This piece started as a progression I stumbled on while playing with a Hammond B3 organ VST, and over the course of months, grew into this epic you hear now. I hope you will enjoy listening.

My deepest thanks goes to the collaborators listed below, by whom through each of their contributions, and by each of their talents, this piece became more than I could have imagined.

Collaboration Team:

David Marconi: Original concept, Lead Guitar, Slide Guitar, Organ

Allan Cook: Bass Guitar, Rhythm Guitar, Audio Engineering
https://soundcloud.com/amcook1971

James Cook: Drums
https://www.youtube.com/@MezCook

Ron Adamski: Piano
https://soundcloud.com/user-264583290

Ron Lewis: Intro and Outro Synth
https://soundcloud.com/ron-lewis-779503933
https://www.youtube.com/@JustADudeInABasement

Please note, each collaborator composed their respective parts, so composition credit rightly goes to all involved.

Somewhere Beyond the Horizon

Somewhere Beyond the Horizon: Collaboration

Music and Lyrics By Pierfranco Chiusolo
Arranged and played By Massimo Primiero
Sung By Lara Brachet Cota

I originally worked on this song in the year of 2005 
and It was one of my first works as arranger, 
this song was born by an idea of Mr. Pierfranco Chiusolo (it-it.facebook.com/pierfranco.chiusolo), 
the lyric is a good example of poetry in music; when Mr. Chiusolo gave It to me for arranging the first thing that came to my mind was a dark atmosphere with a psychedelic sound , Lara did an excellent Job on this song and I think that all in all in ten years after the work is pretty fine.

Massimo Primiero

LA QUIETE DOPO LA TEMPESTA

Una coperta di nuvoloni neri ha avvolto il sole,
ora la pioggia cade forte e gli alberi,
perfino loro, sembrano averne paura,
muovono le foglie qua e la’
per non farsi colpire da quelle scintille d’ argento
che cadono da li’ su …
Il vetro mi ripara ma le gocce che scendono
mi fanno pensare a quanta paura 
ho del temporale senza te …

Il vento non e’ solo tempesta,
forza immensa che scuote perfino gli alberi,
il vento e’ anche brezza leggera 
come un battito d’ ali
quello che sospinge una porta facendomi credere che, 
ci sia tu dietro  …

Il fresco buio della notte m’ accompagna
le piccole stelle da lassu’ sembrano dirmi
“guarda, noi ci siamo, lontane, ma questo non c’ impedisce
di brillare con tutta la nostra forza”
L’ acqua scorre veloce e tenace sui sassi,
non le importa di saltare, infrangersi, spruzzare qua e la’
perche’ sa che quello e’ il suo corso e
nessuno la puo’ fermare …

Tutto questo e’ nei miei occhi, nelle mie orecchie
Sulla mia pelle e soprattutto nel mio cuore
Pensieri che corrono veloci seguendo le nuvole …
Ricordi vivi che non svaniranno mai …
 
TRANQUILLITY AFTER THE STORM 
(Translation by Massimo Primiero)

Stormy clouds have grabbed the sun blinding It,
Now rain falls strongly and the trees moving,
Even them appear to be scared,
Moving their leafs up and down,
Trying Not to hit by silvery sparks,
That falls here and there,
Glass shelters me but drops falling
Make me think how I’m scary,
Of the stormy weather  without you……

Wind is not only a tempest,
Eternal power that moves the trees,
Wind is also something so sweet,
Like a flapping wings,
What pushes a door make me think that,
There’s you behind It…..

The soft dark of night is with me,
Little stars form above seem to tell me,
“Look, We’re here, so far, but this doesn’t stop us to shine,
With all our force”
Water flows rapid on the stones,
Doesn’t care to cover up, and down, Bump, because It’s their duty and
Nobody can’t stop It…..

All these in my eyes , in my ears, on my skin and above all in my Heart
Thoughts that run quickly following the clouds….
Live memories that will never disappear…..



La Quiete Dopo La Tempesta (Cover)

Coffe And The Dog

Cover Art: Wilhelm Grimm (left) and Jacob Grimm (right), portrayed by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1855) PD-US
Music and Lyrics Copyright 2025 Joe Stroffolino

Hansel and Gretel were abandoned by their parents in the forest all alone.
They stumbled across a delicious looking candy-coated home.  A cannibalistic witch captured them and put them in a cage. Those were the kind of stories they used to tell children at a young age.

The brothers Grim told stories that were a reflection of their time
There was disease famine and poverty and things were not going fine 
We had to sanitize the stories because our modern stomachs are weak
And you’ll get in trouble if you read a book to kids, and it makes them shriek

Three little pigs were in a brick house trying really hard to survive 
The big bad wolf came down the chimney, fell in a pot of water and was boiled alive.
Cinderella’s stepsisters wanted to marry the prince, but they couldn’t fit into her shoes so they chopped off their heels and toes because they had so much to lose 

The brothers Grim told stories that were a reflection of their time
There was disease famine and poverty, and things were not going fine 
Little Red Riding Hood in the bedroom with a wolf dressed in human clothes.
Wondering why her grandmother had sharp teeth and a snout instead of a nose. Jack climbed the beanstalk, there was a giant who wanted to grind up his bones and make some bread. He stole the magic harp and the hen that laid golden eggs and the giant ended up dead

There’s days when you want to take a sheet of tin foil and stick it in your baseball cap
To keep all those negative thoughts from getting in your head and making you a miserable chap
Did it all start when you were a child, and your mother read you that bed time story that perhaps in retrospect may have been a bit too dark and gory

The brothers Grim told stories that were a reflection of their time
There was disease famine and poverty and things were not going fine 
Now we environmental devastation, nuclear weapons and milk that might have bird flu
Just turn on the news you don’t need a fairy tale to put the fear of God in you
But if you take away all the parts that are dark, sick twisted and gory. 
Do you have anything left that actually resembles a good story.
***
Vocals and backing vocals -  Joe Stroffolino 
Guitars - Joe Stroffolino ( 2 Strumming tracks: Taylor 114ce and Fender Squire and I picking track:Taylor114ce)
Bass, Saxophone, Horns: PG Music Real tracks
Piano andi Strings: PG Music and Native Instruments
Drums: EZ drummer 3
Recorded, mixed and mastered with Logic Pro 11

The Brothers Grim

From the rerelease of Newer Unknown Breeds. OUT NOW ON BANDCAMP:
https://moodexhibit.bandcamp.com/album/newer-unknown-breeds-expanded-edition

"Newer Unknown Breeds" was at the time a further development in sound for Blink Twice. The album expanded on the techno and electro genre much more than Blink Twice's debut "Other Locations". There was an increase usage of sampling on this collection of material, often with looped effects incorporated to add further density. With the blend of tribal and industrial elements remaining, it serves as an adventurous concoction of experimental rhythmic and darker ambient electronic music.

The underlying theme of "Newer Unknown Breeds" was the observance of mutations (both deliberate and natural) within organisms. Evolutionary results of obscure creatures and their advancement and place in the biological field.

Blink Twice - Rapid Growth

This is the extended version of my track "Chronicles of the Wayfarer".

Story:

Wanderlust is only curable by travelling. This is the story of a wayfarer ever so curious to explore the world. From deep forests to rough coasts, from lonely deserts to lively villages, from lush hills to dramatic mountains.

Track Description:

Chronicles of the Wayfarer is musically set in the ambient genre. It is mainly orchestral with lush string accompaniment and some soloistic melodies played by oboe und horn. Some evolving synth pads and high pulses emphasize the vibe. A hopefully recognizable theme overarches the piece although this was not my first goal. The main objective was to create atmosphere, mostly longing and sad.

Video: https://youtu.be/9w_WPp47YzE

Chronicles of the Wayfarer (Extended)

Will human kind ever leave Earth to outer space? If so, how will it work? As a bunch of frozen bodies in cryogenic capsules or are we going to convert ourselves into a software running in some spaceship supercomputer? Will anybody stay back on Earth? And why? What will be the songs of those leaving and those staying?

Cosmic Diaspora

Best of Me is a rock-driven anthem written with raw emotion and grit. It tells the story of giving your all to someone who took you for granted. With powerful guitar riffs and intense vocals, the song blends anger and vulnerability, capturing the fight to reclaim strength after being broken.

Best of me

just some messy improv strung out on various uppers & downers

Tweaker Blues

MURDER ONE

The Rhythm of the Restless

In my experience any creative urge comes from a certain unease and restlessness. A need to do something that leaves traces of us that can be vessels for what we felt as being worthwile at a certain time in our lives.

This track I recorded as a reflection of this unease, being itself filled with restless rhythms, runs and harmonies. Although short, there is quite a bit going on in there. It is, as might be expected if you know my music a bit, a blend of styles of music, starting with the flamenco guitar, but adding Indian, Western, Arabic and Latin sounds to the mix.
I am glad that I just found a bit of time again to pick up my new flamenco guitar and start recording again! So I hope you will enjoy this one and as always really appreciate your time, likes, comments and shares.

-Dan

A bit more technical explanation for those interested here:

The rhythmic metre is high paced at 150 bpm and I had long wanted to use that typical fast type of percussion in Indian music, performed on the Tabla. I really like how that playing technique is somewhat similar to the guitar, by way of using the individual fingers of the hand in various configurations to form different sounds and patterns. Like the articulations of the right hand in plucking the strings in the flamenco guitar's playing technique.

It is a lively guitar duet, with the accompanying guitar being double tracked against some vivid percussion, for which I programmed several parallel running tracks (7), the main being tabla, but also conga, darbuka & dumbek and shakers. The rhythm accents are derived from the style of flamenco Bulerías, a fast flamenco rhythm in 12 beats with the emphasis on 3, 6, 8, 10 and 12. Or my shifted version of (1) 2 3 (1) 2 3 (1) 2 (1) 2 (1) 2.

Recording info:
All music and guitars by Dan van den Berg, August 18, 2016
Recorded using AURIA for iPad and an Apogee MiC, mastered with Final Touch.
Drum programming and samples using Sampletank and Auria for iPad.
Guitar: Joan Cashimira, modelo 145:
Solid Spruce Top
Cocobolo Back & Sides w/ blonde streak
Wooden Rosette Inlay
Ebony Fretboard
Rosewood Profile
Scale: 65.0 cm
Length al guitar: 100 cm 
Depth: 9.7 cm 
High B : 28.2 cm 
Lower B : 37.1cm 
Neck width at 12 th fret : 6.3 cm
Neck width at 0 fret: 5.4 cm

Flamencoated Flavours for the Acoustic Guitar

The Rhythm Of The Restless - Dan Van Den Berg

THE NEW ALBUM OF MY BAND THE HYPERSONIC FACTOR  CALLED BELEVOLENT BEASTS IS OUT NOW!  AVAILABLE ON ALL STREAMING SERVICES!
featuring:
Jason Rubenstein - Keyboards, Piano, compositions, arrangements and producer
Mirko Borach - Bass and compositions
Tom Hipskind - Drums
Dan van den Berg - Electric and Acoustic guitars, compositions, arrangements, synthesizers
https://thehypersonicfactor.bandcamp.com/album/benevolent-beasts



Check my SOLO Album here! https://danielvandenberg.bandcamp.com/album/short-tales-for-three-guitars

This site is for my musical avatar or alter ego. Architect/partner/company owner by day, I find myself playing guitar and writing these tracks in afterhours, at nights, evenings, when in need of a dose of guitar sounds. You will find a wide range of guitar oriented music, ranging from Jazz to Blues, Flamenco to Classical, Rock to Fusion. And many collaborations with some great musicians.

I have been playing guitar since I was 11 years old, largely self-taught and have tried different styles and instruments: Renaissance lute, flamenco guitar, classical guitar, steel string guitar and electric guitar with which I have been playing in styles ranging from rock and metal in my early years to classical music, some American Folk music, jazz rock, prog rock, flamenco nuevo and fusion.

It’s been a splendid time here so far, in collaborating with a lot of brilliant musicians on SoundCloud and sharing ideas and the passion for music. 
My collaborations are with musicians that I have a deep respect for and have a mutual appreciation for real instruments, and musical styles that focus on letting the instruments “shine”. 

Here is some technical data:
Currently I am using Amplitube and Auria on an iPad as DAW with Final Touch for mastering. For acoustic recording I use an Apogee microphone.

Guitars are:
Fender AMERICAN ELITE STRATOCASTER® HSS SHAWBUCKER, 2016
Fender Stratocaster Squire (first edition: JV-series)
Ibanez JS100, Joe Satriani model
Evh Frankie Striped MN Relic R/W/B

EVH 5150 Series Standard Stealth Black EB guitar
Fender American Professional II Stratocaster HSS Olympic White RW
Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 HSH 2PT CM Mahogany Natural
Paulino Bernabe, Taller de Guitarras, Model-50, 2001, classical concert guitar
Marín, Modelo Estudio /9 Calidad, 1997, Malaga, Spain, flamenco guitar
Joan Cashimira, modelo 145, spruce top w/ cocobolo sides and back, Gata de Gorgos (Alicante), 2015

I hope you will enjoy my music.

Daniël van den Berg
DanArchX