What a great instrumental! I dig this....

So productive Carlos - this dawn portends a dramatic day.

Odd meters always get a like. And it is a beautiful piece

Love that Gregorian chant-like vox-y synth.

You've infused me with blessed spiritual energy. Now I feel I can face the day. Wonderful, Carlos!

"Clotilda" is the infamous slave ship that brought Africans into America... 
it's coded in faded vocal samples, and chill instrumentation. It is the first single from the my latest album, "Diaspora", out now on Bandcamp. "Calm the waters"..  🙏 much love.

CLOTILDA

On Friday morning I put my hands down on the piano and I played the first chords of this song without even thinking.

By Saturday night I had finished writing and recording the song, I am releasing it on Sunday.

Piano, synthesizer, bass guitar, electric guitar, drums by Darren Douglas Danahy

White Light

Smooth as glass on the surface but beneath the calm of still water runs a deep relentless current. Don’t be fooled by a still appearance on top when below the mighty power of a torrent moves unseen.

Synths, synth guitars and pianos with reverb, synth bass set to a 2-step thump beat with bongos, congas, repique, and snare cajon at 75 bpm.

Water audio recorded live in February 2024.

Still Water

Moon Gloom

stillness, quietude, inaction.
the baited breath.
waiting for paint to dry.

what happens between events.
the gaps between words.
hollow absentia.

recumbent and hungered.
godforsaken and abandoned.
somnolent and indolent… .lent.



this is the 4th segment from DUO TREASON
( Joel the Mole - guitar and David Nelson -piano)
recorded 3/29/2024.

image is a cuneiform obelisk made by John Pattengill

MOON GLOOM

Tristan Und Isolde

final segment of the jam from 3/29/2024.

in celebration of Earth Day, a nocturne by Joel the Mole and David Nelson, recorded in Mamaroneck; who's name means  "where the sweet water meets the salty water".
image is a photo from Teatown Lake Reservation in Ossining.

CREPUSCULE

Good evening to my SC friends. I hope life is treating you all well.

First thing I want to share… there is a reason why so many of my recent songs don’t include write-ups. I promised myself a long time ago I would search out positive and productive ideas, and only share those. But lately, I’m wasting a lot of time and energy dwelling in darker territories. It’s way too easy for my ego to jump on the ‘fear’ bandwagon (that’s happening to a lot of us these days); and I feel an intense responsibility to never use my writing abilities to spread more of that kind of thinking. 

Granted, I am also in a regular state of arguing with that very convincing voice, reminding it that it is only focusing on one perspective (the ‘fear’ one). That right there is gift number one… having a separate voice in my head, working diligently to raise the bar. And it’s a gift we all have; the voice that gently sits above the voice of the ego… reminding us ‘this is all about discovering the love in any given scenario’. The problem is, the ego can get noisy enough to mute that other voice; and it’s easy to forget it’s still there.

But when I achieve those moments of clarity, I laugh at how susceptible I am to my own negative thinking. What I really believe deep down is that (as experiential souls) we’re all actually doing great, and this is all going according to plan. 

I know, I know. Have I lost my mind? That can’t be possible, right? We can’t be ok? There is simply too much evidence to the contrary.

That ‘evidence’ is gift number two. Thanks to tools like the internet and social media, we can see this all happening live, everywhere, and all at once (including the now obvious lies). For the first time in documented history, anything you want to know is readily at your fingertips. 

Granted, the folks who want to control us understand human psychology well enough to use that information (drizzled in fear) to manipulate us… which seems like a bad thing. But I want to suggest it’s actually a good thing. Our hearts really only want to love (and be loved): and our ego can only take so much negative info before the body grows sick with that energy. Using a nightmare as an example… you’ll endure a lot in that sleeping state, until you reach a tipping point. And then you snap awake from the nightmare, cringe at how convincing it was, and tell yourself “I don’t ever want to experience that again. That was scary.” We need these nightmares for perspective. And the worse the nightmare gets, the more people are destined to wake up from it.

Here’s where my ideas get weird. Instead of fearing all those voices who are currently driving civilization to the brink (of who knows what, just yet). What if we thanked them. What if those frightened/frightening voices are inadvertently doing exactly what we need them to be doing… breaking the nightmare, by making it unbearable. These days, when someone tells me I need to be afraid, I immediately gravitate to the thought ‘what do you stand to gain by making me feel that way?” And that is usually enough to spark other ways of thinking. 

Simply speaking, we can determine the trustability of a message by determining its underlying energy: Fear = Bad, Love = Good. So many institutions want us to be afraid right now, and I genuinely question the motives behind anyone pushing that agenda. So yes, I thank politicians and religious leaders for forcing fears on us so relentlessly. You are waking us up faster than you realize; and while your precariously unsustainable structure won’t survive this awakening… the human race will. 

I hope you enjoy my latest sonic swirl, ‘Poly Ticks And The Powdered Keg’. :)

Free DL on SC :)

Poly Ticks And The Powdered Keg


For many moons
we have denied
The things that we
Felt most inside
Why do we fear
to be revealed
the wounds, when shared
could help us heal?
We built a wall
without a door
and forgotten why
we built it for
So tear it down
and start again
if we can't trust
we'll never win

So many moons
that we could share
if we let our love
take us there
raise our hands
put down our fists
together we
can fix all this
It's here for us 
if we should choose
we only have
our world to lose
uncloud our eyes
see not through pain
and learn we have
a world to gain   

 


Many Moons

Instrumental track. This "music phase" of mine sure seems to have lasted a while. 

Phases

A retro-future glam-inspired pop track infused with Gibson SG power chords and harmonies to make you smile.

Only If...

Composed, arranged, performed, and produced by:
Carlos Vivanco

Luceros De Media Noche

Carlos Vivanco

Luceros Del Amanecer

Born in México City in 1955, started playing at an early age. In Mexico, I played with bands like "Batallón de San Patricio", "Atrás del Cosmos", "Queso Sagrado", "Syntoma", " Broken Heart", "Decibel", "Bardo Thodol", "Kathmandu Ensemble". In New York City I played with Bands like, "King"s East", "In The Service Of", "Fist of Facts", "Desire", "Dense Undergrowth"," "Matahari", "Like Wow", "Devil's Breakfast", "Muse Mob", "Atlantis 3000", "Monster", "Zenith", "Andromeda Crash" "Night Shade", I also collaborated with Hector Zazou, Harold Budd, Elliott Levin, Dennis Charles, and many others. For many years I also wrote Jingles for a lot of products like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Mc Donalds, Toyota, Kodak, Payless Shoes, Rothman's, Salsa Tabasco, JC Penny, Liberty Science Center, American Heart Association, MCI, Reebok, AT&T, Fanta, Play Movil, etc, I also made music for Viacom writing music for cartoon networks, Bravo TV, Chanel 1, and MTV. Also wrote music for Bill Moyers (PBS)and also for Fax TV in Germany.

Luceros Del Amanecer

Carlos Vivanco

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