Sara Ayers has a freely downloadable album recently released on the Endless Ascent net label. Titled “Ambient Collaborations”, it’s an interesting cross-section of her work with a variety of sound artists and includes one of the pieces we’ve done together, Not Even All the Stars. You’ll find it at
And: not long ago, I created an a cappella piece titled Cannibal Box. This song is a new approach for me - the first time (unless memory completely fails me) I’ve written an original melody for someone else’s words. Right now, you can only hear it at
I’ve been working in this rock trio for about a year - actually, it’s a Progressive Garage trio. Besides singing, I’m responsible for 99.4% of the keyboards. The other two members are a drummer/guitarist, and a bassist/guitarist. This past Sunday, we played at the 7th Annual Colorado Progfest in Denver. It was our third time in public, our first since April, and in front of far-and-away the largest audience we’ve played for. It went quite well - we were accepted/appreciated way better than I was afraid we’d be. Looking forward to playing there again.
Got a couple of other gigs coming up, as we continue to “tour” the I-25 corridor of the Colorado front range; Friday night in Colorado Springs and late January in Pueblo.
Often Coiled is the band name, and I don’t have a page for it here - yet. If you’re curious, you can find us at www.myspace.com/oftencoiled
The new EP from Jeff Sampson and Sean Carroll (Embracing the Glass) will be released sometime this fall (early, hopefully). To whet the appetites of those who may need it — and to help overcome the withdrawals the rest of you have been going through — there’s a free pre-mastered version of the first track, “Among the Infirm”, available here. As the title implies, there’s a rather dark feel to the music. Indeed, the four tracks on the EP are some of the darkest music the duo has created. Yummy.
As stated on the other site I (allegedly) maintain (www.toadware.net), I have a new — free — download for you. It’s titled “Seedling (sunshine mix)” and it’s the second in the Seedling series. The first one, “Seedling (reunion mix)” was on the CD Metaphor, which was created specifically for my high school class reunion in 2006 (and no, as long as you’ve asked, it didn’t make much of an impression on my former classmates — but who really thought it would, eh?). This version has a couple of additional vocal tracks added to the mix (and the synth track has been removed).
So here it is (7:30 - 6.4 mb) — hope you enjoy it.
And in case you’re wondering, it looks like a reworked Metaphor will be available to the general public by the end of 2008. I’ve been going over all of it, removing the restraint I tried to apply when I was initially recording it. (I guess I really was trying to make something “mainstream” listeners would like.) “Seedling (mountain mix)” is finished (so be sure to download this free version so you’ll be able to recognize the differences); “Working the Stream” has a bunch of new bits added; “Seeping Through the Boundaries” was remixed (and partially re-recorded). The only tasks left are mastering the audio and re-doing the cover art. Even I should have that done by fall.
There’s a welcome addition to the Burning Shirt roster and (very soon) catalog. Kepheus is the duo of Jeff Sampson and Byron Paladin (Haslam). They’ve been working on a project called “Dark Matters” for quite awhile, and the fruits of those labors should officially see the light of day inside of a couple of weeks - sooner, in all likelihood.
The music is a dark (and not-quite-as dark) ambient melding of voices and synthesis, and the outcome is quite unique (if I’m allowed to use that description in a world thick with bedroom musicians, underground artists, and other creative types pushing a vast series of envelopes).
Click here, or the link in the (heh) LINKS section to keep up with these particular Joneses.
It’s sort of a podcast, but you can only get it from here right now. Click the Free Downloads link on the right to get a sampler featuring a track from the hard-to-find Jeff Sampson album “Outside Inner Space”, an excerpt from Akrude’s “Predetermined by Hindsight” and the Tsuru track (”Several Levels Down”) from the Sheltered Shadows compilation.
Akrude (the Jeph Jerman - Jeff Sampson duo) have a new song available — download-only. It’s titled “Bowling Through the Bridge of Sighs” — read more about it by clicking here.
There are a lot — a LOT — of musical instrument vendors out there in web-land. Some are huge businesses, some aren’t. Some are “web-only”, some are the online presence of a physical store (or stores, or chain of stores). What’s one to do when looking for a particular something? Throw the search terms into Google and opt for the lowest price? Well, I guess that works, but you aren’t apt to develop a relationship with anyone that way. If low prices (and usually the lowest possible) and great personal service are important to you, my suggestion is Audiosyncrazy. It’s a very small company with an extensive inventory (no — they don’t have everything, but it sure feels like it), and very, very knowledgeable (and polite, and attentive, and responsible) customer service. Are you concerned your purchase will arrive damaged from shipping? Audiosyncrazy double boxes almost everything they ship.
Give ‘em a look — www.audiosyncrazy.com
I’ve added links to the Atmoworks and Sara Ayers web sites — so now you can easily see what’s going on with Sara, and check out (under the Ethereal link on Atmoworks) the CDEP she and I created last year, Thrice Thy Heart Shall Broken Be.
Clicking here will provide the option to stream or download “Visit Your Rock Garden”, an otherwise unreleased Embracing the Glass tune. Feedback welcome 