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 
There’s a new Embracing the Glass CD. This one is a split with Haslam and it’s been released by Cohort Records. Our half is an extended piece called “Dearly Departed”. It begins with the sadness we feel when we realize we’ll be losing someone close to us, and progresses through various emotional states after that someone is gone.
The Haslam tracks are synthesized soundstories with one foot on the dark side.
Sonically, the CD is a cohesive whole.
You can hear samples here.
All right — not an auspicious debut, but started nonetheless. Got a lot to do and a lot to write about — so here I go.
Check the Links section for some interesting pointers. Besides the paths to the band pages (Akrude, Embracing the Glass, SanRenSei and WooSH), A Musical Life is the blog of Eric Wallack (one of my partners in WooSH), Bret H Hart is the other third of WooSH, and Anonymous Black’s blog has an interesting vibe to it — and he’s said some nice things about Embracing the Glass in the past.