital chaos and, as the night wore on it became clear it was not my destiny to accomplish this little project that night (I have since figured out the problem) and was filled with anxiety at not being able to do what I had set out to do. Sitting in a chair twitching, I decided I needed to get up and do something creative quick to get my mind off of the failure. I then decided I’d attempt to program a sequence on my Roland MC-909, set up the video camera, perform a piece live and fully cut and edit the video in the quickest time possible. In the end it was about 28 minutes thus the title “30 minutes or less”.

The beginnings of my new project (solo on V-Drums)

Nigel — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:30:19 +0000

This is my first video experimenting with the V-drums. I’m basically just exploring the sounds, no samples or sequences here. This is raw and meant to be just a peek into the world that is to come.

Drum solo at the Blue Note

Nigel — Mon, 14 Mar 2005 03:58:32 +0000

Here is a video of a drum solo of mine during a Cell Theory performance at the famed Blue Note jazz club in downtown NYC in March of ’05. I was using a setup at the time running Ableton live on my mac, triggering short and long samples on which I soloed over the top using the acoustic kit. I was using the house kit which actually got a great kick drum sound.

Grandfather Ridiculous live at Tribeka

Nigel — Thu, 15 May 2003 04:08:35 +0000