Nick Syman

I recorded a sort of musical journal this spring as some of the challenges of the past year slowly started to fade. Winter was hard and I didn’t play, write or record much, so I needed rigid parameters to get started:

• short, repetitive loops/improvisations that overlap
• instruments and effects recorded live to tape
• 4 tracks on the tape machine = 4 instruments (piano, drum, trombone and cymbals)
• instruments/tracks cycle in order (1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4 etc.)
• tracks gradually overlap more and more
• fill the entire tape

Hopefully this is the last solo/basement/pandemic project for a while and the next project will be written for and performed by live musicians, but finishing and producing these recordings helped me process some of this transition and the final product exceeded my expectations. Thanks for listening!

New music from this summer’s basement wanderings.

I started making these tracks at the beginning of Minnesota’s stay at home order because I missed playing music with other people. They aren’t a substitute for playing with real humans, but I think they’re fun and useful. I also wrote some lesson plans to use them with my students if you are interested.

My first attempt at a multi-track studio video. Trying to use some of this social distance time to learn new things. This is the first movement from A Moorside Suite by Gustav Holst. I love this tune. It’s originally for brass band, so I had to transpose all of those strange Eb instruments.

After helping start the Hudson Improvisation Ensemble and messing around with effects pedals for a year, I felt like I had a lot of new sounds in my ears that needed to get out. My recording chops also got better working on the last Drift Clique project. So I made something in November. Here it is:

Drift Clique, my side project with Peter and Jess, just released a synth soundtrack for a scifi-horror comic book by Eliot Rahal and John Bivens. We’re celebrating the release of the album and the book at Icehouse on October 30. Look for Cult Classic: Creature Feature at your local comic shop and check us out below.

Listen to our new album and come to the release show!

Northing’s debut album Hill Spell is out today! Get it on your favorite platform here: http://hyperurl.co/Northing_HillSpell

Sunday, June 2 Release show at Icehouse MPLS: https://www.icehousempls.com/events/2019/6/2/northing-album-release-with-realtree

Oanh Vu and I made this video with an overhead projector at Monkeybear’s Harmolodic Workshop. Aaron’s solo on the second half of the tune is one my favorite parts of the record. Pure magic.