Nigel Sifantus » iPhone

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.

DJ’ing From Behind the Drums Part 2 “Twilight of 2010″”

Nigel — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 01:31:29 +0000

After doing the last track/video “Taste of Blue” introducing my new technique of launching clips and scenes in Ableton live using the Novation Launchpad while playing the drum part live, it opened my mind of the many different types of sounds and styles I could tackle using the same basic setup. I had the idea for this song “Twilight of 2010” bubbling around in my head for weeks when I was sick but didn’t set to experimenting with the actual composition of the song until I had the whole form in focus, a complete departure for me. Normally my tracks evolve as I am producing them and working with the sounds, often coming out much different then I had in mind when I originally opened a blank set. I actually put this whole track/video together from top to bottom in a matter of about two hours. That is the beauty of Ableton live as a composition and performance platform, the musical feedback is immediate so projects can go as fast as your mind can if your approach is already figured out. This song is the most melodic and down-tempo of any of the Progtronica works which opened up a space for a lot of drums. One other thing that is unique for this song is there are no samples used whatsoever, I played all the parts myself using various software synths, and iPhone apps including the “pocket guitar” for the guitar part. Ableton’s new “Amp” simulator effect, just released in the latest update, provided an extra crunchy sound not only for the guitar but the drums and bass as well.

I have been amazed and gratified by the almost immediate internet response to this one after it was posted on Vimeo and YouTube. Syntopia.com made it their Sunday Synth Jam for last week, titling the post the “Futuristic One Man Drum Ninja Band” and saying “Nigel Sifantus delivers an energetic drum/DJ jam”. Then a Danish site called justastudio.net gave it the same title and said “This glitchy live session is nasty and incredible well performed by Nigel Sifantus. The music is called Twillight 2010 and is available as free download…” They also included the cover image from the “Live For No One” ep and included links to this site. Much appreciated! In the first 48 hours the video had been viewed over 800 times and the Progtronica fans on Facebook doubled in number.

The song itself is more powerful than anything I have done myself in the past and I think it is pointing me further in the musical direction I want to take this: Electronica not contained by sub-genres and retaining the deep primal human element of a non-machine generated beat while keeping a futuristic sonic aesthetic.

Live duo performance with Taylor McFerrin at Zanzibar

Nigel — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 05:53:07 +0000

My old friend and musical collaborator Taylor McFerrin called me a few weeks ago and said he was rolling through LA on tour supporting his soon to be released album “Early Riser” and invited me to sit in with him at his show at Zanzibar in Santa Monica. Naturally I was totally excited to revive our old chemistry and eager to see what we would actually do. The show was put on by KCRW Dj Aaron Byrd and featured the bands Master Blaster and Electric Wire Hustle. It ended up being an amazing evening and we played a mix of Beat-box, Rhodes, Drums, iPhone, and dueling Ableton Live systems at times building beats from scratch on the spot using the Akai APC 40 and the Novation Launchpad. The whole show ended up being a total free form improv and it went places we didn’t even know we would go. One of the other DJ’s from the night, Anthony Valadez also posted this video recap of the night which has some great footage from the whole experience.

“The Theory is..” (mini club mix) featuring several iPhone synth apps in Ableton Live

Nigel — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 06:37:59 +0000

I’m working and reworking the last track for my debut album before sending it off the be mastered. In the process I got locked into this techno club vibe and went with it for this weeks video blog post. All the synthesizer sounds come from various iPhone apps and all drum parts were recorded live, then cut up and remixed in Ableton Live. All music is being mixed on the spot using a Novation Launchpad and ZeRO SL Mk II controllers and an iPhone. Filmed with a single Flip video camera and edited in iMovie.

“Quicktronic” a “Be-Bot” iphone and Ableton jam

Nigel — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 06:37:32 +0000

This broken beat/house song i had been working over in my head for a few days, but the recording took record time. Sometimes that is the best way to write; think about it for a while then just pour it out as fast and unfiltered as possible. This is certainly unfiltered. I had been wanting to work with this amazing “Be-Bot” music app on the iPhone for a while. The thing is a “singing” robot that plays and basically sounds like a theremin. I used to own a theremin so I love the sound.

iPhone and Elmo guitar duet

Nigel — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 06:23:59 +0000

Since getting my iPhone a few months ago I quickly realized it is one of the most amazing new musical tools. When my daughter received this “Elmo” guitar for a birthday present from a certain musician friend of mine, I thought it might be the worst thing I had ever heard. That is until I started messing with the knobs and realized you can control the pitch of the “samples” it produces in real time. When I put these 2 together….pure magic!