The Never Ending Album is a Soundcloud stream that will be continually expanded for as long I can make music. It's a dynamic album - traditional albums are now largely made redundant by the internet.  This aims to marry the curatorship of a traditional album with the internet audience’s need for continual content.

These are my favourite tracks from my own works that I'll keep adding to as I deem something worthy.   

If you enjoy the work here and would like to help me make more you can purchase my music from a range of online retailers as listed on my website: 

http://brunkard.com/where-to-buy-a-never-ending-album/

You're support be it by liking, commenting or buying is heartfelt and appreciated.  

A Never Ending Album

This is Conall McMahon's wonderful Mulligan's Pyre mauled by me for a project we were working on.  He only had a mandolin for a week before writing and recording this.  

This is a rejigged (ho ho!) version with some added Guitarviol from me.  First time recording the Guitarviol with a horsehair bow and condensor microphone!

Follow Conall here https://soundcloud.com/dariffmeister



Mulligan's Pyre (added guitarviol)

The Christmas break gave me more time to practice on the guitarviol bringing the quality of performance up another level.  This piece is something that popped into my head crossing the Liffey today.  The sky looked angry...


Menaçant

A Gypsyish Savall homage with jewish inflections.

Guitarviol and a guitar playing the part of a theorbo.  

Check out the guitarviol on my blog http://brunkard.com/bowing-to-bowed-instruments-guitarviol/ or http://www.togamanguitars.com/

Find Out More

Sad Pavan In C Minor

A tribute to Ennio Morricone and Kevin Kiner.  This is part of a soundtrack of a western that was never made.  Quite proud of it.

A mix of dobro, hitting pens against the dobro, beating the dobro with my fist, my vocals (a first) my girlfriend's ukulele debut and some other nonsense. There are no samples or synths on this.  

A campanion blog: http://brunkard.com/on-film-scoring/

Chain Gang Blues - A Soundtrack To A Western That Never Was

Another experiment in juxtapositioning.  My melding of some acid jazz with a seasoning of classical inflections and a dollop of heavy metal guitar solo.  Half bake for a few weeks et voilá, the GBH.

Gearheads:

My Les Paul Custom doing all the guitar stuff and the sequencing care of the installed Fishman Triple Play.  Strings from my trusty guitarviol.

GBH - Ghetto Baroque Hymn

A sequel to GBH kind of.  Thinking of  Serge Gainsbourg's Cannabis soundtrack. 

Actually fell down the rabbit hole properly making this one.   It's quite sad.  Sorry.  I'm very cheerful in real life.

It's a bit of a slow burner but it gets there eventually...  

I'd also like to thank @musicaserj-ii - who very kindly complemented the mood which is something he does more properly truthfully.    So many wonderful sounds up in this cloud...


1967 - Closing Credits

Forgive me but this is something of an indulgence.  

This is a piece that is inspired by older musics in it's entirety.  Nothing surprising.  Every note of it is from a real instrument - which makes it inherently imperfect but perhaps more charming for it.  

In this case the instrument is my arpeggione - Guitarviol 

You can read about it here:

http://brunkard.com/bowing-to-bowed-instruments-guitarviol/

The photo is one I took in a massive forest in Thuringia, Germany over easter.  The title references an Irish philosopher and the world's first and only pantheistic atheist John Toland.  

I've also created a Giorgio Moroder inspired ringtone for iPhone users.  I've no idea why but I'm using it on my phone and it's working!
http://brunkard.com/ringtones/Ele%CC%81gie-Pour-M-Toland-Thomas-Brunkard.m4r

Elégie Pour M. Toland.

It's a been a while and I've been mute on Soundcloud.  Frankly the response to my last piece blew me away and honestly I put so much into that Elégie it was very hard to do something else.  

In the end I stopped trying to force music and sat down and just played and this came out.  

I just finished getting my studio out of boxes and I've been gigging very heavily at the moment.  My hands are in poor condition as a result, hence the title.  This is the sound of my Guitarviol on it's own.  Some of you asked to hear it solo so here it is.  

This was improvised with in two takes (I took a short break as I'm in agony, sympathies please!).   

I recorded it with two new microphones - a wide diaphragm condenser and a ribbon microphone.  The mix has been astounding in terms of the sound. 


Picture - This was hanging up in Erfurt Cathedral.  Colours are quite vivid in real life considering it's older than most countries.

Broken Hands Improvisation

A poem written and recited by @chris-okunbor with Clarinet from stevee101

The very wonderful @chris-okunbor originally had this poem posted in collaboration with a Soundclouder that never was.  Mysterious?  Some will know.  In any case the poem had to be removed from its music but now the music is remade anew. 

The poem tells of a timeless romantic narrative and I've worked very hard to try and match the mood of that story.  The tale charts the course of a relationship and so the music follows that until its penultimate tragic end. 

A very important ingredient was the clarinet most ably played by @stevee101 -  a fellow traveller.  You should really check out his page next.   

Both Chris and Stephane are wonderful people.  The true pathos of this was that we worked on this so far away in isolation.  It's a testament to their talents.

The photo is a common ancient Roman motif - the Dying Slave or The Dying Gaul.   This one was taken in Dublin Castle.   

Gear - my trusty guitarviol supplying the strings again most of them stereo miced just like "Broken Hands Improvisation".  The guitars (my Les Paul Custom) are recorded using @scuffham-amps awesome S-Gear - real clarinet, real percussion.  Drums and piano from Logic Pro X. 

The Slave - A Poem By Chris O

Imagine it.  December 31st, 1979.  5,4,3,2,1  - 1980!

Sounds changed.  

Just having a bit of fun while catching up on some work.  

Learn

New Year's Eve 1979

Thanks for all the support with this track folks.  Help me make more by buying a copy!  https://itunes.apple.com/album/jaspe-ep/id968944444

Every note of this came from a really real instrument.  Mainly my guitarviol and a nylon string guitar.  It's a funny form.  



By the by, it's not a cello or violin folks but a Guitarviol.  Amazing instrument.

About

Hyphenated

I'm surrounded by the commemoration of the Easter Rising here in Dublin and it has rubbed off on me.  An Irish rebel song for the day that's in it! 

This is an interesting track as the melody is quite ancient.  I couldn't resist tinkering with the arrangement to get my own mark on it!


The Foggy Dew

Another homage to the 80s.  It's been a few years since the last one.  Something serious soon...

He Gets The Girl In The End

This is a concept piece.  I know.  Dirty word.  It's about dreaming of someone when you're a child then meeting them and everything's amazing but then something's a little unsettling and then, of course, everything gets whacky.  

Literary vampires are very much a Dublin invention and this composition is based on my fellow Dub Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's take on costly immortality - Carmilla.   You can read it here for free as it's 154 years old http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10007 

It's guitarviol mainly with some treatments applied to dose up the weird  as required.  I used some ribbon microphones in the room to make the main lines at the start more earthy and homely as though you're in the room with the performance.  Lots of audible breathing, chair squeaks, and even seagulls if you listen closely.


Carmilla

It's very sunny in Dublin tonight so a little bit of casual mayhem to match the weather.

I'm still working up my music muscles to where they were a year ago.  Something more serious soon.   Getting closer...

An obvious tribute to Carlos Santana.

July

I came home from work and picked up the Guitarviol and played this.  I couldn't resist one sneaky over dub but essentially this is simply playing stream of consciousness improvisation.  I haven't even listened to the whole lot of it.  

The microphone is a mile away from the instrument.  As the accompanying balcony photo can attest, it's raining in Dublin today.  Listen closely and you can hear the summer getting washed out into the Liffey.  Meteorological misery.  :)

Practice Inventions No. II

A little diversion.  Apologies for the mastering.  I was monitoring on a 5 Watt bluetooth speaker.

Sounds are from Retrologue 2 and for the guitars I'm using the very excellent Line 6 Helix Native.

Picture is of my partner's tea pot coaster.

Diminutae Disco

A little bit of 10 bar (!) a blues with a twist!  I've some nice posh chords in there to make it move in a more sophisticated way (Ab 7/9 anyone?)

There's been a lot going wrong recently so what better way to exorcise the badness? :P

Monday Morning Blues

Some old style RnB with a Brian May style twist.  Letting the hair down!

TAKE MONDAY BY THE BALLS

Even Tommy has a montage.  Great for training for that big fight against Warsaw Pact boxers/wrestlers/gymnasts.  This is my tribute to diCola, Moroder and Van Halen.

Sentient Beings Dance

∎ Composer & Performer based in Dublin, Ireland 
 ∎ Guitarist, guitarviolist 
 ∎ Blues to baroque to whatever inbetween!
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How wonderfully malleable is music? I grew up and live in a country drowning in music of so many sounds. 

I dabble with all sorts of styles and genres but I like to think that it all still sounds like me. 

There's no grand mission for me on Soundcloud beyond finding music that I love and dialoging with other musicians. 

I'm always open to suggestions for collaboration and other adventures.

I don't repost here - not because I'm a miserable person but just because I use this page to sell my wares so to speak. That said I do listen to music on here religiously and I'm very proactive in sharing it around and building links with people that might like the sounds I find appealing. 

I'm working on ways of getting more people from outside Soundcloud plugged in to the wonderful art on display here. I do my bit!

I don't leave comments as link bait or for "karma". I'm very plain spoken so if I comment it's because I have something to say. I use my real name for that reason - my name and my word go together so if you get a compliment or critique its intended as though I gave it face to face.

If you like the music you can help me make more by buying some. Just visit here to help support me making this nonsense! - http://brunkard.com/where-to-buy-a-never-ending-album/

If you would like to use the music or commission me to write something new just get in touch with me through here or on my website. I offer free licenses for non-profit ventures with some small conditions and I also excellent rates for profitable ventures! 

Instruments:

Guitars, guitarviol and guitar like things. I use virtual instruments sparingly and keep the focus on real sounds so to speak.

A Never Ending Album

Thomas Brunkard