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Joel Nelson is a multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Portland, Oregon, working in the overlapping spaces of folk tradition, experimental sound, and electronic music. His practice centers on drones, medieval modes, just intonation, and microtonality exploring how these ancient and raw tonal systems can still resonate within a contemporary, often unstable sonic landscape. He performs on bagpipes, guitar, organs, voice, and a range of self-made or hand-built electronics.
He is currently focused on developing a personal language on the Generator Organ, an off-grid, crank-powered instrument that demands full physical engagement, with every sound generated in real time. Through this work, Joel explores how human mechanics, effort, and unpredictability can shape music that feels vividly alive and deeply connected to the body.
Joel is part of many projects that continue this exploration, including a new project exploring experimetal music in the doom metal genre under the name skitterkitty, the haunted pastoral drones of Silica Gel, the contompary compositons of Broken Crow, and collaborationing we a wide array of musicians. He’s contributed to releases like Johnny Coley’s Mister Sweet Whisper on Mississippi Records and is a member of the Sweet Wreath collective, a community dedicated to experimental folk, drone, and intimate sound worlds in Birmingham, Alabama. Across all of these endeavors, Joel treats instruments as unpredictable collaborators, embracing instability, intuition, and collective listening to create music that feels less constructed and more discovered—an ever-shifting negotiation between breath, movement, electricity, and ancient tonalities.