Alternative Rock

Metal

Everything

Best Of

R.E.M

This is my original Lightningbug Night song from like 2006.  I was reminiscing of being a kid catching lightningbugs outside and putting them in jars (and letting them go later).  Multi-layer improvisation on old Yamaha keyboard and EWI4000s and guitar.

Lightningbug Night

The waveform artwork is something I drew called "A beautiful day by the sea". If you zoom in, it looks normal, but zoomed out, it's a giant rat.  This is a multi-layer improvisation using an old Yamaha keyboard, a Kaossilator, a guitar effects pedal, and me singing.

You Don't Love Me

Colonial Williamsburg... I miss it occasionally.  This is a multi-layer improvisation of the classic carol of the bells, using my old Yamaha keyboard, guitar, and a guitar effects pedal.

Rock Of The Bells

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

Multi-layer improvisation with Korg Radias keyboard and guitar, and TC Helicon Voice Pedal.

Ambivalence

This song is about my cat, who does not have object permanence.  It's a multi-layer improvisation with some planned lyrics added.

The Witter Knows

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

This is my raw real voice without going through any vocoders or pedals.
Recorded on a BOSS RC 50 Loop Pedal.
I did the drums on my Korg Radias keyboard.

LYRICS:

I sit beside you,
Feel the weight in the air, like you just don't care.
Eyes that won't meet, hearts out of sync.
The space between us is thicker than we think.

I can't breathe. I can't stay.
But I'm stuck here anyway.
Every seconds feels too long, like I don't belong.

But now I'm far away. I'm far away, now and forever.
Now I'm far away. I'm far away, now and forever.

Far Away Forever

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 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

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

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

Attentive

Started out with organ with some oscillating dissonance chords to build tension.  Then I switch into a minimalist bell/piano arpeggiation for a while, which slowly builds into trance, and then into some more heavy dub trance.  There's a melody lead with a phase pad throughout the entire song, and I also added some heavier bells that do some fifth step ups and octave steps as a regular theme.  I fade out with what sounds like a dulcimer.  This is all TEOP1 Field keyboard though as usual, no analog instruments.  Some reverb added in audacity, -14dB normalization, -1dB soft limit. Enjoy your fall everyone! Crunch some leaves!

Leaf Storm

Collaboration between Brendan Dempsey (Bass Guitar) and NOSTRUMUVA (TEOP1, Soda Can, Tibetan Singing Bowl).

Occult Devotion

LYRICS:
Where are the things we forgot?
When we look away, where do they go?
Is there some dark place
That hides our missing dreams?
If we look closely at the smoke, does it have seams?
Can we open the dark place
And get our dreams back?
Nothing is left to decide.
It's all been planned and performed in your mind.
Everything left is just fodder for cannons of hopes from the past.
Anything that's not nailed down is now free to escape, and take up the time,
Filling the emptiness forwards in front of your face, at last.
We aren't tied.
We aren't tied down.
We aren't tied down, anymore.
We aren't tied down!
Keep your eyes off the ground!
Arms to your sides!
Then turn around!
March towards the entrance!
Left Right Left Right!
Open the door!
Walk through the doorway!
We aren't tied anymore!

We Aren't Tied Down

Inspired from my Evil Organ Grinder song.

Evil Carny Winter

"Same Old Lang Syne" by Dan Fogelberg
Cover played/sung by Tony Bartello

Same Old Lang Syne (Dan Fogelberg cover)

#inspiring #real #ambient #uplifting #sad

Just Live

HEKLER POTIONS REMIX OUT NOW 🧪🖤

Stream/Download: https://fanlink.to/POTIONSREMIX

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POTIONS REMIX

SLANDER & SAID THE SKY - POTIONS (FT. JT ROACH) [HEKLER REMIX]

Bless my conscience

For reasons unknown but time will tell...
Multi-instrumentalist, 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.