Lay Cool – Experimental synth song with the DeepMind and Microfreak

Lay Cool – shelfblack – Experimental synth song with the Behringer DeepMind

In this jam I started with some basic percussive elements from the Volca Drum and then added a child-like innocent sounding sequence from the Behringer Deepmind. To me this part of the jam has a lullaby type feel that maybe has more sinister undertones. I used the Volca FM to play a simple bass progression with a touch of reverb from the ElectroHarmonix Ocean’s 11 pedal. The Arturia Microfreak is playing another rhythm type pad that kind of glues everything together. Later on, the Monologue plays an electrified rhythm partner to the Microfreak.

The main drums that kick in are a slowed down 80’s hiphop type beat that I made on the Alesis Sr18 drum machine. I orginally sequenced those drums at a much higher BPM and I was surprised how well they worked with this track at about half the intended speed. There area also some additional percussive elements coming from the Volca Beats.

Thanks for checking it out, this is part of my Jamuary series on IG. If you’re interested to hear more make sure to follow me on IG and YouTube. The goal right now is to put out an album at the end of Jamuary. I’m working on a concept that I think you all will like. I’ve added an amazon link for some ElectroHarmonix pedals below. If you decide to purchase something through my Amazon link, even if it’s not that particular item, it costs you nothing and will help me fund future projects! I appreciate any support you can give!


Clean Hands – Synth jam for #Jamuary2020 – shelfblack

Experimental synth jam featuring the Microfreak and Monologue entitled Clean Hands

Today is the first day of Jamuary! For those of you who don’t know Jamuary is a challenge that originated from Cuckoo on Instagram that pushes you to create 31 days of jams and post them on Instagram. It’s not about being perfect, it can be any attempt at music whatsoever. I absolutely love this time of year. As a musician, when I started making music, my goal was to create and post, to share what I love doing regardless of whether it was proper, complete, perfect. I enjoy creating flawed music. I love the responsiveness and flexibility that performing jams in real-time without a digital workstation provides.

For this jam, I started with a poppy blast of drums from the Alesis SR18 and kicked off the intro of the song with the Volca FM. Next, the Behringer Deepmind is utilizing it’s arpeggiator to create a dreamy synthscape. The Microfreak is playing the rhythm stabs and the Monologue is playing the glitched out lead. Funko figure is somebody from Mad Max Fury Road.

Hope you like the song, if you are digging it make sure you follow me on Instagram. I’ll be posting a new jam every single day for the month of January. Not every song will have a full version, so I only make these posts on this site when there’s a full version to be had. Thanks for the support and a happy 2020 to you all!!!

Follow SHELFBLACK on Instagram by clicking here!

Just Burn It All EP – Dec. 10, 2019

Just Burn It All EP – shelfblack – Out on December 10, 2019 on Bandcamp

I’m very excited to announce that on December 10th 2019 I will be releasing a new EP entitled Just Burn It All digitally on BandCamp!!!

Want to know the best part? You can pre-order it right now for $1. Yep, one dollar. Less than a gallon of gas, less than a Starbucks coffee, less than 2 packs of ramen noodles. For that price, you’ll get six songs when it releases, but by pre-ordering it you get 2 songs now!

Track Listing:

  1. We Found Our Way
  2. Blue Boxes (AVAILABLE NOW WITH PREORDER)
  3. King of No Things
  4. Command and Control
  5. Thrash Day
  6. Just Burn It All (AVAILABLE NOW WITH PREORDER)

As alway, I appreciate your support. Any money raised through album sales will 100% get rolled back into making music and the Electronic Curiosity Collective. Feel free to share this page far and wide!

I’ve been a little quiet on music releases since the Black Zinda album. This album will be my last release of the year. Going forward I’ll be gearing up for the famous Jamuary event on Instagram. Check out the site, if you haven’t been here before. You can sort articles by music, info, gear demos, and more. If you’re looking for the last article I wrote about inexpensive music gear to get for Christmas, check it out below.

Black Zinda – Feature Length Self Titled Album Streaming Now!

Black Zinda – self-titled album streaming everywhere streams are streamed.

It’s always been my dream to be in a band. When I was in high school I would day dream about it. I tried and failed to learn a number of instruments throughout my life and never quite had the focus or ability to create music along with other people.

Sometime in late 2018, right around the time I released my second album, Happy Robot Dreams, one of the songs I pushed the hardest was called Invader X. It’s a fast paced, video game-esque ride punctuated with a crazy 16-step synth line. One of my Instagram friends who went by the name Stephen Zinda messaged me that he liked the song a lot and he wanted to use it to work on a collaboration track and add lyrics to it. I was extremely excited about the opportunity to work with a real musician and I was already a huge fan of Stephen after checking out a few of his indie/rock flavored songs he had put out.

A few weeks later, Palm Trees was delivered. I was absolutely floored with what Stephen was able to do with it. He had taken a song I loved a lot as my own creation and added his own lyrics, spin, slowed it down, and made it into something I couldn’t believe. Immediately, we decided to work on more tracks and focus on releasing an EP.

Right away, I started working on tracks to send him. I knew I wasn’t working to deliver an EP. My goal was to send him so much stuff there would be no choice but for us to turn it into a whole album. I never told him of this plan and as you can tell by the release of this album, it worked perfectly!

So here it is. Our debut self titled album. It’s available on Spotify, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, Deezer, iHeartRadio, and more. I hope you enjoy it. I’m happy to be a part of this band, thanks for making a childhood dream come true, Stephen. Now let’s get to work on the next one!