(in reverse chronological order)
I've created a little mp3 "trailer" for 'The Great Divide:' Audio trailer for The Great Divide. The link is for an mp3, either click on it or right-click download it. (Opens new window.)
Speaking of The Great Divide, it got a tremendous review a few weeks ago at DPRP.net. I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: DPRP has honest, hard-working, and non-sycophantic reviewers, so they do in-depth articles on a lot of great independent albums you won't find reviewed anywhere else - and if they give an album a great review, you can trust it! So it means a great deal to me that all of my albums come with the "DPRP Recommended!" tag. Click here to read the great review of The Great Divide.
I've also updated a few pages around the site a little bit, including the "Bio" page.
I went to see Porcupine Tree in Boston a couple nights ago. Man, those guys rock! If you are into medium-heavy, super-well played intelligent rock music, you should check them out - they're one of the best bands out there, easily in my top 5 favorites today. And, they are very, very good when performing live.
And, finally, there is some big news on the horizon concerning the long-lost Jazz Mutants album... let's just say that remixing and remastering a certain never-released album consumed whatever time I had outside of my engineering job recently - more to come soon!
April 23, 2007: Song to the Sky and Invisible Symphony are now available on iTunes. Because of the long length of the tracks "Song to the Sky" (22 min) and "1 a.m. on a Tuesday" (10 min), iTunes has determined that those two tracks are only available with the full album download. To find them, simply open iTunes (if you own an iPod, you know what I'm talking about), and search for "Steve Unruh." Those two albums should come right up. I will probably post more albums to iTunes in the coming months...
April 11: I've been tinkering away at this new remaster for a while, and I'm finally ready to go public with it: I present to you a whole, free album download of the rock and roll phenomenon that was... Deadwood Dyck! What are you waiting for? Click here.
Feb 20: The Great Divide is released! Click here to order your copy. Or, click here for more album info.
Feb 6: It's about time the website got a bit of a facelift. The upkeep of steveunruh.com has suffered a bit, as it's been a busy 2 years since the release of 'Song to the Sky,' and... wow, it's really been 2 years since SttS! In addition, 2007 is the 10-year anniversary of "Steve Unruh as Solo Artist." 'Believe,' my first solo album, was released in 1997. And in a scant week and a half . . .
'The Great Divide' will be released February 20 2007! TGD, I think, is easily the most complex album I've ever made. More or less, here was my mindset while writing and recording it: I liked 'Song to the Sky' very much - to me, it had the right instrumental texture and a nice flow about it. But I kept having this nagging thought: How far could I push the artistic side? Wouldn't it make a great album if I just tore off any sense of restraint and made the most art-driven acoustic progressive music I could muster? Keep the basic sound textures of 'Song to the Sky,' but give it this insatiable will to prove itself as something special.
That basic thought process led to a year-and-a-half obsession, which flowed in parallel with my work on the film 'Air.' So, pretty much, I've spent almost every moment I could spare over the last 2 years locked in my studio working on 'Air' and 'The Great Divide.' And the result? The envelope please . . .
I'm very happy with the way both 'Air' and 'The Great Divide' turned out. Both were completely worth the effort, I think. 'Air' is finally finished with post-production (much work apparently was still done even after the cast/crew/investor premiere a couple months ago). To see a trailer for 'Air,' click here.
And 'The Great Divide' turned out sort of like I did a cross between 'The Beginning of a New Day' and 'Song to the Sky' after drinking a case of Red Bull energy potion. I've been striving for years to make THE album. Striving for the one piece of music that I would proudly hold up and say, "THIS is it! You want to hear what my music is all about? Listen to this one." And I think maybe I finally did it.
All babbling aside, here's a new web page for The Great Divide.
And, let's not forget the free stuff: Here's a new full album of free music - the 2007 Sampler download!
There's an almost-10-minute instrumental from TGD available as the first song on the new 2007 Sampler download. The tune I chose (Seven Journeys East) is probably the most immediately-accessible track on the album, but even so it still goes through its share of time signature changes and such. So, if you like "Seven Journeys East" and you're willing to dive into an album coprised of even more musical craziness, then check back on Feb 20 when the "buy now" button appears next to 'The Great Divide' on the buy a CD page!. I can't wait for you to hear it!
Nov 19 2006: What a couple of musical weeks I've had... Here's a list of highlights:
FYI, here are links to some websites for stuff mentioned in the news bit above:
Through A Glass Productions (Production company for 'Air')
Air - official website for the film(In process of being updated - kind of in limbo for a few days.)
Laura Cossey's official website
Amra Kojon (New England Bengali music group. For some reason, doesn't mention our 2 upcoming shows - Dec 3 Boston and Dec 10 NYC
Oct 18 2006: The most important news bit of the week is that the Lawrence Chamber Orchestra will be playing one of my pieces during their Fall Concert this Saturday. So, if you're in the area, check it out - I'm sure it will be a great show. And quite an honor to have one of my pieces on the same program as Bach. For more information, click here.
In other news, progress has been going well on my next album, "The Great Divide." (Well, up until I caught a cold earlier this week which brought everything to a grinding halt.) But I won't stay down for long! The guitars, drums, and now bass are completely recorded, edited, and mixed. And I even got a bunch of the artwork done, so that leaves only violin, vocals, and whatever else I decide to throw in (maybe some flute or mandolin, we'll see).
And... My part of the work on the full-length feature film, "Air," is a wrap. It's now out of my hands and in the hands of the film editor, director, and producer. I can't wait 'til the cast and crew party Nov 10 when we all get to see the final result! (And there will be another showing, open to the public in the near future... for the latest on "Air" check out the filmmakers' website, throughaglass.com.
Sep 2 2006: Man, how time has flown since the last update! 4 months... I can hardly believe it. But, in that time, a tremendous amount of music making has occurred. I have about 4 more months' musical work lined up yet before my next conceivable break, so the updates may remain sporadic for while. "So, then, what have you been working on?" (you ask by clicking on the "NEWS" navigation button). Why, thanks for asking! Let me present a fascinating insider's peek, compiled from an exclusive interview SteveUnruh.com held with... er, myself:
AIR - The biggest project of them all - the full-length feature film "Air" is now in post-production, and I've completed everything except 1 tune! Ever-increasing in scope, I wound up composing, performing, recording, mixing, and mastering around 20 original pieces of music for the film. The making of this movie music has been quite an experience - including the following milestones:
THE GREAT DIVIDE - As if the workload from "Air" wasn't enough to drive me insane, I finished recording all the drumkit parts to my next album, 'The Great Divide.' I used a new micing technique which really makes the drums sound big and full, so that makes me smile. 'The Great Divide' is a 55-minute serving of some of the craziest acoustic progressive stuff I've ever done. Recording on "TGD" is on hold at the moment as I wrap up "Air," and I want to do this album justice. So it'll be mid to late September before I can get back to work on that again. But I promise it'll be worth the wait! (Well, that is, if you're actually awaiting it... Thank you, beloved members of my tiny fan base!)
I-CAT - For those of you who don't know, my day job is, well, let me go grab my title from my work email... ah, here it is: "Electronic Engineer & Composer, Music Items - Hasbro Consumer Electronics Group." Which means I design electronics for toys that play music, and in many cases create the music that those toys play... sometimes I also design the flow of game play in toys, too, which can be a lot of fun. (I don't decide which products we'll make or design aesthetics, though - I leave that up to the experts with whom I work.) Sometimes a line of products turns out really well. I-Dog turned out pretty darned good - not perfect, but pretty darned good. So, what could we do to top I-Dog for 2006? Well... I-Cat. But we were determined not to make I-Cat simply be an I-Dog in cat's clothing. We totally revamped the electronics, and I think we made this one not just good, but great. I-Cat has 9 touch sensors in its face, plays games with you, lets you add humorous little scratching sounds over your music (it's still a small portable speaker for an mp3 player like I-Dog). Watch for it in stores worldwide soon!
RESISTOR - My rock trio, Resistor, continues to practice and get tighter. We've now even got several original tunes. We're a long way from having enough original material to fill an album, though we do have over 2 hours of material ready to perform live (including cover tunes). We've come really close to performing around the Providence area a couple of times, but have been hampered by logistics so far. (And truth be told, none of us are too desperate to drag a ton of equipment around with us - we're pretty happy in our little studio.) But sooner or later, a live gig will happen - and it will be big, it will be loud, and it will be fun! Resistor is about as non-acoustic as I could possibly be, blasting through stereo guitar amplifiers with my electric twins - the Fender Strat and my beloved Ibanez Artcore AS73 - but I think if you enjoy my music and you like old rock like Santana and Hendrix, you'll probably get a kick out of seeing us play.
So, despite getting too little sleep and pretty much running on caffeine for weeks at a time, my health has held out, and I am starting to get very excited about finishing "Air." The Sundance film festival deadline is fast approaching, so I should probably stop working on this update and get back to Air. But these are exciting times in the world of my music. I feel so privileged to be working with so many talented people this year, and it's just been a blast to be a part of these projects. ("...and you finally get it all aligned - you're at home, for a moment, in your time...")
April 12 (2006): Why, yes, I am still alive! In fact, I've been working away to create more music. I recently finished recording all the guitar parts for my next CD, "The Great Divide." I've always considered this the hardest part of recording my albums, because all the guitar performances have to be perfectly timed so I can add drums to it, and it determines the overall feel and character of the album. So, I'm allowing myself a little break while I'm at this nice stopping point. (By the way, 'The Great Divide' will be about 55 minutes long, I believe my Ovation steel-string acoustic will be the only guitar present (no electric), it's full of epic pieces, and there are odd time signatures, chords based on 4ths, chromatic runs, and general craziness abounding.)
This past weekend, I played a little 1-hour house gig for a few friends. So, now that my basement is almost complete, my one-man-band live gig setup has a permanent place. It was loads of fun to play again (I forgot how great it is to have a thousand-Watt amp and effects units and all my instruments in a circle around me, ready to fly!) On a semi-related note, I recently found a really great group of people who seem interested in hosting me for a gig at a theater called "Artist's Exchange." I'm actually performing better than ever (all those years of gig-less studio work made me a half-decent guitarist, it turns out), so it all adds up to the serious possibility I'll play live again once in a while. We shall see, though... I'm still a little standoffish from some of the bad experiences of the past. I dunno, it actually looks like it's all upward and onward from here... (or is that "all uphill from here?") For whatever it's worth, here's a picture of my live gig set as of now:
In addition, my rock/jazz trio is getting better all the time. Even our skeptical bassist, Rob, who's been in more bands than he can remember, is starting to think we might actually not get bottles thrown at us if we play in public. So, that's fun. If I ever find time, I may write an album of original rock/jazz music for us.
The ongoing major project known as "Air" is getting ready to swing back into action. It's spring, which looks a little like fall (well, more than winter looks like fall, anyway - there are leaves on trees). So, the shooting will soon commence, and I'll soon be working away on more Air music. It's a lot of work, making a movie. It's been a lot of work for me, and I'm just doing the music... poor Jeremy, man, I think I'd collapse of exhaustion if I had to keep his schedule. But, he'll be the one at the Oscars someday.
I wrote and recorded a song this week, which turned out rather interesting, because it's in a totally different style than I usually do. All jazz guitar with rhythmic delays, in a very pop setting. I think it wound up sounding a little bit like Pink Floyd meets Coldplay, albeit my voice kind of marks it as mine. I'd love to post it for you all to hear, but I suspect when Jeremy hears it, he'll snatch it up for incidental music in "Air." Therefore, I'd better see about that first - if Jeremy hates it, I'll post it!
And, finally, I'll post a couple pictures of the basement renovation... 2500 pounds of floor tile, framing walls, insulating... I think the pictures pretty much tell the story... 2 years in progress, and still no ceiling or electrical wiring - but I'm getting closer! (Thanks in huge part to that guy known as "Dad," who seems to know how to do everything involving mechanics or building materials.)
...After.
And that, plus my day job, are just about all I've had time to do recently! I'll write again... sooner than the time span between the last update and this one, I hope!
Jan 31: The 2006 free sampler CD is posted! Running time is 60 minutes, and the file quality is 256kbps. This is the biggest batch of free music I've ever posted at once. Click here.
Also, I'm now officially distributed in virtual land. Several of my albums are available for purchased download at Mindawn.com. You can purchase Ogg Vorbis files (similar to mp3 files, playable in WinAmp and the free Mindawn player) and FLAC files (totally lossless, huge files you can use with the Mindawn player). Here's the link. You don't get any cover art, but the albums aren't very expensive - $6.99 USD per album. I get a decent cut of the sale, so feel free to impulse shop!
Jan 15, 2006: One of the little ironies of this website is that the "news" page gets updated less when I'm actually doing the most. Such is the case for the last month or so since the last update. Here's the rundown:
I've been finishing up the composition for my new solo album (number 7, can you believe?!), and I've started recording tracks. This one is really a challenge. I remember nearly losing my mind a few years back when recording "InstruMental Breakdown" for 'Invisible Symphony,' because it had so many difficult riffs (and I'm obsessive about getting "the perfect take" on everything). Well... this new album is like that, only it's an hour of material at that difficulty level. Fortunately, I've gotten a little better as a guitarist in the last couple of years, and I've also learned to be a little more Zen about the recording process so I don't give myself hypertension. (Come to think of it, would a true Zen follower even record music?) Er, okay, potentially-flawed analogies aside, album number seven is an interesting and difficult journey to work on. I've been chipping away at it about 3 nights a week for the past several months... and the work is sure to continue for many months more.
Other stuff... I went home to Kansas for Christmas break, and had a great time. Lots of wonderful relaxing with family and friends. Even got to catch up with Jeremy and Laura among others. Jeremy has let me know he wants a blues tune with trumpet added to the list of "deliverables" for the feature film 'Air." So, yet more variety in writing! (Which, of course, I enjoy.) And Laura is at work on an album!!! That just makes me smile every time I think of it. I've offered to help out augmenting a few instruments wherever useful, and it looks like I'll wind up playing a little violin and such on her album. Which, of course, will be my favorite album of 2006 or 2007, whenever it's complete.
And, I put a little more work into fixing up my house. That's what you do in New England. House prices are insane, so you buy an old house and fix it up as you have time and funds. Which fortunately turns out to be fun. Someday maybe I'll post some "before and after" pics on this site... but no time for that today.
And, finally, Rob (bassist in my band) and Barry (drummer in my band) and I are going to see the Syn in Boston this week. Chris Squire is my primary influence for bass guitar, so it should be a good time.
- 2005 -
Dec 24: My apologies for not updating the website much the last month, but I've been keeping busy nonetheless. The big news of the moment is A FREE CD! Click here for my new free solo classical guitar album.
In other news, I recently completed an interesting project... as you know by now, I'm working on the music for the film, "Air." But this latest musical number was really a trip. I wrote a short piece for string orchestra plus guitar, then sequenced the piece using my hi-fi software synth and trusty Sonar software. Then, the project got really interesting when I started replacing, one by one, all the synth parts with real instruments. This piece sets a new standard for my already overdub-happy methods. It's basically an orchestra of a whole bunch of Steves playing guitar, violins, viola, cello...
And, although you won't see anything tangible come of this for several months, I've made a lot of progress on the writing of my next solo progressive CD. Which feels great - I've sort of come out of an unfocused period into this flurry of musical activity. Fun stuff. Now go download the new free classical guitar album.
Oct 26: Posted the October/November free song on the free mp3 page. Also cleaned up even more around the website... you'll see some aesthetic improvements here and there.
Oct 25: Cleaned up around the website. One of the big changes is the re-vamped Samples page. By the way, if you're looking for the discography, it's on the "Misc" page now - see menu at top of page.
Now, this isn't really "news," but then again, what is at this site?! It's just me rambling on about my various musical projects. Anyway, here's a happy ramble: I've got a band! Now, don't get your hopes up like we're going to go on tour and play "The Beginning of a New Day" or anything. This is primarily a cover band for fun at lunchtime. But, one of the advantages of working at a large company is you've got a pool of several hundred people (creative ones, at that, considering it's a toy design company) from which to choose. So, we've got a great drummer named Barry Farrands who can play anything in any time signature and make it groove. Rob Winslow, our bass player, has that beautiful traditional sound and loves lots of the same music that I do (so we play Hendrix, SRV, Santana...). In addition to that core trio, we have a keyboardist who joins us about half the time - Lisa Gallant comes from from a Cajun tradition and she can also play jazz, which makes things interesting. I play self-indulgent electric guitar and sing. (Yes, that's right, electric guitar. Actually, I'm starting to get decent at it, after about 2 years of spending lunchtimes practicing.) We may even have a new female vocalist if all works out well - but I'll keep her name secret 'til she's comfortable with us. It is such a kick to have a real band again! Plus, they allow me lots of creative freedom (equals unlimited soloing and making songs up on the spot), so it's actually pretty artistically fulfilling. Anyway, I'm having fun. Who knows, maybe this will influence some new material. My favorite piece written specifically for this band so far is a tune called "Grateful," which is a jam band tune with lots of chords, in very much a Grateful Dead vein.
Sep 21: For convenience, I've zipped all the files in the Free Sampler CD into a single zip file, so you can just download one big file, extract it (if you have WinZip), and that's that. Still posted as individual mp3s just like before, too, in case you don't have WinZip.
Sep 15: Posted three new free tunes on the free mp3 page.
Sep 7: Probe the inner workings of Steve's mind in an interview in The Buried Cry online webzine. Click this link to read the interview
ProgressiveWorld.net has posted a new review of Steve's 2004 album, "Out of the Ashes," and gave it 4.5/5 stars! Click the link to read the review.
Sep 2005: Hurricane Katrina caused incredible damage to New Orleans, Lousiana and surrounding vicinity - it's perhaps the biggest disaster ever to hit my home country of the USA. So, in my own tiny way I'll try to help just a little - all money from September CD sales in the steveunruh.com online store will go to the American Red Cross. (All money, not just profit - I'll cover the cost of CD replication, postage, & credit card fees, so if you spend $13 on a CD + shipping, I will donate all $13 to the Red Cross... and yes, this means I'll lose money on each CD sale.) Note that your CD purchase will not be tax deductible, as I'm set up in no official capacity as a charity - I'm just trying to raise a little cash for the Red Cross - guess you'll just have to trust me. So, help me help the Red Cross and get a critically-acclaimed CD in the process! (Note to millionaires: please do not purchase 100 CDs at a time or you'll make me go broke. I'll keep up this deal provided I can afford it...) To buy a CD, just go to the buy a CD page.
Aug 24: This past weekend, I had two very interesting house guests. (Okay, lots of my house guests are interesting, but these two are relevant to the music website.) As you know by now, I'm doing a great deal of music for "the first modern musical" (as it's being dubbed) - the film "Air." Genius director Jeremy Osbern and Granvile O'Neal, actor and singer, flew to Rhode Island to record the vocals for two feature songs. Recording went great, and Granvile is a total professional with more patience than I've ever had. I think my favorite line was: "Okay, that was great! So great, in fact, that I'd like to see if you can repeat it another time." If that was me in front of the mic getting instructions like that, I might be taking a swing at somebody with the mic stand. But Granvile persevered, and we got some great takes! I can't reveal too much at this point, as I'm leaving "what to reveal when" up to Jeremy. But, we're going to have some mighty fine recordings in this film.
And, as for the look of the film... incredible. This is the real thing! A real film, made by people who are truly good at what they're doing, and shot on 35mm. Watch the first teaser trailer here. (This takes you to the "Air" home page, and the link to the trailer is obvious from there.) By the way, the song you'll hear playing in the trailer is a new tune, which will be in the film as one of those emotional backing music moments... my voice actually gets to be in the film! Yay! Fame, fortune, a book deal, and a reality show can't be far away.
Aug 8: The "Two Little Awakenings official edition 2005" CD got a fantastic review on DPRP.net... a 9+ out of 10. That's one of the highest ratings I've seen them give, so it's a real thrill! To read the review, click here.
Also posted the first track from that CD on the free mp3 page... the 17-minute "Scenes from the Mirror."
Aug 2: The 2005 re-release of Two Little Awakenings turned out great! It's available now on the buy a cd page. For more information, click here.
July 20: Sorry I haven't updated the web page recently. But, I have kept busy. So, here's the big news - Two Little Awakenings has been re-mixed, re-mastered, and edited to fit on a single CD. And, the long-out-of-print album is now permanently available! Although I had to cut several tunes to fit the material on one CD, the end result is fantastic. It's actually a better listen this way, and the sound quality is very, very good. (I went back to the original multitrack recordings, and re-mixed and remastered them... the result is quite noticeable. I spent several weeks working on this project, and the result is increased dynamic range and punch, and greater clarity. Updated artwork, too.)
The 2005 re-release of Two Little Awakenings is available for pre-order on the buy a cd page. (It will ship August 2.) For more information, click here.
In addition, there's another free tune posted on the free mp3 page. "Supernova," from 'Song to the Sky.'
And, finally, word is that the "One World Tapestry" CD has been mastered and is reportedly great. However, due to the Live8 concert and such, the Int'l Red Cross let the OWT organizers know that the Tsunami relief fund is doing quite well. However, they suggested a couple of other more needy (=neglected) causes, so details are still being sewn up there. I'll let you all know when the disc is available, and what Red Cross fund the profits will go to - when that information is solidified.
June 13: Updated the free mp3 page with three tunes "From the Vault."
May 2: New music posted on the free mp3 page. ('Lotus Victorius' from 'Song to the Sky.')
April 27: 'Song to the Sky' continues its string of great reviews, with this one from ProGGnosis.com. Here's the link.
April 7: As promised, 3 tunes are posted for April on the "free mp3" page. Lots of words to explain the songs are there on that page, so I won't bother repeating them here...
April 5: Another great review of 'Song to the Sky!' I personally feel very close to SttS, and it's such a great emotional kick to hear when others develop a connection to that album, too. Here's a link to the latest review, from GuitarNoise.com.
I do realize that I'm late getting some free music posted for April, but I promise it'll be up soon!
March 14: A new website is up with info on the CD "One World Tapestry." This is the upcoming compilation CD which includes one of my tracks, put together as a fundraiser for the International Red Cross work with Tsunami victims. The CD really looks like it's going to be great - the choice of artists sounds so fascinating (hand-picked by an in-the-know Australian DJ), I can't wait to get my hands on my copy. Here's the link to the website.
Feb 27: Two tunes posted for March on the Free mp3 page.
Feb 26: I implemented a new ordering system through CCNow.com, so that I can accept credit cards now. I think the convenience & security should be great for buyers - although there is an unfortunate increase in fees for me, which translated into a $1 increase in selling price. Oh, well - so it goes. Hey, at least I implemented a lower shipping fee for Canadians. I like Canada.
I also cleaned up a little around the site, for example the reviews page.
Feb 22: The reviews are in on 'Song to the Sky.' And, they're great! Check these out:
From ProgressiveWorld.net: "Song To The Sky is a warm and intimate album, full of great textures, great musicianship, and a depth of feeling that comes through every note. Highly recommended. Rating: 5/5." Here's the full ProgressiveWorld review.
From Dutch Progressive Rock Pages (dprp.net): "The musical vision of Mr Unruh is amply displayed in his arrangements throughout the album... his music effortlessly combines progressive rock, folk and a multitude of other influences into one glorious mixture." Here's the full DPRP review.
Feb 12: Press, y'all! An old friend of mine works at the Newton Kansan newspaper, and he saw some of the press about the film "Air," and recognized my name. So, he interviewed me, and did a big fold-out center feature on me in the weekend arts & entertainment section. I'm probably in some sort of copyright infringement for posting a photo of the article, but they did such a nice graphic art layout I just had to show it.
Here's a link to the article
Another update - I've re-posted the "samples" section of the free mp3 page. It includes a couple of new snipits from "Song to the Sky," by the way.
Feb 1: The world is shrinking around me. As proof, I'm going to have a track featured on an upcoming CD to raise money for the Asian tsunami victims, compiled by a guy in Australia, released on French label Musea records. As I'm North American, that hits 4 continents in one transaction!
As if that wasn't global enough, "Song to the Sky" is featured on the front page of DriveMagazine.net, an Italian publication. I can't read Italian, but I think the review says my CD is actually quite good despite my singing, or something to that effect.
Jan 22: Cleaned up & updated the selected reviews page and links page.
Jan 16: Well, the big news on the site for this week is the posting of an entire CD for download! Yip. It even includes artwork. So, stop reading the news page and go check it out. After all, this website's here to provide you a link to my music! Click here for free CD page.
Jan 3: "Song to the Sky" is officially released! Yay! Now go download the sample & get hooked on it.
Dec 1: Super-new free song posted on the Free mp3 page! (A rock/pop tune called "The Measure that's Missing," written for the film 'Air.')
Nov 15: Well, Song to the Sky is officially complete! I sent it off to the manufacturing house, and it should be ready in time for a January 4, 2005 release. Although not touted with quite the same media hype as, say, U2's "Vertigo," I'm hoping the disc will make somewhat of an impression on listeners once they hear it...
After the politically-themed and electric guitar-driven "Out of the Ashes," this disc will probably be called a "return to my roots." But, I'm in the camp of believers that it's pointless to repeat yourself musically, so I've tried to ensure that although it has similar elements to previous CDs (in particular, The Beginning of a New Day and Invisible Symphony), it's far from a copy of previous work. The way I tried to achieve this is by using different rhythmic & rhyme structures in the lyrics, and different compositional structures (in the "big picture" ABA'CA-type organization).
You can tell I'm pretty pleased with this disc from the way I'm talking about it, so now all that's left is to get it out to peoples' ears. I'm no marketing genius, so if anybody's got a brilliant idea, let me know... In the meantime, I'll be at work on Air, and getting back to some of the routines that got neglected during the making of Song to the Sky!
CHECK OUT THE FIRST GLIMPSE OF 'SONG TO THE SKY' ON THE Free mp3 page! (Posted Nov 15.)
Sep 25: Hey again, all! I haven't been updating the website much recently, because I'm in music creation land. Work on my new solo CD, "Song to the Sky," is proceeding nicely. The sound quality is exactly where I want it to be, and everything is recorded except bass (which I'm working on currently). I can't wait to put it all together and see how it sounds in a straight-through listen.
I've also written the better part of another piece for Jeremy Osbern's feature film (which he has decided to call "Air" - a beautiful name, and a fitting double meaning - but I can't reveal many details!). I've got a 3rd piece to write yet (a blues number), but those first two were really the hard ones (one has full orchestra parts, the other has full band parts). Now, um, getting a great recording of a full orchestra and band is another matter!
That said, I finally updated the free mp3 page, with a full version of Miracle Mile.
Jeremy Osbern's video for Square 1 is now posted on his new website. (Jeremy and friend Chris Blunk have started a film production company for commercials, short films, and such, called Through A Glass Productions. (www.throughaglass.com)). I put a direct link on the free mp3 page.
---------------------- 2004 ----------------------------
Aug 12: Posted Two Little Awakenings" on the free mp3 page. Also, I wrote a short piece for orchestra for Jeremy Osbern's upcoming feature film. So, at last, I'm getting myself to work on that. Pretty rewarding, knowing that the tunes I write will receive such a wonderful visual setting.
Aug 8: I got 2 great new reviews on my CDs this week from one of the real definitive sources for progressive rock - DPRP.net (the Dutch Progressive Rock Pages). This means a lot to me, because these guys know their stuff, and they don't hesitate to tear somebody apart if they think an album's not up to par! So, to have 'Out of the Ashes' and 'The Beginning of a New Day' get the "DPRP Recommended" label is pretty neat-o. You can check out the reviews here. I'm also leaving "Breaking Free" up for a few more days to let DPRP surfers check it out. I'll then post a different free song in a week or so.
I finished recording the drumkit parts for the new album. Finally, I've got sound quality where I want it to be! Very low-noise, and very hi-fi. So, all the guitars and drums are done, which are the hardest parts since everything else depends on those 2... now it's time to fill in the rest. Very happy with the result thus far.
July 10: The 14-minute "Breaking Free" (from 'Out of the Ashes') posted on the 'free mp3' page. (I started using good ole SmartFTP again, which lifted the file size restriction... big songs can now go on the free page. Woo hoo!)
I spent 2 weeks, off and on, setting up drums and mics in a permanent location here at my house, and getting a killer drum sound! Now that I have a permanent place to set up, I can really tweak things 'til I'm happy with them. (Of course, they wound up in the garage... but my garage is cool now!) I'm working out drum parts for the new album... details of which I'll post as I get further along in the recording process... ok, here's one detail - no electric guitars this time around - I'm returning to the textures of 'The Beginning of a New Day...' sort of, anyway. In any case, so far, I'm loving the sound!
In techie news, no new strange happenings with my hotmail account, so hopefully the German messages are done... FYI, I never saved anyone's address in the 'my contacts' option, so no one on my mailing list should have gotten fake mail from me. Still, I think Yahoo is providing a better mail service anyway, so I'll use them for a while.
June 6: Posted June's free song(s) of the month on the free mp3 page.
May 23: Got 2 more great CD reviews. Here are the links:
Out of the Ashes - ProgPower.de
Instrumental Retrospective - ProgPower.de
Due to the fact I've accumulated several great reviews of my CDs, I put together a page of links to the various reviews. Navigate to it through the "MISC" link at the top, or just click here.
April 23: So much music news! The new compilation, 'Instrumental Retrospective' is released! You can find the first track on the free mp3 page.
I got a pretty great review of 'Out of the Ashes' on Proggnosis.com. You can read the review here.
And enjoy the new web updates! I updated a TON of stuff on the site. There are new song samples from several CDs on the free mp3 page. Navigating to get info on my albums is made easier through a new discography page. I updated the information pages for nearly all cds (and they contain a lot more information about the material now). I made a new page for 'Instrumental Retrospective,' put a second promotional banner on the links page (click 'MISC' on the top menu, then click 'LINKS.' Hey, link to my site!). I updated the 'buy a cd' page, and so on.
So, browse around, why don't ya! There's lots of stuff to see.
April 7: Updated the links page.
March 29: Cleaned up the buy a cd page. Also cleaned up the international buy a cd page.
Check out the great review of 'The Beginning of a New Day' on ProgPower.de. Read the review here.
I've recently been at work finishing up a compilation album. (Can you imagine?! I've made so many of these flipping independent albums that I'm up to making a compilation?!) Anyway, it's a really nicely-put-together retrospective of my instrumental work up to, but not including, Invisible Symphony. The CDs are being manufactured as I write this. They should be available in a few weeks. The tracklisting is:
1. Blue Gypsy Overture (re-recorded 2004)
2. Leaving Spain (remastered 2004)
3. Impression (previously unreleased, remastered 2004)
4. Lotus’ Land (remastered 2004)
5. Intro/Rainsong (remastered 2004)
6. Guitar Piece (for Ena) (new recording, 2004)
7. Walt’s Blues (remastered 2004)
8. Melody of Broken Lies (remastered 2004)
9. Improvisation in Red (remastered 2004)
Not much was done to the tracks from 'The Beginning of a New Day,' and the 2004 remaster of 'Two Little Awakenings,' both of which sounded quite good already. However, there is a radical improvement in the sound quality of the two tracks from 'Egeria Jazz Trio.' Additionally, Blue Gypsy Overture gets the full studio treatment with a completely new recording. Impression finally finds its way in hi-fi to CD, and Guitar Piece (for Ena) is a new recording of a classical guitar solo I wrote back in the mid '90s. I like it - I hope you all will, too.
March 24: Decided to start accepting checks again. So, if you want to order a CD & you don't like/trust PayPal, there's your option. See the buy a cd page.
March 7 2004: Part 3 of 'Miracle Mile' is posted on the Free mp3 page. Also, check out the featured 5-star review of 'Invisible Symphony' on progressiveworld.net! (Click here.)
Feb 22 2004: Added the option to buy CDs online outside the U.S. and Canada. Click here.
Feb 17 2004: They're in! Copies of 'Out of the Ashes,' the new CD, are now available! 10 minutes' worth of the first track is posted on the free mp3 page.
Feb 8 2004: I've been practicing my live rig again, and man is it getting fun! As always when I take a long break from playing live, it was a little frustrating to get my feet independent from my hands, but now that I'm back in shape, wow... I forgot how great it is to create live music. Plus, I just got a new guitar processor, and the sound is so crisp - I had a short session where I played 'Nighttime for a while' and 'Miracle Mile' (the 16-minute opening track from the new CD), and it was such a soulful experience. Ok - I digress.
Meanwhile, the website's going under a major overhaul as I wait for the new CDs to come in from the replication house. Hopefully, the CDs will come in and I'll get to launch the re-vamped site within a week...
Jan 18 2004: Hello again, all! Pardon me for being delinquent with my updates. I went back to Kansas for Christmas break, then upon my return, Ena wound up in the hospital with major surgery!!! She's well on her way to recovery - getting back to her usual (strange and wonderful) self. So, as that melodrama subsides, I'm back to the routine again...
While on vacation, I had the chance to test out my new solo CD on several different stereo systems, and made final tweaks based on what I heard. Yes, this will truly make a sonic impact! I can't wait to get it released. But, as always, I'm hung up on the artwork. The lyrics don't fit in the CD jacket, so I'm forced to come up with something else - and I'm stuck. But, 90% of the artwork's finished, and the CD sounds phenomenal (if I'm allowed to pat myself on the back a little). So, it should be off to the duplication house within a week or so.
I'm starting to itch to play a couple of live gigs again, so I imagine I'll try to set up a couple of gigs here in New England for Spring or Summer in support of the new CD. We'll see how that goes. But, there's a pretty good support group for progressive rock-ish music here, so I'm hopeful I'll come up with something.
Finally, I had a wonderful vacation. Just perfect, and of course, Ena's health was still great then, so it goes down as one of the best Christmas times I've had. I also had a chance to catch up a little with a couple of old friends...
Jeremy Osbern and I discussed the concept for his new short film for which I'll be writing (and likely recording) the score. He has a rather large supply of brilliant ideas, so it should be wonderful to work with him on that.
Laura Cossey is writing and recording a bit, and I'm just about grinding my teeth waiting for when she finally releases a solo CD. She seems to be taking her time, but when she finally finishes something, it couldn't be anything but perfect.
So, I guess that's about it for now. I'll forego the mp3 for this month, in favor of posting a little chunk of the new CD next month if all continues on schedule. Til the next update...
---------------------- 2003 ----------------------------
Dec 18: Fixed a website bug - the snipit downloads for Invisible Symphony tunes had gone missing. They're back now.
Dec 14: The new CD is done!!! Only artwork for the jewel case remains (though this might take a few weeks). I haven't decided if I'm going to have this one semi-mass produced yet... if so, that will take a couple more weeks. But, the important part - the audio - is totally complete, mastered and everything. And, if I do say so myself, it sounds pretty phenomenal. Can't wait for you all to hear it. Though, due to my 5MB per file transfer limit my web host enforces, there's no way I can post it uninterrupted online. (Track times are rather long.) But, I'll probably post bits and pieces, anyway. We'll see...
Free song of the month for December posted on the Free mp3 page (Melody of Broken Lies by Egeria Jazz Trio).
Nov 22: The new CD progresses! After the computer crash, I re-loaded the tracks I had backed up 2 months prior to the crash and converted them to a format readable by my new software. Then, I put them on the new computer and started mixing. I also re-recorded most of the takes that were lost. The result? I love the new software. The music actually sounds better after 3 weeks of mixing than the lost mix sounded after 8 weeks of mixing. I also wrapped up all remaining overdubs, so it's almost finished!! Only artwork and mastering remain. The new CD should be out sometime early in 2004.
Nov 8: Free songs of the month for November posted on the Free mp3 page (Two live tunes from Psynapsis - my progressive rock power trio).
In other news, my studio computer crashed, fragmenting my new album into unordered, hexadecimally-named 8kb files - stupid scandisk. So, that was a bit of a setback. Fortunately, I had backed up the new album several weeks back, so I only lost about 2 months' worth, on-and-off, of mixing and a couple of parts which are easily re-recordable. (And, the completed lead vocal track and symphonic parts - the most important recent additions - were backed up and/or salvageable via data mining, so it's not a complete tragedy. In response to this, I did the following:
1) Kicked my old computer so hard that my toe hurt for 3 days
2) Spent the last week updating my studio computer to the 21st century. I now have a super-fast computer, super high-quality audio card, and super-nifty recording software.
I love this technology - what used to take days now takes minutes, as far as mixing goes. So, the new CD will be back on schedule soon. I also used this new software to mix the audio for the live Psynapsis tracks - and, if I might say so myself, sounds pretty amazing for a recording done with only 2 mics and direct-in for the bass.
On a side note, I had a wonderful experience recently at a Neal Morse concert. Neal's a brilliant musician (well, that's actually an understatement). After the concert, I found out that he's a pretty amazing person, in addition, as he talked to me for almost an hour about, well, lots of stuff - in any case, he went WAY beyond good etiquette and gave me more attention than I probably deserved within his busy schedule. Anyway, check his stuff out. Great musician, and great guy.
Sep 29: Free song of the month for October posted on the Free mp3 page ('Scratching the Black,' a new tune not on any CD thus far).
Sep 21: I haven't made all the web updates I've planned on recently, but that's because I've been in the studio working on the new CD. I guess that's putting my priorities in the right place... sort of, anyway; I've also been totally neglecting promoting myself! Oh, well. The music's the important part, anyway!
Sep 14: Posted a new little page - the violin gallery, on the miscellaneous page.
Sep 1: Steve and Mike Portnoy, pt.II posted. (You can find stuff like this under the MISC heading.)
Aug 31: Added a new, updated biography page with lots of pictures. Also, the online CD store is back up and running.
Aug 3: Well, I'm ALMOST ready to get back into the musical thing... We're in our new house in Providence, I'm loving my new job, and we're in the process of unpacking/remodeling. I have lots of new music to record and/or mix, website ideas to implement, a couple of stories to tell, etc., but that stuff will have to wait for just a bit longer. The new home studio is also going to be beautiful when it's done... I'll post pictures and sound files of the new music and studio eventually... Now, if I could only find my desktop computer...
July 6: Free songs of the month for July posted on the Free mp3 page ('Nighttime for a while' from The Beginning of a New Day, and 'Opponent of the Season' from Sign of Saturn).
June 29: Things have been very busy lately! Sorry I haven't been updating the website much - I'll get back into that routine soon, though, I'm sure. So here's what's been going on:
First, like an idiot, I put my emailing list in storage with all of my computer stuff (I'm working from a laptop currently), so until I get moved into my new house here in Providence, nobody will be receiving their little update letters. I think we'll be back in business by the first of August.
Second, like an idiot, I did the same with all my sales information! So, it'll be August before I'm back in business with that, too. Try Kinesis online CD store if you need a CD before that.
Providence, our new home, is really, really beautiful. Here's a site with lots of great Providence pictures.
The new job is going well; I've been learning more every day about all the electronics we use in toys. I've also been cleaning and reorganizing our little in-house recording studio. We'll soon be up and running with some new multitrack equipment, so there will be two recording studios in my life: one at Hasbro, and one in my house. Yay! My studio will finally find a permanent home... no more headaches trying to get a decent drumkit sound for every new project!
Finally, this area seems to be a haven for great music. An incredibly interesting band from Sweden (at least, I think they still live there, despite their web domain name), the Flower Kings are playing a gig near here this Wednesday. They're only doing 8 or so gigs in the U.S., so I feel really lucky to be around for one of them. As if that weren't already enough, Mike Portnoy invited me to the Boston Dream Theater show July 9. I'm so hyped about all of this, it's hard to describe. Maybe I'll only write happy music from now on, and everybody will say my writing's become crap. Oh, wait, no, I guess that last sentence shows I still have the power to be humorously cynical. It's just that everything seems to be wine and roses lately. Man... I feel so fortunate...
Okay, but enough about the personal stuff. What about music? Well, um, I've been learning about microchips for toys, as I said, and I'm making it a cruisade to squeeze the most out of our musical toys. It'll be about a year before anything that truly has my signature on it hits the market, but I'm doing my best to learn just how far I can push these chips... making my own midi patches to use in them, etc., etc. That's the end of technical stuff I'll discuss here.
As for the rest of my music, I haven't had time to write anything recently, but that's okay. Lots of artistic fodder flies about the atmosphere here. I think I'll submit Invisible Symphony to the local WaterFire bunch... (Every couple of weeks, they play cool music and light lots of bonfires along the river that passes through downtown Providence - it's a great atmosphere and it draws out lots of people.) Anyway, I think a couple of tunes might fit well, and since I'm now a local artist, ya never know.
So, that's it for now. I'll have to come up with something to post for next month's free song... at least I have my master copies for everything with me. Hmmm... maybe it's time for an updated bio page, too, come to think of it.
May 28: Free songs of the month for June posted on the Free mp3 page (The Jazz Mutants' Violin Sorbet and Almond's Ale).
May 22: Well, here's the official info about my relocation: I completed electrical engineering school, and got a job. My official title is Electronic Project Engineer for Hasbro Toy Group in Pawtucket (North of Providence) Rhode Island. My job duties will include working with integrated circuits to play music and sound effects in toys, write music for those toys, and care after an on-site recording studio. The location is perfect, the people I'll be working with are great, and in general it's pretty much a dream job. So, I must say farewell to all the Kansas folks, but I'll come back and visit! (Of course, www.steveunruh.com WILL stay 'on the air,' with lots of new music to come...)
On a separate note, I'm still plugging away with the new album. Progress will be interrupted for a couple of months by the relocation, but whenever I finally get this thing finished, it's gonna rock! The bulk of the parts are recorded, and I think I may have a new personal favorite when it's finished.
May 17: Psynapsis Live, Saturday May 17! Instrumental Progressive ROCK. 8:30pm, at 2208 Ousdahl, Lawrence, KS. This is a gig in a large basement, and it's gonna be cool! We've got a wall of speakers, a video crew... man, oh, man. Free admission. Ousdahl is the only street between Iowa and Naismith. Just take 23rd street to Ousdahl, and go a block and a half north. See ya there! (By the way, this is a short gig. We'll be done by 10 or 10:30, so get there early.)
May 9: Okay, so our apartment was almost hit by a tornado yesterday. The TV news had coverage saying 'this storm is bad, bad, bad, and coming over the lake from the southwest' so I stood out on my porch and watched it. Suddenly a tornado came out of the clouds about 2 miles southwest (I guess it was sort of bouncing along). We ran downstairs to our 3 square foot section of first floor and hid under a blanket as it passed over. No damage whatsoever to our apartment, but people on both sides weren't so lucky. Amazingly, the only known injury so far is someone getting injured from stepping on a piece of debris! So, anyway, if you see those pretty Lawrence Aberdeen apartments on TV, the ones that got hit are part of an identical apartment complex 3 blocks south. And the townhomes and houses that got hit are about a block east! Crazy day. Now there's a military checkpoint right outside my window. I hope they let me back in at the end of the day.
Here's a photo I lifted off the Lawrence Journal World page of Aberdeen South. A little freaky to see identical buildings to your own get destroyed.
Photo by Thad Allender, LJWorld. Used without permission, but I'll take it down soon.
May 4: Free song of the month for May posted on the Free mp3 page (Egeria Jazz Trio's 'Walt's Blues').
Also, FYI, all the drums are finished for the upcoming Psynapsis album (we had to alter the pname due to copyright stuff). That's gonna be an amazing album. Both that CD and my upcoming progressive folk rock CD, 'Out of the Ashes,' are slated to be finished sometime around late Summer / early Fall 2003.
April 27: I've been keeping really busy lately. Here are a few of the recent music-related highlights:
* Recorded all the drumkit parts for my new progressive folk rock album at Crystal Lattice. 8 Channels, good mics, I think I FINALLY got the drumkit sound I want. (Until now, The Beginning of a New Day has been the only album's drum sound I'm truly happy with.)
* Etched the autopanner and subharmonic generator (audio effects I'm designing for Senior Design Lab II). Pics on the engineering page.
* Started recording the upcoming Synapsis album. Oh, man, is that gonna take some people by surprise...
* Made a couple of video cameos - one on episode 2 of Wall to Wall, and another upcoming on a video for The Band That Saved The World.
April 6: Invisible Symphony, track 10 is posted on the Free mp3 page. This is the final track from the album. I hope you enjoyed the run of Invisible Symphony mp3s. Also, 'Impression' is re-posted for a month.
March 14: Getting caught up with technology, I'm now accepting credit card orders for CDs. See the Buy a CD page.
March 14: Invisible Symphony, tracks 8 and 9 are posted. See the Free mp3 page.
March 7: Made lots of little fixes to the website. Pretty minor stuff, but things which should make the site translate well onto different browsers with different set preferences.
March 3: Making more use of the available web space (at least until bandwidth limitations shut me down, which they may at some point...) Samples from all 3 progressive folk/rock CDs are now available on the Free mp3 page. Obviously, this is a ploy to rope more people into buying my CDs, but if you're like me, you enjoy this sort of thing.
February 24: Official Website Debut! Invisible Symphony, tracks 6 & 7 posted as well as 'odd,' the Chris & Jeremy Show theme music. See the Free mp3 page.
February 14: Happy Valentine's Day, all! All the acoustic guitar parts are finished for the new epic (always the most work-intensive part of the recording). However, it will still be a long time before the album comes out... There are SO many steps in this process... By the way, the new epic is 41 minutes long, and I really like it!
Also, Synapsis is 'progressing' nicely, despite me not mentioning it much here. We've got an album's worth of INTENSE instrumental trio prog, which we're rehearsing and polishing. The plan is to start recording in about a month. I've updated the Synapsis page a bit to reflect the current state of the band.
Finally, I've updated or changed lots of little details throughout the site. You'll probably run across the changes eventually.
February 11: I haven't been updating the website much recently, but I've been staying really busy nonetheless! I've written another progressive folk/rock epic (this time with emphasis on "rock"). I made a demo of it to check tempos, etc. (a process I haven't used since the "beginning of a new day" era). As of yesterday, I've started recording the final version. As always, I'm staying busy with the school stuff, too. (For anyone who wants to see my schematic diagram of a digital delay, he, he, he, you can follow the link from the home page.)
February 9: Invisible Symphony, track 5 is posted. See the Free mp3 page.
January 21: Invisible Symphony, track 4 is posted. See the Free mp3 page.
- 2002 -
December 22: Invisible Symphony, track 3, is back on the Free mp3 page for a few weeks.
December 13: Posted, temporarily, 'Resolution part 1' on the Free mp3 page.
December 10: Invisible Symphony, track 3, is posted. See the Free mp3 page.
November 27: Resolution has been edited and remastered. The result: it's now 31 minutes instead of 34 minutes, and I believe it flows much better. If you already own a copy of TLA, for a measely $3 I'll send you the updated CD plus updated back cover artwork with track times. Just send $3 and the old back cover insert (with the track times) to the address on the 'Order a CD' page. Do not send the old CD itself.
November 19: Invisible Symphony, track 2, is posted. See the Free mp3 page.
November 1: INVISIBLE SYMPHONY IS DONE!!! The 4th solo CD is complete except for artwork. Free MP3s are coming your way. Check out more info on the album here.
I also posted a picture and a little story: Steve & Mike Portnoy.
October 10: RESOLUTION GETS THE AXE! Although it has some of my absolute favorite musical moments in it, I've NEVER been happy with the way Resolution flowed as a whole. I always felt it lost momentum halfway through and then had to make up for it by the end. I listened to it again for the first time in months today, and it came to me... there was a perfect edit that I had missed, which takes the piece to a new spiritual level; leaving the plot's turning point more up to the listener's imagination instead of the (somewhat contrived) part that was in there previously. Anyway, there's a 3-minute section removed from the middle with a very slight new violin segue in its place. I'm SO happy with it... all new copies of TLA will be this version. Some artist once said that his pieces were never finished, just abandoned. I had abandoned this one, but now it is how it should have been!
I'll work out some deal soon when I'm finished remastering disc 2 of TLA that anyone who has the original version can buy the new version for a really cheap price (maybe just the disc with no case for $3 or something). I'll let ya know. Oh, and for anyone thinking I've done something bad by editing the piece down to a lowly 31 minutes: It started out at 65 minutes! Often one has to chop away the fat until a piece can shine.
September 27: Man, am I ever busy... This senior year of electrical engineering school is killing me. On top of that, I'm job searching. I haven't been so busy since concert/contest season during my school teaching years. Ack. Anyway, I had about 2 hours to work on the album (whippee, what a delight - 2 whole hours!). So, um, I THINK I can stay on schedule... I'm almost done, after all. If only I had about 3 full free days, I could finish this thing up. (By the way, it's 2:15 a.m. as I write this.)
September 20: Progress report on the instrumental album: Cruising right along... I have to record drumkit parts for 2 tracks (which is a pain because I have to lug lots of equipment around), and bass on one track. Otherwise, everything seems to be recorded. Five tracks are already mixed and finished, and 3 more are within a couple hours' mixing of being done. I might actually wrap this up on schedule, and more importantly, I love the result I'm getting. Really happy with pretty much every aspect of this disc so far.
September 18: Changed the main navigation bar, removing 'tourography' and putting 'miscellaneous' in its place. The tourography is now under the misc heading.
September 18: Cleaned up the news page a bit by creating the news archive page.
September 16: Changed the index page a bit, adding the first showing of the star artwork for the new album. Also, we're listed with alltheweb.com, which is a GREAT search engine.
September 5: CHECK THIS OUT!!! KINESIS online CD store has added little downloadable samples of my music (browse to the website and look in 'page 1'). The guy who runs this place is doing a really neat job of promotion.
September 5: New free song of the month posted ('Dayfly 4 - Clear Orbit').
August 26: Just a look ahead for anyone interested... The following list includes the musical projects I'm going to try to do at some point within the next year, time permitting. (Time is the big issue what with this being my last year of engineering school.)
Finish recording, then mix the instrumental solo album
Polish up the Jazz Mutants CD
Record Laura Cossey's solo album
Write and record with Synapsis
Maybe remix the Deadwood Dyck album from the original master tapes
Maybe remix Egeria Jazz Trio
Obviously, live shows are taking a back seat right now. We'll see if this list remains at all the same in a month, or if I get sick of the studio and go back to playing live!
August 24: The 'master plan' is changing from the August 6 posting a bit... It looks like I'll finish the instrumental album in about a month (I hope), and I think I'll systematically release a free MP3 about every 2 weeks instead of per month. There will be about 10 tracks, varying in length from 2 to 6 minutes each.
August 24: Added scrolling marquee to home page, changed several link colors, and registered with alltheweb.com, which seems to be a great search engine.
August 21: The release date of the Jazz Mutants has been pushed back. I talked to Joe Regier and he gave me permission to 'modify' some tunes a bit. I can't keep my producer hands off anything...
August 21: Spruced up the 'Buy a CD' page a bit.
August 9: KINESIS online CD store has picked up my CDs. Click here to see the cool layout they did. Kinesis sells exclusively progressive music, so check out the many other cool CDs they have.
August 9: Changed a few graphics and added the navigation bar at the top.
August 7: Fixed some sloppy code on several pages.
August 6: Okay, here's the master plan: I've been working on an instrumental solo album. It's nowhere near done yet, but I am getting quite a bit of interesting material down. Very different from my usual stuff though, so it'll be interesting to see if the same people who like 'The Beginning of a New Day' will like this. Upon the album's completion, I'll post the entire thing on the web, one song per month. People who want the higher sound quality, convenience, and artwork of a CD will be able to order the album as a CD, too.
August 6: New free song of the month posted ('Egeria Jazz Trio - Moonflower').
June 28: New free song of the month posted ('Impression').
July 26: I just got home from a really long trip to the east coast. Expect more updates soon. A hint at the near future, though: My 3 solo discs are getting official distribution soon, and maybe even some international sales. Also, I plan to start work on a new recording in the next few days, the details of which I'm not disclosing yet. Finally, the Jazz Mutants release has been delayed due to artwork problems (it's ALWAYS the stupid artwork that holds these things back...).
June 28: I polished up mixing "Flamenco / Framedrum Impression," a track that I recorded for Two Little Awakenings, but which didn't make it onto the album. (I'm extremely picky about track order on CDs, and the track order I decided on just didn't have a place for this little instrumental.) Happy free download for the month of July!
June 8: Just for fun, I remixed/remastered a 1997 3-song demo Egeria Jazz Trio did when we were all living around Wichita, KS. (The idea was to get gigs.) I'm not putting it up for sale, but maybe one day one of the tracks will show up on the free song of the month page. (I'm particularly fond of our cover of Santana's 'Moonflower,' and I think it's legal to post it since I'm not making any money with it.)
June 8: This site is now registered with internet search engines, but it'll likely take a while before it's processed. This means no search will result in finding this page for a while. One thing that would help me out is people linking this site to their own 'hint, hint.'
June 7: Fixed more text wraparound glitches. I think the site's totally bug-free now. If you find a bug, you can report it here.
A couple of weeks ago I finished mixing/mastering the Jazz Mutants disc. Man, did it ever turn out well. Still not done with all the artwork, though. It'll still be a few weeks 'til I have copies to sell.
May 21: "Synapsis" is the name of my new progressive rock trio (Yay!). I've always wanted to play in an intense group, and this one certainly is. The guitarist is really fast, the bassist is really fast, everybody can read and write complex sheet music, everybody's motivated, creative, and can sing. We started work this Spring. We're on break over the Summer, and we'll resume this Fall, with our own Synapsis studio in the basement of the guitarist's house. This is a fun time.