Music favorites of July 2021

We didn’t have Bandcamp Friday this month but it didn’t stop me from buying new music. I bought rest of Den Sorte Død’s discography but because it is hard to find videos for their songs and I already put one on previous list I just mention them here. You should check them. They are amazing. Also left out Mesarthim's CLG J02182–05102. It is good but could only find whole album video. Cryo Chamber is also still good. Didn’t include anything from them this time.

Cradle of Filth: Crawling King Chaos

I don’t actually like Cradle of Filth. I just pretend to because I want to wear their T-shirts. Okay. They are third on my all time most listened bands or artists list on LastFM. That is because I listened them much more few years back. This is first single/video from their upcoming album Existence is Futile. They still got it. Maybe I should start to listen them again.

A Place to Bury Strangers: Pinned

I found A Place to Bury Strangers when I binge watched guitar pedal videos. Oliver Ackermann is man behind guitar pedal company Death by Audio. A Place to Bury Strangers is quite tamed compared to Death by Audio’s promo material and pedals. That tells more about how out there Death by Audio is. A Place to Bury Strangers just released EP. This is their latest full length album from few years ago.

Snakes of Russia

I don’t pick any release from Snakes of Russia. They have only released singles and EPs so far. I got everything they have released on Bandcamp. Spitfire Audio released new Albion library Solstice. During launch stream Christian Henson mention Snakes of Russia was one inspirations behind the library. Had to check the band and ended up buying everything.

AMENRA: MASS VI

Amenra’s albums have been on my wish list for ages but when Bandcamp made spotlight post of them I got interested and finally bought their music. This is from their MASS period when they sang in English. I didn’t plan to have three black and white videos back to back. I had another video for this album but it had so much flashing lights I decided to use this one.

Ichiko Aoba: Windswept Adan

Ichiko Aoba also has Bandcamp spotlight post but I didn’t found her from that. It was one Facebook group where someone posted her music and link to that spotlight post.

KINOCO HOTEL: マリアンヌの密会

I have known Kinoco Hotel for some time now with name Kinoko Hotel. You can find their music with both names on iTunes. Someone posted this or another video of their latest album to previously mentioned Facebook group. Went to check if album was on iTunes and it was there.

Pizzicato Five: The Band of 20th Century: Nippon Columbia Years 1991-2001

Same Facebook group and same post as Kinoco Hotel. Someone mentioned in comments Kinoco Hotel reminded them of Pizzicato Five. Well… I had to check them too. Got this compilation album even though this doesn’t have my favorite song from them. Couldn’t find it from iTunes.

TsuShiMaMiRe: Mamire Mania 20

Same Facebook group. Different post. Probably close to same day. This is probably their mainstream song. I assume it to be their biggest hit since it was first song of this compilation album. Their other songs are bit more experimental and rougher.

ZZ Top: The Very Baddest of

I don’t pretend to be biggest ZZ Top fan of all time. I liked few of their biggest hits, was ok with their other songs and had one older greatest hits album. After Dusty Hill’s death I went to check their music. Got 40 song version of this compilation. It is solid compilation with many songs I haven’t heard before. I think this will give my ZZ Top fix from now on. This and Rough Boy are my favorite ZZ Top songs.

It is coming together

I think LTD H-1001 is becoming my the one guitar. Missing piece was Revv D20’s virtual cabinets. D20 has built-in Two Notes Torpedo. It has knob which can have six different virtual cabinets. I used virtual cabinet which was based on Fender amp’s speaker. It sounded really good with alder body guitars. Not so good with mahogany body guitars. Went to Torpedo Remote and started to test with other virtual cabinets. I found couple which worked very well with H-1001.

One is really good with distorted sounds and other with clean sounds. I think I can found suitable cabinets for everything I want. Two Notes sell quite a few virtual cabinets including some weird ones. I was surprised how much different virtual cabinets changed the sound. Virtual cabinets make D20 quite versatile amp. I am really happy I got it when I was looking amp for home use. I originally was getting other amp but then someone told about Revv amps.

If I really start to use one guitar or only few guitars I have to figure out what to do with rest of the guitars. Virtual Cabinets give me lot of sounds with one or few guitars. With one amp I got different guitars to get different sounds. One guitar would make it easier to find sweet spots of pedals and amp. Different guitars have different sweet spots. It is easier when you don’t have to find new sweet spots when changing guitar.

This is the one... ...I hope...

Decided to go all the way with simplified guitar set up. I have one amp and pedalboard which I am not going to change soon. Why not go all the way and use only one guitar. Problem was I didn’t have that guitar. I had two guitars which almost were that guitar but both lacked something. I wrote earlier about wanting to limit how many guitars I play.

My problem is what I want is not what is commonly available. What I want is alder body with bolt-on maple neck with two humbuckers, hard tail and locking tuners. Humbuckers have to have coil-split and you have to be able to play both coil-splitted humbuckers same time. My Jackson lacks last option. It is the guitar I have played the most lately. LTD has two models which do all of this if I am willing to change alder body to ash body. That might be ok but I need to be able to play the guitar before buying it. That is the problem at the moment. Those guitars are not available at local guitar shop.

My other almost that guitar is older LTD MH-1000. It lacks single coil option. It has two single coils same time option but not one coil-splitted humbucker option. Current LTD MH-1000 NT would have that option. I considered it seriously. I wasn’t sure about getting new guitar that wasn’t exactly what I want and was also so close to one I already have. I also have even older MH-400 with Hetfield signature pick ups. I started to play with both MHs testing if that kind of guitar could be the one. I started to lean towards that kind of guitar could be the one but wasn’t fully convinced.

Part of the problem is I am so used to sound of my Jackson or alder body guitars. Mahogany body gives sound darkness when alder body gives more blank canvas sound for effects. At least that is how I feel after mainly playing with alder body guitars. Another part of the problem was MHs didn’t sound “right” when playing close to bridge. They have tune-o-matic style bridge when my Jackson has more traditional hard tail Stratocaster bridge. I am also used to telecaster bridges. I remembered how part of telecaster’s sound comes from the bridge and how some people put Bigsby tremolos to their SGs because it changes how guitar resonates.

LTD H-1001 is basically LTD MH-1000 NT with hard tail Stratocaster style bridge and different head stock. Don’t think head stock changes the sound that much but bridge does. There was H-1001 available at my local guitar shop. Went there to check it. Playing close to bridge sounded “right”. I bought it after couple minutes of testing. It just felt right.

After playing it for some time I am not sure if it could be the one guitar. It could be because everything is set up for my Jackson and I am used to it. Cabinet model could be the missing piece. Probably need to test different cabinet models like I did with Jackson. Or then it is just that different guitars are better at different things. I could probably do everything with H-1001, my Jackson and Ed O’Brian Stratocaster. Last one has sustainer. If I wouldn’t want it first two would be enough. But before I go into that I give H-1001 more. H-1001 just feels so good that I want it to be the one.

Music favorites of June 2021

I usually publish this post at the end of the month. This time I had other post then.

My Bloody Valentine: Loveless

I knew there was band called My Bloody Valentine. Probably have their songs on soundtracks. But I never checked their music. Until now. I checked them because planning pedalboard introduced me to shoegazing. This is good album and I should have checked them earlier.

Original Album Classics: Slowdive

Another shoegazing find. This is three album collection including Souvlaki. Don’t actually know what other two albums are. This was only little more than Souvlaki by itself. This and Loveless are my introduction to shoegazing. Will get more later.

Ahab: The Boats of the Glen Carrig

I postponed getting this because I thought whole album would be like first two plus minutes of this song. I have had their other albums for ages. Album has mellower sides but it also has the heaviness which I like about Ahab.

Loss: Horizonless

More slow heavy music. This and rest of the albums can be found from Bandcamp. Not sure about previous albums. This stayed on my Bandcamp wish list for ages. Bandcamp Fridays are good excuse to check wish list.

Trautonist: Ember

Shoegazing black metal or something like that. Got this before I got into shoegazing. I am sucker for bands which sound something like I have never heard before. This album wasn’t on wish list but other of their releases was.

Panopticon: …And Again into the Light

I am not sure if I have mentioned Panoption before. Panopticon is americana black metal or something like that. I made up the genre name. Band’s music is black metal with americana influences sometimes with out black metal. This is one of the bands I check if they have new releases even if I haven’t heard anything.

Singularity: Singularity

I had Singularity’s latest album on previous list. This one is better than the latest album.

Sphäre Sechs: Beta Pictoris

Cryo Chamber. Good. It is too hot to write anything intelligent.

That was it for this time. Didn’t get that much new music June. Spent more time playing guitar and planning pedalboard. Found some new interesting artists whose albums wait for Bandcamp Friday and then found there isn’t Bandcamp Friday on July. Next is August.

Pedalboard complete... At least for a while... (rest of the board)

First part of this post can be found here. In that post I got to end of pedal before amp. In this post I go through pedals in effects loop. To be honest as writing this I haven’t used effects loop setup yet. It has been easier to put everything before clean amp. One cable in patch bay is enough for that.

Before I get to pedal in effects loop little update about Giygas noise issue. Turns out Tone Corset was not the problem. It is noisy after Revv pedals even if Tone Corset is not on board. Don’t know why. I have to turn Manx Loaghtan’s sustain all the way up before it gets noisy in same position and it is not nearly as noisy even then. So Manx Loaghtan stays in board. Giygas will find its place on bass or synth pedalboard when ever I get that one. It has bass setting which make it usable with bass. I moved NS-2 after Lost Highway and put Tone Corset and dirt pedals into NS-2’s loop. Now board is really quiet even when I use pretty high gain. This concludes what has happened before amp pedals since first part. Now to effects loop pedals.

Polychrome comes first in effects loop. Already wrote post about Polychrome. Meris Polymoon is last pedal added to the board. I wanted digital delay to complement two analog delays. I was about to get Walrus Audio’s D1 but then I learned about analog dry through which D1 doesn’t have. I had few options. Polymoon wasn’t first option until I started to wonder do I need another delay doing basic delay. Polymoon demos tend to show full capabilities of the pedal. I wanted subtler delay with option to do more. Not just basic copies of some older units. When I found demos showing pedal can do subtler delay I took change with it. Feedback filter is rarely shown on demos but it is the reason why I wanted Polymoon.

Polymoon works well with Tonal Recall when you set Polymoon’s feedback filter right hand side and Tonal Recall’s tone down. I couldn’t make Tonal Recall and Rubberneck work this well when they were next to each other. After first impressions Polymoon was correct choice for digital delay. I haven’t even tried everything yet. Even using it as basic delay it feels worth it. I haven’t taken full advantage of Tonal Recall either. I have use it only as basic analog delay. I think Chase Bliss’ pedals’ UI has one fatal flaw. When you use ramp or expression pedal you set range from maximum or minimum to knobs current position. In Polymoon you select settings for expression pedals maximum and minimum settings. Other than ramp/expression flaw Tonal Recall is amazing analog delay.

Next comes my all time favorite pedal Surfybear Compact. It is real spring reverb with two selectable mix settings. It is big and requires own power supply but is absolutely worth it. Walrus R1 is there for situations when I want something other than spring reverb. I am bit tempted to replace R1 with Mercury 7 but I think I keep R1. It has interesting modes which could be useful in correct setting.

My goal was to have pedalboard which can do everything I want. So far I have been able to do that and some interesting sonic explorations I didn’t expect. It doesn’t fit to board but next on shopping list is dual expression pedal which can control both Polymoon and Tonal Recall. Board have some expensive pedals. I wanted to get pedals I don’t need to change anytime soon and which are versatile. It should be cheaper in long run.

Pedalboard complete... At least for a while...

Got last pedal for the board before mid-summer weekend. Plan is to keep this setup for some time. There are few pedals which might change later but intention is to keep most of the current pedals on board. Order might chance but pedals should stay. Now is good time to tell what is there.

Board is Rockboard CIntiq 5.3. I chose Rockboard because they have place for patchbay at the back of the board. You can route cables through it. I use Rockboard Mod 2. It helps keep setup less messy when power and four cables go through patchbay. Power comes from Strymon Zuma and Ojai extension. Those power fourteen pedals. Surfybear needs own power supply. Zuma can’t give enough power to it. That is why there is fifteen pedals.

Signal chain starts from TC Electronic Polytune. You need tuner and I have had that for ages. Next is Boss NS-2. At one point I hoped I didn’t need noise gate but I needed it. Have had this pedal for ages. Not sure is this is best place to have this. Might change this after Lost Highway to suppress noise from Night Wire and Lost Highway. NS-2 also acts as buffer. I kind of want to replace these but don’t feel it is worth the money. At least at this point when I have spent so much on board and pedals lately. If I change these it is because I want to have buffer optional. NS-2 is always buffered. Better working gate would be nice. NS-2 works well but it could be little better.

Next two pedals are in less conventional place. First reverb and delay come at this point. I wrote about MXR Reverb in previous post. DoD Rubberneck is most suitable for this place of delays I have. These pedals are here because I had power and room for extra few pedals. Original plan was to have two reverbs and delays in more conventional place. Having delay and reverb before dirt pedals and modulation gives some extra options. Old times reverb and delay were before amp. Still need to learn how to get most out of these.

Night Wire and Lost Highway are next because they react to playing dynamics. Night Wire is harmonic tremolo which can also be phaser and envelope filter. Probably most versatile pedal on board. Lost Highway is phaser which reacts to your playing dynamics. I considered changing it but it can do what Night Wire or Polychrome can’t do.

Tone Corset is next. It is analog compressor. I have compressor before dirt pedals because I mainly use it for sustain. Having it after first reverb and delay give some options. This is probably first pedal to be replaced. I am not completely happy with it and it has buffered bypass. Some places say this has true bypass but they lie. It seems to be case with many EHX pedals. I trust EHX’s site more that web stores.

Dirt pedals come next. I have Revv’s G2 and G3. Both have three aggression modes which give different levels of distortion and some eq changes. These pedals give enough distortion. Manx Loaghtan is basically Big Muff with two-band cut/boost eq. Might still change this to Giygas if I managed to get rid of noise problem. It would be nice if Tone Corset’s buffered bypass is the reason. Giygas was noiseless in smaller setups and it is noiseless if I replace Tone Corset with it. True bypass seems to matter in this case. It is bit weird that only Giygas seem to have this problem though.

I think this is good place for cliffhanger. I go rest of pedals in next post.