And even more Asteroids…

Yes, there’s more…

Volume 3 has now landed at Bandcamp (HERE) so get across there and grab it as soon as you can :-) Feel free to name your price – just like the other volumes. There are a few more volumes of these on the way. Most likely not until the end of September or into October. But you never know – it just depends how industrious I become – and what uploading stuff is like at my new place. So far it’s been generally ok but it can be a bit hit-and-miss now and again even getting online, as I’m sharing a wireless connection with several other people.

TRACKS:

3 Juno (5:35)
30 Urania (2:27)
43 Ariadne (3:13)
65 Cybele (4:41)
84 Klio (3:09)
93 Minerva (3:02)
109 Felicitas (3:00)
222 Lucia (3:21)
386 Siegene (3:03)
390 Alma (2:15)
623 Chimaera (2:09)
810 Atossa (1:52)
911 Agamemnon (2:02)
1009 Sirene (2:28)
1094 Siberia (4:39)
1298 Nocturna (1:58)
1785 Wurm (3:20)

No individual links here but all the usual full-length previews can be heard over at the linked Bandcamp page just below the picture. I’m working on some more of these – as well as polishing up the ones that are already laying about here waiting to go. So expect at least one more Volume sometime soon. In the meantime, enjoy these…

More Asteroids in August

Yes, the second volume of Asteroids is here. Well, actually it’s HERE, but you know what I mean…

Startled Okapi! Recordings No. 22

Tracks:

2 Pallas
7 Iris
23 Thalia
26 Proserpina
58 Concordia
62 Erato
80 Sappho
123 Brunhild
133 Cyrene
279 Thule
572 Rebekka
824 Anastasia
1004 Belopolskya
1005 Arago
1282 Utopia
1981 Midas
2106 Hugo

Links to all tracks can be found on the Bandcamp page – and all the usual pricing is available.
Be warned, Volume 3 is not too far away…

Asteroids!

So, here it is – at last. This is the first in a series of albums containing tracks named after objects in the Asteroid Belt. There is a second volume already waiting to follow this one and there will be more forthcoming in time.
The first Asteroid track ever written was the last track on this album, 3494 Purple Mountain, which was titled more or less by accident (it’s an observatory in China, if you were wondering). However, once I realized how many named Asteroids there were (I already had a pretty good idea about the large number generally) it became an obvious source of inspiration. Not to mention a massive source of titles…
The numbers at the start of each track are sequential numbers, which are assigned to the asteroid once it’s orbit is secured – the name often follows much later, sometimes after a long period of debate.
The basic sound of this album is pretty much Ambient, but be warned that there are beats now and again (mostly on 12 Victoria on this album anyway) and that discordant sounds do pop up, so it may prove a tad disquieting if you’re just looking to chill. It’s now up on Bandcamp, via Startled Okapi! The link is below…
Each of the 18 tracks has a few notes attached to it regarding it’s Astronomical Namesake and the origin of it’s name – if it’s known of course.

Tracklisting:

6 Hebe 03:43
12 Victoria 03:07
17 Thetis 04:06
55 Pandora 03:35
69 Hesperia 04:10
71 Niobe 04:14
103 Hera 02:50
163 Erigone 03:42
201 Penelope 02:50
216 Kleopatra 02:09
256 Walpurga 03:20
397 Vienna 02:21
402 Chloë 02:08
430 Hybris 01:32
747 Winchester 02:31
1912 Anubis 03:45
2340 Hathor 02:31
3494 Purple Mountain 02:30

Get it HERE – usual pricing structures apply and the whole thing can be previewed there as well.

The Crossfire Era – again…

After seemingly disappearing online (well, I can’t find Datahex any more)  during the time I was away, The Crossfire Era now makes it’s return via Started Okapi:

Now back as SO! No.19. and available here as of now, with the usual price structure, of course. And some decent-quality soundfiles available as well, for those that desire them. This originally came out back in October 2010 and was one of three albums that were released online that year, you can preview it all at the Bandcamp site.

Also at Startled Okapi! now is Arctic Circles, another album by A Plot Of Knives – one of many recorded during 2013 that will pretty much all see the light this year, depending on circumstances. My internet connection here is still spotty and I’m looking at alternatives right now.

There will be more Thee Crumb online soon as well, not just the long-promised first of the Asteroids albums but at least one other new release too, which will be up early next month.

Rising From The Deep (again)

Rising From The Deep – Startled Okapi! No. 18

Originally recorded for the RPM Challenge back in February 2008, and then issued on Hallo Excentrico! later the same year. And now it’s back again on Startled Okapi! Here. With a couple of bonus tracks not available on any other version of it, firstly Rodents Probed Melanie, which was released as part of the Roughly Produced Masterpieces by Very Us Artists, which was another RPM contribution from the same year, which started my association with Very Us Artists which eventually led to Foreshadows.

The other bonus track, Uppercrust, is an early version of Ghosts Of Horses, which I found recently in the original files for this album and had never previously made public. You’ll need to download the entire album to get these two.

The only other out-take from the album was Cradle, which was later released on the first Catacombs album. Ana all being well, there ought to be another Catacombs albums along early next year.

The plan is, as I’ve mentioned before, to have all the albums up at Bandcamp so they can all be found in one place. There are a few more reissues planned for later on this year, as well as a couple of new albums. In fact, they may well be a new album up this month. But as I’m looking at moving sometime in the next few weeks all plans are provisional.

While I’m here, I should also mention that A Plot of Knives now has its own Bandcamp page and there’s already a release there. The Footprints Ended In The Middle Of The Field – which was recorded during June 2013. Once again, the plan is to add all the albums to this page – there’ll be should another within a couple of weeks – and at some point, I’ll add a separate page here for APOK as well as a discography.

And finally, just to prove I’m making new stuff and not just plugging my old stuff :-) here’s a new track. Via Soundcloud, as WordPress seem to have now decided that I can’t upload any MP3 tracks without setting up a dedicated music site (or something like that it appears) – despite the fact I’ve been uploading MP3s on here for years. Oh well…

New Album

Well, as I pass over again, it’s time to release the album that I promised for July last year – it’s called Quixotic and can be found on the Bandcamp page – right about here in fact…

Tracklisting:

1 – Red Serpent – 2:40
2 – Wax Museum Shadow– 3:45
3 – Beak Of Bronze – 3:40
4 – View From A Low-Flying Aircraft#10– 1:36
5 – Alternate Timeline – 3:19
6 – The Lodge – 2:03
7 – Afraid Of Heights – 4:36
8 – Early Morning Light Paints A Harsh Picture – 3:01
9 – Run Aground – 2:01
10 – Amanita – 3:13
11 – Waves At Pevensey Bay – 1:31
12 – View From A Low-Flying Aircraft#8 – 2:04
13 – Orphic Egg – 3:38
14 – Golden Hind – 1:51
15 – The Oak Panelled Room – 5:03

Everything on here was recorded between December 2014 and May 2015 and was lined up to be released sometime in July or August last year before other events got in the way. I’ve posted a couple of these track on here before but full-length previews can be had on the Bandcamp link above. And yes, Waves At Pevensey Bay is an accurate description of the contents of that track.

Following this, I’m looking at releasing few of the older previously-unissued albums and putting most if not all of my other albums up at Bandcamp too, not to mention a few oddities. More on this when it actually happens.

Catacombs Volume 3

As promised in the last post, Catacombs Volume 3 is now up on Bandcamp – the download page, with full track previews, is HERE – the usual pay-as-much-or-as little-as-you-want applies…

Tracklisting:

1 – Brewing By Arclights – 2:29
2 – The Astrologer In Full – 4:44
3 – A Locked-Room Mystery – 2:29
4 – Storks Fly Into The Night – 7:18
5 – Sleeper Cell Radio – 1:29
6 – Balsa Wood Hills – 3:01
7 – Undecided – 2:01
8 – Travels In One Direction Only (Full-Length Version) – 7:01
9 – Fragile – 4:14
10 – They Had Ventured Into The Forest – 5:03
11 – Leave The Flag – 2:30
12 – Between Two Points – 3:18
13 – Quagga – 3:21
14 – And Then… Nothing Happened – 3:05

The vast majority of these were recorded between 2011 and last year, with Travels… being the extended version of a track that was on the Digital Vomit ambient compilation back in 2010. Sleeper Cell Radio, Balsa Wood Hills and Leave The Flag were all off-cuts from previous RPM projects – which is a roundabout way of saying that this year’s challenge starts on February 1st and I will be posting the usual round of demos and updates on here as the month progresses. This year, just to stretch myself a little bit more, I’m going to attempt to record two albums instead of one. I’ve no idea how this is going to pan out right now – or even if it’s feasible. It may just be that the second ends up being a remix version of the first or just one long track. I do my best not to plan these albums too much in advance as it never turns out the way you expect it to. So it’ll be just as much of a surprise to me as everybody else.

I also couldn’t end this post without mentioning the death last week of Edgar Froese. Now, I’ve mentioned before that I don’t usually remark on the passing of every musician I’ve been influenced by as this blog would most likely consist of nothing else but obituaries, however, Tangerine Dream were one of my favourite bands and have been a massive influence on me ever since I bought a second-hand copy of Rubycon in our local junkshop for £1 when I was 14. So RIP Edgar – and thanks for everything…

New album now available

I’ve just slipped this one out right at the end of November (no, it’s not a Bl*ck Fr*day tie-in before you ask) – it’s now up on Bandcamp as the usual name-your-price download.

The album’s called At The Mountains Of Kong (Startled Okapi! Recordings No. 12) – the bandcamp link is HERE

Tracklisting:

1: Dragon’s Blood
2: Ground Saucer Watch
3: Commercial Break
4: Dromedary
5: Ailodierap
6: A Man Of Paper
7: Stray Dog
8: Mind Like An Eraser
9: Corpus Hermeticum
10: You’ve Got Pitchforks, We’ve Got Antlers
11: The Scroll
12: A City Of Pillars
13: Meet Me On The Thirteenth Floor
14: 224 Oceana

All the tracks can be listened to in full on Bandcamp and I have posted a few of them (four in fact) in earlier posts. Virtually all of these have been sitting about in one form or another since last year – the album was actually put together in January. The Mountains of Kong, in case you were wondering, are – or were if you prefer – a fictitious mountain range long thought to exist (by various European explorers mainly) in the north of what is now modern-day Nigeria. In fact, they were marked as such on some maps right until the end of the 19th century.

In other news, The final (or almost final) Digital Vomit compilation is virtually ready for release – so I’ll be posting more on that when it emerges. I’m starting the process of moving all my DV (and Hallo-Excentrico!) releases across to Bandcamp in the next few months, so keep an eye out for all of them there as they appear. The RPM review series I’ve been promising for a while has been postponed for a bit – until February at least I think. I listened back to the two most recent ones the other night and realized that I had nothing constructive to say about them really, as I need a bit of distance from them before I can comment. So it’ll be happening soon, maybe…

Here’s a couple of new tracks to round this bumper post out:

A Very Small Machine

View From A Low-Flying Aircraft#1

Two more albums now up at Bandcamp

Ok, I knew I said it would only be a week or two – and it turned out to be a month – but they’re up there now. Both Tape Of The Locks and Interiors (Startled Okapi! Recordings No’s 10 and 11 respectively) are now available as name-your-price downloads – so grab them here in the usual range of formats.

There’s plenty of information elsewhere on here about both of these – just scroll down the page a bit for this year’s model or use the RPM category to go back further. I did notice, however, that I neglected to post a full tracklisting for Interiors, so here it is – in all its 37 track glory:

01 The Tomb Of Dido
02 Collector Of Bones
03 Into The Easy Way Out
04 Horizon To Horizon
05 Gone At First Light
06 Enough To Fill A Trunk
07 The Cloth Of The Sun And Moon
08 Winged Helmet
09 When You Come To A Fork In The Road, Take It
10 Tree Of Golden Apples
11 Breakfast Arrangements
12 Gods Of Two Species
13 By The Signpost
14 Random Access
15 Globe And Sceptre
16 From A Stairwell
17 The Smoking Mirror
18 Christian Science Reading Room
19 The Cat’s Purr
20 John Bernard Books
21 In Golden Green
22 Sword Of Mercy
23 Dust Blows Down The Mountain
24 Juxtaposition
25 One Hiding Place to Another
26 Harmonium Piece
27 A Revolver Hidden In A Secret Compartment
28 In Greenish Gold
29 The Astrologer
30 Sign Of The Black Dog
31 Towers Destined To Crumble
32 Only The Names Change
33 The Statue Of The Lion
34 Errors And Corrections
35 Priest Hole
36 Hobgoblins
37 At The Foot Of The Walls

It looks a lot I know, but as there’s nothing there over 1:52 long – and everything can be previewed at Bandcamp – don’t let that long list deter you.

As it seems likely at this point in time that I won’t be recording another RPM album (I’ve done 8 now and there isn’t a great deal of challenge left in it for me to be honest) in the next few months as mentioned a few posts down I’ll start picking my way back through the previous albums and picking out some high (and low) points along with some notes on how they were all made…

Bandcamp updates

As promised, Sometime In The Next Thousand Years and Theda Bara are now up at Bandcamp. The link is here. They are both available as name-your-price downloads. Don’t forget, if you want a physical copy – head over to the Startled Okapi! site where there are still a few of each left.

Next up will be the last 2 RPM Challenge albums – Tape Of The Locks and Interiors – sometime in the next week or two, all being well.

Here’s a couple of new tracks to round the post off:

Life On A Raft

402 Chloë