Unnatural Disasters expanded edition now available!

Last week I finished a “remastered” version of my new album, Unnatural Disasters. Sure, it’s barely a month old, but I’m still perfecting my “studio” (such as it is) techniques, and even though this new version wasn’t done in time to become my official RPM Challenge submission, I consider it the definitive version of the album. I’ve also thrown in my secondary RPM project, Technetium, as a bonus track. (Sure, this bonus track is longer than all 9 tracks on the actual album combined, but it all still fits nicely onto one CD. You do miss out on the great cover art, though.)

The new versions of all of the tracks are now available here and on VIRB. Better yet, get a copy for yourself! It’s available as a name-your-own-price MP3 download on INDISTR or for $7.99 on CD from Kunaki.

My two RPM projects are both now available on CD

In a rare bout of overabundant creativity (or inadequate self-restraint), I have finished not one but two CDs for the RPM Challenge. They’re available now on CD from Kunaki.

The first project, Unnatural Disasters, is a more traditional album of 9 tracks in styles running from straight-ahead rock to prog rock to Bitches Brew-era Miles Davis electric jazz to electronica, and running a little over 36 minutes. The music could serve as a soundtrack for a world tour of the strange places I’ve written about in my blog.

Also unnatural but less of a disaster, the second project, a single 38-minute track, is a piece of minimalist electronica with a structure based on the composition of a technetium atom. It is, appropriately enough, entitled Technetium. Up close, the music is ever-changing, yet on a large scale it is completely static; it doesn’t really go anywhere, but it also never precisely repeats in its entire 936 measures. It went from concept to completed album in about 6 hours, which is the half-life of technetium’s least-stable isotope.

You can learn more about the two projects, and listen to streaming versions of all tracks from the albums, by clicking on their respective covers to the right.

The beat (and harmony, and occasionally melody) goes on…

We’re approaching the halfway point in this year’s RPM Challenge, to record an album during the month of February, and things are progressing pretty well for me. The challenge is to record at least 10 songs or 35 minutes of material in 29 days. So far I’m up to 35:30 on 8 of my 9 intended tracks. That time will probably get reduced a bit as I master the tracks and remove some of the dead space at the ends of them, but I should still be well above 35 minutes, probably around 40.

As I’ve mentioned previously, my album is entitled Unnatural Disasters, and you can read more about it (and even hear the full in-progress tracks in streaming audio) on my album page. You can also find out more about my project on the RPM site.

The RPM Challenge is underway!

This year I am participating in the RPM Challenge to record an album during the month of February. I already have 6 tracks in some state of completion for my album entitled Unnatural Disasters. You can keep up with my progress and listen to the tracks on the album page.

New Mars Volta album out today

I haven’t even listened to it yet (ripping the CD now), but I just wanted to draw attention to the new Mars Volta album out today, The Bedlam in Goliath.

These guys are quite possibly the most adventurous band out there in the “mainstream” today. (Whether or not their music is what you call “mainstream,” it’s certainly no sign of obscurity to have your album featured in Target’s Sunday circular.) It’s progressive rock for a new generation. But call it what you will; how can you not like a couple of guys who look like this?

NPR has a great review of the album.