Mellow Cello Podcast

Episode 88 Too Much Tylenol This episode comes from the Youtube livestream on September 23, 2025 . It’s been a while since I’ve posted a new episode, and I appreciate your patience for that. Things have been busy as I’ve adjusted to parenthood, and as I’ve accumulated a backlog of livestreams I’ve become intimidated by trying to parse through them and go through each jam to give my thoughts. I tho...

Episode 83 No Requests Nick Takenobu Ogawa This episode comes from the YouTube stream on August 13 2024. Things begin with a lighthearted feel to the beat and progression, and eventually turn into a nice thematic arco melody that has a running feel to it. The second piece has more of a dirge to it, albeit a lively one, which eventually bridges into an “Oni island” style of eery dissonance, that re...

Episode 81 Post-Covid This episode comes from the Youtube livestream on July 30 2024, and as the name suggests was at a time I had just finished recovering from Covid. I can hear in the initial song a sense of relief in my recovery, and things open up like a dawn breaking, with some gradual brightness slowly being shed on things. The second piece eventually takes on a bit of a desert oasis charact...

Episode 79 Running Its Course Nick Takenobu Ogawa This episode comes from the YouTube livestream on July 23, 2024. Things start off in darker space and then gradually get lighter and more hopeful as the piece progresses, with somberness in the beginning that opens up into a lighter hearted feeling. The second piece is a bit of a sonic reset, the likes of which typically comes later in the stream,...

Episode 77 Pardon the Interruption Nick Takenobu Ogawa This episode comes form the youtube livestream on June 26 2024. Things start off with a nice mellow flow, with a repeating arco figure that sets the mood off the bat with a bit of sass. The second piece takes a little while to develop, with some missteps along the way that give things a bit of an unsettled vibe, but it eventually lands somewhe...

Episode 75 Tip Toeing Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from June 18 2024. I’d just loaded some new drum loops and as a result there’s a freshness to this episode that’s pretty fun. I really like the contemplative nature of the opening track that develops into something a bit more confident and forward marching with a nice closing theme. The third piece, has a lot more immediate structure, an...

Episode 73 Till June Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the livestream on May 16 2024, the last one before a brief hiatus from streaming. Things start off with the throwback sound of the earlier days of streaming, with a percussive loop created on the cello fingerboard, and the piece develops into a nice acoustic exploration with some nice vernal arco layers. The next piece uses the prelo...

Episode 71 Vibin Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the livestream on May 7 2024. The first piece gets off to a nice vibey start, with some nice development, especially in the rhythmic arco sections. The second piece explores some slightly darker sounds, but warms up a bit and becomes a more driving piece. The third pieces is a bit more laid back and jazzy, delving into some slightly more...

Episode 69 Harpin on it Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the Youtube stream on May 2, 2025. The opening piece is one that I really like, and will adapt into a piece with Japanese lyrics. The swinging bass line really provides some nice forward movement that at the same time evokes some kind of nostalgia. The second piece grows out of a small repetitive pizzicato loop, and takes a while...

Episode 67 Triple Threat Nick Takénobu Ogawa This comes from 2 combined livestreams, each of which was abbreviated due in part to user error on my part for failing to record parts, and because I sang in some of the songs and have decided to exclude those pieces. The pieces are from Youtube live streams on April 12, 2024 and April 23, 2024. In the first half I was still in the midst of total thrall...

Episode 65 Post Eclipse Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the youtube stream on April 11th 2024, just a couple of days after I drove 10 hours to experience the totality of the eclipse, which was an amazing experience. I have skipped forward a number of months because of the experimental singing that I was doing. It’s my feeling that while this was a worthwhile experiment, as it exists I’...

Episode 63 Sometimes Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes form the youtube stream on December 12 2023, the last one of the year. The title comes from the closing song Toki Doki, and is the english meaning of the Japanese phrase. Things start off with a nice expansive mid tempo piece that has a thoughtful repeated pizzicato figure that keeps things contemplative throughout. The piece has a second...

Episode 61 Post Turkey Day Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the Youtube livestream on November 28th, right after the Thanksgiving holiday. It takes me a little while to find the groove, but I eventually get there, with some washy bowing rhythms making things sleepy and sweeping. The next piece has a spacey contemplativeness to it that gradually grows into something warmer and more groun...

Episode 59 Meditative Moods Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the youtube livestream on November 16 2023. Things get off to a very nice mellow start, growing into an expansive descending river of bowed lines. The next piece grows out of a quicker paced back and forth arpeggio, evolving slowly out of an atmospheric ether, and then changing directions halfway through into something more up...

Episode 57 Survivors Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the youtube stream on November 9 2023. Things get off to a flow-ey and somewhat dreaming start, with a shimmery loop that develops some nice bowed layers. The second piece develops with more drive, and continues in a dreamy vein, but in a perhaps more determined way. The third song starts off fairly weird and atonal but then develops...

Episode 55 Feeling Froggy Nick Takénobu Ogawa Things get off to a vibey start in this episode from the youtube livestream on October 26 2023, incorporating the whistling effect quite early, which I enjoy using because the treble register it provides pops out so much. The second piece develops from a persistent trickle into a big warm wave that ebbs and flows. The third song has a nice walking pace...

Episode 53 Crushing It Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the youtube livestream on October 24 2023. Things get off to a nice airy start, built around a repeating arpeggio that has an 80’s movie interlude feel to it. The next piece develops into a broader sweeping journey that has some nice galloping tremolos. The third piece builds harmonies off a dancey kind of bass groove, and then has...

Episode 49 Thousandaire Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode from October 3 2023 starts off with a nice melancholy driving rhythm. The second piece has a similarly melancholy drive to it. It’s hard to describe what feeling this evokes exactly, something between determination and acceptance, with hope but sadness at the same time. The third piece has a bit of a talking heads start to things, with a dri...

Episode 47 Autumnal Colors Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the youtube stream on September 26, 2023. I love the liveliness of how things start out here, with an upbeat fast paced pizzicato ramble through some autumnal colored chords. The second piece gets groovier, keeping up the upbeat pace, but with a slightly darker tone, with some cool recurring motifs. The third songs builds into...

Episode 45 Fall Equinox Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the Youtube stream on September 18 2023. Things get off to a nice medium pace with a bit of a jazzy chord sound, that quickly takes on some nice autumnal colors with the bowed layers. Growing up in Vermont the foliage season has a great deal of nostalgia for me, and I think that this piece captures some of those windswept orange a...

Episode 43 Keeping Up the Pace Nick Takénobu Ogawa Episode 43 Things get off to a bit of a rocky start, with the first two pieces not quite locking in. But I finally find something in the third piece (which starts about 13 minutes in). The fourth piece is my favorite, with a nice groove and shimmering chords, built around an initial harmonic figure that I love to reuse. The fifth piece has a cool...

Episode 41 Not too Laborious Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the Youtube stream on September 5 2023. Things get off to a mellow start, with a thoughtful and meandering pizzicato loop, which allows for some arco expansion and contraction, venturing into the melancholy at times. The second piece grows even more melancholy than the first, thanks to some long arco loops that make a bit of...

Episode 39 Playing Catch Up Nick Takénobu Ogawa This episode comes from the youtube stream on August 29 2023, things start off pretty mellow, with a meandering exploration. To be honest when I first started listening back to the second piece I wasn’t sure where it was going, or if it would ever get there. The piece isn’t without its missteps, but I find a lot more interesting sounds than I was exp...