Mellow Cello Podcast

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Episode 49 Thousandaire Jan 11, 2024

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Episode 49 Thousandaire Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode from October 3 2023 starts off with a nice melancholy driving rhythm. The second piece has a similarly melancholy drive to it. It’s hard to describe what feeling this evokes exactly, something between determination and acceptance, with hope but sadness at the same time. The third piece has a bit of a talking heads start to things, with a driving bass line that develops into something more spacey and comes back to the drive again and again. The fourth piece gets nice and heavy really quickly, with some big arco bass to make things sound epic and forward flowing, which continues to grow into a nice swirling sparkling piece. The fifth piece has a rendition of New Groove from the first volume of the Sushi Tapes. The final piece is a jazzy little number I’ve done renditions of before on previous episodes.

Episode 47 Autumnal Colors Dec 12, 2023

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Episode 47 Autumnal Colors Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the youtube stream on September 26, 2023. I love the liveliness of how things start out here, with an upbeat fast paced pizzicato ramble through some autumnal colored chords. The second piece gets groovier, keeping up the upbeat pace, but with a slightly darker tone, with some cool recurring motifs. The third songs builds into a much bigger and more aggressive driving song, that really pushes things forward with a big bass line that does a lot of heavy lifting and really develops into nice big thematic piece when the bowed layers build towards the end. The fourth piece builds out of a slightly weird detuned delay effect that creates a sense of anticipation, but then lands with some nice big bass again, keeping up the crisp driving pace of the piece before, with some more weird forays into different new digital effects, that are reminiscent of some of the cool things that Mark Mothersbaugh does with his collection of unusual instruments. The fifth piece doesn’t quite match the fullness and drive of the previous two, and is a simpler piece by comparison. Things become ambient for the sixth piece, with a self-sampled loop endeavor that flows into a nice dark river of a piece. The final piece is a return to the upbeat, with some nice full moments.

Episode 45 Fall Equinox Nov 16, 2023

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Episode 45 Fall Equinox Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the Youtube stream on September 18 2023. Things get off to a nice medium pace with a bit of a jazzy chord sound, that quickly takes on some nice autumnal colors with the bowed layers. Growing up in Vermont the foliage season has a great deal of nostalgia for me, and I think that this piece captures some of those windswept orange and red fall tones. The next 2 pieces are explorations of the same progression, with a second attempt being made to explore things a bit more, with some nice effects. Things get punched up a bit for a livelier piece with some bounce and a wiggly hook. This is followed by a much darker piece, that has some interesting darker brooding emotional overtones to it. The final piece is a bit of a watery jaunt.

Episode 43 Keeping Up the Pace Nov 07, 2023

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Episode 43 Keeping Up the Pace Nick Takénobu Ogawa

Episode 43

Things get off to a bit of a rocky start, with the first two pieces not quite locking in. But I finally find something in the third piece (which starts about 13 minutes in). The fourth piece is my favorite, with a nice groove and shimmering chords, built around an initial harmonic figure that I love to reuse. The fifth piece has a cool groove to it, but the format is a bit hard to lock down progression wise, and this is one I’d be tempted to edit at a future date so that the transitions happen sooner and more concisely. The final piece is a fun one, with a nice lively groove and some cool arco parts with a nice bass line. I think things get gradually better over the course of the session, although that’s much easier to do when things get off to a shaky start!

Episode 41 Nov 02, 2023

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Episode 41 Not too Laborious Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the Youtube stream on September 5 2023. Things get off to a mellow start, with a thoughtful and meandering pizzicato loop, which allows for some arco expansion and contraction, venturing into the melancholy at times. The second piece grows even more melancholy than the first, thanks to some long arco loops that make a bit of a drowsy bed to things. This is followed by a much more driving piece, with a baseline that moves things forward in a space operatic way. The fourth piece has the halting rhythm i’ve used before but really gets going towards the end with some nice flowing layers. Things continue in a halting fashion for the fifth piece. With the 6th piece I need an ‘ambient reset’ as I’ve come to call it, self sampling and working less about progression and just trying to capture different textures. The last piece takes a bit to get going, but I really like the rhythmic arco layers that build up and drive the piece forward.

Episode 39 Playing Catch up Oct 17, 2023

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Episode 39 Playing Catch Up Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the youtube stream on August 29 2023, things start off pretty mellow, with a meandering exploration. To be honest when I first started listening back to the second piece I wasn’t sure where it was going, or if it would ever get there. The piece isn’t without its missteps, but I find a lot more interesting sounds than I was expecting, once the staccato loops are laid and the middle eastern sounding line is introduced things find something of a form. I decided to spare the listeners the somewhat painful search for the chords in the third piece and begin when I finally find a pattern I like, whilst still stumbling a bit to find what works. One interesting thing about doing these streams and podcasts is how much more clearly I can see the stark difference in my on and off days. Some days things just seem to materialize with ease and others it’s a much more laborious process. At the same time however it’s encouraging to see that I can eventually overcome initial hiccups by sticking with it and allowing the wrong notes to fall away leaving the core of what works. This third piece is one such example, and fittingly it ends up sounding like some sort of witchy concoction of disparate elements. Things get smoother in the 4th piece, with a more uplifting piece as is the 5th, which continues in a very similar pace and tone. The 6th piece stands out as my favorite from the stream, as I find a nice almost reggae like uplifting groove towards the middle.

Episode 37 We call that Jazz Oct 12, 2023

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Episode 37 We call that Jazz Nick Takénobu Ogawa

The first piece takes a little while to develop, but becomes a nice expansive piece with some nice contemplative elements to it. The next piece I find in the revised second half, after redoing some of the chords I find a more natural feeling groove. The next piece ventures into some ambient spaces, with some wayward explorations. The fourth piece has a bit more of a lively start, but is in a key that is a bit harder for me to naturally land on the right note it seems. I try again in the fifth song to do the same progression with a different tempo to see if that helps, but it’s still a tossup which one has fewer wrong notes. As someone in the comments tried to reassure me - ‘we call that jazz’

Episode 35 Summer Rain Oct 05, 2023

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Episode 35 Summer Rain Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the live Youtube stream on August 15 2023. If you’d like to get all episodes and some advanced EP’s, please consider supporting me directly by becoming a bandcamp subscriber. Things get started with a lively piece built around a rapid pull off riff, that gets built on and echoed with the bow, and builds into something that reminds me of a summer rain. The next piece starts off in a familiar way, but takes on a nice driving rhythm, that feels like an extension of the first piece. With the third piece I build things from a glitchier percussion sound, which works well with the sub bass effect to create a sweeping after-the-storm reckoning, with all it’s technological re-integration. Things get a little bit darker and more determined in the next piece, with some nice marching rhythmic sections, which help to build into a more epic and resolute piece, which may have also resulted from catching part of the Magnificent Seven on tv the night before. Things get more contemplative and brooding in the following piece, with smaller thoughtful figures and a back and forth feel, a bit like weighing a decision. The final piece has a hopeful and wandering sound to its arpeggiation which is a nice sentiment to end on.

Episode 33 Up and Airy Sep 22, 2023

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Episode 33 Up and Airy Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the youtube stream on August 8, 2023. Things get off to a nice atmospheric start, with some sweeping pizzicato lines that shift and sway. It’s fun to find an arpeggio that works over the chord changes, and build from there. Things get dreamier and dreamier towards the end. The next piece develops slowly out of a murky ether. Sort of like a ship emerging from a dense fog. The weather changes a couple times through this piece, and the ship eventually emerges to a sea sparkling with sunlight, but there’s a storm on the horizon. The next piece develops into a nice airy piece, thanks to the pulsing reverb effect throughout. This is followed by a bit of a running rhythm, with a bouncing bassline, that stretches and expands.

Episode 31 Farmhouse Summer Sep 05, 2023

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Episode 31 Farmhouse Summer Nick Takénobu Ogawa

This episode comes from the stream on August 1 2023. The summer has been so hot, this piece kind of has a bouncy summer feel to it. The heavy bowed layers kind of add to the headiness of things, but then things open up nicely in the second half with an even bouncier/reflective pizzicato section. After the boisterousness of the first piece, the second one starts out a bit more hesitantly, but then evolves into a more self assured piece, with some nice arco bits towards the end. The third piece gets off to a much weirder start using some fun effects, but then comes together in a much more familiar place once the arpeggiated chords start. I think the effected sound provides a nice contrast, and results in a digital hoe-down canon, or maybe an electric farmhouse jam. The fourth piece has a very nice laid back to feel thanks to the little lick at the end of each chord, and i like the fun simplicity of this one. Something that’s been happening a bit more lately is that I’ve started to second guess the initial chord progression I come up with, feeling like it’s too simple or similar, which when I listen back is a bit of a source of consternation, and moving forward I’m going to try to stick with my first instinct. This really isn’t an exercise in coming up with some mind blowing new chord format, really more of an attempt at just capturing textures and textural feelings. As a result there are a lot of repeated sounds, but it’s more about the subtle variations and the groove.

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