RELEASE: “Watching Leaves Fall”

Here it is! Almost a year since I started working on it, my first solo release is now available to download. I’m pretty tired after spending the last couple hours uploading it to various places, so I’ll keep this snappy. This album is being released under a Creative Commons license meaning that without my permission you can share with your friends all you want, post it on your blog, even play it on your own radio station if you want! The only catch is that you credit me with making it and you don’t make a profit off of it. For more information, click here. Now for the good stuff! Click the links to download the album.

MP3 Download (Normal listeners):

• Last.fm (You can also stream the whole album here)
• Mediafire (Recommended)
• What.CD (Requires account, bittorent knowledge)

FLAC Download (Audiophiles – won’t work in iTunes):

• Demonoid (Requires bittorent knowledge)
• What.CD (Requires account, bittorent knowledge)

Enjoy and please leave feedback!

Album Art

I will be self-releasing a solo album this Saturday (August 29th) titled Watching Leaves Fall, and this weekend I did the album art. I had taken a bunch of pictures back in mid-February to potentially use, and I finally went through them and came upon one I really liked and then used GIMP to do some editing. A high quality 600 x 600 copy of it will come with every download. Here it is:

Complete! (Finally)

First it was April 18th. Then it was early summer. Now it’s August 29th. Yes, I’m talking about the frequently postponed release date for my first solo album. But now, almost a year since I first started working on it, it is complete and ready for release. All 14 of the final mixes are sitting on my hard drive ready to be transcoded to MP3 and FLAC to be available for download. The album will be released many places, such as Demonoid, what.CD, and Mediafire. The whole thing will also be streamable from MySpace and Last.fm.

All that’s left is artwork and release details. I hope that once it’s released, anyone who gives it a listen will derive some pleasure from it!

Concert: Phish (8/14)

Unfortunately I’m a bit late writing this, seeing as the concert was on Friday night, so already the details are getting a little bit fuzzy. However I would like to preface this whole post by saying that this was the most incredible night of my life. Everything about the show was simply spot on. This was my first time seeing Phish live and it turned out to be a lucky night to do so because I’ve heard a lot of hardcore Phish fans saying this was the best show they’ve ever been to and one of (if not the) best show on their summer tour so far.

The band was clearly having a ton of fun on stage and that translated into a captivating performance. Every jam session was incredible and mind-blowing, and the set list was simply amazing. Although the whole thing was a highlight itself, my absolute favorite moments were “Fly Famous Mockingbird”, “Down with Disease”, “Slave to the Traffic Light”, “Piper”, “Icculus”, and the genius cover of the Talking Heads song “Psycho Killer”. Not to mention the hilarious “Catapult”, the encore performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, and the groove of “Stash”. Most of that was from the second set, which was truly an hour and a half or so of bliss.

Our seats were literally perfect. We were dead center and just a few rows up (probably 6 or 7). I was pretty much eye level with Trey the entire night. I don’t know how Charlie managed to get hold of these tickets but they were worth every penny of whatever they costed. The lights were also genius, perfectly capturing the mood of the band and adding so much energy to the performance.

Honestly, I could rave on and on about how fantastic and utterly perfect this night was, but I’ll spare you. Simply put, I have Phish to thank for one of best experiences of my life, and I will certainly get to one of their shows whenever possible. If you want to hear this show for yourself, it is available for a reasonable price at livephish.com.

Full Setlist:

Set 1

1. Punch You in the Eye
2. AC/DC Bag
3. NICU
4. Colonel Forbin’s Ascent
5. Fly Famous Mockingbird
6. Birds of a Feather
7. Lawn Boy
8. Stash
9. I Didn’t Know
10. Middle of the Road
11. Character Zero

Set 2

1. Down with Disease
2. Wilson
3. Slave to the Traffic Light
4. Piper
5. Water in the Sky
6. Ghost
7. Psycho Killer
8. Catapult
9. Icculus
10. You Enjoy Myself

Encore

1. While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Review: “Part the Second” (maudlin of the Well)

Like every good album, Part the Second has quite a story behind it. Toby Driver’s maudlin of the Well released three avant-garde metal albums in the earlier part of the decade that were critically acclaimed and have reached a cult like status through word of mouth. However, the group splintered soon after and Driver went on to create his even more experimental outfit Kayo Dot, whom he has been performing with ever since. Last summer, five years since maudlin of the Well went on hiatus, Driver posted on his blog saying that he was interested in recording a new album with the group, but was worried about the financial aspect. This announcement generated excitement among the fans and several donated a large amount of money to the band so that they could go through with the project. To repay this debt, Part the Second was released for free as a thank you to all the fans.

This album has a very different feel when compared to their other releases, which isn’t surprising considering that the musicians have spent the last five years working on other projects. Most notably, the “metal” aspect of their sound has been almost completely removed. The feedback drenched guitars and hash vocals have been replaced by orchestral accompaniments and Driver’s unique voice. The influence of Kayo Dot’s work is also noticeable, and indeed the sound of the album could be described as a fusion of maudlin of the Well and Kayo Dot.

All of this being said, the most important question is whether or not this new incarnation of maudlin of the Well sounds any good – and the answer is an unequivocal yes. Each song creates a unique atmosphere, filled with fascinating ideas. The album begins with “Excerpt from 6,000,000,000,000 Miles Before the First, or, the Revisitation of the Blue Ghost”, which is a deliberately paced affair that showcases the albums use of orchestral instruments. The sound is very layered and gradually builds up in intensity as the song continues before ending on a satisfying note with a beautiful guitar solo. Though the song is long at over 10 minutes, it never fails to keep the listener’s attention.

The album then proceeds with three shorter tracks that share a feeling of claustrophobia and paranoia. “Another Excerpt: Keep Light Near You, Even When Dying” once again features an orchestral-dominated beginning before moving onto a shredding guitar solo and ending with a faster paced but sparsely instrumented section. Similar techniques are used in “Rose Quartz Turning to Glass”, which is notable for its frantic drum pattern. “Clover Garland Island”, the last of the shorter tracks, begins with an overtly dissonant chord progression which evolves into jazzy solos and a moody midsection that portrays a feeling of foreboding. Despite the ominous feel to parts of these tracks, they also all share a sense of beauty. They all are very organic in the way they flow between ideas.

The album ends with another epic, the 11 minute “Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)”. This song is the heaviest of the bunch, and is the closest the group gets to the metal sound that defined their earlier work. The guitar work is very jazzy, and the song gradually builds up to create an unsettling atmosphere, similar to earlier songs on the album.

Part the Second should please both devoted fans and newcomers alike. Some may mourn the loss of the metal side of their sound, but even though their methods may have changed, it still feels distinctly like a maudlin of the Well release should. It deftly creates an atmosphere that is both full of beauty and foreboding. Although it may not be as classic as 2001’s Bath and Leaving Your Body Map, it is certainly worthy of praise and stands as one of the most interesting releases of 2009.

Rating: 4/5

1. Excerpt from 6,000,000,000,000 Miles Before the First, or, the Revisitation of the Blue Ghost   [10:56]
2. Another Excerpt: Keep light Near You, Even When Dying   [5:59]
3. Rose Quartz Turning to Glass   [7:30]
4. Clover Garland Island   [8:18]
5. Laboratories of the Invisible World (Rollerskating the Cosmic Palmistric Postborder)   [11:50]

Phish!

I’m seeing Phish live on Friday for the first time and I am so ridiculously pumped. Over the last few months I’ve really gotten into them. It started by getting hooked on their studio album “A Picture of Nectar”, probably in April sometime. I then started to listen to their other studio albums and finally started to dive into their live jams which just blew me away.

So yeah, I’ll make sure to post my thoughts on the concert sometime on Saturday. In other Phish related news, their new album titled “Joy” which will be released in early September is now available for preorder on their site as a CD, vinyl, or limited edition box set. I personally went for the discounted CD + vinyl combo.

Review: Darkspace I (Darkspace)

When digging into the genre of black metal and taking a look at more obscure acts, it can be hard to determine what is worth the time to listen to. There are literally countless bands and one-man groups to shift through, and it can all get a little overwhelming. And it doesn’t help that since the genre is for the most part very underground, there are little to no reviews on any of it. That doesn’t mean it’s not worth looking through, because when you find a gem of an album, it can have a huge impact. The problem is that for every amazing record you find, you probably listened to half a dozen mediocre ones.

If you gave Darkspace just a passing glance, you would probably think nothing more of it than simply an average atmospheric black metal group that apparently doesn’t like naming their mostly 10 minute plus songs. Luckily for me, I didn’t just give Darkspace a “passing glance”, and instead discovered one of the gems in the sea of underground black metal.

If there was ever a band thats name accurately described their music, it’s Darkspace. This is the sound of total blackness, the soundtrack to a black hole. And yes, that wasn’t a very original description of their sound since pretty much every other review I’ve read of the album has said the same thing. Nevertheless I will repeat it here, because it is honestly true. The music is a dark interpretation of the emptiness of space. Hell, it even has “2001: A Space Odyssey” samples in it to enhance the atmosphere. And upon thinking about it, the samples make a lot of sense since HAL is a machine, emotionless, and the music of Darkspace is describing a void – where no emotion can exist.

The music itself is actually somewhat unorthodox for black metal. Yes, the sound is very low-fi and the guitars are often buzzing with tremolo picked riffs, but there’s a lot more to it if you dig deeper. For example, the band will often employ chugging death metal riffs, which is quite unusual for this type of music. However it works wonderfully and only builds the atmosphere even more. Also present are the occasional electronic beat, long ambient passages, and a conservative amount of keyboards thrown in for good measure. While none of those elements are rare in the genre of atmospheric black metal, their use is perfected here.

Yeah, the album is long, and that may be a turn off for some. However it is my belief that the album needed to be as long as it is, because after listening to essentially a nonstop wall of sound for 70+ minutes, it’s likely to leave you feeling numb. If I said that about most albums it would be a negative thing, but on this album it’s a sign of success – because if you feel numb than Darkspace has done their job in conveying their feelings of space. It’s how they want you to feel.

In simple terms, this album is essential listening to any fan of black metal (especially those interested in the more atmospheric side of the genre). The same goes for both of its follow ups, because they are all very similar. Not similar in terms of the music being the same, but similar in terms of quality and style. If you’ve actually took the time to read this whole review, take a little more time out of your day, do yourself a favor, and listen to Darkspace.

Rating: 4.5/5

1. Dark 1.1   [7:51]
2. Dark 1.2   [11:47]
3. Dark 1.3   [11:40]
4. Dark 1.4   [10:07]
5. Dark 1.5   [13:33]
6. Dark 1.6   [10:21]
7. Dark 1.7   [12:19]

Behind the Scenes: The Recording of “Harvey”

Today I had Charlie over, who frequently collaborates with me on my solo work. We both share a love for slow, heavy, repetitive and feedback ridden drone metal, so today we chose to cover one of our favorite Earth songs – “Harvey”. While the song is little more than a less-than-three-minute intro to their amazing album Phase 3: Thrones and Dominions, its infectious riff has caused us both to become addicted to it.

I have an old, large bass amp in my basement that my piano teacher gave to me (free) since he had no use for it, and it has been gathering dust for the last few months as I’ve realized I have little use for it as well. Today finally gave me an opportunity to check it out, as both Charlie and I realized that to pull this off we would need to emulate Earth’s bass sound – meaning we needed wall shaking volume. This amp would be the best way to achieve that level of noise. The amp only had a clean channel though, so we put his bass through a trashy “Grunge” guitar distortion pedal I have. After playing around with some knobs we had a pretty convincing drone metal sound that we were extremely pleased with. My setup was a bit easier. I simply cranked the gain and low settings on my Marshall guitar amp as high as they could go, and turned up the volume as well. We started hitting some low notes together and realized we had struck a great sound – as the basement walls and everything inside of them were shaken by our vibrations.

Now it was time to arrange the song. We didn’t want to do a note for note cover, instead we simply used the song as a starting point and built around it. The final product is more of a tribute to Earth as a whole and not the one song. We arranged it so it starts with a minute or so of droning and feedback, before Charlie slowly slides up the neck of his bass and begins playing “Harvey”. I soon join him and we play the riff together, as it is in the song. After playing a minute or so of the song, we return to droning and feedback. We didn’t write the end of the song – we decided to leave it open to improvisation.

It became clear to me that the only way to record this song was to do it live in one take. However it would be tricky to do so on the first try, especially having no clear structure to the end of the song which we hadn’t even written. We were truly winging it. I also realized that the mic Patrick and I had bought together was at his house and therefore we had no microphone to record it. The only way to do it would be to use the internal microphone on my computer – which I had not used in some time and thought of it as questionable in quality.

We brought my laptop down to the basement and pressed record, not sure what the end product would end up like. Miraculously, it ended up far better than I could have ever expected! By not specifically writing out the song, only having a general idea, we had left room open for on-the-spot improvisations that greatly enhanced the song. While recording, both Charlie and I would have sudden out of the blue ideas that we would use, which we would never have thought of otherwise. By just using occasional hand gestures, we managed to have a successful “jam” for the last minute of the song. We had recorded the song live in one take without any problems at all! And to my great surprise, the internal microphone in my computer had done a more than adequate job of capturing the performance. I wasn’t completely done though. For those who have heard the song, they may recall that at one point there are at least two guitars playing the same melody at different octaves, so I quickly dubbed in a second guitar at one point to emulate this. Besides that though, there was no other recording done after the first take.

So all in the course of an hour, Charlie and I had successfully arranged, practiced, performed and recorded Earth’s “Harvey”, and the end result was miles ahead of what either of us could have predicted. The song will without a doubt be a highlight of the first Static Light album Watching Leaves Fall when it is released on August 29th. The track will be the 10th on the album. I hope this post has been an interesting look into how one of the songs on my upcoming album was recorded!