All NOSTRUMUVA music, attempted to arrange with some kind of fluidity.

Everything

Path Of The Nullanon

Best Of

Collaborations

Improvised song on my old Yamaha keyboard through a guitar effects pedal.  The coolest part of this song is the unintentional recorded feedback matched up with what I was playing.

Standard

Collaboration project between Bismuth Sky and NOSTRUMUVA.  If you put a neodymium magnet between two bismuth ingots and then put another large magnet above that, you can get the small magnet to float because bismuth is diamagnetic.  Bismuth Sky provided the bass track and I improvised Akai EWI4000s over top of that and ran it through audacity to provide more of a drone ethereal sound.

Diamagnetic

I wrote this song right after buying polishing supplies to fix a scratched fake marble sink in my old condo.  I was upset but trying to calm down.  This is a multi-layer improvised song with me on Korg Radias keyboard and also using a Kaossilator.

Polishing Supplies

Apologize to Flying Kiwis... the vox was way too quiet.
But at the time, I had no time.

LYRICS:
In the dim haze of an evening's sigh,
Embers low, dancing in the quiet sky...
Whispers in the cooling night, weary minds, soft and light,
It too unwinds, blurred in gray.
Wistful dream slips away.
Shadows grow, entwine their grace, soft and slow,
Lasting trace...
Quiet rage, trembling spark, within its cage, staining the dark.
Fragile cup, a bitter tongue, anger wells up, quietly sung.
Unshed cries, tightening grip, a disguise, every sip.
Fans the flame, 'neath the calm, whispering a name, balm embalm...
In this ritual, the fury brews.
Cigarette ash falls like silent snow.
And the tea, once sweet, now bitterly stews, in the heat of an anger that refuses to go.

Cigarette and Chamomile

Cigarette And Chamomile

I was trying to make a relaxed dissonant melancholy song, in the style of Erik Satie (think Minecraft).  This was improvised on my Korg Radias and recorded to my BOSS RC 50 Loop Pedal.

Regular Day

Here is the >>>FREE SHEET MUSIC<<<: https://musescore.com/user/93785209/scores/22956730

Watch a video of the sheet music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn1DtLIISJU

Watch a practice improvisation session of this song from early on: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKq913BXT8g

Resilient

This is the first song of my "Nullanon" series, which kind of correlates to a depression section of my life.  Little bit of funk at the end.  If you like the funk there is an extended version of that called "Turbulence Of The Nullanon".  The Nullanon is an anthropomorphized nothingness.

LYRICS:
Behold unto, O gentle love,
The nothing, Nullanon.
'Tis said on many scroll
He knows neither fate, nor reason.
Shall his will be evident?
His image sung through gifted tongue,
(Shall his will be evident?)
A voided hope and without shame,
(Shall his will be evident?)
Regardless of his coming seen,
Bring us to thy empty shell,
Shall his will be evident?
To others, an evil anathema,
Nay man is he, nor solid Earth.
Apathia, athambia, aphasia.
Man is but self-serving.
In hobo form, or merchant storm,
A wanderer o'er land and sea,
O Nullanon, join him now,
All nightmares expound from thee.

The Nullanon

This is the extended part of the end of my first "Nullanon" song.  Just some funky blues, that's all, moderately repetitive.

LYRICS (at the end):
Let there be something new?
No, it's all The Same.

Turbulence Of The Nullanon

This is number 3 in my "Nullanon" series.  The point is there is this thing called "The Same" and everything is part of it.  No matter what you do, all of life is vain.

LYRICS:
The air we breathe is The Same.
The light shown on us is The Same.
The sounds we hear are The Same.
The ground beneath our feet is The Same.
It's all The Same.
It's all The Same.
The light shown on us is The Same.
The sounds we hear are The Same.
The ground beneath our feet is The Same.
It's all The Same.
It's all The Same.
It's all The Same.
It's all The Same.
It's all The Same.

The Same

When someone asks you "What's the difference?", now you know.  It's this thing that came down from the sky and changed stuff after the Nullanon disappeared for a while.

At this point, I started concentrating on generating album covers using artist mannequins.  This is number 4 in my "Nullanon" series.  Imagine a bunch of people used to doing things very unambiguously and then there is something that forces them to start making more granular decisions based on evidence.

LYRICS:
Softly, slowly, swaying in the wind,
The trees reveal a message to begin,
As if a random group of people broke into a song,
The natural and man-made objects start to play along:
What is The Difference?
The great and mighty Nullanon is nowhere to be found,
A wave of synchronicity unfolds across the ground,
The people all are silent and they open up their eyes to the skies.
There's a difference that flies.
What is The Difference?
The Difference descends in graceful hidden coup d'etat.
It suffocates the people and their will.
What once was unambiguous is now a rolling hill,
And though they're happy they will cry inside.
What is The Difference?
It shines so bright,
Look at it and love.
It came from above, it must be good.
Give it all your energy, feed it like we should.
Feed The Difference.
What is The Difference?
What is The Difference?

What Is The Difference

I love the organ melody progression in this song at the beginning.  This is number 5 in my "Nullanon" series which is depression stuff, mixed with some funk organ.  The lyrics for this song is mostly about accepting what happened already and moving forward (stoic philosophy).

LYRICS:
Everything that was is now undone.
Every time we lost, we thought we won.
Everywhere we went is just a memory that fades,
Everything we said was just a promise that we'd made,
And now those promises are broken.
It took us way too long to figure out.
We didn't seem to start,
When we did, we never carried through.
We had a chance, but didn't try.
Pick up our mess, and collect ourselves,
Gather some hope, move forward again.
Rusted old tools in the dust on the shelf,
Moments before it's the end.
Might as well give it our all,
Nothing to lose,
One final attempt.
Maybe we're spent,
But that's how it went.
Might as well give it our all,
Nothing to lose.
One final attempt.
Maybe we're spent,
But that's how it went.

That's How It Went

Brendan Dempsey on bass, NOSTRUMUVA on TE OP-1 Keyboard.

Never Bare Your Soul To Fools

The Dubtime Rag

LYRICS:
When it's too hard to keep up,
Just getting by,
Pushing that boulder up to the sky,
What would happen if we just let go?
Let go.
Drop the ball.
Let the boulder roll down the mountain into the town.
Why are we holding this burden for them?
What do they know?
Let go.
Sisyphus, let go.

Sisyphus, Let Go

I decided to write this song based on waiting to get my car inspected for 3 hours on a Saturday.  TE OP-1 keyboard, lots of Audacity filters, overall echo, perfect stretch fade out at the end.

Waiting Room

Sea shanty progressive trance.

LYRICS:
Ephemeral.
The sea drifts in to me
Wherever I might be,
And when it goes away
There's no reason to stay.
I go with the sea now,
Go with the flow.
It's all I know.
I'm just Ephemeral.
Whispers on the shore.
Sand erased by each soft wave.
Time sighs, then is gone.
Tide paints, then withdraws.
Footprints vanish in moonlight.
Silence takes their place.

Ephemeral

Psychedelic Rock with a little bit of organ.  This is mostly what I call a "Drone" song, attempting to keep a continuous dissonant chord going through the entire song.  Lots of echo pedal.

Sudden

Psychedelic Rock Drone.  Completely on TE OP-1 Keyboard.

Catatonic

Psychedelic Rock on TE OP-1 Field Keyboard.

Socratic Epiphany

Polkadub

This is a depressing song about a teddy bear that is no longer loved and wants to be thrown in the trash.  I start with some angry metal, then I break into myself singing harmony with myself as alternative rock, then some whistling (it fits, trust me).  Most of this was done on TE OP-1 Field keyboard, with post cleanup in Audacity.

LYRICS:
It's not easy being an inanimate object...
I can't even breathe.

Please tell me if I'm real.
Do I exist?
Why am I here?
Should I be sad?

Where does the time go
While you sit still
Staring at the wall?

I just want to be used
Like a paper towel.
Clean up your mess and discard me.
Throw me in the trash when you're done
Waiting for someone...

I'm all alone.
You forgot that I'm here.
I used to be your favorite object.
Inanimate Object.
Throw me in the trash...

Inanimate Object

World song on TE OP-1 Field Keyboard.  Ptarmigans = Tundra Bird

Ptarmigans

Song written completely on TE OP-1 Field first, then redirected into the COM output using the Nitro effects on the full 4-track.  The potentiometer controls they have on TE OP-1 Field are not necessarily the best for live filter effects.  This song starts out with some house trance with my own voice sample, and then I shift into some dub bass doing reggae trance.

Influcted

Brendan Dempsey on bass, NOSTRUMUVA on TE OP-1 Field keyboard. Psychedelic Rock.

Chromium Catalyst

Dixieland klezmer with a bit of ragtime piano.  Took a while to put together but the balance was worth it.  Lots of post filtering.  Enjoy the weirdness.

Here is me with the cheapest accordian that I own while I was recovering from COVID:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aQdIUyRX-dQ

LYRICS:
I was lookin' out my window
Through the reflection of a mirror,
And through the rain,
Suddenly, an obelisk appeared.
Behind the transparent obelisk
Was a mystic apparition
That presented forth a document
With a very strong position.

And I heard him ask, in all honesty, for my blatant truth opinion...
What would be my thoughts if I were from his crystalline dominion?
Could I lay out any arguments quite plainly in his ear?
I paused for just a moment to ensure that I was... coherent...

I said, "it's clear that it's clear that it's clear that it's clear."
"I have no obstructed views," and as his peer,
I would calculate with certainty the probability of the result.
But then he disappeared and it was clearly not my fault...

It's clear that it's clear that it's clear.

I said, "it's clear that it's clear that it's clear that it's clear."
"I have no obstructed views," and as his peer,
I would calculate with certainty the probability of the result.
But then he disappeared and it was clearly not my fault, because...
It's clear that it's clear that it's clear that it's clear...

It's Clear

Heavy Metal Dubstep with a calm Acoustic ending.  One interesting instrument used in this was a box of cat treats.  Lots of TE OP-1 Field keyboard and some voice modulation.  Mostly "Mother" filter through vocoder (like for the acoustic part).  I haven't been able to record my cat making any new sounds lately, so I just meowed myself for most of this, and I'm the one making the noise that cats make when they see a fly.  It's also just me hissing... no animals were harmed in the creation of this song.  Oh yeah, Audacity filters.

If you are in the mood for some more cat songs, here is a blues video of me and my cat:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWvEVhwWikM

LYRICS (and annotations):
Little bitty kitty. (box of treats shaking)
Little bitty kitty.
Little bitty kitty go mow mow mow.
(Treats box)
(Quality dub bass)
Treats or death. (Sounds a cat makes when it sees a fly)
Treats or death.
Treats or death, now!!!
Treats or you die!!!
(Me fake meowing)
You finallys gaved me treats...
But day are da wrong flavors.
I only likes da tuna ones.
If you loves me you would have knowns...
Now I uses my cwaws and fratch your face!!!
I fratch your face!!!
I hates you!!!
(Me making sound my cat does when she is sad)
(Treat box again)
Ah!!!
Tuna!!!
I'm tireds and colds cans we cuddles now?
(Some of my unfiltered voice singing in background)

Little Bitty Kitty

Ambient sludge.  Made with TE OP-1 Field.  Recordings of myself using these instruments: opening a soda can, crunching a protein bar wrapper, unrolling a thing of packaging tape, tapping on my old metal office desk.  We are all just selfish rats.

Rats Under The Docks

Pavane For A Dead System

Educational song about the Periodic Table Of Elements.  Starts out with some hiphop and dubstep, then transitions into progressive trance.

This is the REAL list of periodic elements, by atomic number (so it goes into the lanthanides and actinides properly).  Also has a list of the families of elements, and a summary of what the human body consists of.

P3r10d1k 37ement5

Multi-artist project of April 2025.

LYRICS AND ANNOTATIONS:

(Morse code for "we are just like you we promise. settle in.")
(birds)
Bones chilled in the old ghost forest,
Where the tide came in took the land away.
Hollow trees, still standing.
Knee deep in swamp water is where I stay (is where I stay).

Living lives of quiet desperation.
The haters, they just follow the herd,
Wearing masks of false inspiration,
Their festering wounds left undisturbed (undisturbed).

Running towards the pain,
The wicked voice of their disdain,
On that edge - the tired eyes reflect:
It’s only the first time we fear what’s next.

For those who live in risk,
In a society whose promises won’t stick,
Is this the end of the line?
Have we used up what’s left of our time?

In the old ghost forest, I stand tall
Like a stubborn oak tree that refuses to fall.
Empty cans and bottles lie nearby,
Artifacts from a past that will not die.

In the old ghost forest, I kneel to pray,
Confess my sins, wash them away.
In the old ghost forest, I scream aloud,
"Lord, gimme the strength to stand proud!"

(birds)
Our future's found: four circles deep.
Come slosh around; more misery, reaped.

What’s woes occurred: cursed, fate foreseen.
What does the word "worst" even mean?

A fitting gloom: stark, rank and sour.
A fetid tomb: dark, dank and dour.

We should have known how ends begin.
This is our home now; settle in.

Settle in.

(city street chatter)
We should have known how ends begin.
This is our home now; settle in!

Settle in!

We are just like you.
We promise, we promise.
Settle in…
We promise, we promise.
Settle in…

Black tar rains from a sky long dead,
We chew on rust, drink molten lead.
No dawn breaks through this crawling haze,
Just grinding teeth and static praise.
This is the hymn of bone and sin—
The sludge within did settle in.

Our tongues are ash, our limbs decay,
We march in place, still rot away.
This is the hymn of bone and sin—
The sludge within did settle in.

This is the hymn of bone and sin—
The sludge within did settle in.
(ocean sounds)

Settle In

Crashing the remix party with some ambient weirdness. TE OP1 Field keyboard.

Laidback Luke & Nostalgix - 1000 BPM (NOSTRUMUVA Sludgetrance Remix)

A simple song with an important message.
Acoustic guitar, organ, alto saxophone.

LYRICS:
Calm down.
Don't worry.
Be happy.
Let go and calm down.

Calm Down

Just some blues fun back on my Korg Radias keyboard.  A few stretches applied in Audacity.

Grout

Classical alto saxophone and Korg Radias keyboard organ.  I wrote the sheet music for the saxophone lead first which was sightread: https://musescore.com/user/93785209/scores/25327258   The organ part was added as an improvised layer afterwards.  Then some Audacity reverb changes.

Lonely Tide

Collaboration between Keys from Neptune and NOSTRUMUVA.
Keys from Neptune wrote the main piano. NOSTRUMUVA added some more piano layers (TEOP1), Akai EWI4000s (electronic woodwind), cricket sound effects from a white water rafting trip.

Le Verrier is known for predicting the existence and position of Neptune using only mathematics.

Crickets Of Verrier

Break Out Of Your Coffin

Acid jazz with some quality syncopation between the bass guitar and keys.  This is a tribute song to my old band - this is the kind of stuff we used to play in Williamsburg, VA.  I'd normally switch between playing alto sax or Akai EWI4000s, or my old Yamaha keyboard.

Burned Down Ordinary

Calm opening with woodwinds, then into some psychedelic rock, lots of me just doing voice blending on TEOP1, trumpet at end.

LYRICS:
And we're back.
Time to move on.
Pick up where we left off.
We finally found the right direction.
It was there all along.
Hidden between the different layers.
Just had to see through the fog.
We finally noticed that tiny little glimmer of light,
Breaking out from the clouds.
And we can let go now.
Finally, a break.
What did it take?
Finally, a break.
What did it take?

Finally A Break

I wrote the lyrics to this in 2019 as a poem and finally got around to using it.  Lots of voice blending me harmonizing with myself through different vocoders on the TEOP1.  I got out my old Hohner Chromonica 260 (I need to clean it, it was disgusting).

LYRICS:
We hope of false, a hope that’s false.
We toss our hope, soon to be lost.
It steals our mind and poisons our heart,
Out there among a floating nothing.
With dreams of someone to catch what’s sought,
Thrown like a rope, with hope it’s caught.
And then we pull with all our might,
In hope the rope will soon pull tight.
We pull, suspended in the air.
It seems as if there’s someone there.
And only when we realize, after pulling for your friend,
The rope has come up to the end.
You still are where you once began.
Your force from pulling was making it tight.
You reeled a fish that wasn’t there.
The smile you had was worth it, right?

False Hope

A cappella multi-voice harmonizing original pirate shanty about a lonely pirate that can not swim.  I live in Hampton, VA, where we have the Blackbeard Pirate Festival every year and these types of songs are very common.  Voice recordings into TEOP1 keyboard with the "Mother" voice setting.

LYRICS:
Lonely pirate by the ocean,
There is sand between his toes.
If he's ever feeling happy,
It's something he never shows.

Lonely pirate by the ocean,
But he didn't learn to swim.
He's been standing on the shoreline,
Waiting for the tide to come in.

I wonder what he's thinking.
Is he looking for a sign?
Does he see himself in me,
The way I see myself in him?

Lonely pirate by the ocean,
And I have so many questions,
But the answers are a sea away
And hidden like a treasure.

I wonder what he's thinking.
Is he looking for a sign?
Does he see himself in me,
The way I see myself in him?

Lonely pirate by the ocean,
The tide is coming in,
And he would rather drown than swim,
And I wonder if I should go with him.

Such a lonely pirate.

Lonely Pirate

Ambient soundscape with lead soft glockenspiel on TEOP1.

Expected

For reasons unknown but time will tell...
All types of music, all types of methods.
Occasional collaborations with other artists.
Sometimes I post the sheet music if it's piano.
Lately, my favorite instrument is a TE OP-1 Field keyboard.

NOSTRUMUVA

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