Swan Songs

Though Oval has consisted of Markus Popp and only Markus Popp since '95, it originally had three members. The two Oval albums I own, Systemisch and 94 Diskont, were produced with all three members involved.

I love their process. From Wikipedia -

The glitches in Oval's work are of a unique, nostalgic quality for anyone who has used a CD too much to where it got all scratched up. You know that little skip? Oval takes those - those "mistakes" - and turns them into beautiful, surprisingly ambient pieces of music. Fantastic.

My go-to song lately. Great downtempo tune. Love the synth's texture.

Really inspired by downtempo right now. Trying to make more mellow music myself.

Heard this song for the first time today while driving. It's easily one of the best songs I've ever heard in my life. It put me in a very contemplative and emotional state, which doesn't happen often anymore. Amazing lyricism, amazing composition, amazing everything.

Two of my fave songs right now, that are inspiring me completely. I watched a video of Mndsgn making some music and he busted out some claves. I've also been listening to a lot of Shlohmo, and I absolutely love his percussion. Very organic. Because of these things, I immediately bought some cheap claves on Amazon.

Curious though, what are some favorite percussion instruments of the drummers 'round these parts? @matt72582, I know you hate this type of music so disregard the songs, but I'm particularly very curious to get your take regarding percussion instruments since I respect you quite a bit as a drummer. I'm curious if you have any tips about how a non-drummer can use percussive instruments to the best of his ability, and which little instruments you find have the best textures and whatnot? I figure since I don't have a drum set, I can get comparatively cheaper percussion instruments and just use those, for now anyway.

Thanks, and yeah I have a few suggestions.. During Easter last year, I saw these plastic eggs, and I thought I'd try to make homemade maracas, and it sounds exact... I have 5-6 eggs, so in some, I put more rice, some less rice...

You can get a cow-bell sound by using a tin-can, and again, you can find many different kinds.. Some full, some empty, some with water, or coffee.. And put it to the test -- record with a microphone.

If you have drum sticks, you can make sounds that come very close to a drum set.. If you could only afford one thing, I'd get a snare drum, since that's something hard to create out of household items. Cymbals aren't THAT important if you are starting from scratch, and I guess you can always mouth it (like in the video)... I only have 8-tracks on my Tascam (if I remember correctly, you have unlimited)..

Hitting the floor makes a good bass drum sound. If you place something heavy to that same place, the pitch goes up obviously, and you can design tom-toms.

Clapping is also pretty cool. Try to clap your hands by making them both symmetric - it creates an awesome popping sound, but it has to be perfect - there'll be some space at the palms, but you'll know what I mean once you make the sound.

Snapping fingers, using all of them.. They won't sound like castanets, but you can make some cool sounds once you layer all the stuff. I've even used rubber bands, stretching them out, or using the big fat ones with little resistance to make a sound with less frequency.

You have drum sticks, right? Even hitting the wall is something, and it's great practice technically, but also with your ear, and being creative with things right in front of you.

Cool, thanks for the tips man. Some good stuff there.

Kebnekaise: Balladen om Björnbär och Nätmelon

I'm liking that a lot Matt, but did you mean to post it here?

Been listening to this album a lot lately, and this is my fave song on it.